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Jay Walk Theatre
Package
At the Historic Howmet Theatre
The historic Howmet Theatre, just
across the street from the Cocoa Cottage B&B, is now operated by the
City of Whitehall and is continuing
the tradition of great
professional summer stock theatre for the White Lake Area. Thank you! to
the leaders of our quaint city for this great vision. We are
pleased to share their schedule for the 2009 Summer
Theatre Festival! They have a great line-up of shows for a hilarious
summer!
Jay walk from the Cocoa Cottage and you arrive at this unique venue! All shows begin at 7:30 p.m.
2
Nights Lodging
Dinner Certificate
2 Tickets to Current Performance
High
Season $360-450.00
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2009
Summer Theatre Schedule
July 2, 3 & 4
All in the Timing
by David Ives, directed by Jeff Sanders
A series of six one act plays:
*Sure Thing. A man and a woman meet for the first time in a cafe, where
they have an awkward meeting continually reset each time they say the
wrong thing, until, finally, they connect.
* Words, Words, Words.Three chimpanzees attempt to write Hamlet.
* The Universal Language: A man and a woman fall in love while
communicating in the invented language Unamunda.
* The Philadelphia: A man in a strange state where he must ask for the
opposite of what he wants in a restaurant.
* Variations on the Death of Trotsky: Leon Trotsky dies several times
from a mountain-climber's ax wound received 36 hours prior.
* English Made Simple. The story of a couple named Jack and Jill who
meet at a party. As the night progresses it becomes apparent that the
two knew each other, and were even involved romantically, before this
night at the party. Meanwhile a college English professor, who's name is
never announced but written as the "Loudspeaker Voice" in the script,
explains what the couple is really thinking as they talk to each other.
It is an extremely wordy romantic comedy full of twists and turns. Well
written, it is one of David Ives better known plays.
July 9, 10, & 11
The Woman in Black
by Susan Hill, adapted by Stephen Malatratt, directed by
Jeff Sanders
Eel Marsh House stands tall, gaunt and isolated,
surveying the endless flat salt marshes beyond the Nine Lives Causeway,
somewhere on England's bleak East Coast. Here Mrs. Alice Drablow lived —
and died — alone. Young Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is ordered by
his firm's senior partner to travel up from London to attend her funeral
and then sort out all her papers. His task is a lonely one, and at first
Kipps is quite unaware of the tragic secrets which lie behind the
house's shuttered windows. He only has a terrible sense of unease. And
then, he glimpses a young woman with a wasted face, dressed all in
black, at the back of the church during Mrs Drablow's funeral, and
later, in the graveyard to one side of Eel Marsh House. Who is she? Why
is she there? He asks questions, but the locals not only cannot or will
not give him answers — they refuse to talk about the woman in black, or
even to acknowledge her existence, at all. So, Arthur Kipps has to wait
until he sees her again, and she slowly reveals her identity to him —
and her terrible purpose. The Woman In Black treads in the footsteps of
the classic ghost story, following the tradition of Charles Dickens and
M.R James, of Henry James and Edith Wharton. It is not a horror story or
a tale of terror, yet the events build up to a horrifying climax and
instills a sense of horror. It relies on atmosphere, a vivid sense of
place, on hints and glimpses and suggestions, on what is shadowy, heard
and sometimes only half-seen, to chill the reader's blood to the marrow
and make reading the book alone at night inadvisable for the
faint-hearted. Come see this chilling ghost play, if you dare, starring
Tom Harryman and Jeremy Meier.
July 16, 17 & 18
Driving Miss Daisy
Presented by the Grand Rapids Master Arts Theatre
The film classic arrives on the stage of the Howmet
Playhouse courtesy of the Grand Rapids Master Arts Theatre! This play is
about the relationship of an elderly Southern Jewish woman, Daisy
Werthan, and her African-American chauffeur, Hoke Colburn, from 1948 to
1973. The original off Broadway production starred Dana Ivey and Morgan
Freeman.
