Copious Notes

Oberon (Matt Seckman) and Puck (Joe Fields-Elswick) plot against the mortals in last July’s SummerFest production of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”. SummerFest is going to reformat this year. © Herald-Leader staff photo by Rich Copley.

SummerFest, the annual July theater festival in The Arboretum, will get an extreme makeover this year. Kentucky Conservatory Theatre, which presents SummerFest, has announced the next two summers of shows in a schedule that will reduce the number of productions and expand the number of weeks.

Instead of the usual three shows, there will be two shows this year, each for a two-weekend run: J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, July 5 to 14; and A Chorus Line, July 24 to Aug. 4. The summer of 2014 will have Romeo and Juliet, July 5 to 13; and The Color Purple, July 23 to Aug. 3.

“This is a change that has been a long time coming,” said theater general manager Wesley Nelson. “For a long time, the feedback we were getting from designers and technicians and a lot of other people involved was that we needed to take it down to two shows.”

Nelson says the revised scheduling addresses several problems that have haunted the festival over the years including spates of bad weather that have plagued some productions and the pressure two-day changeovers put on productions, particularly the later ones.

“Two solid tech rehearsals was the best you could hope for,” Nelson said, “and by the time you got to that third show, the crew was just worn out.”

The new schedule leaves an open week between productions. Nelson said there was concern that having an open week between shows might interrupt the momentum of the festival, which has previously been presented on three consecutive weeks. “But we decided the benefits outweighed that,” he said, noting that with two-week runs, shows could now take advantage of positive word of mouth from audiences.

Nelson said in future years, SummerFest might present a concert or other sort of presentation in the Arboretum on the open weekend, but for this year, it will remain unscheduled, “so we can see how this new system works,” Nelson said.

He said KCT is announcing summer 2014 for several reasons.

“We knew that some people might see we were going down to two shows and think that means we’re in trouble, and we’re not,” Nelson said. “So we hope by announcing next summer, people will see we are planning for the future.”

He also said that directors wanted to assure fans of Shakespeare that the Bard will still be part of the festival, just not every year. SummerFest’s predecessor was the Lexington Shakespeare Festival. The Shakespeare Festival folded in 2006; SummerFest was created to fill its void.

Nelson said SummerFest is also being considered part of the Kentucky Conservatory Theatre season, which will run on calendar years instead of school years, contrary to the practice of most Lexington arts groups. Along with the SummerFest announcement, KCT announced its lineups for the next two seasons. Excluding SummerFest, they are:

2013

March 2, Blackbird’s Evening of Dance: The premiere of KCT’s dance ensemble, led by choreographer Jenny Fitzpatrick.

April 20, 24-Hour Theatre Project: High school students work with theater artists to create five original 10-minute plays in 24 hours.

Aug. 30-Sept. 1, The Girl Project: An original theater work created by area high school girls.

Nov. 8-14, The History Boys: Alan Bennett’s play about boys in a British boarding school.

2014

Feb. 7-23, The Real Thing: Tom Stoppard’s 1982 play about reality and honesty.

April 29, 24-Hour Theatre Project.

Nov. 7-23, Cabaret: The classic John Kander and Fred Ebb musical in the version of the 1998 Roundabout Theatre Broadway revival.

In my column in the 2012-13 Arts Preview section of the Sept. 9 Lexington Herald-Leader, a handful of Lexington arts leaders who have been serving 15 years or more offered their opinions on how the arts have changed in the area over the last decade and a half and the current state of the arts. Of course, the print edition offered limited space for responses, but as we have said before, the web is a different story. So here are the unedited replies.

Jeanie Kahnke, vice-president of communications for the Muhammed Ali Center, and Everett McCorvey, University of Kentucky voice professor, lead children in the village of Dondon, Haiti, in singing “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.” Herald-Leader staff photos by Rich Copley.

I am going to start with University of Kentucky voice professor and director of the UK Opera Theatre Everett McCorvey, because he answered in the body of the questions I posed, so it will let you know what everyone was responding to.

