{"id":487,"date":"2012-08-29T14:37:04","date_gmt":"2012-08-29T18:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pscenterstageplayers.com\/wordpress\/?p=487"},"modified":"2014-01-24T10:58:10","modified_gmt":"2014-01-24T15:58:10","slug":"taking-center-stage-longtime-director-forms-youth-theater-troupe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pscenterstageplayers.com\/wordpress\/taking-center-stage-longtime-director-forms-youth-theater-troupe\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking center stage: Longtime director forms youth theater troupe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally Published: Monday, January 25, 2010, here<\/a> at NewsHerald.com<\/p>\n

By Andrea Blum<\/p>\n

\n

From the remnants of one youth theater group, another has emerged.<\/p>\n

PS. \u2014 Center Stage Players is the newest youth theater company on the Downriver scene. Headed by former Wyandotte Community Theatre director Penny Siler, the troupe sprang from the now-defunct Stage Right Players, WCT\u2019s youth arm.<\/p>\n

Siler boasts a long background in Downriver theater, having staged shows with both groups. She co-founded SRP with then-president Mary Zaleski and directed a string of successful shows, including \u201cOklahoma,\u201d \u201cAnne of Green Gables,\u201d \u201cCharlotte\u2019s Web\u201d and \u201cLes Miserables \u2014 School Edition.\u201d Her credits with WCT include \u201cDamn Yankees,\u201d Guys and Dolls\u201d and \u201cFiddler on the Roof.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PSCSP\"<\/a>
PS-Center Stage Players rehearses for its first production<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The newest youth theater group formed after internal strife led to the SRP\u2019s demise late last year. \u201cTo us, it\u2019s the same group,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s the same stage and same people. It\u2019s just that we\u2019re independent now. The changes have just been more on the reorganizational side.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the new moniker was chosen to represent the \u201cp.s. or postscript\u201d at the end of a letter. \u201cThe idea was that we were supposedly done, so much like a letter that has the p.s. after it, that was us continuing on after the end,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe PS stands for anything they can think of that\u2019s positive like \u2018pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starting the new troupe sooner than expected has been financially challenging, according to Siler, as they have to borrow lighting and sound equipment. \u201cThough we have been forced to restart with a new name, a complete lack of equipment and zero dollars, we are hopeful and confident about our future,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe freedom to create and entertain in a happy, positive atmosphere is well worth any financial woe. We definitely have a goal to be financially solvent again and appreciate all support by patrons, businesses and contributors.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first offering of the new company will be a musical version of the fairy tale \u201cHansel and Gretel\u201d to be staged Feb. 11 to 13 at the Josephine Brighton Work Skills Center\u2019s auditorium in Wyandotte, which will serve as the group\u2019s home stage.<\/p>\n

The second main stage production will be \u201cA Little Princess,\u201d on April 23-24 and 29-30. Auditions will be held from 3 to 6:30 p.m. Sunday at First United Methodist Church, 72 Oak St., Wyandotte. Auditions will continue from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Wyandotte City Hall, 3131 Biddle Ave. Come prepared to sing a song of your choice and read from the script. The cast will consist of females ages 6 to adult and males ages 8 to adult.<\/p>\n

The Center Stage Players will be a group \u201cby and\/or for young people,\u201d according to Siler, allowing for flexibility to stage shows with casts comprising children, adults or a combination of the two. \u201cWe will do things with all youth or with a mix,\u201d she said. \u201cIt could very well be a cast of all adults putting on a show for kids at some point.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, she will continue to offer acting workshops and opportunities for classes and performances by the improvisational comedy troupe \u201cImprovishness,\u201d coached by professional improv artist and instructor Michael Lomas of Trenton.<\/p>\n

She stresses that the new venture is far from a \u201cone-woman show,\u201d as the group relies on a solid base of friends, parents and associates from previous shows.<\/p>\n

The group won\u2019t have a typical board of directors structure, but rather place all the decisions and responsibility on Siler. She said she believes that will allow for a more harmonious group environment. \u201cSome people don\u2019t like holding office and getting involved in all the politics,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to focus on what\u2019s most important, and that\u2019s what\u2019s happening with the actors and on stage.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally Published: Monday, January 25, 2010, here at NewsHerald.com By Andrea Blum From the remnants of one youth theater group, another has emerged. PS. \u2014 Center Stage Players is the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-misc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p355v9-7R","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pscenterstageplayers.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pscenterstageplayers.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pscenterstageplayers.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pscenterstageplayers.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pscenterstageplayers.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pscenterstageplayers.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pscenterstageplayers.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pscenterstageplayers.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pscenterstageplayers.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}