Dorothy Meets Alice

Oz and Wonderland come together Pictured are (kneeling) Kristi Burleigh, Audrey Bell (on the middle row) Michael Sibille, Natalie Sibille, Taylor LaCalle, Darrel LeJeune, Gracie Feucht, (standing) Duncan McBride, and Bradley Credeur.

The Wicked Witch (Angie B. LaCalle) and The Queen of Hearts (Holly Bell)

The Henchmen of Wonderland (Jeanne Aucoin and John Burleigh)

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Musical Set to Open

Under the direction of Angie B. LaCalle, the cast and crew of "Dorothy Meets Alice" are ready to open the show!

Regular performance dates for the show include July 8, 9, 15, and 17 at 7:00 p.m. and July 12 at 2:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at Turning Point and David‘s Ltd. Hair and Nail in Eunice. General Admission is $10 for adults and children over age 5, and $5 for children age 5 and under.

The dinner performance is scheduled for Thursday, July 16; tickets for dinner plus the show are $20 for adults and children over 5; $15 for children age 5 and under.

This lively musical is fun for all ages and promises to have children squeal with delight at the sight of some of literature's favorite characters from "The Wizard of Oz" and "Alice in Wonderland."

Against the backdrop of the woodsy scenes, complete with bits of Oz and Wonderland, the actors sing and dance their way out of the confusion brought about by the dream of a modern-day girl.

Comedy drives the show rather than an abundance of songs, and there's enough action (running and hopping and falling down, oh my!) to keep young children entertained.

The story is simple and easy to follow, with plenty of wackiness, corny jokes, and larger than life villains - including a (not-so-scary) monster. Audience members won't pay attention to their watches, until the show ends and they'll wonder how the time passed so quickly.

This show is not on the season ticket so anyone wanting to see the show will need to purchase a ticket. For more information about the play or the workshop, call 337-457-2156 or 337-546-0163.

Childrens Workshop
In addition to the show itself, LaCalle has planned a three hour workshop on Saturday, July 11 beginning at 9:00 a.m. for children ages 8-12. The workshop will include singing, acting, and games designed for children to learn the basics of the performing arts. Registration fee is $10, which also allows the child entrance to the Sunday, July 12 matinee performance. Space for the workshop is still available but limited so interested parties should register soon.

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Children’s Workshop to Accompany Summer Musical at Players’ Theatre

Walk by the Eunice Players’ Theatre on any given week night and you’re likely to hear the cast rehearsing the upbeat songs featured in “Dorothy Meets Alice”, the theatre’s summer offering. The family-friendly musical, directed by Angie B. LaCalle, follows the adventures of Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz and Alice, from Wonderland, as they unscramble their friends who have become mixed together by an unwitting young lady in modern times.

In addition to the show itself, LaCalle has planned a three hour workshop on Saturday, July 11 beginning at 9:00 a.m. for children ages 8-12. The workshop will include singing, acting, and games designed for children to learn the basics of the performing arts. Registration fee is $10, which also allows the child entrance to the Sunday, July 12 matinee performance. Space for the workshop is limited so interested parties should register soon.

Regular performance dates for the show include July 8, 9, 15, and 17 at 7:00 p.m. and July 12 at 2:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at Turning Point and David‘s Ltd. Hair and Nail in Eunice. General Admission is $10 for adults and children over age 5, and $5 for children age 5 and under.

The dinner performance is scheduled for Thursday, July 16; tickets for dinner plus the show are $20 for adults and children over 5; $15 for children age 5 and under. The dinner menu consists of catfish bites and popcorn shrimp with french fries, and brownies and ice cream for dessert. This show is not on the season ticket so anyone wanting to see the show will need to purchase a ticket.

For more information about the play or the workshop, call 337-457-2156 or 337-580-2567.

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Summer Musical: Dorthy Meets Alice

Show Dates - July 8, 9, 12, 15, 16 & 17.
Performances at 7 pm and 2 pm for Sunday Matinee.
Dinner Theatre: July 16th

Family-friendly show!!! Tickets are $10
Children 5 & under - ticket admission is half price - $5
NOTE: This is not a season ticket show.

