2010 PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE/CALENDAR LISTING FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Kathygpet@aol.com
15TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF WHISKERS! GPET BRING WHISKERS! TO LESHER CENTER, DEC. 11-20, BASED ON CHILDREN'S FAVORITE THE VELVETEEN RABBIT
PRESS RELEASE
Caroline Altman admits to proverbially “owning a rather large wardrobe of hats.” As a Playwright/Composer, Educator, Director, Singer, and Actress, she is one of the busiest Theatre Artists in the Bay Area. This year, her original musical Whiskers! is celebrating its 15th Season, at the Lesher Center for the Arts.
“The fact Whiskers! has remained a constant for families of both the audience and performers is significant to me,” said Altman, continuing “I love the role the show has taken on over the years and the way a generation of children have grown up with this show as a tradition in their lives. Tradition and ceremony help kids negotiate change in their lives.”
A musical adaptation of the classic Margery Williams’ tale “The Velveteen Rabbit,” Whiskers! was originally performed in the Spring of 1994, produced by Fort Mason’s Young Performers Theatre. In subsequent years, it has been produced by Galatean Players Ensemble Theatre, whose Artistic Director Kathryn G. McCarty has nurtured several Bay Area playwrights including Marci Karr (Making Mary & IO), and Craig Brewer (director of the upcoming movie "Footloose", who's early works The Marriage Encounter and In the Net were produced by GPET.)
“I’ve watched children grow up in the cast of Whiskers!,” said McCarty, who has performed as the Skin Horse for over a decade and admits to being “the oldest toy in the nursery. Caroline has preserved the classic story, and sets it for the stage in a way which enthralls children, teaching them a valuable lesson while entertaining and making them laugh. You couldn’t ask for a better children’s show.”
McCarty said she is “in awe” of the amount of work Altman has created this year. “We’ve worked together on many projects over the last two decades, but this year I’ve really seen Caroline’s work reach an entirely new level.”
While she has performed throughout the year, Altman most recently received glowing reviews for her performance as Signora Naccarelli in Theatreworks’ Light in the Piazza this Fall. Simultaneously, she was working with collaborators Andy Black and Patricia Milton on Not Without Our Women, a new musical about the Women’s Suffrage movement, which will be workshopped in Ohio this February, after two Bay Area readings.
She balances this work with her day job as Director of Education for San Francisco Opera Guild where she manages, trains and teaches in 9 different programs, working with over 200 schools in the Bay Area.
Altman is particularly proud of several programs she has founded for the Guild, including a musical theatre composition program called "Book to Bravo!" (now in its 3rd year, and in residency in 8 Bay Area schools) the Opera Guild’s Summer Conservatory (now in its 5th year) and the unique program "Voices for Social Justice.”
“In ‘Voices for Social Justice’ we examine the artist as both a product and instigator of social and political change throughout history, and focusing on art as an antidote to violence, while giving students the opportunity to create theatre that comments upon school, neighborhood, world, and family and its impact on their daily lives,” said Altman, adding that the pilot program is currently running at Harding School in West Contra Costa County.
“The program is an extremely important for our community, as it helps young people critically examine the interactions and issues that surround them, and comment upon them in an active way that promotes compassion and understanding.”
It is that ability to help shape society through Theatre Arts that keeps Altman motivated. “Theatre is the perfect model for a collaborative and fruitful community for it requires the individual to take action within a group, understanding his or her responsibility and role within that group.”
“That said, writing can be pretty solitary process, especially composition. For me, it is a lot of sitting at the piano in my pajamas at 2 a.m. It’s amazing that these melodies which come to the page in the loneliest time of night, are transformed by a cast which performs the shows for hundreds of people.”
While 6 other of her works (5 musicals and an opera) have received full productions, Altman still marvels in “the thrilling sensation which is amazing to contemplate. It all begins with a very private moment - a seed - that blossoms into a full theatrical experience.”
Altman confesses that she gets tickled by the thought that so many audiences laugh at “lines I wrote in the middle of the night and only tried out on my cat!" With recent interest from theatre companies and publishers in New York, Altman hopes she and her cat, Indy, have many more opportunities to share Whiskers! and her other work with many future generations of children.
WHISKERS! runs Dec. 11-20 at the Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek. Showings are Saturdays Dec. 11 and 18 at 3:15 p.m. and 7:15 pm.; Mondays December. 13 and 20 at 9:15 a.m., 11:15 a.m. and 1:15 p.m.; Wednesday December 15 at 9:15, 11:15 and 1:15 and Friday, December 17 at 9:15 a.m., 11:15 a.m., and 1:15 p.m.
Tickets, at $10-$15, and are available by calling (925) 943-SHOW (7469). Senior, group and school discounts are available. The show's web page, which lists study guide questions for discussion is: http://galateanplayersensemble.homestead.com/whiskers.html
CALENDAR LISTING
WHAT: Galatean Players Ensemble Theatre is celebrating the 15th Year Anniversary of the popular children's musical Whiskers! (an adaptation of Margery Williams’ classic The Velveteen Rabbit) by Caroline Altman playing at the Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek, Dec. 11-20.
WHEN: The Musical plays Friday, December 11 at 7:15 p.m., Saturday, December 12 and 19 at 3:15 p.m.& 7:15 p.m., Monday, December 14 9:15, 11:15, 1:15, Wednesday, December 16 9;15, 11:15, 1:15, and Friday, December 18 9;15, 11:15, 1:15
TICKETS: $10-$15 and are available by calling (925) 943-SHOW (7469). Senior, group and school discounts are available.
PLAY DESCRIPTION: A holiday delight for the entire family! Join the Velveteen Rabbit on his journey to discover “real”; featuring characters from the book including the Skin Horse and a life-sized Jack-in-the-Box. A Musical Holiday Treat!!!
