LOGAN – In the first of its 2024 series of “Page to Stage” events, the Lyric Repertory Company introduced its Administrative Team to a sparse audience of mostly-visiting summer citizens.
On-hand for that gathering were Richie Call, the Lyric’s artistic director; Dennis Hassan, its associate artistic director and the troupe’s set designer; LuAnn Baker, the general manager for the Lyric; Kelsey Koga, its production stage manager; and, Amy Critchfield, the Lyric’s production manager and technical director.
Each of those individuals introduced themselves to the audience members and explained how their education and career paths led them to the Lyric company, usually through a humorous series of fortunate accidents.
The “Page to Stage” gatherings will continue through Friday, June 7. Those events will be held at 10 a.m. each day in the Caine Lyric Theatre on Center Street in downtown Logan.
On Tuesday, the “Page to Stage” session will feature the Lyric’s directors for its 2024 season.
They will include Kitty Balay, who will direct the juke-box musical Sh-Boom!; Paul Mitri, a Utah State professor and director of the beloved Twelfth Night in 2023, who will helm the Noel Coward comedy Hay Fever; Lyric veteran Herb Newsome, one of the troupe’s stars in 2022 and 2023, who will guide this season’s staged-reading InterACT offering; Summer Sessions, who will direct Driving Miss Daisy; USU professor Michael Shipley who will direct Shear Madness; as well as Lizzy Prettyman and Stephanie White, the music director and choreographer respectively for Sh-Boom.
The Lyric will introduce its designers to the audience on Wednesday.
They will include Michelle Bisbee, who is responsible for scenic design for Hay Fever; Stephen Crowell, sound designer for Driving Miss Daisy; Bruce Duerden, who is in charge of sound design for Shear Madness; Melanie Garcia Valera, scenic designer for Driving Miss Daisy; Dennis Hassan, who is guiding set design for Sh-Boom!; and Nancy Hills, costumer designer for Sh-Boom! and Hay Fever; as well as many other sound and scenic designers.
On Thursday, the company will bring in its talented ranks of actors. Given the Lyric’s mission of bridging between academic instruction and real theatre experience, Richie Call says the acting company includes both USU students and working professionals.
The professionals include veteran performers like Newsome, who is both an actor and a playwright; USU professor Leslie Brott, last seen here in Arsenic and Old Lace; Brandon Foxworth, who lite up the Lyric stage in recent productions of The Fox on the Fairway and Twelfth Night among others; local favorite Syndee Fullmer, who has a list of stage credits as long as your arm; and veteran broadcaster Fred Coad.
The USU students in the Lyric company include Ryan Adams, Megan Bedell, Mia Gatherum, Jonah Newton, Marin Robison, Sumner Jones Shoell, Ari Whatcott and others.
Finally, the company will give its stage managers a chance to take a bow on Friday.
They include Koga, who will manage the backstage for Sh-Boom!, Shear Madness and the Vosco Call Spotlight events; Katy Sullivan, who will manage Hay Fever, Driving Miss Daisy and the InterACT events; plus assistants Rachael Concoby and Brighton McDonald as well as intern Brooklyn Bullard.
This season the “Page to Stage” gatherings are ticketed events, but tickets are free for the asking at the Box Office at the Caine Lyric Theatre.
The Caine Lyric Theatre is located at 30 West Center Street in downtown Logan.