Spokane Civic Theatre’s production of “Murder on the Orient Express” is the kind of show you’ll want to see twice and then run back to the Agatha Christie novel for more. Caught in a snowstorm, the Orient Express – unusually crowded for the time of year – slides to an abrupt halt just minutes past
These are the facts: In 2003, a writer named John D'Agata submitted an essay to Harper's Magazine. The piece centered largely on Levi Presley, a 16-year-old boy who had leaped from the observation deck of the Stratosphere Hotel in Las Vegas the previous year. Presley's suicide served as a case in point for D'Agata's broader examination of the
How do you tell the truth? Are cold hard facts enough to get the whole story across? Spokane Civic Theatre’s production of “The Lifespan of a Fact,” a one-act play by Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell and Gordon Farrell, opens in the Firth J. Chew Studio Theatre on Friday at 7:30 p.m. “I think it’s really
Set in New York City, before and following WWI, “Funny Girl” is a semibiographical musical account of the life of “Ziegfeld Follies” star Fanny Brice and her loving but tempestuous marriage to Nicky Arnstein. Directed by Jake Schaefer with musical direction by Henry McNulty, Spokane Civic Theatre’s production of “Funny Girl” opens Friday at 7:30
Spokane Civic Theatre’s opening night of “Plaza Suite” was a success, to say the least. Directed by Civic veteran Troy Nickerson, the play is funny, sad and often borders on uncomfortable to watch, but considering the material, it’s supposed to be. Written by four-time Tony Award winner Neil Simon, “Plaza Suite” follows a trio of
Spokane Civic Theatre’s production of “Plaza Suite” opens this weekend in the Firth J. Chew Studio Theatre. Written by four-time Tony Award winner Neil Simon, “Plaza Suite” follows a trio of couples as each occupies a particular suite at the Plaza Hotel. Sam and Karen’s stay, much like their long-suffering marriage, can’t seem to end
For close to four decades, playwright Neil Simon — balding, bulb-nosed, bespectacled — so dominated American theater that he became an unlikely object of desire. In her 2021 memoir Going There, journalist Katie Couric recalled setting out with the express intention of seducing him at a press conference for his 1985 film The Slugger's Wife. At the time
Spokane Civic Theatre returns with The Play That Goes Wrong! Welcome to opening night of the Cornley Drama Society's newest production, The Murder at Haversham Manor, where things are quickly going from bad to utterly disastrous. With an unconscious leading lady, a corpse that can't play dead, and actors who trip over everything (including their lines),
The last two years have been full of drama. A deadly virus. Crushing social isolation. The complete upending of life as we know it. It’s been the kind of drama that nobody wanted. But this weekend, the right kind of drama returned. After a two-year hiatus, the Spokane Civic Theatre had its first indoor, in-person
After a nearly two-year hiatus brought on by the pandemic,Spokane Civic Theatre is resuming live productions with the regional premiere of The Play That Goes Wrong, a comedy that promises exactly what its title says. Written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, the play captures the opening performance of the Cornley Drama Society's The Murder
The next in Spokane Civic Theatre’s “Civic Presents” lineup, actor Patrick Treadway’s “Mark Twain” is a one-man, staged retelling of the eponymous writer’s life. Starring and created by Treadway, the show incorporates excerpts of Twain’s writing as his life story unfolds onstage. Filmed over the course of two performances on the main stage at the
LISTEN TO THE RADIO INTERVIEW HERE Heather McHenry-Kroetch, Director of Spokane Civic Theatre's new production of "Cabaret," swings by the studio to discuss the show. Also in the studio are actors Aubree Pederson (Sally Bowles) and Rebecca Craven (Fraulein Schneider), and Music Director Henry McNulty with Tonya Ballman (Assistant Music Director) with a preview of
A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder is no place for those of weaker constitution and who may be faint of heart. It says as much in its opening song. One reason why sensitive souls might be better off departing is that this particular musical features death. Lots of it. A reverend. A rich playboy and his
