The summer time performing arts preview: A take a look at upcoming native theater, dance, music and extra
12 min read
Summer time is the season for silliness. It’s a time for operating by sprinklers, portray your fingernails 10 totally different colours, staying out too late, consuming junk meals … and being entertained by exhibits which are pleasant, humorous and unlikely to make you to assume too laborious.
Not less than that’s how I plan to spend my summer time.
Native performing-arts firms seem to have gotten that memo. A lot of their lineups are full of lighthearted fare—with comedies, feel-good dramas, upbeat dance numbers, killer tunes … or a mixture of all of those.
In fact, the problem in placing collectively a information like that is that I’m forecasting months upfront, and as I write this, a number of firms both hadn’t finalized particulars or just aren’t sharing them. You should definitely double verify firms’ web sites or social-media pages for schedule and ticketing particulars.
Reno
Ageless Repertory Theatre
ART is a readers’ theater troupe: Actors carry out roles with scripts in hand, utilizing solely the best of units and costumes to assist in telling their tales. ART’s performances are at 1 p.m., one Tuesday and one Friday every month. Better of all, they’re free! (Donations are welcome.)
On June 13 and 16, search for Tuesdays With Morrie, the stage adaptation of Mitch Albom’s well-known autobiographical work about his life-changing reunion with, and weekly pilgrimage to go to, his outdated, dying school professor.
ART’s Artown providing is Social Safety, operating July 11 and 14, with a particular Artown efficiency added on Wednesday, July 12, at 7 p.m. On this comedy, married artwork sellers have their lives turned the other way up when household unexpectedly arrives at their doorstep. (That is one among two performances of this present occurring this summer time; the second is in Carson Valley.)
A.V.A. Ballet Theatre
Ballet and rock music could make unusual bedfellows, however right here in Reno, they’re a successful combo. A.V.A. Ballet’s Vortex, the Ballet That Rocks at all times packs the home with its distinctive mix of well-liked rock, dance and different music; modern ballet; and spectacular units and costumes.
It’s additionally free, so make plans to get to Bartley Ranch Regional Park’s Robert Z. Hawkins Amphitheater early on Friday or Saturday, July 14 and 15.
Brüka Theatre
Brüka’s thirtieth season attracts to an in depth on the finish of summer time, however not earlier than the corporate kicks up its heels with Kinky Boots, operating an entire month, June 23-July 22. It’s well-timed; main as much as Northern Nevada Pleasure, this musical is about Charlie Value, who takes over his household’s shoemaking manufacturing unit and turns to an unlikely hero, Lola, a drag performer. An ensemble of twenty-two individuals performs manufacturing unit staff on this present by Harvey Fierstein and Cyndi Lauper; the rights for small theaters have been solely not too long ago launched.
Whereas that is Brüka’s final mainstage present of the season, the corporate might be busy all summer time. Its two-week youth theater camp will run July 10-23, culminating in a student-created present primarily based on the theme “The Thriller of the Mysterious Play,” devised in solely two weeks, with public performances on the final weekend.
Brüka will even participate as soon as once more within the Sierra Nevada Lavender and Honey Pageant, occurring Sunday, July 9, at Idlewild Park. Performances all day embody theater work by Brüka’s youth actors in addition to jazz tunes by Cami Thompson and CeCe Gable.
In September, as faculty begins, Brüka’s Theatre for Youngsters will current The Paramount and Wildly Ridiculous Historical past of Nevada, touring libraries and colleges with this 45-minute present that makes an attempt to current your entire historical past of Nevada. Catch a public efficiency Saturday, July 8, on the Brüka stage.
Goodluck Macbeth
GLM has made a robust dedication to presenting authentic, regionally created work, and its summer time exhibits replicate it, beginning with The ten 10-Minute Play Pageant. Drawing upon the barest of writing prompts—this 12 months’s being “field”—10 native playwrights, together with some native excessive schoolers, created their very own 10-minute performs, that are produced utilizing actual actors and minimal units. They run on Friday and Saturday, June 9 and 10—5 every night time, so you may make a weekend of it.
