BOP Opens Twelve Angry Men

James Coull, Ron Zeno, Chuck Feil, Peter Gardner and Will Gronlund, front.

Bisbee’s Obscure Productions opens the new year with Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose. Opening night will be Friday, January 10, at 7:30 pm in the Squffy Theater at Central School Project. As always, the first performance will be accompanied by the First Night Café, courtesy of the BOP Bakers. Plan to come early Friday night to enjoy wine, coffee and baked goods.

Twelve Angry Men was first staged as a television drama before being made into one of the world’s most beloved dramatic films. Twelve men are locked in a jury room to debate the fate of a young man in what seems to be an open and shut murder case. In the end the twelve angry men reach a verdict in an electrifying piece of theater.

Peter Gardner is making his directorial debut. Gardner finds the show “the archetypal jury room play, but to me it is more than that. By putting these twelve men into a room together to discuss the guilt or innocence of a man they have never met, it evokes classical philosophical inquiry, even if the tone becomes course. This cast, a mixture of BOP favorites and newcomers, captures the spirit of the show while still making it their own.”

Twelve Angry Men continues on Saturday, January 11; Friday and Saturday, January 17 & 18, at 7:30 pm. Sunday matinees are on January 12 and 19 at 3:00 pm. All performances are at Central School Project, 43 Howell Avenue in Old Bisbee.

$10 adult tickets will be available at Atalanta’s Music and Books in Old Bisbee, The Bisbee Food Coop in Lowell and from Bisbee’s Obscure Productions. For credit card sales from BOP, add $1 per ticket. Contact them at PO Box 277, Bisbee AZ 85603, 520.432.2901, or theaterbisbee@gmail.com for more information. Tickets are $12 at the door for adults and $6 for students.

Auditions for Harold and Maude

We’lll be having auditions for Harold & Maude by Colin Higgins on February 1 & 2, 2014, at the Squffy Theater at Central School Project, 43 Howell Avenue in Old Bisbee. We’re starting at 3:00 pm both days, or you can schedule a separate audition appointment.

Harold & Maude, the movie, will be well known to the generations of Bisbeeites who grew up around the time director Rae Jones did, and perhaps to their children. For those who haven’t had the pleasure, you can check out the quirky, cult classic from the Copper Queen Library. You can also read the script at the library. The play is different from the film in its own charming ways.

Rae is looking for male and female actors, teens to older adults, including the perfect Harold. There’s a wide variety of plum roles. Come prepared for auditions with a one- to three- minute memorized monologue, preferably comic. You’ll also do cold readings from the script. This should be one fun play!

Rehearsals for Harold & Maude will be on selected evenings and weekend days through April 17, 2014. Performances will be April 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27.

Contact Rae for more information and audition appointments at 520-432-2901 or at obscurerae@gmail.com.

New Blood Flows On

Bisbee’s Obscure Productions has been dark since our November Comedy Show. That doesn’t mean that nothing has been happening, of course. While the world’s been Waiting for Godot at Last Minute Production’s well produced and superbly acted staging of Beckett’s play (he never showed up! What’s up with that?), BOP’s newest director, Peter Gardner, has been rehearsing twelve (count ’em!) more guys for BOP’s January 10 opening of Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose. These angry guys will take the stage for six shows at the CSP’s Squffy Theater, Friday and Saturday evenings continuing January 11, 17, 18, with two Sunday matinees, January 12 & 19.

Director, Peter Gardner, has come up through the ranks with BOP, having taken his first role as Ferdinand in Shakespeare’s The Tempest in BOP’s early days at our Central School Project home. He has proven himself to be an ensemble player as well as a versatile leading man during his acting years with BOP, having taken on roles as varied as a comic Spanish bachelor, a young, charismatic TV star taking on Hamlet, and a dinosaur. Peter is the kind of actor who carries his script around in his pocket long before rehearsals even begin. He really gets the concept of the play as the whole picture, so I know he will be a fine director. And having directed him in The Tempest, as well in other endeavors, I will always know Peter as my Prince.

More Men Needed…

I’ll go on more about the Twelve Angry Men themselves as time goes on, but now I want to also mention that we need even more men (yes, more!) to complete this 11th BOP season. BOP will wrap up this fabulous season with the stage version of the cult classic, Harold and Maude by Colin Higgins in April, 2014. There are lots of great parts for both men and women of all ages, so once again we are seeking young blood, new blood, as well as our seasoned pros. In particular, director Rae, is looking for just the right young man to play the lead role of Harold. This actor must be at least 18 years old, older is fine, as long as he can play mid-twenties. The role does demand a big commitment, but promises lots of rewards, in playing with special effects alone! Auditions for Harold and Maude will be held at the Squffy on February 1 & 2, 3:00 both days, or by appointment. Contact Rae for more info or a script at 520-432-2901, theaterbisbee@gmail.com.

Play on!