LISTEN TO THE RADIO INTERVIEW HERE Troy Nickerson, Director of Spokane Civic Theatre's production of "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder" visits the studio to discuss the musical. Also in the studio are actors Emily Jones, Joseph Hall, and Music Director Henry McNulty, with a preview of the show. "A Gentleman's Guide to Love
They say it takes a village to raise a child, and, though he’s not a child, it sure has taken a village to raise Garry Essendine, the man at the forefront of Noël Coward’s “Present Laughter,” which opened at Spokane Civic Theatre on Jan. 17. Essendine (Patrick McHenry-Kroetch) has built a reputation as a matinee
A new year means new theatrical productions are opening on four area stages this week. Stage Left Theater, Spokane Civic Theatre, the First Interstate Center for the Arts and Lake City Playhouse will open “Mandelstam,” “Present Laughter,” “An American in Paris” and “Fun Home,” respectively. Read on to learn more about each production. ‘Present
LISTEN TO THE RADIO INTERVIEW HERE Spokane Civic Theatre's latest production of the season is Noel Coward's "Present Laughter." Director Melody Deatherage visits the studio with actors Patrick McHenry-Kroetch (Garry Essendine), Elisabet Edwards (Liz Essendine), and Phedre Burney-Peters (Monica Reed) to discuss the show and perform a scene or two. "Present Laughter" opens Friday, January
LISTEN TO THE RADIO INTERVIEW HERE Kearney Jordan, Spokane Civic Theatre's Academy Director, visits the studio to discuss her production of the classic holiday play-within-a-play "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever." Joining her in the conversation are actors Millie Paine, Josephine Kahler, and Audrey Overstreet. This production is SOLD OUT. For more information on Spokane Civic
LISTEN TO THE RADIO INTERVIEW HERE Spokane Civic Theatre's holiday season productions open with an adaptation of the classic film "It's a Wonderful Life." Director Marianne McLaughlin and actors Megs Levi (Mary) and Joshua Baig (George) visit the studio to talk about the production and to perform a preview. "It's a Wonderful Life" opens Friday,
Andrew Start is no stranger to working in minimalism. Having previously directed “The Flick” for Spokane Civic Theatre, Start again brings his audience an intimate portrayal of humanity, this time marked with a tense and resolute realism. “This Is Our Youth,” written by Kenneth Lonergan, is sodden with nostalgia, but with the kind that’s heavier
Director Andrew Start’s last play at Spokane Civic Theatre, Annie Baker’s “The Flick,” found him directing three actors – two men and a woman – in their roles as misfit ushers in a rundown theater. Throughout the play, the three leads chat while sweeping up popcorn and running a film projector. And … that’s about
Though it has the unmistakable ring of a declaration, This Is Our Youth treats its title more like a question than a statement. Its three characters — two boys, one girl, all in their late teens and early 20s — are aimless and uncertain. They're unsure of who they are, who they want to be and how they
Sometimes the smallest things make the biggest impact. From Friday to Dec. 8 in the Firth J Chew Studio Theatre at the Spokane Civic Theatre three actors will take the stage to play out an evening in their apartment for the production of Kenneth Lonergan’s “This Is Our Youth.” In the Broadway and West End
LISTEN TO THE RADIO INTERVIEW HERE Andrew Start, Director of Spokane Civic Theatre's production of Kenneth Lonergan's "This Is Our Youth," visits the studio to discuss the play, which centers around young adults in 1980s Manhattan. Also in the studio are Denny Taylor (Dennis), Jacob Carruthers (Warren), and Elizabeth Martin (Jessica) who play the three
LISTEN TO THE RADIO INTERVIEW HERE Spokane Civic Theatre's latest production taps local history to tell the story of the Hutton Settlement children's home in Spokane Valley. Writer/director Tim Rarick, actors Tom McArthur (Judge Leavy) and Michael Schmidt (Gus Paulson), and Hutton Settlement Director of Community Relations & Communications, Jessica Laughery, discuss the Settlement's history