One other authentic creation takes the stage for Artown, July 7-29: Shark! A GLM Unique Parody. Parodies have turn into one thing of a specialty for GLM, which has confirmed particularly gifted at eliciting guffaws from savvy audiences. A spoof of the unique summer time blockbuster, Jaws, this present will embody loads of Easter eggs for the movie’s diehard followers, in addition to references to Reno that locals are certain to like. The GLM crew additionally will take part within the Pleasure parade.
As GLM turns its sights towards elevating funds for each its many productions and a capital marketing campaign, its repertoire will embody exhibits produced by outdoors firms renting the area, in addition to fundraising occasions. Try the award-winning Puppeteers for Fears, from Ashland, Ore., which brings its magical combo of horror, comedy and puppets (for mature audiences solely) to the stage on Wednesday, July 19, with Cthulhu: The Musical!
Then on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 11 and 12, catch TSTMRKT (pronounced “check market”), a Las Vegas-based sketch-comedy firm of 1 (Ernest Hemmings) that makes use of movie loops, cut-and-paste theater and a recorded rating to stage its one-man performances; there’s no tech crew, only a begin button. The manufacturing is Everybody Loves Dick: The Life and Occasions of Dick Ripper.
Native clothier Kate Caufield, a Nevada Arts Council grant recipient, will current her work in a trend present at GLM on Saturday, Aug. 26. Across the Stage Dance Firm will current its newest work right here in a fundraiser on Saturday, Sept. 9.
Additionally, each Sunday in August, watch for traditional movie screenings by arthouse cinema firm Theater 42, which opened for about 5 minutes in a constructing on Moana Lane earlier than allow points compelled its closure.
In case you’d wish to contribute to GLM’s mission and productions, cease by Chapel Tavern on Saturday, June 17, for a day fundraiser; get pleasure from food and drinks; attempt to win a raffle prize; and possibly even see your favourite performer.
Latino Arte and Tradition
Reno is dwelling to this Latinx-based performing arts and tradition group, helmed by Mario DelaRosa and Annamaria Cavallone. The corporate has offered quite a lot of bilingual (Spanish/English) theatrical and cultural occasions at areas round Reno/Sparks since 2010.
From Thursday, June 8, by Saturday, June 10, it presents LGBTQIA+ Latinx at Reno Little Theater. DelaRosa describes it as “a revealing and complicated play that exhibits communities which have traditionally been marginalized by an oppressive-hetero-patriarch-conservative-white society.” This dramedy will characteristic an all Latinx forged, most of whom are a part of the LGBTQIA+ neighborhood.
On Saturday, June 24, head over to Teglia’s Paradise Park for the Mariachi and Folklore of the Nations Pageant, a free occasion that can embody video games, arts and crafts distributors, meals vans, stay music and extra.
Reno Jazz Orchestra
This 17-piece modern band has been round for 26 years, touring with, internet hosting and paying homage to legendary performers within the jazz, swing and big-band world. This summer time’s lineup begins Saturday and Sunday, June 3-4, when college students within the RJO Jazz Workshop—a nine-week course for teenagers to develop improvisation, ear coaching, jazz concept and efficiency expertise —and the Reno Youth Jazz Orchestra carry out on the Goodluck Macbeth stage, performing works by Rely Basie, Benny Carter, Sammy Nestico and others.
Search for the RJO on levels round Reno and Lake Tahoe, together with Scorching Home: One Night time on the Savoy Ballroom, a Thirties-themed stage present with huge band/swing music and dance. This Artown efficiency is free to the general public on the new J Resort in Reno on Saturday, July 29. The present then travels to Sand Harbor’s stage as a part of the (ticketed) Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Pageant on Monday, July 31.
The corporate will even open the Jazz and Past Pageant in Carson Metropolis on Friday, Aug. 11, on the Governor’s Mansion. Then the band will be a part of Grammy-winning saxophonist Tom Scott, on Sunday, Aug. 20, at UNR’s Nightingale Live performance Corridor, and Monday, Aug. 21, on the Shakespeare Pageant.
Reno Little Theater
Like Brüka, RLT is presenting a Broadway musical for the month of Artown: Seussical the Musical runs June 30-July 30. Oh, the locations you’ll go on this story of an elephant, a chook and a boy, together with a few of the most beloved characters from the world of Dr. Seuss. Shea King, a theater teacher at Truckee Meadows Neighborhood Faculty who’s at present heading up its performing arts troupe, will direct this one. UNR dance college Nate Hodges choreographs it, and Abby Rosen, contemporary off directing GLM’s Males on Boats, gives vocal course.
