From Saturday workshops for youth to a “soapy” murder and the music of Patsy Cline, variety is the order of the season as productions open at the Ritz this fall.

The Newberry Community Players are marking 35 years in production at the Ritz Theater on Main Street this year, and the group’s creative juices are still bubbling, both for the productions and for uses of the theater.

In an example of how The Players are reaching out to the community, the group opened its doors to local children for three free shows this past Saturday performed by the troupe from the Columbia Marionette Theater. This was made possible through accommodations tax monies that were collected by Newberry County, and applied for by The Players.

This is just one example of a continuing drive to interest local youth in theater.

Starting on Oct. 17, there will be another—”Saturdays at The Ritz.” The youth workshop will have 11 Saturday sessions for youth ages 6-15, building to a Student Showcase on Jan. 23, 2010.

The workshops will be led by local Ellen Hunt, a theater and teaching veteran with a masters degree in theater from New York University.

Newberry Community Players Board Chair Heather Hawkins says, “Each Saturday has a different focus” and that the final showcase will offer a variety of vignettes put on by the students.

“All of this will prepare these students to audition for this production (the Young Players spring show) if they like,” Hawkins said.

Payment plans and scholarships are available, forms are at www.theritzonline.com, or leave a message at 276-1963 for more information.

Drawing local youth to theater, and building their confidence to participate, is just a part of the group’s goals for the season.

In addition to bringing a love of theater to local children, both watching and participating in it, a similar drive is at work for the adults.

A new approach to community theater is part of this year’s philosophy of production. To that end, The Players are adding “Readers’ Theater” to the repertoire.

In Readers’ Theater there are no sets and no costumes. It is a low-tech, low-cost, low-time investment method to share great works and recruit a variety of community actors.

“Those are ways to expand who can be in a production,” Hawkins explains. Participants in readers’ theater commit to less audition time than for a standard production and the memorization requirements are much less steep.

Bringing Readers’ Theater to Newberry was the brainstorm of director Jeramy Oropeza who will be leading the February readers’ theater production of “The Writings of A.A. Milne.” Oropeza’s production will offer up selections from Milne’s poetry and plays in addition to stories of the world-famous Winnie the Pooh.

Readers’ theater will make its first appearance at Christmastime with a holiday showing Dec. 19 and 20 of “A Christmas Carol” directed by Newberry College grad and college theater veteran Chris Bouknight.

But this year’s season will open up with a healthy dose of the zany, comedy-mystery flair that The Players have honed through the decades.

The “Soapy Murder Case,” a Tim Kelly play, has showings Nov. 6-8 and Nov. 13-15. It is a classic who-done-it, except for that the murder has yet to be done, and the victim is trying to sniff out his future killer, among the cast of the soap opera he produces, by having them rehearse their next show.

“It’s actually kind of a mixture of Clue and Days of Our Lives,” says Director Danielle Shull.

Shull describes the play as a “slapstick...more visual comedy.” The production is a 180-degree turn from Shull’s directorial debut last spring at the Ritz—The Ladies of Rosemont.

But it’s a turn that Shull and her cast are heartily enjoying as they work to bring to life Mr. Tucker of Tucker’s Tasty Pudding Powder and All-Purpose Detergent (you can eat it or clean with it), Mrs. Naugahide and the cast of “The Best Tears of Our Lives.”

Also on the slate for the coming season are “Always...Patsy Cline,” running April 30 into May, and “Sweet Charity” with a June production date.

“Always...Patsy Cline” will be directed by local theater veteran and musician Ann Moseley.

Hawkins said a Clinton production of the Ted Swindley show, in which members of local group Golden Steel performed, was “the inspiration for us putting it on our schedule this year.” Golden Steel members are interested in helping to bring the music to life for the Newberry production as well.

“Sweet Charity” will be the group’s fundraiser production of the season and will bring back Voigt Kempson as director. Kempson is a Broadway veteran, he was in “Hello Dolly” and now a Newberry County resident. He directed “Chicago” for the theater troupe locally and will now turn his attention to “Sweet Charity”—a show which is enjoying a recent revival on Broadway.

“We’re very excited to have him back,” Hawkins said.

Another fundraiser, and a returning favorite, will be dinner theater by The Players. A Mardi Gras Masque Mystery Dinner will be put on Feb. 6 at The Flying Pie to forward the goals of the group.

THE FUTURE

This year is Newberry Community Players’ 35th in production at the Ritz. Next year will mark 45 years in existence for the local theater group, and 2011 is the 75th anniversary of the Ritz Theater. There is a lot of history in The Players, and in the Art Deco theater that sits on Main Street. Hawkins and others are looking for ways to honor all that history, and move the troupe and building forward.

For one, The Players are working to collect stories concerning the two entities through the course of this year to help in the future celebration of such momentous anniversaries.

And for two, the group is out of debt, having paid for a new lighting system and sound system and other upgrades to the theater. Now, The Players are trying to determine the best path to full use and rehabilitation of the historic theater.

“As an organization, we have always been challenged by owning a facility,” Hawkins says. Hawkins says the volunteer board is looking to “live up to the reponsibility to this historic building” and to that end, may seek a different sort of guidance.

The board of the Newberry Community Players is investigating the creation of a separate steering committee to guide the facility uses and maintenance. “We’re going to draw together some stakeholders” Hawkins said and hopes to “start thinking outside the box to save this building.”

The Players’ aims for the building and its productions are threefold: quality production, education and venturing into “multimedia.” Hawkins said The Players are exploring how to “share our space.” Shull, vice-chair of the NCP, adds that the new uses would be, “not an ‘either/or,’ but an ‘and’ option.”

Some ways they are looking at sharing the use of the theater include screening movies and hosting art shows. In fact, they hope to have a seasonal movie on view around Halloween.

The stakeholders meeting is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 28.

One way in which the NCP has already firmly moved forward is through some new ticketing options. The Newberry Opera House has agreed to act as a ticket outlet for shows at The Ritz, making ticket purchasing much more convenient for the future audience. By phone or online there is a $3 processing fee for buying the tickets through The Opera House. In-person visits to the McKibben Street box office pay the same prices they would at the door of the Ritz.

Shull has also worked at creating a presence for The Ritz and The Players on World Wide Web at facebook and myspace, where you can befriend the group, and receive updates on production progress and other areas of interest. The group can also be found online at www.theritzonline.com.