New Auburn Community Players theater troupe to presents Into the Woods for a three-day run

WHAT: Auburn Community Players presents “Into the Woods”
WHEN: Thursday, June 10 at 7:00 p.m.; Friday, June 11 at 7:00 p.m.; and Saturday, June 12 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
WHERE: Auburn Avenue Theater, 10 Auburn Ave.

TICKETS: $15 Regular / $12 Student-Senior. Call 253-931-3043, Mon-Fri, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or visit www.auburnwa.gov/arts to purchase tickets online. Group tickets are also available.

AUBURN, Wash. - May 21, 2010 - Auburn Community Players, a new theater troupe dedicated to bringing community theater to Auburn, will present the Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine classic, Into the Woods on June 10, 11 and 12.

Under the able direction of Dave Cox, drama club advisor and instructor at Rainier Middle School, and assistant director/choreographer Stephanie Cox, director of Auburn Children’s Dance Theatre, the cast of 26 Auburn Community Players are now in rehearsal at the Auburn Avenue Theatre 10 hours a week. A gathering of talented regional amateur actors, the cast members work during the day and act out of passion for their craft in the after hours.

Into the Woods intertwines plots of some favorite fairy tales into a larger single plot. Jack and his Beanstalk, Cinderella, the Baker and his wife (the focus of the story), join Red Riding Hood in a quest to get her goodies. The wife must enter the woods to assemble the ingredients for a potion required by their neighbor, the Witch, to remove a curse preventing them from having a child. In their search, the Baker and his wife meet up with Jack, Red Riding Hood, and the Wolf, as well as Cinderella, Rapunzel, and their respective Prince’s.

These characters are all busy with their own fairy tales, but each possesses one ingredient for the potion. By the end of the first act, the curse is lifted, Jack kills the giant and is rich from stolen gold, the Wolf is killed, each damsel gets her respective Prince, and the Witch is transformed by her potion into a beauty. All should live happily ever after, right? Well, almost...

Actors young and old will alter the Auburn Avenue Theater into an enchanted forest, designed to transport all into a world replete with favorite fairy tale characters.

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City of Auburn Parks, Arts & Recreation
910 Ninth St. SE
Auburn, WA 98002
253-931-3043
www.auburnwa.gov/arts

About the cast:

• Bret Espey lives in Auburn and is a CPA. He plays the Narrator/Mysterious Man. Bret’s interest in theater comes from the work he and his sons have done with Dave and Stephanie Cox over the past three years. This is his first musical and first acting experience.
  
• Mother and son, Tamra and Carter Rogers hale from Everett. Tamra was last seen as Golde in Fiddler on the Roof (NW Savoyards), and Carter recently starred as Ralphie in the Christmas Story (Drifwood Theater). Tamra plays the Baker’s wife and Carter plays Jack, the “somewhat vague” young man who climbs a beanstalk and begins an adventure.
  
• Amanda Allen plays the granny/giant. She has done many shows with Puget Sound Musical Theater and is a member of Ascension Productions, based in Sumner.
  
• Beth Corbaley plays Cinderella’s Mother and Sleeping Beauty. Beth lives in Issaquah and is active in the Rising Star Guild that supports fundraising for Eastside Domestic Violence Shelters and she owns Harmonious Home Staging and Organization, which creates staged homes for realtors.