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​The Playmakers’ “Shirley Valentine” Tells One Woman’s Story.
   Named among the "10 most influential postwar British plays" by Guardian UK, “Shirley Valentine” is as important to women today as it was in the late ‘80s. Despite the advances of feminism, the Shirleys of the world are still with us, over 30 years since Willy Russell first wrote about her with an eager and un-patronizing vividness.
  Lori Klickman, veteran actor with The Playmakers, will take on this actor’s tour-de-force, opening April 20 and running for 6 performances through April 29. Lori became a volunteer in 2000.  She has created wonderful characters onstage for fourteen regular productions since then, six of them musicals, including four Nunsense productions in which she was Sister Anne.  She has held Playmakers’ leading roles in six dramas or comedies.  She was an Oklahoma Community Theatre Association Bravo Award winner in 2017.
   Russell’s heart-warming comedy premiered in 1986 in Liverpool, England, and moved to the West End in London in 1988 where it took the world by storm. Pauline Collins won the 1989 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance as Shirley Valentine on Broadway. Ellen Burstyn replaced Collins later in the run, and Loretta Swit starred in a US national tour in 1995. Collins was also in the adaptation of the Oscar-nominated film. Now, on its 30th anniversary, Jodie Prenger stars in the first major revival of this national treasure.
  This story is of a unique but universal character--the “everywoman” on a pilgrimage to find herself, discovering her own wit and independence along the way. The heroine, Shirley Valentine, once an incorrigible anti-establishment rebel, now chafes under the plodding insensitivity of her husband.  While preparing his regular evening meal of chips and egg, she frequently talks to the wall in her kitchen ruminating on her life, her past and her regrets. "My life has been a crime because I didn't live it properly," she declares speaking of the unused, untended part of herself.  She continues: “I've allowed myself to lead this little life, when inside me there was so much more.”  She adds: "Because we don't do what we want to do. We do what we have to do. And pretend it's what we want to do." 
   “Gone to Greece--back in two weeks”, says Shirley Valentine in a note to her husband as she makes a radical decision to break out of her mundane existence and perhaps have an adventure that has a transforming effect that refreshes her life in more ways than one.  She wants to discover the person she always dreamed of being and the happiness that is missing in her life. She proves that every woman has a story to live— if they could just find the courage to live it.
   Performances on Fridays, Saturdaysand Tuesdays at 7:30; Sunday matinees at 2:00. Get on your schedule now and confirm your reservations for this captivating production. There are no paper tickets at The Playmakers. Just call (918) 786-8950 to reserve seats or email us at groveplaymakers@yahoo.com.  Prices are $15 for adults and $8 for students.  For your convenience, you may also order seats online.
   The minimum age level for this play is mid-school and is based on the appropriateness of the play for that age level and the capability of the student to understand the adult content of this production.  Since this is a strong guideline, not a rule, please talk with the box office volunteer when you make reservations about bringing younger students. 
 
Theatre Awards & Nominations  
Film: Music:
Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media

Nightingale
​This production will begin rehearsals mid-May, 2018.  If your child missed auditions, there may still be a part for them, especially boys.  Please call Suzanne Boles, director, at 918 786 5871 if you would like to be involved.
 
   This award-winning adaptation of the famous tale from Hans Christian Andersen is a participatory play of the highest quality for family audiences. It is an important achievement in the often underestimated but difficult genre of participation plays. The Playmakers are taking on this challenge with a very smart cast and dedicated parents. The story by Hans Christian Andersen can be found at the public library as well as online. 
   In the story, something is amiss in the court of the great emperor. Obsessed by his worldly possessions,  he has grown blind to the needs of his people and the real treasures of life. Ancient Oriental gods, the nightingale and the audience join forces to cure the emperor of his possessive and grasping ways.
   Some cast members in this version of the play take on more than one role. They may interpret the narration through dance or portray a masked oriental god and then become a servant of the court in another scene.  Some may even play a simple music on cue, among other tasks.
   The themes of the story suggest that it is more important to value things that endure rather than passing fads, things that are real, not artificial. This is illustrated by the gift of a beautiful nightingale music box which pleases the emperor so much that he doesn’t realize that the real nightingale has escaped his palace.
When the Emperor is near death, and the artificial bird no longer works, the real nightingale's song restores his health.
   Mari Ness discusses the background of the writing in of Andersen’s tale, written in 1843. She says that it “can partly be seen as a response to the incoming Industrial Revolution. Automated music was not a new thing. Watches that played tiny, tinny melodies could be purchased as early as the 1760s, and Andersen had presumably at least heard of, if not personally seen, the “singing birds”—early music boxes featuring mechanical birds that slowly revolved and flapped their wings. He may also have seen and heard the various clockwork-run music boxes, busily produced in Switzerland throughout the early 19th century, capable of producing complex melodies, popular in middle class and aristocratic households.”
   She adds that this is Andersen’s caution, that for all our love of mechanical things, and for everything they can bring, and for their very real function, we should not become too dependent on them—or forget real birds, and forests, and bird song.
   Cast members will take part in the Grove Public Library’s Junior Kids program about the “Nightingale” on July 24 at 1:00 p.m. 
   Performances on Thursdays Fridays and Saturdays begin at 7:30; Sunday matinees at 2:00. Get this intriguing show on your schedule now and confirm your reservations soon as seating is limited. There are no paper tickets at The Playmakers. Just call (918) 786-8950 to reserve seats or email us at groveplaymakers@yahoo.com.  Prices are $15 for adults and $8 for students, UE and above; $5 for students in EEC and Kindergarten. For your convenience, you may also reserve your seats online. 
   The minimum age level for this play is 4 yrs. of age and is based on the appropriateness of the play for that age level and the capability of the student to understand the content of this production.  Young children, 4yrs through 3rd grade must be accompanied by an adult.
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