RECENT REVIEWS & NEWS
Nominated for 3 Mac Awards 2017
Actress, comedy: Carley Preston, Mrs. Mannerly
Director, comedy: Joan O’Dwyer,Mrs. Mannerly
Best comedy: Mrs. Mannerly
Mac awards: The best of Tucson theater in 2017 | Kathleen Allen, Arizona Daily Star
From the left: Mrs. Mannerly (Carley Elizabeth Preston); Ralph, Kim, Jamie, & Chucky (Jasmine Roth); Jeffrey (Erin Hepler).
This year has been a tough one: politically divisive, lots of name-calling, scandals.
We here in Tucson, however, have had a great tool to help us cope: theater that illuminated, provoked, made us laugh, cry, think.
The first play of 2017 was Live Theatre Workshop’s funny and light “Buyer & Cellar,” about an out-of-work actor hired by Barbra Streisand to manage her basement-turned-mini-mall featuring a few of her favorite things. (Streisand actually has such a place in her home.) Ending out the year: Arizona Theatre Company’s breathtaking “Man of La Mancha,” the heartbreaking and hopeful musical inspired by Cervantes’ “Don Quixote.”
In between, there was Arizona Onstage’s knock-out production of “The Producers,” Arizona Repertory Theatre’s powerful “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Something Something Theatre Company’s very funny “Mrs. Mannerly” — the list goes on.
Actress, comedy
We here in Tucson, however, have had a great tool to help us cope: theater that illuminated, provoked, made us laugh, cry, think.
The first play of 2017 was Live Theatre Workshop’s funny and light “Buyer & Cellar,” about an out-of-work actor hired by Barbra Streisand to manage her basement-turned-mini-mall featuring a few of her favorite things. (Streisand actually has such a place in her home.) Ending out the year: Arizona Theatre Company’s breathtaking “Man of La Mancha,” the heartbreaking and hopeful musical inspired by Cervantes’ “Don Quixote.”
In between, there was Arizona Onstage’s knock-out production of “The Producers,” Arizona Repertory Theatre’s powerful “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Something Something Theatre Company’s very funny “Mrs. Mannerly” — the list goes on.
Actress, comedy
- Carley Preston’s etiquette teacher was scary and heartbreaking in Something Something’s “Mrs. Mannerly.”
- Something Something’s “Mrs. Mannerly” was infused with warmth and rhythm by Joan O’Dwyer.
- Something Something Theatre Company’s “Mrs. Mannerly,”Jeffrey Hatcher’s comedy about kids taking etiquette classes, was a stitch.
Local theater aims to challenge gender norms | Sarah Covey, The Daily Wildcat
Daz (Lucas Giacalone), left, and Lauren (Callie Hutchison), right, perform a scene in "Scarborough" at Temple of Music and Art Cabaret Theater on Sunday, Sept. 10.Sarah Covey | The Daily Wildcat
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Something Something Theatre is a small, non-profit theater with a large mission: To change the traditionally male-dominated theatrical sphere. “I’ve read around 245 plays by women and there’s so many to choose from,” said Joan O’Dwyer, Something Something’s founding artistic director. “We’ll still do plays by men, because many classics are written by them, but now there’s a lot of options.” O’Dwyer was awarded her Masters of Philosophy in creative writing from Trinity College, Dublin, in 2000 and originally owned the Wilde Playhouse before Something Something Theatre. O’Dwyer and her co-founders, Esther Almazán and Whitney Morton Woodcock, founded Something Something Theatre in 2015 with a vision of breaking conventionality — offering well-known classics in fresh, re-created perspectives and presenting modern plays in canon. Their goal is to make a “better-than-parity” scene for women playwrights and offer better plays for their Tucson audiences. “It’s not all women playwrights,” Woodcock said. “But we do try to make sure it’s at least half. Not a lot of theaters in the country do shows by women playwrights. Instead, they’ll do ‘this is our women season.’ ” ... Something Something Theatre also offers casting that aren’t your run-of-the-mill cherry-picking from an actor pool. Woodcock said there are always new faces for each show and in auditions. Read Full Article... |
"Let's talk about Something Something Theatre,
and how this theatre is different from other theatres out there."
and how this theatre is different from other theatres out there."
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PRODUCTION REVIEWS
SHOWS
January 2015
Our inaugural production
Our inaugural production
THE WEIR
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2015 - 2016 Season
And in the first year...