Friday, Aug. 18, by Sunday, Aug. 20, director Stacey Spain will lead RLT’s Teenagers Converse Out education-program present. TSO productions are impressed by a theme and are comprised of prewritten works, motion and devised work, which is developed as the teenager actors rehearse. This 12 months’s present, Now I Lay Me Down 2 Sleep, addresses the subject of unhoused youth. Every efficiency might be adopted by a talkback, and the group is working with Eddy Home for consciousness and fundraising.
RLT additionally hosts a month-to-month jazz efficiency by For the Love of Jazz on the third Sunday of every month. And its one-week Act Out Theater Camp applications, with every week having a special theme, can be found to children in kindergarten by sixth grade the weeks of June 19, June 26, July 17, July 24, July 31 and Aug. 7.
Sierra Nevada Ballet
I like a free present, and July is filled with them. Right here’s one other one: Sierra Nevada Ballet will current Dancing at Bartley on Friday, July 7, on the Hawkins Amphitheater at Bartley Ranch. The present options items by 9 choreographers and SNB dancers, in addition to a efficiency famend faucet star Sam Weber, and jazz music by Cami Thompson and her trio.
The Final Unicorn is SNB’s full-length, authentic ballet, created over a three-year interval by creative director Rosene Bena, primarily based on a novel by Peter S. Beagle, concerning the story of a unicorn and her journey to avoid wasting the remainder of her race, with music by Franz Liszt. It runs Saturday, July 22, on the Pioneer Heart; Monday, July 24, on the Shakespeare Pageant; and Saturday, Aug. 5, on the Carson Metropolis Neighborhood Heart.
The Pioneer Heart for the Performing Arts
Earlier than SNB’s present, Reno’s premier efficiency venue will host a number of performers, beginning with Reno Dance Firm’s Full Physique Rock, an authentic musical revue that blends basic and present rock hits with a mess of dance genres, on Sunday, June 4 (two showings).
The Shamrock Productions and Dancin! Performing Arts Heart current a showcase of Irish dance, ballet, faucet, jazz, hip hop and modern dance and musical theater on Monday, June 12. Then on Saturday, June 17, catch Core Connection Dance Firm’s recital, Step Up and Dance!
The Reno Philharmonic Orchestra presents Disney’s A Dream Is a Want for 2 showings on Saturday, June 24, that includes Broadway-caliber vocalists, clips from beloved Disney films and a few of Disney’s most acknowledged songs.
On Friday, June 30, get pleasure from speaker César Lozano’s Spanish-language speak about coping with tough individuals and circumstances.
Then summer time break brings a few of the world’s funniest teacher-comedians to Reno on Monday, July 10, for the Bored Academics Comedy Tour.
The Theatre
Tucked into the Save Mart purchasing heart on Keystone Avenue, this newly renovated theater area hosts recurrently sold-out exhibits, the likes of which you could possibly as soon as solely discover in on line casino showrooms. Each Saturday night time, Kevin and Caruso’s Magique options dazzling shows of magic, spectacular dance numbers, acrobatics and extra.
Rogue Worx, the troupe of performers that introduced #Millennial and Hush to The Theatre, is deep in growth on its subsequent manufacturing, The Sport, a choose-your-own-adventure, psychedelic recreation present that includes parts of cabaret and cirque nouveau, which can run on Fridays beginning Sept. 22.
TheatreWorks of Northern Nevada
This educating theater centered on offering performing arts training to youth and the underserved is in its 18th season. TWNN might be offering its annual summer time theater camp for teenagers June 19-23.
That units the stage for its Artown manufacturing, The Neverending Story, primarily based on the beloved youngsters’s e book. A longtime TWNN scholar and forged member, James Escobedo, will make his directorial debut with this present earlier than heading to varsity in New York this fall. Catch a sneak peak of a number of scenes onstage on the Reno Public Market on Sunday, June 25. Full performances will happen July 7-30 on the firm’s area at 315 Spokane St., which is newly transformed. Because of Keller Williams’ RED Day, a day of neighborhood service for the realty firm, TWNN was the recipient of a makeover, full with new dressing rooms, storage, a tech sales space, paint and flooring.