Q: This year, I was interested in hearing from folks who have been active here for a long time to get your impressions of how the arts in Central Kentucky have changed and stayed the same.

A: I love Kentucky and the appreciation for the arts. There are so many talented artists in our midst and it’s great to be in a city that supports artists and their work.

Q: What sorts of things have happened you never thought you’d see, or maybe you wish you’d never seen?

A: For me the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the Alltech FEI 2010 World Equestrian Games were amazing. I never thought that I would have the opportunity to serve as the Executive Producer of a world event. I was very honored to have been asked. I was equally as proud of the local artists, technicians, businesses and volunteers who we were able to engage to perform and participate in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Everyone stepped up to the plate in an amazing way. It was a memorable event.

Q: What has been most surprising, affirming or disturbing?

A: When I arrived in Lexington, I was told by someone … “Everett this town will never support opera! Go somewhere while you are still young that will support opera.”  I’m happy to say that this person was wrong! Lexington truly is an opera town. UK Opera Theatre was recently recognized by the Richard Tucker Foundation of New York as one of the top twenty opera training programs in the country for young singers. Pretty amazing!

Q: What is the state of the arts in the Lexington area, from your perspective?

A: We must guard very carefully our love and participation for the arts and not let the economy, video games and decreased legislative funding dim the importance of the arts in a community. Lexington is the community that it is because of the arts. The arts bring a vibrancy, an excitement, a sense of life and happiness to a community. The arts bring people together and they help us grow as human beings. I have long thought of doing research on towns that have high crime rates to try to discover how much hands-on art that particular city might have. I’ll bet the lower the participation in the arts, the higher the crime rate. The higher the participation in the arts, the lower the crime rate. When you take arts out of the schools, you take the reason that some students get out of bed in the morning to get to school. I was in the band when I was in elementary school. It was the excitement about being in the band that got me up every day and got me to school. It was music that carried me through my classes and helped me to appreciate the importance of discipline and responsibility so that I could practice my art. It is proven that children in the arts do better academically and are more successful in their chosen field, even if they choose to pursue other careers. The quality of life is improved by a community actively engaged in the arts. An active arts community draws more creative, fun and intellectual people to the city. Great cities also have great art. I think that’s been proven over and over. Please Lexington, don’t change. Don’t lose your fantastic appreciation and support of the arts. The arts make Lexington special.

Jefferson Johnson, director of choirs at the University of Kentucky and music director of the Lexington Singers

Jefferson Johnson conducts the Lexington Singers in a rehearsal.

From my perspective I am really proud of the “choral culture” that has developed in central KY. Since I came to Lexington in 1993 (this is my 20th year as Director of Choral Activities at UK) I have witnessed a proliferation of strong choirs at every level. The high school choirs in this region have gotten stronger–several of them are conducted by former students (I’m proud to say).

The community choruses are thriving as well: the Lexington Bach Choir is a fabulous new group, and the Lexington Chamber Choir is doing extremely well, as are community choruses in Georgetown, Winchester, and Richmond, to name a few. The Kentuckians barbershop chorus is thriving.

Of course I’m most proud to be only the third director in the 55-year history of the Lexington Singers. We have grown from 110 to 180 voices over the past 15 years and have performed at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Cathedral of Notre Dame, and St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City while taking concert tours to Europe, South America, and within the U.S. We started the Lexington Singers Children’s Choirs (under the Artistic Direction of Dr. Lori Hetzel) in 2004. That organization has grown to include four choruses, touring annually.

Our choral program at UK has grown from 2 choirs (65 voices total) to 7 choirs with over 200 students involved each year.

When we started the acoUstiKats in 1993 there were no other male a cappella groups in central Kentucky that I could find. Now they are a feature of many high school choral programs and nearly every area college. Our choral music education graduates, expertly shepherded by Lori Hetzel, are teaching throughout the state and running many of the best choral programs.

The level of music in area church choirs is also very high, and these church music programs frequently serve the area with gracious use of their facilities.

It would be interesting to see how many people in Lexington are singing in some kind of a choir. I would guess over 5,000 easily.