Children's Workshop - July 11th - Cost $10 (Sunday matinee performance included)
Be looking for future articles on more information concerning the workshop.


"Two of literature's most unforgettable young ladies get mixed up
together in a magical, musical meeting that produces hilarious results
as the audience becomes reacquainted with a cast of familiar characters
and sees them in a new light. This fun filled romp follow Alice and
Dorothy and their coteries as they try to unscramble their stories with
the help of the contemporary young lady who started the whole thing
when she put off a book report until the very last minute."

Book and Lyrics by Joseph Robinette
Music by Karl Jurman

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Ray Blum Raves About "Virginia Woolf"

The following review ran in the May 15, 2009 issue of The Daily Advertiser.

Perform: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf wins, places and shows

There is a maxim that "Nothing is ever easy." Ask Jody Powell, the director of Eunice Players' Theatre's production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and I am certain that she would enthusiastically agree.

Seems that about a week before the show was originally set to open, she lost the show's male lead. The role of George is one of the most emotionally complex and difficult ones in all of American theater, and to lose that character would normally be the death knell for the play.

I have spent a great deal of time in past columns crowing about the high, professional quality of the local performers who grace our community theater stages. One such actor is Blaine Peltier, who stepped in to fill George's shoes. The play's opening was postponed one week and, like a crocus rising out of a snowbank, blossomed into a beautiful splendor.

Let me state, early on, that Eunice Players' version of Virginia Woolf is the best production of the Edward Albee classic I've ever seen, bar none. I have seen every one of the performers in other productions, but I have never seen any of them come close to the truly gifted level of quality that they demonstrate in Powell's play - individually or in ensemble.

The three-act play is about two couples whose behavior exemplifies dysfunction. Virginia Woolf was a 20th century British feminist and novelist who pioneered the literary style known as stream of consciousness by examining her characters' psychological and emotional relationship to reality. Albee, the playwright, let his characters bash themselves and each other in an attempt to illustrate their unwillingness to look reality in the eye.

George (Blaine Peltier) is a middle-aged, embittered history professor married to his college president's daughter, Martha (Deborah Ardoin). After a faculty party, they invite a new professor and his wife to their house, arriving at 2 a.m. Nick (Gabe Ortego), a biology teacher, is supporting his unsteady and mousy wife, Honey (Bonnie Pitre) who is already three sheets to the wind. Everyone continues to drink while Martha and George both verbally and physically engage in cruel battle in front of their guests. The younger couple is simultaneously fascinated and embarrassed by the "fun and games" and remain at the weird gathering even when the abuse is turned toward them as well.

Honey periodically passes out and vomits out the booze so she can regain consciousness and rejoin the fray. Like a deer frozen in the headlights, Nick is seduced by Martha, while like some sort of demonic conductor, George directs the emotional maelstrom with a glassful of scotch as his baton.

As black and pessimistic as the play might seem, the ending gives a glimpse of redemption. Nick and Honey have stumbled off to their home and George, with his arm around Honey, tenderly sings a parody of the Disney lyric, "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Martha, in a finally fragile voice, responds, "I am, George. I am."

Most audiences are aware of the play through the film production featuring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton in the major roles. The movie was a two-plus hour exercise in screaming. The Eunice play was a two-plus hour exercise in fine acting.

What a difference! Simply being loud is a weak way to present great emotion. What Ardoin, Peltier, Pitre and Ortego gave us was high emotion demonstrated through their bodies, their facial expressions, various grunts and groans and the wonderful way they delivered their lines.

Each of the quartet executed everything that a performer should, and did it in a way that by rights should have earned an Equity card for each. I feel sorry for a director with one or two blazing performers imbalanced by a handful of weak and indifferent performers. Not only does the play suffer, the stellar performances labor under the same consequence. Not so with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The ensemble performance given by the four Thespians has very few peers on any stage, anywhere.

This season is Eunice Players' Theatre's 40th anniversary. What better way to put a jewel atop the crown than to present a play as worthy of ovation as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
I give The Georgie to the whole magilla, director as well as cast! Huzzah, huzzah, huzzah!

