PerformingView

PerformingView by Kay Osborn A Time to Perform in July By Kaye Osborn

There are some wonderful theatrical offerings this month. July is a month to celebrate our country’s birthday. After attending the annual Fourth of July Parade, family cookouts and fireworks, be sure to treat yourself to some amazing local talent. I hope you experienced an amazing production of Metamorphosis at Modesto Junior College: the cast, the crew, the set design, the costumes, the direction combined together for a MOST amazing show produced this year. My husband and I attended its Opening Night! We were thoroughly edu-tained!

Gallo Center for the Arts ANYTHING GOES: July 1-July 8 Modesto Performing Arts (Modesto’s oldest theater group) proudly has embraced the Gallo Center for the Arts as it’s new performing home. The musical tells an amusing and romantic story through Cole Porter’s memorable scores. A cast of eclectic characters board the S.S. American bound for the U.S. from England.

YES Company presents WILLY WONKA: July 20-29 The story revolves around a poor boy named Charlie Bucket who lives in poverty with his extended family. Willy Wonka, a reclusive chocolate maker, decides to release 5 golden tickets hidden inside his chocolate bars. The 5 winners along with their parents are given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tourinside the chocolate factory. The factory run by Oompa Loompas is colorful and very strange! One show is always interpreted for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing. YES Company productions are ALWAYS brilliantly performed, costumed, directed and ENTERTAINING!

Prospect Theater’s presents TARTUFFE (replacing My Fathers House): July 27-28 Molière’s play Tartuffe(also sometimes referred to as Tartuffe, or The Imposter) is a masterwork by France’s most celebrated comic playwright. Prospect Theater Project has taken Miles Malleson’s free adaptation of this French comedy classic and set it in 1950’s New Orleans.

July 28: Night at the Old Library at the McHenry Museum, 6:00-9:00 p.m. Imagine going to the grand opening of the McHenry Library in 1912. This free event is for the whole family. Docents dressed in period costumes will bring many exhibits to life. Meet the 1912 and 2012 Modesto Mayors. There will be activities, story telling and refreshment. Save the date! See you at the McHenry Museum!

Posted in: stage & art

About the Author:

Kaye Osborn retired from Lakewood School in 2009. She taught Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing children for 34 years. Kaye continues directing the Lakewood Youth Theater and teaching the Lakewood Sign Club. She teaches American Sign Language at Modesto Junior College as well as a two-week Young Writers Camp held every summer at CSUS. Kaye is the Parliamentarian of the McHenry Museum docents. She loves giving school tours at the museum. Kaye is also involved in Delta Gamma Kappa, Epislon Nu. She is passionate about exercise and life. Her dream when she retired was to work out more everyday. You can find her morning, noon and night taking classes, teaching Zumba or playing disc golf. Her husband Jerry (of 39 years), also a retired educator, enjoys cooking gourmet meals, riding his bike or playing disc golf. On a weekly basis, Kaye and Jerry enjoy volunteering in their daughter’s kindergarten class in North Highlands. Being grandparents to a bubbly, adorable little boy named Glen, who was seven in March and to a sweet, lovable almost 4-year-old Charlotte, is the BEST! Kaye adores her family: Amanda, her husband Nate, Glen and Charlotte live in Fair Oaks and Megan, an 8th grade math teacher, her husband Art, and their dogs live in Modesto. Kaye is a recipient of numerous teaching awards including 2015 Outstanding Woman of the Year, Stanislaus Arts Council Excellence in Arts Education, Stanislaus County Teacher of the Year, Rotary Club Elementary Teacher of the Year and the Girl Scouts World of the Arts Excellence Award.