Saturday, September 29, 2007

Theatre Roundup #6-Mill Mountain, Roanoke, Va

It's about time!

I am finally getting to an entry about my hometown stage company, Mill Mountain Theatre. I happen to live a lot closer to Greensboro, hence the reason why I started this series with Triad Stage_ the main theatre in the Gate City.
Like Triad Stage and the other theatres mentioned in this blog, Mill Mountain Theatre is offering a wide variety of selections for their 2007-08 season.
They kick off the season next week with "Hank Williams: Lost Highway," which will run from Oct. 3-21. The play focuses on Hank Sr.'s life, which is what country songs are all about_beat-up pickup trucks, lonely roads and honky tonk bars.
The next play to grace the main Trinkle Stage at Mill Mountain is "Lord of the Flies." Before it was the basis for a controversial CBS reality show, William Golding's universally-loved novel about teenage boys turning into savages on a desert island was transformed into this play adaptation by Nigel Williams. "Flies" runs from Oct. 30-Nov. 4
Christmas is the obvious theme of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" by Barbara Williams. It runs from Nov. 28-Dec. 22.
This is followed by another adaptation from a novel, as an adaptation of Stephen King's "Misery" runs from Jan. 23-Feb. 10, 2008. I've heard Mr. King's Victorian mansion in Bangor, Maine, is quite the pad!
One of my personal favorite plays, Larry Shue's "The Foreigner" takes the stage at Mill Mountain from Feb. 27-March 16, 2008. In this romp, Englishman Charlie Baler comes to Georgia and  pretends to 'not speak English' to cover up his shyness. He finds out about all sorts of kooky things along the way. Not to be missed.
And, Steven Sondheim's Tony Award-winning musical "Into the Woods" runs from June4-29, 2008.
There will also be several special productions in the Mill Mountain Theatre calendar. Among those will be the upcoming Best of No Shame on Oct. 26 and 27. No Shame Theatre Roanoke is the brainchild of Todd Ristau, and it is a late night talent show which has seen everything from rap poems to chainsaw juggling....ok, slight exaggeration there.
The Best of No Shame will likely feature skits from a wide range of No Shame performers, including Adrien Monti, Mike Allen and perhaps Blake Lipscomb.
 I actually read a poem called "The Breakfast Club Generation" at No Shame over the summer. But, a more hectic lifestyle has prevented me from returning to the venue whenever I'm in the Star City.
Incidentally, Mill Mountain Theatre should not be confused with either the local anti-Starbucks, Mill Mountain Coffee or the Mill Mountain Zoo.........too my knowledge no one at No Shame has performed a skit with a live animal, though someone did use a fake rabbit for one highly-amusing sketch some two years ago.
Maybe, one day someone will bring a goat on stage and help make No Shame history!

Useful links:

http://www.millmountain.org




No comments: