Bisbee Women’s Revue, 2014!!

Tickets are out, and you should get yours early at Atalanta Music & Books, The Bisbee Food Coop, or us (BOP at 432-2901)! You won’t want to chance missing this always different, always fabulous array of Bisbee women sharing their hearts and talents in local celebration of women everywhere. The show is held evenings at 7:30 this year on March 7 & 8, with one 3:00 matinee on March 9, always as close as we can get to International Women’s Day, March 8. 

Bisbee women have celebrated International Women’s Day for generations now, often with pot lucks, then with shows. With the advent of new production talent at BOP in the lovely form of younger generation, Tianya Milagro. BOP promises to continue in this tradition. Tianya is a Bisbee native and cut her teeth producing her own successful show, Cabaret de las Muertos, twice, with more to come. Her love for the women’s show led her to answer Rae’s cry for help and pick up the heavy lifting this year. We hope that others will follow her lead and that this show can return to being a more collective effort.

Of course if Tianya is producing, there will be dancing. And lots of it! Not only will Central School’s Squffy stage be graced by the amazing and sensual belly dancing of Tianya and Rogue Tribal, but several other local dance favs will take on new names and new guises to entertain you as well. We will also be pleased to welcome a group of young women dancers to the stage this year. The “Daughters of Rogue” will perform a dance piece, probably not quite in the footsteps of their moms.

Of course, comedy will not be forgotten in this year’s show. Rae will be busy dancing, so Sharon Strachan will step up from her popular roles of songster and comic to take on the emcee role, and do both!

Don’t miss it if you can!

“Obscure” Rae

BOP Celebrates International Women's Day

Bisbee's Obscure Productions presents its annual Bisbee's Women's Revue on March 7, 8 and 9, 2014. BOP has been celebrating International Women's Day for years, each time bringing Bisbee audiences a star-studded night of talented women. New blood and changed roles make this year's show better than ever. Tianya Milagro, producer of Cabaret de Los Muertos, has gathered a full evening of entertainment.

Bisbee Women's Revue 2014 features new and familiar women, many of them in new roles this year. Sharon Strachan will emcee this year's show. Strachan is a well-known BOP performer, having starred in Urinetown, the Musical, and past Women's Revues as a singer and a comic. This year in new personas, Tony and Tonette, Carrie Mitten and Rae Jones will dance the jitterbug.

Some of the other talented women to grace the stage will be Pearl Watkins, Rogue Tribal, Angelika Johnson, Joan Reichel and Liz Lockwood.

Opening Night, March 7, will again feature the First Night Café with wine and baked goods from the BOP Bakers. Friday and Saturday performances are at 7:30 p.m., with a matinee March 9 at 3:00 p.m. All performances are at the Squffy Theater at Central School Project, 43 Howell Ave., Old Bisbee. In another change for the patrons' benefit, tickets will be available in advance for five dollars at the usual vendors: the Bisbee Food Coop and Atalanta's Music and Books. Remaining tickets will be $5 at the door (no credit card sales). Ticket sales begin one hour before the show.

For more information, contact BOP at 520.432.2901 or theaterbisbee@gmail.com.

Time to Strut Your Stuff!

One of Bisbee’s Obscure Productions primary missions is to provide performing opportunities for our friends and neighbors. We love it when fledgling actors come to show off what they’ve got, learn new skills, and increase their confidence, and for our now seasoned actors to show off different sides of themselves. This all happens in service to another of our missions, entertaining and enlightening our Bisbee area audiences.

BOP has not one, but TWO, opportunities coming up right now for area performers and actors to join us on stage. Auditions for Colin Higgins' charming and quirky cult classic, Harold and Maude, will be held February 1 & 2, at 3:00 both days, at the Squffy Theater at Central School Project in Old Bisbee. This show should be lots of fun for teen through older adult actors, with its wide range of plum roles. Interested actors, experienced and not, can read the script at the Copper Queen Library to find the part(s) that fit them, or that might just be fun to try out! Actors are asked to prepare a short monologue for auditions and will also read from the script.

Auditions are also running by appointment at this time for BOP’s annual, Bisbee Women’s Revue, a celebration of the many ways a woman can be, honoring International Women’s Day on March 8. This show requires less commitment to group rehearsals, so it is a good way to fit something into a busy schedule and still get a chance to play. Women offering all types of performance arts are invited to contact this year’s producer, Tianya Milagro, at cielo65@gmail.com or 520-236-4886 to schedule an audition.

BOP is also welcoming volunteers interested in becoming involved behind the scenes for any of our shows. Contact Rae at 520-432-2901, or obscurerae@gmail.com, or show up at one of the auditions this weekend and let us know what you’d like to try.

“The play is the thing.” Come play with us!

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.