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Movie Magic Brought to the Stage

We are another day closer to Stoneface:  The Rise and Fall and Rise of Buster Keaton making its Louisiana debut on our stage!  In order to marry the elements of silent film into the production, the cast actually filmed some material that will be used during the actual show.  You read that right!  Using projectors, you can see Buster Keaton brought to life both live onstage as well as filmed onstage.

The projections are just one of the many exciting elements you can enjoy when you see Stoneface.  Tickets for the show are on sale now!  Visit our ticket site or call the box office at 318-323-6681 to purchase your tickets.

Stoneface Rehearsals Are Underway

The cast and crew of our summer mainstage production are hard at work.  Stoneface:  The Rise and Fall and Rise of Buster Keaton shines a spotlight on the silent film star in this play written by Monroe native Vanessa Perkins Stewart.  We are so excited to be producing our first summer mainstage show in years so the community truly has a chance to enjoy live theatre all year long.  This collaboration with CA Studios is sure to be a treat that beats the summer heat.

Tickets for Stoneface are on sale now!  Visit our ticket site or call the box office at 318-323-6681 to reserve your seats for a fantastic experience.  As a BONUS TREAT, we’re offering a VIP add-on for Thursday’s premiere on July 14th.  Those who partake will enjoy a pre-party with the play’s writer, Vanessa Perkins Stewart.  More details will be announced very shortly (we promise, they’re exciting).  Stoneface opens on July 14th and will have shows on the 15th at 7PM and on the 16th at 2PM and 7PM.  This is a limited engagement, so make plans now to attend!

Our 91st Season: The Wedding Singer

Our 91st season membership drive is currently underway!  Next season is packed with five fantastic shows that will provide our community with music, laughs, and drama.  We hope that you will be a part of the excitement by becoming a member of our theater.  This week, we are showcasing the productions that will be hitting the mainstage for our 2022-2023 season.  Finally, we have The Wedding Singer in April.

Let’s head back to the 1980s! Rock star wannabe Robbie Heart is New Jersey’s most in-demand wedding singer as “love is what I do.”  However, when his own wedding plans go down the pan and he is left standing at the altar, Robbie his heartbreak and grief suddenly make him the worst wedding singer you can find.  He ruins every wedding he plays at until he connects with Julia, a pretty young waitress who dreams of her own perfect wedding.  There’s just one problem: she’s already engaged to Glen, a rich, shallow Wall Street broker.  Despite Robbie and Julia’s growing feelings, a series of miscommunications lead them away from each other.  When Julia elopes with Glen to Las Vegas, Robbie decides to play the gig of his life to win her heart and her hand in marriage.

The Wedding Singer is based on the 1998 Adam Sandler film of the same name.  The show premiered on Broadway in 2006 and starred the musical comedian Stephen Lynch in the titular role.  Broadway veterans Laura Benanti, Amy Spanger, and Rita Gardner helped round out the cast.  The show is sure to flash you back to the 80’s with its original music and guilty pleasure rom-com plot.

The Wedding Singer will be our final production of the season and runs April 20-23 and 27-29.  This toe-tapping musical promises to be an energetic and fun way to close out the season. Support your local arts community by joining us as a member of Strauss Theatre Center.  You can save up to $50 with our Early Bird sale if you purchase a membership before July 1st.  Benefactors and Patrons exclusively get to enjoy the opening night production, which includes delicious food during intermission.

Our 91st Season: Arsenic and Old Lace

Our 91st season membership drive is currently underway!  Next season is packed with five fantastic shows that will provide our community with music, laughs, and drama.  We hope that you will be a part of the excitement by becoming a member of our theater.  This week, we are showcasing the productions that will be hitting the mainstage for our 2022-2023 season.  Up next, we have Arsenic and Old Lace in March.

Mortimer Brewster is living a happy life: he has a steady job at a prominent New York newspaper, he’s just become engaged, and he gets to visit his sweet spinster aunts to announce the engagement. Mortimer always knew that his family had a bit of a mad gene — his brother believes himself to be Teddy Roosevelt and his great-grandfather used to scalp Indians for pleasure — but his world is turned upside down when he realizes that his dear aunts have been poisoning lonely old men for years! When Mortimer’s maniacal brother, Jonathan returns on the night that the aunts were planning to bury the newest victim, Mortimer must rally to help his aunts and protect his fiancé — all while trying to keep his own sanity. as well. An uproarious farce on plays involving murder, Arsenic and Old Lace has become a favorite amongst regional theatres throughout America.