Exile While many folks will instinctively be drawn to Funny Girl, the renowned show-stopping musical that will be running upstairs on the Spokane Civic Theatre’s main stage a few days after this play’s run ends, Exile stands out for being its polar opposite. This smaller-scale studio production is an original play by the Civic’s resident
They say “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” But how should you feel when someone steals your material and presents it as their own? That was a common occurrence when William Shakespeare was making a name for himself as a playwright, according to Susan Hardie. Fellow playwrights, Hardie said, would attend productions of Shakespeare’s
LISTEN TO THE RADIO INTERVIEW HERE Spokane Civic Theatre’s Susan Hardie visits the studio to discuss “The Book of Will,” Lauren Gunderson’s play about a pivotal moment in Elizabethan history when the plays of William Shakespeare could have been lost to posterity. Also in the studio are actors Jamie Flannery (John Heminges), Bridget Pretz (Alice
LISTEN TO THE RADIO INTERVIEW HERE Spokane Civic Theatre's Kathie Doyle-Lipe, Director of "Matilda the Musical," visits the studio with actors Eleanor Weitz (Matilda), Shelby Freesmeyer (Miss Honey), and Doug Dawson (Miss Agatha Trunchbull), and the Civic's Music Director, Henry McNulty, with a preview of the production. "Matilda the Musical" has performances Thursdays through Saturdays
LISTEN TO THE RADIO INTERVIEW HERE Kearney Jordan, Academic Director of Spokane Civic Theatre, brings a preview of this summer's Civic Academy Musical Production (C.A.M.P), the musical, "13." Henry McNulty, Music Director, accompanies cast members Jameson Elton, Addit Dibble, Delaney Kahler, Arlo McGowan, Tyler McCabe, Erik Wolfrum, Max Petrusek, and Leilani Santiago, performing two songs
LISTEN TO THE RADIO INTERVIEW HERE Spokane Civic Theatre's summer season opens with "Spring Awakening," a musical based on the 1891 German play of the same name by Frank Wedekind, and with contemporary words and music by Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik. Jake Schaefer (who co-directs the production with Sarah Dahmen), cast members Aubrey Peterson
Actress and singer Elizabeth Martin has been onstage since she was 4, inspired by seeing her older sisters take the stage. But after more than a decade of performing, Martin decided that it was time for a break. “I didn’t know if I was doing it because I wanted to do it or because it
Abbreviated rehearsal schedules are nothing new in the theater world, but with Spring Awakening, the Spokane Civic Theatre's first fully fledged, main-stage summer production in recent memory, the usual time constraints were even more unforgiving. With less than four weeks between the close of Young Frankenstein, the community theater's 2018–19 season finale, and curtain up on Spring Awakening, the
“Young Frankenstein,” the musical, is based on the movie of the same name, which was directed by Mel Brooks and written by Brooks and Gene Wilder, who starred in the film. A parody of horror films, it’s no surprise that the film is quite silly and over the top. Luckily for fans, and for those
It’s not at all unusual to see Henry McNulty’s name in a theater program. He is, after all, the resident music director at Spokane Civic Theatre and a talented performer who has appeared in productions like “Forever Plaid,” “Million Dollar Quartet” and “The Music Man” at Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre. But what is unusual is
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein famously sprang from a private literary contest between Shelley, her husband Percy and Lord Byron to see who could write the best horror story. In the 201 years since it was published, her novel has gone on to be as misunderstood and misrepresented as the monster at its center. Popular imagination's green, lumbering, square-shouldered brute
It’s an interesting experience to, while watching a play, enjoy the actors but dislike the characters they play. While watching Spokane Civic Theatre’s production of John Guare’s “The House of Blue Leaves,” directed by Heather McHenry-Kroetch, I had one of of those experiences. “The House of Blue Leaves” takes place over the course of a
To those who have tried and failed to read “Moby Dick,” director Jean Hardie understands the struggle. An English major in college, Hardie said she was never able to finish the nearly 400-page novel. “I refer to it sometimes as a book that everybody starts and very few finish,” she said with a laugh. So