Outside of choral music, I have noticed a flourishing of musical theater groups. Paragon, the Rep, Grand Night, and other groups and events have put on high quality shows (including the Lexington Singers annual Pops concerts). SCAPA and other schools are doing amazing things with musicals.

The UK Orchestra, under John Nardolillo, has become a major player in the arts scene. John’s ability to attract internationally acclaimed artists to play with the UKSO has transformed the local arts culture. Chamber music is also making a statement in central Kentucky with two annual festivals.

In summary, I am very proud (and somewhat surprised) that a city with the population of Lexington has been able to foster and grow so many high quality arts groups–especially in light of the cuts in state and federal funding. Its a tribute to the hard working artists but also to the philanthropic individuals who have supported these artistic endeavors. The financial support of the arts by corporations and individuals has long been a hallmark of strong artistic societies. I think we have one here in Lexington.

Robert Parks Johnson as Hastings in SummerFest’s 2011 production of “Richard III.”

Robert Parks Johnson, actor and contributing Herald-Leader arts writer

Since our arrival in Lexington in 1995, I don’t remember there being as many really fine companies doing consistently good work. Our community was once dominated by a handful of personality cults. You were loyal to this director or that one, this company or another. Actors are much more willing to go where the work is exciting, and right now, that’s just about everywhere.

Casting is still much too white. The theatre community has failed to encourage and develop African American and Latino artists. There is still a sense of novelty and tokenism when we see anything other than Caucasian faces in lead roles.

LexARTS has grown into an expensive organization whose contribution to the community seems disproportionately modest. I’m sure they do more than this, but their most visible activities seem to center around raising money and being landlords. Companies like Actors’ Guild and Balagula are proving that theatre can work in non-traditional spaces, but much of that effort is made necessary by the prohibitive costs and burdensome rules of producing at the Downtown Arts Center. I don’t know the numbers, but it seems to me that an awful lot of pennies go to overhead for each dollar that LexARTS raises.

I am delighted to have witnessed the resurrection and renaissance of the two companies that are dearest to my heart. A nearly terminal case of mission creep brought Actors’Guild to the brink, but thanks to the vision and seemingly inexhaustible energy of Eric Seale, the company is back at work making good theatre and developing a new generation of artists. The Lexington Shakespeare Festival’s demise was short lived, thanks to a group of veterans who stepped into the void when that fine company closed for the last time. SummerFest at the Arboretum is more successful than ever, and continues to be the most unique and festive theatre experience in the Bluegrass.

My greatest sadness about our theatre community is that we seem to have given up on Shakespeare. Actors and audiences who love the Bard have one chance a year to play together. There is no way to develop a corps of actors with the skills and experience to play the classics well when there are only a dozen opportunities to practice. The result is work that is frustrating for artists and audiences alike. I wish there were more chances for our artists to scale this pinnacle of our language’s contribution to the world theatre.

The best development in Lexington theatre has been the influx of new young talent. The “Old Guard” and the “Usual Suspects” are still around to share stories and what wisdom we may have collected over the years, but gifted, committed young artists are driving the bus now. That as much as anything makes me proud of my legacy and hopeful for the future of our art in this wonderful town.

Bob Morgan with his exhibit The Golden Horde at ArtsPlace. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.com

Robert Morgan, artist and former gallery owner

I would like to celebrate all the little guys who take on the task of doing world class art and putting on truly creative projects in Lexington. We are the ones setting the bar for the community. We work without any money are support from arts organizations and produce far more excitement in the community. I am talking about the likes of Gallerie Soliel (Morgan’s former gallery) and Institute 193. We are and were working with a budget far less than most organizations postage budget for a yearly programming. When I meet young folks in the arts who seem blocked into a corner I tell them to just take control and make it happen without local resources. I tell them they are in many ways better off creating off the grid, there are no restrictions! One day I wish the local money bags would create a slush fund just to give to young and creative artists to do what they do best — light fires all over this town and shame us with what they can do with their spark and vision. Spark and vision are severely lacking in almost all of our art organizations and institutions.

Ann Tower (right) with her husband Robert Tharsing and daughter Lina Tharsing at the Ann Tower Gallery.

