A SNEAK-PEEK AT "PUFFS" IN FULL REHEARSAL by Barbara Biddison

I sat there in the Warehouse Theatre watching this story unfold. It is fascinating and attention-holding.  It will appear for public audiences beginning August 8 and ending August 11 for a total of five shows in the Warehouse Theatre, so we need to plan to attend right away.   As far as I could tell there are probably twelve actors in the cast who take on the character of many, many more individuals. I quickly learned to plug in and just go along for the ride.  That works!!

I was not familiar with this play called PUFFS.  Turns out that was fine. The "beginner wizard' was told to "use the training wand"  and that seemed perfectly logical to me, so I did not spend any time
pondering what a training wand might be like.  I think you just have to enter this magical world, and that turns out to be the way. This is a fast-moving show, and it runs about 110 minutes with no
intermission.

I stayed in the theatre after the show to hear what director Cody Losinger had to say to the cast.  I was impressed! He was clear and specific and friendly as he offered corrections, embellishments or suggestions to individuals.  Cast members responded--almost always already knowing where a correction was in order, or an emphasis was needed.  That relationship was really nice, and I especially liked how actors felt free to respond when they knew that they had "goofed" and already knew what they had to do to fix it.  A "good feel" in that room for a good play.

ARTS FOR ALL THE AGES by Barbara Biddison

Hamilton-Gibson has always been all-inclusive. This June 2024 has been a true example of
that. In the Warehouse Theatre I saw a dress rehearsal of Once Upon a Crime in mid-June, and
less than two weeks later I saw in Whitneyville the Theater Arts Camp show for Kids.. In
one the cast was made up of the very young, and the over-50s, and all ages in between---- and
in the other it was "all kids"!! But that's not all there is to putting on a play. Everybody knows
there's got to be a director, and for these two that would be Himmelberger for the Warehouse
event and Putnam for Whitneyville kids in "Perchance to Dream." And we do need more than a
director to pull it all together.

In "Dream" we saw the work of interns for music and dance, staff of ages from teens to the older
folk, presenters during camp "dream" focus, and so many more who held the whole thing
together. And for the regular "fairy-tale courtroom play" there were the "official" crew
members to handle lights, and sound, and costumes, and backstage and publicity, and posters.
Different needs for different kinds of shows and different venues as well as for different kinds of
performers.

In both, Once Upon a Crime and “Perchance to Dream”, there are vocal and body-movement
skills to be learned and become familiar with. There's a lot more dance-type movement in the
kids camp show, and there's a lot more "character-posturing" movement for Once Upon a
Crime.
​
I love it when the program tells you (Once Upon a Crime) that thanks go to a real judge for the
loan of a real gavel.... and (“Perchance to Dream”). that one of the presenters brought
information on "Dreamcatchers."
I offer this blog as just some evidence of the kind of variety that Hamilton-Gibson has provided
for over 30 years now. It truly is community theater,

​THE SILENT SKY IS BEAUTIFUL by Barbara Biddison

As I write, this current Hamilton-Gibson drama is heading for its second  weekend in the Coolidge Theatre.  The stars will come out again, and five actors will take the audience on a wonderful journey to discover what's "up there" in that beautiful sky.  This play does an especially fine job of combining  some real history with the lives of five real people in a real world on earth.  We in the audience get to imagine what life might have been for human beings:  the woman who did the discovering, and the man who loves her, and the sister who stays at home happily having babies, and the office mates (one stern and no-nonsense until...  "women's lib" enters her life),  and the other playful with a marvelous accent.  There is some fine acting in this show, and there is a probably- unknown story to tell about "discovery in the heavens."

Jessie Thompson directs.  In the  program she speaks about the play's "delicate handling of the relationship between spirit and science, and its resolution that they are not mutually exclusive,"  with thanks to the playwright Lauren Gunderson.  I did not think about that
spirit/science relationship as I watched the play.  (I've seen it twice.).  But I was aware of it without knowing, without an obvious verbal statement to that effect.

The first time I remember seeing Megan Gallant was in Into the Breeches,  in 2022  . In this 2024 play she makes a very human Henrietta Leavitt who goes from staying up all night and going to sleep at her desk, to discovering/locating stars, to falling in love, to her final days at home.  The whole cast is strong and  real and totally believable..

And just one final observation about the venue, the stage in the Coolidge.  It had to be in this theatre with its wide open spaces and its high ceiling with "stars" way up there.  This show really does transport the audience to an "out-of-this-world" mental and physical space.

 AND THEN JUNIE B JONES MOVED TO WELLSBORO
​by Barbara Biddison

Twenty-one kids and about 8 staff, including various aspects of tech, with Thomas Putnam heading it all up.  The same Junie B. Jones character (as in the February Elkland show) but played by a different actress, and a whole bunch of different kids.  This winter theatre arts camp is always a welcome cold-weather treat, and those few weeks culminate in performance---this time a March Friday night and a Satirday night in the Coolidge. The auditoriam was packed both nights with not a single empty seat.  Parents and grandparents and sisters and brothers and neighbors and classmates and just about everybody who wanted to see and support this special program.

