TWN casts resident company
An open casting on island will decide the two remaining places and also members of the TWN's first summer conservatory
by Marli Guzzetta + Independent Arts Editor
Producing director Jordana Fleischut has a lot planned for the summer season of the Theatre Workshop of Nantucket, so try to keep up.

Tiffany Page, top, and Adam Ioele.

In addition to the traditional summer mainstage - which TWN President Pam Murphy said is still the "heart and soul" of the TWN summer stock - the little community theatre in the basement of the Methodist Church has a big, new resident company, consisting of a dozen newly cast actors from around the country. The resident company members, who will receive a paycheck and live on island this summer, will also: + Conduct a theatre camp for kids at the Nantucket Boys & Girls Club. + Host all manner of theatre events for kids, including story-time "tuck-ins" at the Methodist Church, "Teddy Bear Teas" outside the theatre after shows and a production of "Jack and the Beanstalk." + Stage a production of "Moby Dick, the Musical" - a wacky, all-ages stage adaptation of the Melville story, told through the eyes of a few students at an all-girls school. + Conduct a theatre conservatory in preparation for "Moby Dick, the Musical" that will allow actors, stagehands and burgeoning dramaturges (ages 16 and up) to shadow members of the resident company, as well as professional lighting and stage designers (including Eric Schultz) and choreographers. In case you haven't noticed, the resident company's work has a strong emphasis on children's entertainment and youth theater.

COURTESY THEATRE WORKSHOP OF NANTUCKET

"Because we're so isolated, we need to provide these types of learning opportunities for our kids; they're not going to get them anywhere else regularly if we don't do it. And if they're not getting them, they won't appreciate the arts. And if they don't appreciate the arts, they're not going to be your future audience. And you're going to shoot yourself in the foot."

Murphy said it was necessary to bring talent from off island in the summer time to work in the resident company because the year-round talent is busy with professional and other obligations during the summer time. "The year-round people who can do a musical of quality have gigs at night in the summer," she said.

Therefore, be it further resolved that Nantucketer Greta Feeney will be a member of the resident cast, but that a few positions still remain, specifically for island talent.

This week, Fleischut will be holding auditions for triple-threat Nantucket performers who'd like to be in the resident company, and also for parties interested in participating in the conservatory, which is, at $300 per week, a tuition-based program. However, Fleischut said, potential conservatory members can perform 10 hours of volunteer work each week preceding the conservatory and earn full tuition reimbursement. No qualified person will be turned away for want of funding, she said.

THE CURRENT TWN SUMMER RESIDENT COMPANY MEMBERS (AND RECENT TRAINING, WHERE APPLICABLE):

+ Roberta Esposito, Professional Resident Company Director

+ Laura Mulholland, Musical Director, Tulane University

+ Jessica Kody, Stage Manager, University of Rhode Island

+ Donald Dallaire, Choreographer + (To be determined), Lighting Design + Eric Schultz, Stage Design

+ Dick Baker, Cortland Conservatory of Music

+ Adam Ieole, American Musical and Dramatic Academy; Circle in the Square Theatre School

+ Michael Keuttman, Yale School of Drama + Rebecca Kubaska, Hartt School of Music

+ Erin Baltsar, Hartt School of Music

+ Theresa Tokarowski, Manhattan School of Music Master's Program; Runner-up, Miss New York State 2006

+ Tiffany Page, University of Rhode Island

+ Joe Gilmore, Elon University

+ Greta Feeney, Adler fellow, San Francisco Opera; graduate, The Juilliard School

+ Michelle Soffen, West Minster Conservatory;

Northwestern University I