Ann Tower, artist and owner of the Ann Tower Gallery

Over all, I think things have changed for the best in Lexington over the past 10 years. When I opened in April 2002, Main St was pretty bleak and empty. We had the new library and the new courthouses, but there was still a lot of construction obstructing sidewalks and roads, and there weren’t many restaurants, and it was difficult to get people to come downtown. Today, we have lots of restaurants, but I’d love to see more art galleries and more retail businesses in general on Main St.

21C opening here is the single most exciting thing that’s happened, or scheduled to happen, for the visual arts in Lexington. At last, an art hotel on Main St that celebrates the adventurous art collection built by Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson. It will be a magnet for art lovers, as well as the curious, and whether they like the art or not, there will be plenty to discuss and think about. I expect those same visitors will also venture out to see what else our city has to offer, and maybe, some will think about starting their own art collections, or at least a buying a painting or a photograph or something. Obviously, all the arts need patrons and benefactors to thrive, and I think having 21C here will set an example.

Lexington Children’s Theatre artistic director Vivian R. Snipes and producing director Larry Snipes.

Larry Snipes, producing director of the Lexington Children’s Theatre

Since I arrived in Lexington about three years after the Opera House re-opened, much has changed some for the good, and some which causes me concern.

Obviously, I have to start with LCT, we have grown from a small community arts organization that produced only three shows and a few education programs to a professional theatre for youth that serves over hundreds of thousands of young people. Our budget was around $40,000 when I arrived as the only full time employee. Now our budget is over a million dollars and we employ 14 full time staff and 30 or 40 part-time artists and interns to produce over 300 performances of 11 shows each season.

As for impact on the community, I would have to say that a prime catalyst for the growth of LCT and many other organizations was the creation of the Fund for the Arts in the 1980s. The Fund provided a stable base of support for many organizations and allowed us to concentrate on what we do best, creating the art. In addition to funding, the Lexington Arts and Cultural Council as, LexArts was called then, also supported community arts organization with professional development and assistance with best practices in arts management. I know I learned a great deal about the business side of the arts with each of those early trips before the allocations committee. They made us better at the business side of the arts, which in turn freed us to take risks and be creative with our artistic endeavors. It wasn’t perfect and still isn’t today, but it works.

As for the current state of the arts, I would have to say we have a boatload of dedicated artists and organizations that are working day and night to bring the best work to Central Kentucky audiences. I am thrilled with the variety of theatre, dance, music and visual art offerings in Lexington. Just look at this arts calendar, I dare you to find a weekend where there is nothing going on in the arts. In the theatre world in addition to our work at LCT, we have solid long standing groups like Studio Players and Actors’ Guild as well as newer groups like Project See, The Rep, KCT and the innovative work and concept that is Balagula.

As for my concerns, I worry that we may have seen the last of arts philanthropists like Lucille Little and W. T. Young. Those two alone have had a tremendous effect on the art we see in Lexington today. Where are their successors?

I really worry about the state of arts education in Kentucky. Over the years I have seen things improve a bit and then have the rug pulled out from under them. When I came to Lexington the Fayette County Public Schools had the Arts in Basic Education Program that had specialists in all disciplines who worked in elementary schools to help teachers integrate the arts into their classroom. Sadly that program was phased out. Arts have gone from being four questions on a yearly test to merely an assessment of schools arts activities to “insure schools provide a vigorous arts and humanities program” and improve on it every year. Actually improving on it every year sounds good, but the thing is, in practice, if you start at zero, improvement each year is pretty easy. After the change to assessment only, art teachers were cut across the commonwealth. Arts were no longer on the test. Not on the test equals not important. I wonder if our young people will be provided opportunities to participate in and see arts performances or will we continue to chip away at the creative fabric of our society?

Rich’s P.S. Thanks to all the folks who repsonded to this request and those who chose to reply. If you would like to add to the conversation, please comment on this post.

Stanley (Evan Bergman) reasserts his authority over his home to his wife Stella (Ellie Clark) and sister-in-law Blanche (Bess Morgan). © Herald-Leader photo by Rich Copley.

