By Pepper Parr
April 17th, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
Tuesday evening the city will get some idea as to what the newly minted Arts and Cultural Council of Burlington (ACCOB) is going to look like and the direction they hope to take arts and culture in – should be interesting.
Meanwhile the KooGle Theatre isn’t letting any grass grow under their feet with the announcement of the summer 2017 production – Annie Jr.
The Spelling Bee – it was the best theatre there was in the city last summer.
Their 2016 production of the 25th Annual Putnam Fair Spelling Bee was great summer theatre – a performance to be remembered.
Annie Jr should be just as much fun.
The production is going to take advantage of the talent Leslie Grey and her husband Christopher believe exists in the city.
They will be running what they are calling Youth Musical Theatre Summer Intensive programs and are looking for people between the ages of 7 – 18 to take part in a workshop weekend.
Those 7-12 will do the workshop on Saturday May 13th – 1 – 4 pm
Those 13 – 18 will do the workshop on Sunday May 14th – 1 – 4 pm
The students will take part in a single day boot camp that will end with a two day run of the production.
Auditions May 13th and 14th – boot camp workshops August 8- 19th. Public performances 18th and 19th.
Casting will come from those who take part in the workshop-auditions. So if you want a chance to make it to the stage – get to the workshop-auditions.
The KooGle Theatre has brought a solid background to the stage of the Performing Arts Centre in the past – there wouldn’t have been a summer program last year were it not for KooGle
Leslie Gray has done a lot of choreography in her time – the workshop-audition is worth the experience in itself – even if you don’t make it to the production that will take place at the Performing Arts Centre in August running for two performances on August 19th.
Leslie and Christopher Gray – – co-artistic directors of the KooGle Theatre
There is a fee for the weekend workshop – $35. Deadline date for workshop applications is May 1st.
These auditions will take place in the Studio Theatre at the Performing Arts Centre.
The locations for the intensive boot camp workshops isn’t certain yet – if they can’t come to acceptable terms with the Performing Arts Centre we will use the Drury Lane Theatre said Leslie Gray.
Leslie was born and raised in Burlington and has been singing and dancing through life since she was a little girl. She loved to belt out songs from Annie and A Chorus Line to her mom’s records and put on shows for her family and neighbours. She enrolled in dance classes when she was 10 and auditioned for her first musical (The King and I) at age 13 with the encouragement of her Grandpa Walker (George) who played the bass fiddle in the orchestra at Hamilton Theatre Inc.
Christopher Alan Gray grew up in Chatham, Ontario and began singing at a very young age in his church choir. He then began studying voice and competed in the Kiwanis Music Festival for many years before receiving his Grade 8 Level Singing from the Royal Conservatory of Music.
The production they did last summer was as good as it gets – expect no less this August when a younger cast takes to the stage to show what can be achieved at single day in a boot camp workshop environment.
An exciting development for our city. Perhaps KooGle should consider using the theatre at Central High.