. . . THAT’S RIGHT! It’s The Tokens on VLT’s MainStage February 4 and 5 only! (Your editor once fell in love to the sweet sweet sounds of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and can hardly wait to see these guys, and perhaps, remember being young!) They do a simply wonderful show full of oldies in their inimitable style. You aren’t going to want to miss this one. Shows are Sunday and Monday at 8:00 p.m. and tickets are $40.00.

. . . right now. Bedroom Farce in the MainStage has them laughing till it hurts and the Stage II production of Into the Woods opened last week to rave reviews. Sarasota Magazine said "It’s really hard to say enough good things about this production". Well, gee, thanks. We feel the same way. Into the Woods has only about 100 tickets left for the entire run - most of them in the last week. Call quickly on this one.

. . . from building The Full Monty at the same time, even though they’re shut out of working in the main building (with two shows currently running). Since we acquired the ‘annex’ (the old ABC Liquor building) a few years ago, we’ve been slowly converting it into a workable scenery shop and this is the first season that we’ve been able to actually build an entire set while another show is running. That really helps because it allows the cast of the ‘next show’ to move their rehearsals onto the stage much faster than was ever possible in the past.

. . . Godspell. Director is Larry Alexander. This is a MainStage musical and he’s looking for 5 men and 5 women, late teens to young adult. Saturday at 2:30 pm and Sunday at 5:00 pm.

Please note: We have moved the auditions for Anne of Green Gables from March 10-11 to March 17-18. Time hasn’t changed, so it’ll be March 17 at 2:30 p.m. and March 18 at 5:00 p.m. Director is Murray Chase.

. . . we’ve got two to tell you about.

Our November volunteer was Kent Schroeder, who, at the last minute, stepped in as backstage crew for Gypsy and became indispensable. He actually took over and coordinated all the backstage efforts and was there for every performance keeping things humming. Kent also works year round as one of our Silver Foxes.

Our December winner was Stefanie Harmon, an actor and assistant choreographer. Stefanie moved into the title role of Gypsy for the extended portion of the run, with only two weeks of rehearsal time. She was then asked by Sandy Davisson, who was choreographing for A Christmas Carol, to help redo and teach the new dance combinations to her cast. Stefanie did it happily and when a cast member of A Christmas Carol had an emergency, she stepped in, put on a costume with fifteen minutes' notice, and took to the stage again for the last three shows. That’s volunteer spirit!

You’re both great!

Our MainStage playbill, Shownotes, is one of the best advertising buys in Venice. Our Gene DeBlass is the point person for the second year. He can be reached through the box office – between Shownotes and ads in Stage II, concert and cabaret shows, there’s the right package for every business, whatever your budget.

. . . say "Hi" to this Kentucky lad. He’s 22 and his name is Bryan Ratliff and he’s spending a full year training here with us at VLT. Some of you may recall that Allan Kollar traveled to the Artist Collaborative Theatre in Pike County, Kentucky the last two summers as part of a mentoring program through the AACT. Bryan comes from Kemper, KY, and he started working with ACT as a teenager. Young adults in that area usually have three choices: work in the coal mines, go on welfare or leave. Theatre gave Bryan a direction for his life and he is now undergoing a condensed, one-year version of our two year TTAP program, while simultaneously interning here in all aspects of theatre from acting to the business office. He’s be working a very intense schedule. Upon his graduation here, he plans to return to the University of Kentucky and eventually to Pike County and hopes to make a difference in the life of that community. The VLT Education Department provided a full TTAP scholarship and we arranged housing. A special thanks to David Towne and Eric Styren for providing the monthly stipend (for the whole year!) that makes it possible for Bryan to be here. Anyone who’d like to step up and join David and Eric in supporting Bryan’s time here – your contribution would be most welcome!

His local paper in Pike County wrote a detailed article about Bryan and his plans to come to Venice, which you can read at

. . . are interning at VLT for the month of January. They are Samuel Gerace, Shannon Strischek and Lauren Nash. They’re all very nice, very helpful and we hope they come back!

• Online ticketing got some updates over the holidays, which shut the function down for a while. If you were disappointed, we’re sorry and hope you’ll try again. Everything’s working just perfectly now!

through FEBRUARY 4 - Bedroom Farce - MainStage

through FEBRUARY 11 - Into the Woods - Stage II in the Pinkerton Theatre

JANUARY 27-28 Auditions: Godspell

JANUARY 29 Concert: Boots Randolph on MainStage

FEBRUARY 4-5 Oldies Concert: The Tokens

FEBRUARY 13 - Opening Night: Golf, The Musical, a VLT Cabaret in the Pinkerton Theatre

FEBRUARY 20 - Opening Night: The Full Monty, on MainStage (through March 18)

FEBRUARY 25-26 - Concert: The Kingston Trio on MainStage

MARCH 2 - Lecture: SILL lecture in MainStage (Sarasota Institute of Lifetime Learning)

MARCH 4-5 - Concert: Red, Hot & . . . Blue on MainStage

MARCH 11 - Concert: Sounds of Harry James and Andrews Sisters on MainStage

MARCH 12 - Concert: The Mills Brothers on MainStage