Read and see more:

• Feature: When Evan met Ellie
• Notebook: Comparing Streetcars
• Gallery: A Streetcar Named Desire
• Video: Scene from Streetcar

Rain and lightning finally cleared away enough Friday night for SummerFest to open its production of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire. Still, steel gray clouds and gusty winds made for an appropriately stormy atmosphere for one of the American stage’s greatest works and one of its greatest drama queens, Blanche DuBois.

The Arboretum stage has not hosted Williams before, though it has presented many great Shakespearean tragedies including King Learand Macbeth. Streetcar certainly deserves to be on the same stage, and all three have been helmed at the Arboretum by Lexington’s master of drama, director Joe Ferrell.

The play is tough stuff, made all the more searing by Williams’ ability to create excruciatingly human characters and put poetic truths in their mouths. See the first scene between Blanche and her little sister Stella. As Blanche tells Stella how she lost their family home, her self-defensiveness is at an aggravating fever pitch, but she describes enduring the deaths in her family with vivid truthfulness.

That is Blanche, a woman who is infuriatingly arrogant but also clearly a victim of the circumstances of her life, raised in the refinement of a Southern plantation but now facing a much less accommodating world. She expresses astonishment that Stella, who is not having similar problems adapting, does not have a maid for the two-room apartment in New Orleans’ French Quarter she shares with her husband, Stanley.

That sets the tone for the world Blanche longs for compared to the one she is in.

Stanley exemplifies that new world as a self-assured, sometimes primal and violent man for whom Blanche is really no match, particularly as her stories begin to unravel.

Stella has the unenviable task of refereeing these two, who are constantly pulling her to their sides. Ellie Clark makes Stella a self-assured woman who still has to bend to the wills of these strong personalities. Bergman plays Stanley as a gregarious fellow who too easily slips into his dark, violent side. But through his charisma, you see why people are attracted to him, from his bowling buddies to his loyal wife.

Bergman and Clark are a real-life couple, and they bring palpable chemistry to their performances. They lead two of this production’s best scenes: when Stanley airs his suspicions about the loss of Blanche and Stella’s family home, and later, when Stanley tells Stella what he has learned about Blanche’s life back home in Laurel, Miss. In both instances, Bergman manages his tone beautifully to highlight key portions of the scenes and come across as reasonable, albeit barely.

We have no doubt he does not like his sister-in-law.

And in Bess Morgan’s performance, Blanche is really hard to like.

Moments after appearing, she is operating at a shrill tenor, and for the most part stays there through Act I. Blanche is histrionic, but this one-note interpretation makes it difficult to muster much sympathy for her, something we really need for the play to have its full impact. Act II brings more nuance from Morgan, and a couple of engaging scenes including the one when she makes advances on a paperboy (Rob Schrader, acting appropriately weirded-out) and her recounting of her husband’s death. But Blanche’s charm never comes through the mumbling drawl Morgan developed for her character.

Tim Hull is perfectly cast as Stanley’s friend and Blanche’s sad sack suitor Mitch, one of numerous victims in this tragic tale.

The design team, including set designer Dathan Powell and costumers Joyce Anderson and Dennis Smail, give the show a solid but unobtrusive look. One great prop is the old-fashioned fan sitting atop the refrigerator, which on Friday frequently turned at full speed powered only by the wind.

In Streetcar, SummerFest has brought a good production of an American classic to the stage, but it would help if it, and particularly its leading lady, operated more like that fan that occasionally slowed down when the winds let up.

It occurred to me Tuesday watching the final dress rehearsal of SummerFest’s production of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire that this is the first time in 14 years covering theater in Lexington I have seen the same show presented two times by the same director.

Joe Ferrell directed Actors Guild of Lexington’s production of Streetcar in 2003 at the Downtown Arts Center’s black box theater, and he is directing the production that is trying mightily to get going in the Arboretum – the first two attempts at an opening night, Wednesday and Thursday, have been scuttled due to rain and lightning.

Rehearsals are not performances and this is not a review, but looking at this production, it was striking how similar yet different this show was from 2003.