Ray Blum is a freelance writer who covers theater and performance in Acadiana.

Stage Prop Has Interesting History

“Pow! You’re dead” is the line Blaine Peltier delivers to Deborah D. Ardoin as Gabe Ortego and Bonnie Pitre watch in fear in one of the many unsettling moments of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, being staged at the Eunice Players’ Theatre. The gun Peltier holds has a history uniquely tied to the play, as well as the subsequent movie. This is no ordinary stage prop; there are only a few of its kind in existence. Known as “The Virginia Woolf Gun” among stage prop rental houses, this particular one was actually used in the movie and handled by Richard Burton as he aimed it at Elizabeth Taylor.

Playwright Edward Albee conceived a gun with an unusual discharge, then set about to have it fabricated by Centre Firearms in New York City in preparation for the Broadway premiere in 1962. By the time the play closed in 1964, a movie version was in the works and the gun was sent to Los Angeles where Burton used it during filming. It later made its way back to its creator in the heart of Manhattan where it remains today. As Joe DeCunzo, owner of Center Firearms, explained to Jody L. Powell, director of the local play, “We only rent it out about twice a year now. Over the past 40 years, the play’s popularity ebbs and flows.” He’s proud to state that his shop has the original gun, even though certain parts have needed to be replaced over the years.

Theatre goers have a chance to view this iconic piece of Broadway and cinematic history when EPT opens its production with a matinee beginning Sunday, May 3 at 2:00. Other evening performances are Wednesday through Saturday, May 6 - 9 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets for these performances are $10 and available at David Ltd. Hair and Nail Salon on Second St. or by calling 546-0163. Dinner theatre is Tuesday, May 5 at 6:00 p.m. at Nick's on Second St., with the performance immediately following. Tickets are $25 and may be purchased at Nick's or by calling 457-4921. The theatre is located at 121 S. Second St. in Eunice. Visit www.euniceplayers.blogspot.com.

Play Opens Sunday at Eunice Players' Theatre

After weeks of rehearsal, the cast of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" is ready to open the show. The three-act peek into the fictional lives of George, Martha, Nick and Honey, written by Edward Albee and directed by Jody L. Powell, is the first show of the Eunice Players' Theatre's 40th anniversary season.

Written and set in the early 1960’s, the play focuses on George and Martha, played by Blaine Peltier and Deborah D. Ardoin respectively. Despite how deeply they care for each other, events have turned their marriage into a repetition of insults fueled by alcohol. When Gabe Ortego’s Nick and Bonnie Pitre’s Honey stop in for a drink one night, they are unable to escape being used as pawns in their hosts’ psychological games. While the storyline may sound distasteful, it does make for an entertaining night at the theatre - TV dramas and reality shows don’t get any better than this! Despite the show’s length, the actors’ snappy banter keeps the action moving and the audience will find sharp humor in many of the sequences.

The cast has jelled to a point where they bring out the best in each other as actors. Rehearsals have bred familiarity, adding believability and realism to the characters. Audiences will witness daring performances, enhanced by period costumes and hairstyles, a set design conveying realism, and specialized lighting and sound effects. Considering the subject matter, and the brief amount of smoking on stage (with stage prop cigarettes), this play is intended for mature audiences.

The play begins with a matinee on Sunday, May 3 at 2:00 p.m. Evening performances are Wednesday through Saturday, May 6 - 9 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets for these performances are $10 and available at David Ltd. Hair and Nail Salon on Second St. or by calling 546-0163. Dinner theatre is Tuesday, May 5 at 6:00 p.m. at Nick's on Second St., with the performance immediately following. Tickets are $25 and may be purchased at Nick's or by calling 457-4921. The theatre is located at 121 S. Second St. in Eunice. Visit www.euniceplayers.blogspot.com.

Season tickets may still be purchased by calling 457-2156 or 546-0163. For $20 a season ticket includes 3 shows, reservation rights, voting privileges and an invitation to the 40th Annual Irving Awards. Angel and patron packages are also available for purchase. The theatre is located at 121 S. Second St. in Eunice.