Arsenic and Old Lace has become an established American classic since it debuted on Broadway in 1941.  The opening production starred Allyn Joslyn, Jean Adair, Josephine Hull, and Boris Karloff.  Cary Grant led the feature film version that was released in 1944.  A Broadway revival that opened in 1986 starred popular actors Polly Holliday, Jean Stapleton, Tony Roberts and Abe Vigoda.

Arsenic and Old Lace will be our final play of the season and runs March 2-5 and 10-11.  This classic play has been a frequent request, and we are excited to bring it to a stage near you. Support your local arts community by joining us as a member of Strauss Theatre Center.  You can save up to $50 with our Early Bird sale if you purchase a membership before July 1st.  Benefactors and Patrons exclusively get to enjoy the opening night production, which includes delicious food during intermission.

Our 91st Season: Always…Patsy Cline

Our 91st season membership drive is currently underway!  Next season is packed with five fantastic shows that will provide our community with music, laughs, and drama.  We hope that you will be a part of the excitement by becoming a member of our theater.  This week, we are showcasing the productions that will be hitting the mainstage for our 2022-2023 season.  Up next, we have Always…Patsy Cline in January.

The musical is based on the true story of Patsy Cline’s friendship with Houston housewife Louise Seger. Having first heard Cline on the “Arthur Godfrey Show” in 1957, Seger became an immediate and avid fan of Cline’s and she constantly hounded the local disc jockey to play Cline’s records on the radio. In 1961 when Cline went to Houston for a show, Seger and her buddies arrived about an hour-and-a-half early and, by coincidence, met Cline who was traveling alone. The two women struck up a friendship that was to culminate in Cline spending the night at Seger’s house -a friendship that lasted until Cline’s untimely death. – That’s where the story begins.

Twenty-seven of Patsy Cline’s classic hits are featured throughout the two-woman show.  Fans of her music will enjoy hearing “Walkin’ After Midnight,” “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” “Lovesick Blues,” “Faded Love,” and, of course, “Crazy.”  The show has enjoyed great success all over the United States, including a successful run off-Broadway.

Always…Patsy Cline will be our first production of 2023 and runs January 12-15 and 19-21.  This production will provide a lovely sense of nostalgia to finish out the rest of our season.  Support your local arts community by joining us as a member of Strauss Theatre Center.  You can save up to $50 with our Early Bird sale if you purchase a membership before July 1st.  Benefactors and Patrons exclusively get to enjoy the opening night production, which includes delicious food during intermission.

Our 91st Season: Hamlet

Our 91st season membership drive is currently underway!  Next season is packed with five fantastic shows that will provide our community with music, laughs, and drama.  We hope that you will be a part of the excitement by becoming a member of our theater.  This week, we are showcasing the productions that will be hitting the mainstage for our 2022-2023 season.  Up next, we have Hamlet in October & November.

This Shakespearean tragedy was written sometime between 1599 and 1601.  Set in Denmark, the play depicts Prince Hamlet and his revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet’s father in order to seize his throne and marry Hamlet’s mother.  The play is considered to be among the most powerful and influential works of world literature, with a story of “seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others” according to experts.

The ghost of the King of Denmark tells his son Hamlet to avenge his murder by killing the new king, Hamlet’s uncle. Hamlet feigns madness, contemplates life and death, and seeks revenge. His uncle, fearing for his life, also devises plots to kill Hamlet. The play ends with a duel, during which the King, Queen, Hamlet’s opponent and Hamlet himself are all killed.

The play has been performed worldwide, from The Globe Theatre to a high school classroom near you.  The story has been told through a variety of lenses, each giving the show a unique experience.  Hamlet has been set in modern day, in a pychiatric hospital, and even as a dress rehearsal.  Several noteworthy actors have taken on the role of the Danish prince including Tom Hiddleston, David Tennant, Simon Russell Beale, Christopher Eccleston, Paapa Essiedu, Maxine Peake, and Oscar Isaac.

Hamlet is the first play of our 91st season and runs October 27-30 and November 4-6.  We’re excited to bring Shakespeare back to our stage.  Support your local arts community by joining us as a member of Strauss Theatre Center.  You can save up to $50 with our Early Bird sale if you purchase a membership before July 1st.  Benefactors and Patrons exclusively get to enjoy the opening night production, which includes delicious food during intermission.

