P.O. Box 77367, San Francisco, CA 94107 415-227-4797 www.lamplighters.org
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Volume 33, Number 1 New Look for The Women of H.M.S. Pinafore Nov 7, 2011
Schools Program review by Scott Hayes
My wife, Kitty, and I had the privilege of attending two performances of scenes from H.M.S. Pinafore, presented by The Lamplighters, for students at San Rafael High School and Terra Linda High School. We found the 40 minute presentation to be highly entertaining and, at the same time, an example of fine teaching. The students seemed to love the performance, and enjoyed having the opportunity to participate. The students had been prepared in advance with the help of materials sent to them by The Lamplighters. Before the performance Jennifer Ashworth gave the students who were participating a short rehearsal. Those students were the school chorus, a vocal percussion group (who helped demonstrate how rap and Gilbert & Sullivan patter songs can coincide) and a few students dressed as sailors - including a Dick Deadeye, who made the most of his one-sided hump, his dragging foot, and dead eye!).
photo: Lamplighters, Washington Elementary School, 2010
The three leads - Jennifer, Andy Truett, and Lawrence Ewing - were in full costume and great voice, and gave their
January, 2012
professional-all to the students. Their narration of the story between songs was both humorous and interesting; the students’ participation charming, and Music Director Baker Peeples contributed his usual masterful accompaniments. As Kitty and I were leaving the theatre following each performance, we felt that this program is an ideal way to introduce young students to Gilbert & Sullivan and, at the same time, create future audiences. We strongly urge all fans of G&S to contact your local schools and tell them of this program, (ably administered by Ellen Kerrigan), with a minimal cost of only $150.00 per performance!! Encourage local schools to contact Ellen at 415-661-4530. By doing so you will be helping to promote the future of G&S as well as bringing a cultural treat to students, from kindergarten through grade 12.
Congratulations Laura!
Congratulations to Lamplighter Laura Sanders for winning the high school division of The American Prize in Vocal Performance - The Friedrich and Virginia Schorr Memorial Awards in Opera. Laura played Mary in our 2008 The Secret Garden, is often seen in the ladies’ chorus of our main stage productions, and has been a regular participant in our Gilbert & Sullivan’s Scenes program, run in collaboration with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Summer Music West. In fact one of Laura’s four videos in her winning submission was a performance from last summer’s G&S Scenes program of The Sun whose Rays are All Ablaze from The Mikado. Well done!
In 1980, The Lamplighters created a new vision of H.M.S. Pinafore that included sparkling new designs by John C. Gilkerson. In the 31 years and multiple productions that have been staged since, those costumes have been re-used, re-vitalized and re-purposed. As wonderful as those costumes were, they could only last for so long. Now, thanks in part to the generous donations of our supporters and a unique collaboration with the Fashion Department of Cañada College in Redwood City, this summer’s production will once again set sail with a fresh new look. In order to build new costumes on such a large scale a creative solution was needed. This came in the form of the “Costuming for Theatrical Production” class offered as part of the Theater Costuming Certificate at Cañada’s Fashion Design Dept. The certificate is the brainchild of Lamplighter’s own Judy Jackson MacIlvaine, who is an instructor in the Fashion Design program. The new program trains students in the skills of costume design photos: Cañada College, 2011 and production, and the opportunity to work on an actual production is a crucial element. Matching a classroom full of eager students to the needs of the company for some beautiful new costumes was a perfect fit. According to Ronda Chaney, chair of the Fashion Program, “This is a wonderful opportunity for community college students to utilize what they have learned in their Cañada College fashion classes. Students are designing, developing patterns, fitting, constructing and altering the garments for H.M.S. Pinafore... this real life experience is valuable for those wishing a career in theater costuming.” Judy’s new designs are set in the period of the “Belle Époque,” the optimistic years at the end of the 19th century. The ladies will be dressed in their finest nautical summer frocks, ready to accompany their favorite relative, Sir Joseph Porter. There will be sisters,
Spring/Summer 2011 cousins and aunts of all ages on board, from young girls and teenagers to an elderly aunt who attempts to keep everyone in line. And of course, Josephine will be decked out in the finest modern turn-of-the-century fashions from Harrod’s. The cost of new materials are being partially offset by special fundraising events, from last fall’s Gala Fund-a-Need auction to this spring’s Hidden Treasures performance and auction. It’s not too late to join the committed group of fans who have made an investment in creating these beautiful new costumes! Contact Mike Zimmerman at mzimmerman@lamplighters.org or 415-227-4797 if you would like to contribute. “I’ve been a fan of The Lamplighters for decades and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to work on costumes for H.M.S. Pinafore... I have always been delighted by Lamplighter performances. However, through the Cañada course I have had the chance to appreciate the imagination, energy, resourcefulness and skill brought to bear by the stalwarts in the Costume Shop. They are essential underpinnings, and I’m thrilled to be able to help them in some small way!”
- Melody Singleton, student
Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek July 22 - 24 Lincoln Theatre Napa Valley, Yountville July 30 - 31 Novellus Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, SF August 5 - 7 Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, Mountain View August 13 - 14 Bankhead Theatre, Livermore August 20 - 21