Just had our first rehearsal for Avenue Q last night, and I couldn’t be more excited! Everyone is so talented! I can’t wait to see them with puppets! From the so wrong, yet so right accent of Christmas Eve (Emma Harvey), to those wonderfully naughty Bad Idea Bears (Lisa McNally and Eric Neuenschwander), this show is going to leave the audience laughing to tears! ….Your Director of Avenue Q, Corey.
We are at it again – bringing you the Ohio premiere of yet another musical this season at Wall Street Night Club. Avenue Q, the zany puppet musical which may resemble Sesame Street but pushes all boundaries of raunchy content, will go up June 20-July 1, 2012. Corey Notman, director, and the creative team just completed auditions this weekend and after a huge turn-out and tough casting decisions, we are proud to announce the extremely talented cast of Avenue Q with Imagine Productions of Columbus.
Kate Monster – Michelle Winberry
Princeton – Steven Carnahan
Lucy the Slut – Annie Bobbitt
Rod – Todd Holland
Nicky – Brandon Boring
Gary Coleman – Lena Haleem
Brian – Carl Stolzenburg
Christmas Eve – Emma Harvey
Trekkie Monster – Mark Walker
Bad Idea Bears – Lisa McNally and Eric Neuenschwander
Congratulations to all that auditioned and we look forward to keeping you updated about this first-ever production right here in downtown Columbus!
Barb Blankenship, Treasurer of Imagine’s Board and friend to all Central Ohio theater, passed suddenly and unexpectedly on Wednesday, March 21. A huge supporter of the arts, and always a proud theater mom, Barb also performed with Center Stage Players in 2007′s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and in 2010, as Rose in Gypsy. From the start, Barb has been integral to the creation of Imagine Productions and has supported her many friends in the theater community all over Central Ohio for years. Always willing to lend a hand, give advice or a swift kick in the pants where necessary, Barb’s kind heart and straightforward, unassuming friendship were hallmarks of her outstanding presence in our lives. Our most heartfelt sympathies go out to her husband Harold, and daughter Ashley as we share the loss of our friend and family member. She will be missed.
With all of the practice, all the blood, sweat and tears, all of the hype and all of the build up, opening night completely destroyed all expectations. Thanks go out to our fantastic audience, our versatile tech crew, our gorgeous orchestra and most importantly our incredible actors and actresses. Your soul, your voices, your emotions and all of your hard work made the central Ohio amateur premiere of Spring Awakening an unbelievable success
Now strap in, we have seven more performances! If you haven’t often your seats yet, get them now!! www.imaginecolumbus.com/reservations
With every passing minute, we are that much closer to opening night for Spring Awakening. Do not miss your opportunity to let this incredibly talented group of young actors tug at all of your emotions while rocking your socks off on the brand spankin’ new Wall Street Nightclub stage.
You have 8 chances to catch this show!
Friday, March 16, 2012 7:30 pm (18+ Only)
Saturday, March 17, 2012 7:30 pm (18+ Only)
Sunday, March 18, 2012 5:00 pm (Under 18 Allowed)
Friday, March 23, 2012 7:30 pm (18+ Only)
Saturday, March 24, 2012 7:30 pm (18+ Only)
Sunday, March 25, 2012 5:00 pm (Under 18 Allowed)
Friday, March 30, 2012 7:30 pm (18+ Only)
Saturday, March 31, 2012 7:30 pm (18+ Only)
Imagine Productions would like to congratulate Maria Carcinella Kane. She has been nominated for a Jebby Award for her role as Holly in Imagine’s inaugural show, The Wedding Singer. This is Imagine’s first nominee for a local award and we couldn’t be happier. Special thanks to the founder of The Jebby Awards for supporting the performing arts in the community, for bringing a critical eye to our performances and for recognizing one of our very talented cast members. Hope to see you at the presentation of the awards on March 31st!
Photo courtesy of Christen Graham Photography
… truly, ‘WOW’ is all that we can say about last night’s OVER THE TOP: An Evening of Musical Theatre performance. Because of the great supporters in the audience, we beat our fundraising goal by nearly 11%!!! Aside from that, the audience was incredibly enjoyable to perform to; engaged and energetic, the best kind of audience!