July 23, 24 & 25
The Underpants
By Carl Sternheim, adapted by Steve Martin, directed by
Jeff Sanders
A hilarious Steve Martin Comedy. The renowned comic
actor and author of Picasso at the Lapin Agile provides a wild satire
adapted from the classic German play about Louise and Theo Markes, a
couple whose conservative existence is shattered when Louise's bloomers
fall down in public. Though she pulls them up quickly, he thinks the
incident will cost him his job as a government clerk. Louise's momentary
display does not result in the feared scandal but it does attract two
infatuated men, each of whom wants to rent the spare room in the Markes'
home. Oblivious of their amorous objectives, Theo splits the room
between them, happy to collect rent from both the foppish poet and the
whiny hypochondriac.
July 30, 31, & August 1
The Legend of Scarface and Bluewater
A White Lake Youth Theatre Performance
by Blanche Marvin, directed by Cindy Beth Davis
A Shawnee tribal tale of American Indian folklore and
history, this story tells how the first Medicine Man came to be. We hope
to secure funding to include a set design and props session of this
workshop, as well as the chance to meet an American Indian drummer and
work through the process of native rhythms, music and dance. This play
will rehearse throughout the months of June and July, and rehearsal
schedules will be available at the time of casting.
August 6, 7 & 8
Almost, Maine
By John Cariani, directed by Jeremy Meier
Almost, Maine was hailed as “Love in the time of
frostbite” by the New York Sun, and fittingly so: Magical realism
abounds in this delightful new comedy. On a cold, clear, moonless Friday
night in deepest winter, the Northern lights hover over the remote,
mythical town of Almost, Maine. All is not quite what it seems as
Almost’s residents find themselves falling in and out of love in
unexpected, unusual and often hilarious ways. Knees are bruised. Hearts
are broken. And ache is all around as love is — literally — lost, found
and realized. An enchanting midwinter’s nights dream, Almost, Maine
inventively explores the mysteries of the human heart, touching
audiences with laughter, heart break and hope. We know that you will
enjoy this charming midwinter's comedy starring Michael Bradley and Jeff
Sanders.
August 13, 14 & 15
Educating Rita
by Willy Russell, directed by Mike Vogas
Frank is a tutor of English in his fifties whose
disillusioned outlook on life drives him to drink and bury himself in
his books. Enter Rita, a forthright 30 year-old hairdresser who is
hungry for education. After weeks of cajoling, Rita slowly wins over the
very hesitant Frank with her innate insight and refusal to accept no for
an answer. Their relationship as teacher and student blossoms,
ultimately giving Frank a new sense of self and Rita the knowledge she
so craves. The play became a hit film with Michael Caine and Julie
Walters; we hope to make it a Playhouse hit featuring local performers
Joe Carmolli and Kim Harsch, and artistic direction from Muskegon’s own
Mike Vogas! The London Sunday Telegraph reviewed this play as "Warmly
written … It is the interchange of feeling and realization of new
approaches to life on both sides that make this play of particular
interest"; the London Sunday Times wrote "A marvelous play, painfully
funny and passionately serious; a hilarious social documentary; a fairy
tale with a quizzical, half happy ending."
August 20, 21 & 22
Pretend Soup
Chicago-based Improvisation and Comedy Group featuring
Cate Freedman, Kimber Hall, Brandon Ogborn, and Adam Schwartz
Pretend Soup is a four-person sketch comedy group
with experience and training at The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival,
Second City Chicago's Donny's Skybox Theatre, Annoyance Theatre, IO
(formerly Improv Olympics), and The Playground. Featuring some of the
brightest talents in the Chicago comedy theatre scene, Pretend Soup
brings you an evening's worth of laughs in the world premiere of their
comedy revue. Following the show will be a half-hour improvised set
based on audience suggestion. If this was a movie, it'd be about PG-13.
Click here to learn even more about this talented group.
August 27: The Comedy of Errors
August 28: Julius Caesar (the all female version)
August 29: The Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors & Julius Caesar
by William Shakespeare
Presented by the Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company
The Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company returns to the
playhouse with one weekend of two shows presented in repertory. See one
cast tackle two of Shakespeare’s great plays in one weekend. Follow the
link to learn much more about the Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company, its
performance philosophy, and these two plays.
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