Tag Archives: Chris Cherry

The Joy Gods Return at the Greenbelt Community Center, Mar 4-11

The Joy Gods Return at the Greenbelt Community Center, Mar 4-11

2023 Greenbelt Youth Musical
The Joy Gods Return
by Chris Cherry

Saturday, March 4, 7 pm
Sunday, March 5, 3 pm
Saturday, March 11, 2 pm and 7 pm

Location: Greenbelt Community Center Gymnasium 15 Crescent Rd.

A year after 9/11, actress Felicity Knox makes a surprise appearance as Iris, the messenger goddess of joy, on the Channel Four morning news. The stunt is meant to publicize the Broadway premiere of her late husband’s retro-musical, The Joy Gods Return, but it blossoms into a campaign of joy that lifts the spirits of the entire city. New York falls in love with Iris, and so does jaded newscaster Brian Banning, whose quest for an exposé
nearly wrecks everything. The Joy Gods Return celebrates the resurgence of joy after isolation and grief. It’s about the return of laughter, music, color, glamour, life – and love. After the hiatus of the pandemic, it’s exactly the show we need.

Tickets: $5; advance sales at (301) 397-2208

Theseus and the Monster in the Maze at the Greenbelt Community Center, Mar 7-14

Theseus and the Monster in the Maze at the Greenbelt Community Center, Mar 7-14

The 2020 Greenbelt Winter Youth Musical:
The School For Super-Heroes (in exile) Returns in
Theseus and the Monster in the Maze
Written and directed by Chris Cherry
Music Director: Stephan Brodd
Production Designer: Nicole DeWald

Saturday, March 7, 2020 at 7:00pm
Sunday, March 8, 2020 at 3:00pm
Saturday, March 14, 2020 at 2:00pm and 7:00pm

Location: Greenbelt Community Center Gymnasium 15 Crescent Rd.

Description: In the boarded-up building of the now-closed School For Super-Heroes, alumni of the school’s drama club gather for a secret reunion – and a meeting of the underground Resistance to the repressive Regime. The founders of the club are missing, but they’ve left behind a tantalizing clue: It’s a partial script, telling the story of Theseus, the legendary hero and founder of democracy. Now, new leaders must step forward to lead the club and bring the script to life, mounting an audacious production that may be the last hope to reopen the realm of storytime, rescue the missing heroes, and undermine the Regime’s despotic power.

Tickets: $5; advance sales at 301-397-2208

Homeward Bound at the Greenbelt Community Center, Mar 2-9

Homeward Bound at the Greenbelt Community Center, Mar 2-9

The 2019 Greenbelt Winter Youth Musical:
Homeward Bound
Written and directed by Chris Cherry
Music Director: Stephan Brodd
Production Designer: Nicole DeWald

Saturday, March 2, 2019 at 7:00pm
Sunday, March 3, 2019 at 3:00pm
Saturday, March 9, 2019 at 2:00pm and 7:00pm

Location: Greenbelt Community Center Gymnasium 15 Crescent Rd.

Homeward Bound is a rollicking musical based on The Odyssey by Homer. It tells the parallel stories of history’s most resourceful couple, Odysseus and Penelope. In his quest to return home after the Trojan War, the wily Odysseus surmounts challenges on land, at sea, and in the underworld. Meanwhile, shrewd Penelope must outmaneuver the Ithacan patriarchy to preserve her position, her independence, and her home. In addition to the questing hero and the besieged heroine, this fast-moving story features a runaway prince, scheming suitors, enchantresses, monsters, cannibals, giants, ghosts, a magic veil, a deadly whirlpool, and a shipwreck. Join us and help tell the tale that has enthralled human beings for 2800 years: An epic adventure, a domestic comedy, and an enduring love story.