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By the Bog of Cats
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4,000 Miles
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Anna in the Tropics
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"It takes a village to raise a monster, too. And you can bet no villager is going to step forward to take the credit."
-Chuck Graham |
A woman and her grandson meeting again at a time in their lives when each needs the other most.
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In a cigar factory in 1929 Florida, a new lector is hired to entertain the workers. When he reads Anna Karenina to the cigar-making women, the story sparks their passions.
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Cast:
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Cast:
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Cast:
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HESTER SWANE- Carley Elizabeth Preston
THE WAITER- Ivy Clements GHOST FANCIER/FATHER WILLOW- Paul Hammack CARTHAGE- Nowell Kral JOSIE- Sierra Ryan-Langan MONICA- Joan O'Dwyer MRS. KILBRIDE- India Osborne XAVIER- Roger Owen CAROLINE- Jasmine Roth GHOST OF JOSEPH SWANE- Vaughn Sherman JOSIE- Melanie Sparrold CATWOMAN- Martie van der Voort |
VERA JOSEPH- DDavis
LEO JOSEPH CONNELL- Eric Everts BEC- Meagan Jones AMANDA- Samantha Orzech |
ELIADES- Aeric Azana
MARELA- Robin Carson CHECHE- Eddie Diaz PALOMO- Tiernan Erickson SANTIAGO- Paul Hammack OFELIA- CiCi Salcido JUAN JULIAN- Thomas Tucker CONCHITA- Whitney Morton Woodcock THE WOMAN- Sheri Barker |
2016 - 2017 Season
Women Who Dare
Body Awareness
A comedy about a quirky family, tenuously held together by love, whose fragile harmony is threatened when they host a controversial guest artist for "Body Awareness Week" at a local college.
Cast:
JARED- Lorenzo Montijo
FRANK BONITATIBUS- Roger Owen JOYCE- Monica Wolfkill PHYLLIS- Whitney Morton Woodcock |
Boston Marriage
A witty, incisive satire of decorous vulgarity, barely repressed desire, and class hostility, set amid the confines of Victorian Era Boston.
Cast:
THE MAID - Jill Baker
ANNA - T Loving CLAIRE - Carley Elizabeth Preston |
Dov and Ali
A Jewish teacher and his Muslim student speak as equals about fate and free will, family and faith.
Cast:
ALI - Tyler Gastelum
DOV - Paul Hammack SONYA - Callie Hutchison SAMEH - Isabelle Tinsley
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What Every Girl Should Know
Catholic reform school girls in 1914 discover Margaret Sanger and her message of freedom through birth control.
Cast:
ANNE - Ellie Boyles
JOAN - Kate Cannon LUCY - Robin Carson THERESA - Christine Peterson |
The Taming of The Shrew
Shakespeare's beloved play about the wooer and the wooed is turned on its ear in Esther Almazán's interpretation of The Taming of the Shrew.
Cast:
PETRUCHIO - Nick Watts
KATHERINA - Naima Boushaki BIANCA - Taylor Falshaw BAPTISTA - John H. Love IV HORTENSIO - Mike Saxon LUCENTIO - Ben Adami TRANIO, CURTIS - John Noble GREMIO, VINCENTIO - Dave Sewell GRUMIO - Eddie Diaz HELENA, NATHANIEL - Robin Carson |
2017 - 2018 Season
Things Are Not What They Seem...
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Scarborough
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Mrs. Mannerly
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A student and teacher on a romantic weekend - if they get caught, everything is on the line.
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An ambitious ten-year-old strives to achieve a perfect score in etiquette class and to uncover the secret of prim Mrs. Mannerly's past.
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Cast:
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Cast:
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DAZ - Lucas Giacalone
LAUREN - Callie Hutchison BETH - Kyleigh Sacco AIDEN - Boz Lomasney |
JEFFREY - Erin Hepler
MRS. MANNERLY - Carley Elizabeth Preston KIM MACQUOWN, CHUCKY THOMPSON, JAMIE HAUSER, RALPH KATZ, POP, BILL CROSSKY, PATSY LOPRESTA - Jasmine Roth |
A Delicate Ship
Another story about persistent memory, the influence of family, and the fragility of relationships from the playwright of last season’s ‘Dov and Ali.'
Cast:
NATE - Nick Watts
SAM - Stephen Dunham SARAH - Shira Elena Maas How the World Began
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The How and the Why
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