Our 91st Season: Annie Get Your Gun

Our 91st season membership drive is currently underway!  Next season is packed with five fantastic shows that will provide our community with music, laughs, and drama.  We hope that you will be a part of the excitement by becoming a member of our theater.  This week, we are showcasing the productions that will be hitting the mainstage for our 2022-2023 season.  Up first, we have Annie Get Your Gun in September.

The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley, a sharpshooter who starred in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, and her romance with sharpshooter Frank E. Butler.  Familiar tunes in the show include “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” “You Can’t Get a Man with a Gun,” and the classic “Anything You Can Do.”

Rough-and-tumble Annie Oakley is the best shot around. A backwoods gal, Annie uses her skill to support her family by selling the game she hunts. When she’s discovered by Buffalo Bill and persuaded to join his Wild West Show, Annie is plucked from obscurity and becomes the toast of Europe. Annie meets her match in Frank Butler, Buffalo Bill’s leading man and star marksman. She falls head over heels for Frank, but soon eclipses him as the main attraction in the show. Her success with a gun makes trouble for Annie’s chance at romance. Annie Get Your Gun follows the journey of Annie and Frank, revealing their competitive natures as they vie for best shot – and each other’s hearts.

The musical premiered on Broadway in 1946.  Being a classic favorite, the show saw revivals in 1958, 1966, and 1999 where it won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.  A number of actors have portrayed the pair of sharpshooters since Ethel Merman and Ray Middleton originated the roles; most notably are Bernadette Peters (who won a Tony) and Tom Wopat in the 1999 revival.  Music and lyrics for the show were written by Irving Berlin, whose music forms a noteworthy part of the Great American Songbook.  Some of his most popular songs include “God Bless America,” “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” and “White Christmas.”

Annie Get Your Gun kicks off our 91st season and runs September 15-18 and 22-24.  Audition information will be announced this summer.  This production will lead an amazing season that you do not want to miss.  Support your local arts community by joining us as a member of Strauss Theatre CenterYou can save up to $50 with our Early Bird sale if you purchase a membership before July 1st.  Benefactors and Patrons exclusively get to enjoy the opening night production, which includes delicious food during intermission.

Meet Trent Gaspard of Company

Trent Gaspard is from Lafayette, LA and now resides in Monroe.  He earned his B.A. in Instrumental Music Education (K-12) and his M.M. in Instrumental Conducting, under the tutelage of Dr. William J. Hochkeppel from UL Lafayette.  He’s currently the Director of Bands at Ouachita Parish High School.  Trent fell in love with musical theatre after watching a production of Jesus Christ Superstar his senior year of high school.  He has participated as a member of the cast in UL Opera Theatre’s productions of Les Misérables and Sweeney Todd under the direction of Shawn Roy.  This has been a dream show for him to conduct for a long time, so he’s glad to have the opportunity to not only conduct a pit orchestra for the first time, but for Company to be the first show he conducts.  These actors, singers, and musicians have been a joy to work with.  Making music with his friends is the best thing in the world.  His favorite roles include Bird Seller & Chorus in Sweeney Todd (UL Lafayette), Feuilly in Les Misérables (UL Lafayette), and Pit Musician (Trombone) in The Addams Family (Acting Unlimited at UL Lafayette).

Catch Trent in action as the pit conductor of Company.  Tickets for tonight’s performance, tomorrow’s show, and Sunday’s matinee are on sale at our ticket site or by calling the box office at 318-323-6681.

Meet Aubri Skinner of Company

Aubri Skinner was born and raised in Ruston, LA.  She is thrilled that live theatre is back, and she can’t wait to share Company with an audience.  Aubri is an English major and works as a nanny and as a tutor.  She has been in multiple Strauss shows, such as Mamma Mia!, Little Women, and, most recently, The Odd Couple.  She wants to thank Mickey Cannon and Terri Cunningham for this experience, and she hopes you enjoy the show!  Her favorite prior roles are Sybil in The Cover of Life (Strauss Theatre Center), Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby (CA Studio), and Viola de Lesseps in Shakespeare in Love (CA Studio).

Aubri lights up our stage yet again as a member of the Company ensemble.  Catch her and the rest of the spectacular cast at one of the last three shows this weekend!  Tickets are for sale by calling the box office at 318-323-6681 or by visiting our website.

Meet Matthew Scott of Company

Matthew Scott is making his Strauss debut.  The Monroe native is a decorator at Butter a Louisiana Bakery.  He enjoys traveling and hanging out with loved ones.  He’s just happy to be here!

Matthew finally makes his Strauss debut as a member of Company‘s ensemble.  Visit our website or call the box office at 318-323-6681 for tickets.