Tickets: $5; advance sales at 301-397-2208

Register for the Greenbelt Winter Youth Musical

2019 Winter Youth Musical with the Greenbelt Recreation Department, Dec 15-Mar 9

Greenbelt Youth Musical Grades 7-12

Location: Greenbelt Community Center Gymnasium

Homeward Bound
By Chris Cherry
Based on The Odyssey by Homer

December 15, 2018 to March 9, 2019

he annual Greenbelt Youth Musical, now in its nineteenth year, is an open-enrollment musical theater program for teen actors in grades seven through twelve. The program gives teen actors the opportunity to work with professional theater artists and experience the fun of bringing original musical works to life, while building confidence and community. The environment is affirming, the process is fun, and the productions are excellent!

This is an open-enrollment program, so everyone who signs up is cast in the show. Attendance is required at casting rehearsals, dress rehearsals and all performances. Participants also must generally be available for weekend rehearsals starting January 4. Visit here to view the full schedule, read a description of the show, and learn about the casting and rehearsal process.

CASTING REHEARSALS:
December 15 and 16, 2018, 6:30pm-8:30pm

REGULAR REHEARSALS:
Fridays: 5:30-8:30pm
Saturdays: 2:00pm-6:00pm
Sundays: 4:00pm-7:00pm
Monday holidays (Jan. 21 and Feb. 18): 2:00pm – 8:00pm
Noon start time on Feb. 8 (P.G. Schools closed) for available actors.

SHOW DATES:
Saturday, March 2, 2019 at 7:00pm
Sunday, March 3, 2019 at 3:00pm
Saturday, March 9, 2019 at 2:00pm and 7:00pm

Costs: R: $173, NR: $196. Scholarship assistance is available for Greenbelt residents.

Homeward Bound is a rollicking musical based on The Odyssey by Homer. It tells the parallel stories of history’s most resourceful couple, Odysseus and Penelope. In his quest to return home after the Trojan War, the wily Odysseus surmounts challenges on land, at sea, and in the underworld. Meanwhile, shrewd Penelope must outmaneuver the Ithacan patriarchy to preserve her position, her independence, and her home. In addition to the questing hero and the besieged heroine, this fast-moving story features a runaway prince, scheming suitors, enchantresses, monsters, cannibals, giants, ghosts, a magic veil, a deadly whirlpool, and a shipwreck. Join us and help tell the tale that has enthralled human beings for 2800 years: An epic adventure, a domestic comedy, and an enduring love story.

To register click here.

Registration opens November 26, 2018 for Greenbelt residents and December 3, 2018 for others. The GWYM usually fills up on the first day of registration.

What Are You Going to Be? at the Greenbelt Community Center, June 23 & 24

What Are You Going to Be? at the Greenbelt Community Center, June 23 & 24

THE FEDERAL THEATRE PROJECT AND GREENBELT
Featuring an 80th anniversary presentation of Betty Smith’s one-act play:
What Are You Going To Be?

Greenbelt Community Center Auditorium, 15 Crescent Road

Saturday, June 23, 2018, 7:00pm
Sunday, June 24, 2018, 3:00pm

This 80th anniversary multi-media event, hosted by Chris Cherry, will recount the highlights of the WPA’s Federal Theatre Project and its connections with Greenbelt and the town’s first amateur theatrical group, the Greenbelt Players. The program will include a narration and slideshow, song performances by talented Greenbelt vocalists, and a presentation of the one-act Federal Theatre Project play, What Are You Going To Be? The play, recently rediscovered in the FTP archives at the Library Of Congress, was presented by the Greenbelt Players in the Greenbelt Community Center auditorium eighty years ago, on June 23, 1938. The play’s author, Betty Smith, was then a struggling writer, whose employment by the Federal Theater Project enabled her to keep writing. She eventually produced the world-famous novel, A Tree Grows In Brooklyn. The novel’s central characters, Francie Nolan and her family, were sketched by Smith in the one-act play. The Old Greenbelt Theatre will show the film version of A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, on Monday, June 25, giving Greenbelters the opportunity to trace echoes of the play in the film. Following the multi-media presentation and play performance on June 23, a reception will be held to mark the opening of the new permanent exhibit, The Federal Theater Project and Greenbelt.

Location: Greenbelt Community Center Gymnasium 15 Crescent Rd.

Tickets: $5
For tickets, call 301-397-2208 or visit the Community Center business office.