There certainly was that signature Joe Ferrell style — a reverence for the playwright’s words and eye on crisp storytelling. You always know with a Ferrell show that everyone onstage will know what they are saying and why, and interesting interpretations will come out of that.

Contrasting the productions speaks to the impact casting and venue have on a play.

Ferrell noted in an interview earlier this summer that as big a title as Streetcar is, it is something of a small, intimate show for the vast Arboretum stage. The essential drama plays out between four people — Blanche, Stella, Stanley and Mitch — and there are just a few other ancillary characters. The setting of a modest New Orleans apartment is also fairly low-key for SummerFest.

But Tuesday, lead actors Evan Bergman as Stanley and Bess Morgan as Blanche (photo, above) were crafting big performances that filled the space and maximized the drama. Nine years ago, Kevin Hardesty and Lisa Thomas were giving decidedly different interpretations of the same characters. Hardesty’s Stanley was more arrogant than primal, making Blanche’s characterizations of him seem to be part of her fantasy. Thomas’ portrayal was less demonstrative and she and Hardesty seemed to be engaged in more of a psychological struggle.

And that really worked for the black box, a a venue that seats a couple hundred at most and fewer, I believe, for the Streetcar production. That take may have been lost in the Arboretum, but that is where venue comes into play. And good actors know where they are playing and make adjustments accordingly — both Thomas and Hardesty have brilliantly led productions in the Arboretum, as have Bergman and Morgan in the Downtown Arts Center.

It really speaks to the elasticity of a script. It sets out the words and essentially the story and emotions, but it is when the director, actors and designers come together that the play really comes to life, and it is different every time, even when some of the same people are involved.

Click here for show and ticket information.

SummerFest’s production of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire plays through July 22 at at the Arboretum on Alumni Drive. Here’s a scene from the show in which Stanley (Evan Bergman) tells his wife Stella (Ellie Clark) that he suspects he sister has swindled her out of their family’s plantation.

Ellie Clark and Evan Bergman met in 2009 while working at a New York City restaurant and pursing acting careers. © Herald-Leader photos by Rich Copley.

It was a rainy day in New York City.

At the corner of 72nd Street and Columbus Avenue, Evan Bergman and Ellie Clark were heading for the subway station and some shelter from the elements. Bergman grabbed Clark’s hand, turned her around and kissed her.

“I was like, ‘Oh, he does like me,’” Clark says.

Says Bergman, “It was a hot kiss in the rain.”

It was just three weeks after their first flirtation, when Bergman started playing with Clark’s ponytail at a mutual friend’s birthday gathering.

Three years later, Bergman and Clark live in Lexington, Clark’s hometown. They have become one of the area’s prominent theater couples through Project SEE Theatre, which they co-direct with Transylvania University theater director ­Sullivan Canaday White, and they work for other area theaters.

Clark and Bergman in rehearsal as Stella and Stanley for SummerFest’s production of “A Streetcar Named Desire.”

This week, they will play one of the stage’s iconic couples, Stanley and Stella, in SummerFest’s production of A Streetcar Named Desire.

Opportunities such as ­Tennessee Williams’ classic are what brought the couple from New York to Kentucky.

Clark grew up in a ­theatrical family. Her mother, Trish Clark, directed the drama program at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School for years. Ellie Clark was in that program and then studied theater at the ­University of Kentucky.

In 2001, she scored a coup for a young stage actor: She was accepted into the acting apprentice program at Actors Theatre of Louisville, working there for much of 2001 and 2002.

After that, like many ­aspiring actors, she moved to New York, trying to break into the theater. And like many ­aspiring actors, she worked in a restaurant: Sambuca, an Italian restaurant on the ­Upper West Side of New York, less than a block from Central Park.

It was a nice job that allowed her time off when she got roles, even ones that required her to travel to theaters around the country. Eventually, one of her tasks at the restaurant was training new employees, including another aspiring actor, Evan Bergman.

It wasn’t love at first sight.

