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Spotlight on Encore! Theater
By Linda L Anderson
KP News
Kathleen McGilliard has been
performing since early childhood, using her gifts to
entertain, to teach and to bring the theater experience
to the community year after year.
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The cast of the
heavenly musical “Monky Business",
which opens at Encore! Theater, located at 6615
38th
Avenue Northwest, on March 2 and runs through
March 18.
Photo courtesy Encore! |
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‘Monky Business’
Performances for “Monky
Business” will run
March 2-18, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.
and Sundays at 2 p.m. Organizers say
this madcap
show has been called the male version of “Nunsense.”
Written by Todd Mueller
and Hank Boland, with music
and lyrics by Gregg Opelka, “Monky Business”
tells
the story of the fun-loving monks of Saint
Bernard’s
monastery who just happen to be in a jam. Abbot
Costello
and the other brothers have just learned their
monastery
is to be turned into a gambling casino called
Bernie’s
Casino Royale unless the monks can earn $250,000
by midnight. The brothers have rented the WGOD
radio
station and are hosting a radiothon fundraiser
with high
hopes to raise the money with their singing
dancing and
vaudeville routines. All is going well, but one of the
monks is really a devil in disguise and is out
to sabotage
their plans.
Call 858-2282 for prices
and reservations. |
With her birthday in January,
McGilliard was delayed a year in starting school. Her
mother, looking for something to challenge and occupy
her child for another year, enrolled her in a dance
class in Tacoma. McGilliard has been dancing and
performing in theaters ever since. She has been a part
of the Tacoma Ballet Co. and Tacoma Little Theater. She
performed in college, where she earned a bachelor of
science degree and then a master’s in fine arts. From
there, McGilliard went on to teach at a New York
college.
She returned to her roots and
established the Gig Harbor School of Fine Arts, through
which she was able to teach and produce both theater and
dance performances. In 1973 she became a part of the
Performance Circle — the Encore Theater, the production
part of the operation. This group puts on four indoor
and three outdoor stage productions each year plus a
unique version of The Nutcracker.
One Lakebay resident, whose family
are ardent theater goers, said, “We have enjoyed a
number of performances at the Encore Theater over the
years. One thing I really like is that they do add a
comic flair to many of the stories and that is fun.”
All performers of the Encore
Theater are volunteers who work very hard to bring a
positive theater experience to our community; among them
are Key Pen residents. The next show begins March 2.
In addition to performing,
McGilliard offers weeklong theater workshops for
children during various school breaks. This program is
called the Encore Youth Theater. Children attend classes
from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and, at the end of the week,
perform a play before an audience. This is not only a
great experience for the children of our community, but
a helping hand to working parents who need some sort of
daycare for their children when school is not in
session.
©Copyright 2005-2008, Key Peninsula
News, all rights reserved.
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