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Civic looks to stars, goes 'underground'

2/10/08

by Roger McBain
Evansville Courier & Press

Evansville Civic Theatre is sending its stars back to the shower, bringing Shakespeare to the river and taking the Annex underground.

The community theater will launch all those plans this year, dramatically expanding its offerings in three venues.

First off, Civic is reviving its "Shower of Stars," a local talent show than ran annually from 1989 to 1992. This year's show, March 14-16, will focus on area performers, especially those who've worked at Civic over the years.

Chris Tyner, Civic's education director and the talent show's director, has booked nearly a score of acts for the production, which will replace Civic's golf scramble as a fundraiser. Sue Schriber, Alan Jobe and Gina Moore have signed on, and the Lubaaba belly-dancing troupe will perform, says Tyner.

Civic will move off-site for the rest of the new shows.

It recently won approval from the Evansville Convention & Visitors Bureau to stage free, outdoor, 6 p.m. performances of William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" on the grounds around the Pagoda July 25-27.

Tyner will direct the "Shakespeare in the Park" production, which, as he envisions it, will play out on several spots around the Pagoda on the riverfront.

Audience members will need to take blankets or folding chairs, "and we'll ask them to follow us around from scene to scene," says Tyner.

Civic is looking for contributors to help underwrite production costs mainly costuming, says Tyner.

Finally, Civic is giving new energy and a fresh thrust to productions in its annex in Washington Square Mall.

Volunteers have renovated the annex as a flexible performing space and renamed it Underground at the Annex. The subterranean title reflects the edgier nature of work that Civic intends to present through its NEXTWAVE educational wing and in productions by other directors and other companies.

The first production will be "Addict," directed by Nick Wentzel, a Reitz High School senior, playing at 7 p.m. March 19-21. Tickets are $6.

Merely Players, an Owensboro, Ky., troupe, will bring four 8 p.m. shows to the Underground: Juergen K. Tossmann's "My Name is Tracy," dealing with domestic violence, will play April 25 and 26; Graham Farrow's "Talk About the Passion," a play about society's fascination with sordid crimes, will run June 6 and 7; Del Shores' "Sordid Lives," an eccentric Texan comedy, will play July 25 and 26; and Joseph Scrimshaw's "Adventures in Mating," an audience-interactive production, will play Sept. 5 and 6.

Tickets for all the Merely Players' shows are $10.

For more information about any of the productions, call Civic at 812-425-2800.