Opening night comes with enough pressure as it is, but the opening night of the regional premiere of a production must amplify that feeling. Spokane Civic Theatre took on the challenge, and succeeded, with its newest main stage production, the regional premiere of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” directed by Melody
A flower shop employee. A shopkeeper’s naive assistant. A clumsy jack of all trades. The younger self of a seasoned performer. University High School senior Nicholas Griep, 18, has played a variety of roles in his few short years as an actor, but none have been as challenging as that of Christopher John Francis Boone
For the most part, to see live theater is, by nature, to be a fly on the wall. Save for the rare times when actors address the crowd, members of the audience are observers watching a story unfold. But that fly-on-the-wall feeling is amplified during Spokane Civic Theatre’s production of Annie Baker’s “The Flick.” “The
The Flick is both the title and the setting of Annie Baker's 2014 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about the employees of a classic single-screen theater as it undergoes an ambivalent transition from film-based to digital projection. The play is receiving its regional premiere in a new production in Spokane Civic Theatre's Firth J. Chew Studio space. Andrew Start,
Going to see a movie is a bit of a spectacle in and of itself. After purchasing your tickets, there’s the matter of concessions. Do you go for the classic popcorn and soda combo? The nachos? The licorice or M&Ms? Once that’s settled, it’s time to find the perfect seat. Are you a middle-of-the-row, middle-of-the-theater
Musical revues are nothing new for Spokane Civic Theatre, but “Broadway, Beat by Beat” isn’t exactly like other revues. Sure, once the performers take the stage, they’ll perform Broadway hit after Broadway hit, either solo or as part of a duet or group. But “Broadway, Beat by Beat” is a show for the performers, by
You can’t deny the appeal of Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman’s “You Can’t Take It With You,” a play with the perfect balance of humor, drama and feel-good moments. The play, which premiered on Broadway in 1936 and won the Pulitzer Prize for drama the next year, is the story of the eccentric Sycamore-Vanderhof-Carmichael
A vortex of creativity will hit local museums, galleries, universities and theaters this weekend in the form of Spokane’s Winter Arts Tour. Spokane Arts, the nonprofit working to amplify the city as an arts hub, promotes local arts events as part of the Winter Arts Tour to celebrate Spokane’s arts and culture scene. “We see
There's no doubting the timeless appeal of You Can't Take It With You, the farcical family comedy that's been produced — somewhere — pretty much constantly since it debuted on Broadway in 1936, winning the Pulitzer for drama the following year. For theater companies large and small, the play penned by George S. Kaufman and
You may think your family is eccentric, but chances are they have nothing on the Sycamore-Vanderhof-Carmichael crew. Martin Vanderhof (Kris Kittelson), aka Grandpa, keeps snakes and vehemently refuses to pay his income tax. His daughter Penelope Sycamore (Phedre Burney-Peters) writes melodramas and is married to Paul Sycamore (Joshua Baig), who constructs fireworks in the basement
LISTEN TO THE RADIO INTERVIEW HERE Director David Baker and actors Dallan Starks, Athena Lauzon and Audrey Overstreet of Spokane Civic Theatre took to the mic to give us the details on their production of the classic stage comedy “You Can’t Take It with You,” in which a young woman from a good-humored but eccentric
A three-show run might not sound like much of a challenge, but things are different when it’s Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies” on stage. For one, the musical is, in a word, huge, with the Broadway production calling for a cast of more than 30. With settings like an upscale reunion and a Broadway-worthy show within a
Yes, there’s a narwhal. There’s snow and elves and Santa, too. There’s a bewildered mom, a frustrated son and a very, very grinchy father. But mostly there’s Buddy, a guy so sweet, as one elf quipped, “If he were any sweeter, we’d be diabetic.” The guy who loves Christmas with all his heart and soul.