Read the rest of this entry »

One of the features of SummerFest’s production of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is original music. We talk to director and composer Adam Luckey and Kentucky Conservatory Theatre student composers Sarah Webb and Cameron Taylor about their contributions to the show.

Read more:

~ Shakespearean actor Adam Luckey takes on new role: Shakespearean director

~ Review: Summerfest’s Midsummer blends talent, poetry with aplomb

See more:

~ Photo gallery: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Laura Bell Bundy posed for photographers with at the opening night party for Legally Blonde - The Musical with Chico, the dog who played Bruiser in the show. © Herald-Leader photo by Aaron Lee Fineman.

SummerFest is ­searching for canine talent for its ­upcoming production of Legally Blonde: The Musical, July 25 to 29 at The ­Arboretum, 500 Alumni Drive. Specifically, the theater is looking for a well-trained chihuahua to play Elle Woods’ beloved pup, Bruiser.

If you think you have a theatrical dog that’s up for this, send photos or videos to darajadetiller@gmail.com . After an initial submission period, auditions will be held to see which dog will get to steal this show.

Legally Blonde will be directed and choreographed by Jenny Fitzpatrick and star Ellie Todd as Elle, the role originated on Broadway by Lexington’s Laura Bell Bundy. Go to Mykct.org for more about SummerFest.

Katie Berger, Chip Becker and Johnny Dawson on stage SummerFest's 2010 production of "Rent." How'd these people get on stage? They auditioned. SummerFest 2012 auditions are this weekend, April 13-15. © Herald-Leader staff photo by Rich Copley.

If you want to play in the park this summer, particularly play a character such as Puck, Stanley or Elle Woods, then get thee to SummerFest 2012 auditions this weekend.

The annual July theater extravaganza in the Arboretum on Alumni Drive will be holding tryouts through the weekend for this year’s slate of shows:

• A Midsummer Night’s Dream, directed by Adam Luckey, July 11-15
• A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Joe Ferrell, July 18-22
• Legally Blonde: The Musical, directed by Beth Kirchner, July 25-29

Auditions are 7-10 p.m. April 13 and 1-4 p.m. April 14 and 15 at the Schmidt Vocal Arts Center, across from the Singletary Center for the Arts on the University of Kentucky Campus.

Actors auditioning for Midsummer or Streetcar need to come with a 30-second Shakespearian, classical or contemporary monologue prepared. Legally Blonde auditioners don’t need to have anything prepared in advance as they will be shown everything they need to do to audition on site.

Lexington native Laura Bell Bundy, above, originated the role of Elle Woods in the Broadway production of "Legally Blonde - The Musical" in 2007. SummerFest will present the first local production of the show in July. © Herald-Leader photo by Aaron Lee Fineman.

Kentucky Conservatory Theatre/SummerFest and the University of Kentucky Theatre both announced lineups for next season, today. For  KCT/SummerFest it is the first time announcing a year-long lineup. The SummerFest lineup also boasts the first local production of Legally Blonde – The Musical, the show that catapulted Lexington native Laura Bell Bundy to a Tony Award nomination when she originated the role of Elle Woods in 2007.

Shuling Fister in "3Dimensions: Winter Dance Concert," which is Jan. 27 and 28 at the Guignol Theatre. UK Theatre will present its second-annual Winter Dance Concert next year. © Herald-Leader staff photo by Rich Copley.

Neither announcement came with dates, but you will notice one show is on both of them.

University of Kentucky Theatre

• Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Christopher Hampton
• On the Verge (or the Geography of Yearning) by Eric Overmyer
• Winter Dance Concert
• Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde by Moises Kaufman
• Spring Awakening – A New Musical, music by Duncan Sheik and a book and lyrics by Steven Sater

Kentucky Conservatory Theatre/SummerFest

Spring

• 24 Hour Theatre Project – An event in which theater artists will create a 10-minute play in 24 hours.

Summer

• A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
• A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
• Legally Blonde – The Musical, music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin, and book by Heather Hach

Fall

• The Girl Project – Original works created by conservatory students and mentors.
• Spring Awakening – A New Musical, music by Duncan Sheik and a book and lyrics by Steven Sater