Sparks
Stressed Artists Theatre
RAT’s intimate area in downtown Sparks is good for small productions. Its July 7-17 providing of Popcorn Falls is an ideal instance. Solely two actors play 20 roles on this farce a couple of small, bucolic hamlet with a waterfall that’s turned the other way up when an evil villain upstream from the city plans to divert the water and switch Popcorn Falls right into a sewage therapy plant. Can the residents can succeed of their plan to placed on a theatrical manufacturing and save the city?
In August (dates TBD), RAT will current a present from one among its favourite playwrights, Lauren Gunderson. By and By is a sci-fi thriller a couple of nerdy father, his daughter, the spouse he misplaced years in the past and the lengths he goes to to be able to re-create the love he shared together with her. The story explores the specter of “edgy science.”
Sierra College of Performing Arts
One spotlight of summer time is at all times SSPA’s annual manufacturing underneath the celebrities at Bartley Ranch. This 12 months isn’t any totally different as the corporate presents The Addams Household, the musical primarily based on the beloved TV collection and movies about all people’s favourite not-quite-normal household. Working Aug. 11-26, the present will embody a stay band. As a result of late summer time is now Smoke Season, the corporate has established a contingency plan: The present will transfer to Damonte Ranch Excessive College within the occasion of air high quality turning into too poor to carry out outdoors.
Carson Metropolis/Carson Valley
Carson Valley Neighborhood Theatre
Carson Valley’s resident theater firm would be the second one this summer time to carry Andrew Bergman’s Social Safety to the stage. As director Toni Tomei explains, the unique 1986 Broadway manufacturing was directed by Mike Nichols and starred Marlo Thomas, Ron Silver and Olympia Dukakis. It’s a comedy a couple of hip married couple in Manhattan’s Higher East Facet whose tranquility is shattered when the spouse’s polar-opposite sister, brother-in-law and stereotypically Jewish mom descend on their doorstep. The present runs July 14-23 on the CVIC Corridor in Minden.
Carson Metropolis Ghost Stroll
Brüka Theatre’s personal Mary Bennett heads up this annual capital metropolis favourite. In her function as Madame Curry, spouse of Carson Metropolis’s personal founding father, Abe Curry, she leads members on a stroll alongside the town’s streets, declaring a few of its most historic (and haunted!) buildings and regaling company with fascinating and spooky tales. Ghost walks happen on occasional Saturdays by the summer time, beginning June 10, main as much as an all-day tour in October that permits company to step inside houses and expertise visits from “spirits.”
Proscenium Gamers, Inc.
PPI, the oldest theater firm in Carson Metropolis, is bringing again its well-liked manufacturing of Gaslight for one weekend, July 7-9, on the Carson Metropolis Neighborhood Heart. Written by Patrick Hamilton, this darkish drama “dives deep into the psyche,” says director Steven Segal. It’s the story of a husband who tries to drive his spouse insane to be able to take away her from their residence in order that he can proceed looking for stolen treasure. It’s supposed for mature audiences solely.
Wild Horse Productions
Wild Horse’s Youngsters’s Theater enjoys presenting works that can delight the youngest of viewers members—even those that have a tough time sitting nonetheless. This summer time, the corporate presents Jungle E-book Youngsters, a 45-minute condensed model of the Disney basic. It strikes alongside at an excellent clip, and there’s no intermission to gradual issues down. Two back-to-back performances happen on Friday, June 23, on the Brewery Arts Heart Efficiency Corridor.
Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Pageant
This 12 months’s annual Shakespeare Pageant is not going to characteristic Shakespeare, and it’ll not have two exhibits … but it surely’s definitely doubling down on foolish, outrageous enjoyable with Little Store of Horrors as its mainstage manufacturing! So excited are the pageant’s patrons that tickets are promoting briskly. In case you’ve missed it till now, it’s the story of a plant that drinks blood and grows to such an infinite measurement that it will possibly eat individuals.
Apart from the mainstage present, LTSF additionally will host a number of different native performing firms (some talked about right here), in addition to concert events by such big-name acts as Pink Martini and Pablo Cruise.
