June - August 2008

SummerStage Festival is a 8-week performing arts festival held during June, July and August at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center.Performances include a variety of disciplines from musicals, drama, comedy, dance and cabaret theatre events. SummerStage Festival provides local arts groups the opportunity to work together in forming a showcase of artists from Tulsa and the surrounding communities. The result isa cohesive, colorful, balanced, diverse and high-energy festival with something for everyone.

A family survival guide in the form of a musical revue. Traveling through the many adventures of life - birth, death and other events along the way - on a roller coaster ride of humor and song.

An American doctor and an Irish journalist are being held captive by terrorists in Beirut.  They exercise and they argue, supportive in their mutual determination to survive.  An English academic then joins them.  The three display their national biases and prejudices which are intensified in the cramped confines of their cell.  As time passes, resentments and recriminations give way to an acknowledgement of their characters, strengths and weaknesses.  They learn that humor is their surest weapon against their captors and the safest armor to protect themselves.  They shoot imaginary films, throw a big party for each other, play a fantastical game of tennis, laugh at and with each other and learn to lament what was lost in their lives before captivity.  Each comes to know himself through listening to the stories, sorrows and joys of the others.  At the end of the play, they are capable of standing together and alone. 

A sequel to last year's “Dance of the Heart,” “Dance of the Heart II” is a journey of dance, showcasing African, jazz, praise, and hip-hop forms with authentic choreographed pieces from Africa and the Caribbean.  The show will feature various dances from Liberia, Senegal and Kenya, as well as songs and traditional customs expressed through pageantry and costuming. Pieces like the "African Wedding", "Lamba", "Fanga the Dance of Welcome," and the intro song of "Shelafeani" will be expressed to the audience.  Dances from the Caribbean will reflect dialect, costuming and work songs of the post -slavery era.  Dancers will engage the audience in song and dance movements connecting cultures through their shared heritage and celebration.  The intent of the show is to expose children and families to the diverse cultural background of people of African heritage living in Tulsa as well as the talent and artistry of young people living in this city.  The show will be under the direction of Shekhemt Ausart, Executive and Artistic Director of Nubian Heritage Arts. 

Master Magician Steve Lancaster demonstrates the art and mystery of magic using slight of hand.  Enjoy such classics as The Linking Rings, Cups and Balls, and Steve’s famous Floating Table.  In addition, he will perform some unique illusions that have confounded other magicians.  Steve will also display the fun of stage hypnosis that is both positive and entertaining!

A repertoire of Classical Indian dance (Bharata Natyam) numbers presented by Sanskriti dancers. Dancers will showcase this 2000 year old ancient dance form. Also presenting a spectacular array of folk dances in colorful costumes. Second half of the show features a fast-paced percussion “jugalbandi” (or dialogue) with two percussionists on the mridangam (two faced drum) and the  tabla.

“The Chosen," an adaptation of the award-winning novel, is the story of two boys, two fathers and two very different Jewish communities set in the 1940s against the backdrop of World War II, the revelation of the Holocaust and the desperate struggle of Zionism.  Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders are both passionate and intelligent young men.  When Danny injures Reuven during a heated baseball game between their rival yeshivas, a unique friendship is born.  As the boys grow to manhood, they are forced to learn important lessons about each other, their fathers and themselves.  This is a story of friendship, family and difficult choices that we must all make on the path to understanding, respect and reconciliation.

The songs and stories of Noel Coward will fill Light Opera’s popular cabaret slots each Sunday evening.

Laughing Matter Improv shows are interactive theatre with audience participation.  Heller Theatre was the first theatre to develop improvisational shows for Tulsa audiences.  Julie Tattershall is the creator of Laughing Matter Improv, which started in 1989.  If you like “Whose Line is it Anyway” and “Second City," you’ll love Tulsa’s version. 

The TACTA showcase provides an opportunity to showcase local theatre groups in one evening.  Each theatre company will has ten minutes to perform a play or musical. This is an opportunity to see what other companies from the Tulsa area are doing.

“Granny Diva” is the story of a grandmother taking acting classes and landing that big role on stage.  Unfortunately it all goes to her head, and her friends and family finally let her know it.  It is a comedy for all ages.

Theatre Pops will be doing two productions, Love Letters by A.R. Gurney, and the play Hate Mail by Corbett & Obolensky. 

Jeff Shadley presents a fun, nostalgic look back at Sinatra’s song-writing sidekick Jimmy van Hensen, also known as “Chester Babcock."

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955 for refusing to surrender her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white male passenger.  This is a thought-provoking and moving account of Mrs. Park’s experience and life work of service to the world community.  This work speaks to the human experience of courage and hope for change. 

A one-man dramatic narrative of the life of Christ, based on the Gospel of Luke, done in modern dress. It  consists of two 40-minute acts, with one intermission. The audience will be introduced to a broad and colorful tapestry of characters from Jesus' time—gentle Mary, fiery John the Baptist, the snide and slightly insane Satan, blustery Simon Peter, the proud Pharisees, the vacillating and political Pontius Pilate and a host of others. The show also contains many of the most familiar and beloved parables of Jesus, including the stories of The Prodigal Son, The Good Samaritan and the Lost Sheep. The presentation is natural, lively, surprisingly humorous in places, reverent where appropriate and it absolutely does not preach or proselytize—it simply tells the story.

Café Aman picks up where the last show left off.  This production presents Middle Eastern, Tribal Fusion, Irish and modern dance as well as music from the Ghawazee Mafia.  The production will be multi-media.  Video and film footage will compliment the spectacular dance and music of this show.

Concert type show featuring Uptown Horns playing about an hour of its arrangements of jazz and blues with some original tunes.

Brad Morris has become known around Tulsa and in the region for his distinctive, percussive style of playing the piano and for his large vocal range and ability to sing almost any kind of music.  His father, Hart Morris, is an accomplished percussionist and music minister at Asbury United Methodist Church, one of the larger churches in Tulsa.  Both musicians have rather large and diverse fan bases.  This cabaret show will feature Brad on piano and vocals and Hart on many different percussion instruments and background vocals.  Innovative arrangements of popular and classic songs replace the many instruments of a rock band with just piano and percussion. Brad provides the chord structure and Hart covers the rhythm aspect on instruments ranging from drum set to vibraphone to chimes to congas and many, many others in between.  Since Brad is a father himself, one of his very talented children just might make an appearance of her own. 

FOR SUMMERSTAGE ARTISTS ONLY

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