East Lynne Theater Company Plans Student Workshop

CAPE MAY – “Be careful what you wish for” is the lesson learned in “The Fisherman and His Wife.” Then there are those wonderful animals whose off-pitch voices save the day in “The Bremen Town Musicians.” And sometimes, you have to know when to be quiet and when to say the exact right thing like “The Three Travelers” learned to do.
It’s all in fun, and all part of “Storybook Theater: Old Fables with a New Twist,” the award-winning East Lynne Theater Company’s Student Workshop Production. With minimum props and costumes, students will focus on the art of storytelling and how to work as a tight ensemble, using the imagination to its fullest.
Like the last five years, the workshop will be run by Gayle Stahlhuth who has directed more than half of the sixty-plus different mainstage productions (not including returning shows) that she’s produced since becoming ELTC’s artistic director in 1999. Aside from performing in musicals and plays in NYC and regionally for over forty years, she has also performed her own one-person shows that have been produced by the likes of Manhattan Theatre Club, The New York International Fringe Festival, The Smithsonian Institution, and Chautauquas around the country. For several years, she has charmed audiences with her Christmas shows in Cape May, creating over thirty characters in one evening while performing classic American tales.
Assisting her is Lee O’Connor, ELTC’s technical director who has also worked at Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden Theatre, Primary Stages, and Irish Rep, as well as theaters outside of NYC. As a performer for ELTC, he has played the title role in the Sherlock Holmes radio-style productions and is a favorite at ELTC’s popular “Tales of the Victorians,” where stories are read at various Cape May locations during tea time.
ELTC is thrilled that two new members are joining the Workshop team: Kathleen D. Gaynor has found time in her busy schedule to assist with this program only, and Gabrielle Wilson, who will be working for several months as production assistant.
Kathleen, a state certified Teacher of Theater in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, is the Senior Academy Theatre Teacher at Mariana Bracetti Academy in North Philadelphia. She has created and managed workshops including “Drama in the Classroom” for Bucks County Intermediate Unit #22, and a week-long residential camp for students, including those with special needs, for the Bristol Township School District. She has also conducted workshops at The Philadelphia Zoo and Bristol Riverside Theatre in Bucks County, PA. Her stage credits include “Greetings and Fools” (Playmasters), “A Party to Murder” (The Village Players of Hatboro), “The Pillowman,” “I Hate Hamlet,” “Haunted Lives,” “The Real Inspector Hound” (Action Arts Theatre Company), “The Family Jewels” (Morning Star Players), Lyla Newton at the Philadelphia Zoo during “Zoozapalooza” and an Actor Educator with Conflict Resolution Theatre. In 2011, she received the Barrymore Award for Excellence in Theatre Education and Community Outreach.
Gabrielle Wilson is a Theatre Performance major and Arts Administration minor at Rider University. She has been involved in many productions including playing the role of Matilde (“The Clean House”), Moth (“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”), Emma (“Jekyll and Hyde”), Scarecrow (“The Wiz”), Rosie (“Bye Bye Birdie”), Ado Annie (“Oklahoma”), Sandy (“Grease”), Ermengarde (“Hello Dolly”) and was in the ensemble of “The Wedding Singer.” In 2008 and 2009, Gabrielle was nominated for best leading actress and best supporting actress in Paper Mill Playhouse’s Rising Star Program. She is involved in the national theater fraternity Alpha Psi Omega and is a part of the Rider Dance Team and the Arts Administration Association. In 2009, she was crowned Miss Pitman, and has been a judge within the Miss America Association.
The workshop is for ages 11-18, and the class is limited to 12. The dates are June 19, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, 28, 29 from 12:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m., and on July 2, rehearsal is from 2:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. On the first day, June 19, parents/guardians may arrive a little early to talk to the workshop staff, but class will begin promptly at 12:30 p.m.
The performance of “Storybook Theater” is on Mon., July 2 at 8:00 p.m, and is admission-free and open to the community. This much-anticipated event is at The First Presbyterian Church, 500 Hughes St. in Cape May, where the company is in residence.
The fee is only $200.00 to be included in this exciting Workshop, and already students are signing up. To receive applications, call ELTC at 609-884-5898, send e-mails to eastlynneco@aol.com, or go the web site www.eastlynnetheater.org.
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