It is time yet again to get ready for Bisbee’s Obscure Production's annual Women's Revue. BOP is seeking a few good women to audition for this yearly celebration of the many ways a woman can be. Shows will be held one weekend only: Friday and Saturday nights, March 7 and 8, with an afternoon matinee on Sunday March 9. All shows and the one dress rehearsal, March 5, will be held at Bisbee's Central School Project. If you have an act you would like to contribute to the show – music, song, dance, poetry, skit, or otherwise – please contact Tianya Milagro, producer for this year’s festivities, by email at cielo65@gmail.com, or at 520-236-4886 with any questions or to set up an audition time. This show is different and wonderful every year, so plan to be part of this one! 

Twelve, Count ’em!, Twelve!

It’s a wonder to me that Peter Gardner, BOP’s newest director, has been able to round up a cast of twelve men for his debut on the dark side. Where were you guys ten years ago? And, please!, stick around. Maybe they just needed a vehicle for their anger and they figure that Reginald Rose’s classic Twelve Angry Men is just the ticket.

Many of Peter’s actors are BOP veterans, many of whom, began their acting days in BOP’s production of Inherit the Wind a few years back. We pulled in every guy we knew to cast that show, then we lost a few, and reeled in some more, and Rae still had to play a trouser role. We’re so happy that we did, because some of our favorites, Randy Ashcraft, James Coull, Chuck Feil, and Will Gronlund will favor us with their talents in this gripping court drama.

Other members of this outstanding ensemble joined us for Inherit the Wind and are continuing as BOP stalwarts. Bill Higgins, James Hollenstein and Peter Gardner will stretch their ranges, showing us their angry side in our newest offering. Yes, Peter lost an actor and is now walking on both sides of the footlights. Welcome to community theater directing, my friend. . .

Peter has reached beyond the BOP regulars to recruit “new to us” actors Malachi Gray, John Kuehne, and Ron Zeno, and we look forward to seeing their work. Providing performers with a home on stage is one of the things we do, and we hope to see more of these fellows.

This talented group is rounded out by BOP veteran’s Britt Hanson and Mitchell Reed-Tattan and gives a nod to two of our finest women, Margo McCartney and Abby (aka Abe) Hottel, in voice over roles. In the true spirit of community theater, Gene Conners will serve as the guard.

This show is suitable for younger audiences. The guys are angry, but they don’t curse, and BOP encourages families to attend. A limited number of student scholarship tickets are available by calling BOP at 520-432-2901, or emailing theaterbisbee@gmail.com. Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor credits seeing the film that grew from this play with inspiring her to become a lawyer. Hmmmm. . .

Twelve Angry Men

by Reginald Rose

Judge: Margo Macartney

Clerk: Abby Hottel

Guard: Gene Conners

Foreman: Britt Hanson

Juror Two: Mitchell A. Reed-Tattan

Juror Three: Peter Gardner

Juror Four: Randy Ashcraft

Juror Five: Malachi Gray

Juror Six: Chuck Feil

Juror Seven: Ron Zeno

Juror Eight: James K. Coull

Juror Nine: Bill Higgins

Juror Ten: Will Gronlund

Juror Eleven: James Hollenstein

Juror Twelve: John Kuehne

Producer: Rae E. Jones

Director: Peter Gardner

Fridays & Saturdays

January 10 & 11, 17 & 18, 2014
at 7:30 pm

Sundays, January 12 & 19
at 3:00 pm

Central School Project

43 Howell Avenue, Old Bisbee

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!

Take it Away, Mitchell. . .Please!

“Obscure” Rae, founder of Bisbee’s Obscure Productions, will be even more obscure at this year’s Almost Annual Comedy Show, “Up With Sheeple!” After ten years of telling jokes at this laugh fest, designed to give local comics a place to strut their stuff, she is simply verclempt. She’s sure there are plenty of ridiculous Bisbee, national, and world situations just begging to be ridiculed, but she will leave it to her well seasoned, and very funny, minions to take them on this year.

Mitchell Allen Reed-Tattan, Rae’s brother, sister, girlfriend, son, will lead the pack as producer and emcee this year. Hooray for young blood, new blood! Mitchell has spent considerable time backstage with BOP and tricking him, sort of, into taking a part in Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None” is one of the smartest things Rae has ever done. Since moving over to the “lighter side” he has blossomed into one of the best comics we know, shining as a comic actor, stand up comedian, and improv performer. Trust us, you are in very good hands.

So come on out to the show and give the new kid a look and listen. You will no doubt hear Rae’s laughter from the back row as Mitchell and his fabulous line up of funny folk break her, and you, up. Rae will be the one with the paper bag over her head