The Reprise Theatre Company, whose Artistic Director is Mr. Jason Alexander, is an Actor’s Equity Association Theatre.  Their productions often have Broadway and Tony Award Winning Performers, so attending a show is a wonderful opportunity to see highly talented and very recognizable actors, performing locally.

“I Love My Wife” stars: Jason Alexander, Patrick Cassidy, Vicki Lewis and Lea Thompson. The band members were also part of the scripted cast, all of whom seemed to make being a triple threat performer look effortless, especially considering that the show went from rehearsal to performance in 2 weeks.  I attended the performance of  “I Love My Wife” on December 4th and it’s playing until December 14th. Upcoming events at The Reprise are “An Evening with Kristin Chenoweth” on February 23rd and “Man of La Mancha”, starring Brent Spiner, from February 14th – March 1st.

“Lions” at The Pacific Resident Theatre was written by Vince Melocchi and stars: Haskell V. Anderson III, Gloria Charles, Dan Cole, Ron E. Dickinson, Valerie Dillman, Kim Estes, Malik B. El-Amin, Dan Kozlowski, Seth Margolies, Matt McKenzie and Nick Rogers.  Kim Estes is a good friend of mine, so having an opportunity to see him perform live is always a treat.  “Lions” is a must see if you are a football enthusiast and although I am not, I enjoyed the cast of characters and the actor’s performances enough to follow the story without feeling lost by the sports references along the way.  This show was a great reminder of how powerful a good ensemble can be, when they are not busy working on television, and are live in a more intimate small theatre production.

“The Mystery Plays” has already ended it’s run.  I attended to see Petrea Burchard, a friend I met when we both portrayed Nurses on “The Young and The Restless” in 2005.  Petrea writes an e-zine column for Now Casting called  “Act As If” in which she covered the audition process as well as her perspective on performing in local theatre in “The Mystery Plays”.  Most of the time, actors have to have more than one character in our repertoire and rarely do we have the opportunity to call on those talents within a few hours.  It was a real treat to see a colleague share some of the characters she’s often cast to play, all condensed into a few hours.  Brava Petrea!

Tags: Acting, AEA, Local Theatre, Theatre