I ushered for both performances and so saw it twice.  Just sitting there watching it is a thrill.  The audience is super-attentive, the director is right there in the front row with script before him, and I'm sure all that contributes to the confidence that these young students exhibit.  They are playing to a full house, absolutely full, and they seem to love it!

So a few words about the value of such an experience.  Value for students of course, to be sure. but also value for parents/grandparents/neighbors and even teachers. Best of all, it's
fun!  And, once the students get the hang of it, they can learn it and "let go."  Besides which, the director is sitting right there, and he would offer a quick prompt if he saw a blank face and an "oh no" look about it.  To learn about personal confidence in this way  is of ever-lasting value.  To trust yourself and to trust the one who could really help you is important with many life experiences--not just in theatre arts camp.

We Sing the Songs That Peter, Paul & Mary Sang    by Barbara Biddison

​On this past Sunday afternoon we music lovers gathered in the Coolidge to listen, and to add our voices, to this fine afternoon of music.  It was a benefit for the HG Treble Choir and their performance tour in May. But, in actuality, we in the audience,  all benefitted by singing along with the kids, and the Gmeiner Open Mic Group, and Chris Eckert, and Pine Pitch.   I'm also led to believe that the choir kids did not know who Peter, Paul and Mary might be, so the show served an educational purpose as well.  We elders learn something too when we discover that "our growing up familiarity" with, say, the Beatles or Peter, Paul and Mary, does NOT mean that our grandchildren have the same memories.  Or that they even know what these "Beatles" things are.  So what we've  for decades fondly remembered has no recognition factor for them. We must fix that!!!  We must have them sing songs that will teach them!!!  And in the process we bring pleasure to the folks who lived through that time period.

Some of the songs that we remember from our past are "'Blowin' in the Wind''' and "Early Mornin' Rain" and"Michael Row the Boat Ashore" and, of course "This Land is Your Land."  All those years ago when our sons were about 15 and 18 we spent a sabbatical semester in England, and when we were ready to leave for home some friends of theirs came to our little rented house and sang for them/with them John Denver's "Leaving on a Jet Plane."  Another one of the Peter, Paul and Mary songs. So, it was good for me to revisit these songs in the Coolidge in 2024.

A real bonus for this afternoon full of singing was the audience itself.  We were invited to sing along with these Peter, Paul and Mary songs.  And this invitation actually worked because the audience had
amongst us people who are old enough to remember the songs.  And so we sang, and we were surrounded by others who were singing.  And the Coolidge filled with song.  I can still hear and feel that space so richly full of music.. ​

HG THEATRE ARTS CAMP IN ELKLAND  by Barbara Biddison

Every year Hamilton-Gibson starts the winter season by taking this theatre arts camp to Elkland.  The Deerfield Charitable Trust makes it happen financially and the HG staff headed up by Thomas Putnam puts it on the Clark Wood Elementary stage.  Some of us Wellsboro folk carpool over there to see the stage full of kids and the audience full of parents and grandparents and sisters and brothers and neighbors and, of course, Trust Board Members.  It is a joyous sight to behold. One of the happiest staged opportunities I've ever seen.  You walk right in to find your seat, and you feel it in the air.

I counted the cast members listed on the program and came up with a total of 57. That's alotta kids!!  The show is called Junie B. Jones Jr. The Musical.  It really does involve everybody....some solo, some in small groups, and often, of course, the whole group singing and performing together.  The best part for me is seeing these young people loving being on stage, acting and singing and moving as they have practiced (in a very short rehearsal time).​

I know that this is the first and last time some will ever be on stage like this, but I have heard many still talking about a similar experience years later.   And some will go on to be in more plays and musicals.  I have seen arts camp  still listed in the "Who's Who" part of the program for a show a decade after the the elementary show.  Itcarries a life-long memory for many.

AND SO ANOTHER YEAR BEGINS by Barbara Biddison

What better way to begin than with an invitation?  For dialogue REGARDING BASIC HUMAN RESPECT.   That is what we did on Martin Luther King Day in the Wellsboro HS Auditorium on January 15, 2024.  We who sat there, facing a stage full of speakers and musicians, were glad that we had braved the wintery night to be inspired and affirmed.  We noticed at once that it was not Thomas Putnam who introduced the program, but all seemed to move forward without him.  (We learned that he was stranded in an airport, so we settled back to appreciate the evening.)

We had a fine evening of variety, spoken and sung, and I especially appreciated the addition of three county commisioners.  These men are newly elected, I'm guessing not well known to all audience members, and they spoke individually and appropriately (and briefly) for the occasion.  Others spoke to the "basic human respect' thoughts of the evening.  Pine Pitch sang "Because All Men Are Brothers" and HG Treble Choir sang "Hold On to Dreams" and we all learned and sang "Jordan River" and I still feel the sense of community and warmth of that
hour.

It was a lovely generous time. in an auditorium peopled with folk who wanted to be there.  I wanted to be there, and I was.  Those who couldn't come missed something special.  Another year begins. ​