Thanks go out to our performers who volunteered their precious time and beautiful talents to put yet another great show on the Wall Street Nightclub stage. Thank you to our accompanist, Jim Kucera, as well as those running around like crazy people behind the scenes who made the show come together and flow smoothly; Seth Rodgers, Michele Chaney, Ryan Stem, Ben Maynard and Emily Dunlevie. And of course a special thanks to Tim Valentine and Adrian Helser who put an incredible amount of time, energy and creativity into arranging the show, teaching the music and relaying the choreography and stage direction. It was a very smooth and entertaining show because of all of you.
This was also very successful as a fundraiser because of our great sponsors; Columbus Gay Men’s Chorus, Dark Woods Entertainment, Hill Distributing, La Scala Italian Bistro, Shadowbox Live, Stonewall Columbus, and as always our generous host and the great staff at Wall Street Nightclub.
We may have tasted a bit of success last night, but we’re not going to rest, nor even slow down. Tonight is the kick-off rehearsal for Spring Awakening. Director Ed Eblin and the production team has put together a truly talented cast full of fresh faces to the Imagine family. Considering that this will be the debut performance of Spring Awakening in central Ohio, seats are going to sell fast for this very popular and highly regarded modern musical. Keep your eyes on the website and on our facebook page for promotional discounts. The windows of opportunity to reserve your seats at a bargain price will be very small, so make sure you’re ready to make your reservations as soon as the promo announcements are made.
Today is the day, Imagine Columbus is putting on its inaugural fundraiser, OVER THE TOP: An Evening of Musical Theatre. We can’t thank our friends and supporters enough for coming to see the show, it should be quite a fantastic adventure. The cast, and especially the production team, has worked very hard to put a fun performance on stage for everyone. As the cast awakes and puts on their pretty stage faces, Imagine Columbus would like to give a big thank you to our generous sponsors for tonight’s event.
Imagine Productions is bursting with pride and excitement for this announcement of the cast of Spring Awakening! This list represents the first amateur performers in Columbus to bring this wildly successful musical to a central-Ohio community theatre stage. The past two days showcased a phenomenal assortment of talent, the production staff were absolutely blown away by amazing vocals and dance abilities. Director Ed Eblin and the production staff were forced to deliberate long and hard to make these decisions. Thank you to everyone who auditioned! Reserve your seats now to make sure you don’t miss seeing these incredible performers bring this powerful musical to the Wall Street Nightclub stage in March!
Imagine now proudly presents the cast of Central Ohio’s amateur premiere of Spring Awakening!
Wendla – Alexa Rybinski
Melchior – Tito Duran
Moritz – Asher Pollock
Ilse – Mitra Jouhari
Martha – Rachel Gaunce
Thea – Sarah Tackett
Anna – Emily Albrinck
Hanschen – Matt Boyd
Ernst – Chris Hawkins
Otto – Derrick Walter
Georg – Logun Baker
Adult Man – Jack Miller
Adult Women – Andrea Klinker & Amy Sylvester
What does it take to make it to the Wall Street stage now with Imagine 2012? A triple threat of talent, that’s for sure. A thrilling day one of auditions were held yesterday at Stonewall Columbus for Spring Awakening set to open in March. Auditionees went through their individual auditions to sing 16-bars and deliver some exciting monologues to the audition panel of Director Ed Eblin, Assistant Director Esther Stinson, Music Director Ryan Stem, and Artistic Intern Drew Factor. There often was a hush over the holding room for the other auditionees when everyone could hear some amazing belting coming from the studio.
New to Imagine, choreographer Cassandra Cardenas got everyone’s bodies focused on a challenging modern dance combination that helped the panel fine tune their decisions for call backs. We definitely filled the room – perhaps a larger venue for future auditions? An extremely talented group of students from Whetstone High School showed up with their game faces ready. Kudos to the teachers who are preparing these performers at Whetstone! Many new faces to the company make the board, staff, and directors excited for our continued growth and high caliber shows this season. Seeing some returning faces tells us that we are facilitating great experiences for our actors.
What comes next? Today, a group of yesterday’s auditionees will be invited back for call backs to sing together and play off of each other for final review of stage chemistry. The sought-after roles of Wendla, Ilse, Melchior, and Moritz will make the production staff’s decisions difficult. That means this show will be another not to miss from Imagine Productions. Watch later this week for the announcement of the cast by Director Ed Eblin as he prepares for the Columbus community theatre premier of this Tony-award winning show. Purchase your table today, or you’ll be “Totally F***ed!”