With the holiday season upon us, Spokane Civic Theatre is gearing up to present the Northwest premiere of “Elf,” a musical adaptation of 2003’s beloved Christmas film. With music by Matthew Sklar, lyrics by Chad Beguelin and a book by Bob Martin and Thomas Meehan, the story begins with Buddy the elf’s (Seth Flanders) realization
Is life one big “Choose Your Own Adventure” game or are all the twists and turns we experience predetermined? Nick Payne’s “Constellations” doesn’t answer the question, but it does offer evidence to back both suggestions. In “Constellations,” multiple universes allow quantum physicist Marianne (Chelsea DuVall) and beekeeper Roland (Max Elinsky) a chance to relive pivotal
We all have those moments we wish we could redo. Maybe we did or said something we regret, or maybe, if we had another chance, we’d say exactly what was on our mind instead of holding our tongue. In Nick Payne’s “Constellations,” multiple universes allow quantum physicist Marianne (Chelsea DuVall) and beekeeper Roland (Max Elinsky)
On Saturday, November 24th from 4:00 to 6:30 p.m. stop into Riverfront Spokane at the Ice Ribbon to dance, sing, craft and meet Santa! Enjoy a live performance by The Rub at 4:00 p.m. and get ready to light the night with a Tree Lighting Celebration at 6:00 p.m. Presented by Riverfront Spokane and Downtown Spokane in partnership with Spokane
Kids! Buddy is missing and it is almost Christmas Eve! He’s hiding somewhere in downtown Spokane and Santa needs your help finding him. Once you have collected ten stamps, bring your Passport to Auntie’s Bookstore or the Concierge Desk at River Park Square and pick up a prize! Your Passport will be automatically entered into
Join River Park Square as we welcome Santa on November 16th from 6 -7 PM. The festivities will feature free hot chocolate and face painting, as well as a special performance from Spokane Civic Theatre's cast of Elf the Musical and the chance to interact with some very special elves all the way from the
Nov. 23-Dec. 23, ELF THE MUSICAL This year, make the leap from cranberry sauce to full-blown Christmas spirit in less than 24 hours. The day after Thanksgiving, the Civic is launching the regional premiere of Elf the Musical, which takes cues from the much-adored holiday film starring Will Ferrell as bumbling Buddy the elf. Papa
The East Wind must be passing through Spokane. Mary Poppins is coming to town. Or, rather, Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s “Mary Poppins,” which opens Friday at Spokane Civic Theatre. The musical, which premiered in England in 2004 and on Broadway in 2006, is based on the stories of P.L. Travers and the 1964 Disney film
‘Mary Poppins’ Meet and GreetWhen: 11 a.m. Saturday Where: River Park Square, 808 W. Main Ave. Cost: Free. Looking for a “practically perfect” way to spend an afternoon? Join Mary Poppins (Quincy McCune) and Bert (Jerrod Galles) for a meet and greet in the River Park Square atrium on Saturday. From 11 a.m. to 12:30
In hopes of cultivating excitement for the theater in the Inland Northwest, local groups came together to create TheaterFest, an accessible, community-focused showcase of the region's upcoming performing arts season. This Sunday's TheaterFest at the Fox Theater is Spokane's first ever preview showcase, and it's free to the public. It offers community members the
Spokane Arts wants to give Spokane audiences a glimpse of what’s ahead for this season. Sunday afternoon, many of the city’s performing arts organizations will come to the Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox to give sneak peeks of upcoming performances. “The goal of TheaterFest is to get people excited about the new season of
June 9th only! Spokane Civic Theatre will be offering $5 off tickets to Hello, Dolly! with donations of new or gently used clothing in an effort to support Teen & Kid Closet! Discounted tickets available at the Box Office only. Partner with us to support this incredible organization that is reaching so many kids in need in
