Dean Berg, Mathew Gruca, and Sarah Allen rehearsing THE AMERICAN CENTURY in AVT's garage blackbox studio.

This podcast contains interviews with Artistic Director Kara McCollum, Technical Director Kevin J. Hogan, Production Stage Manager Juliana Katzman, and actors Mathew Gruca, Sarah Allen, and Dean Berg. Interviews were taken just prior to the final show of the run of THE AMERICAN CENTURY, AVT’s opening production in the 2011 Season.

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The play runs May 13-22 on weekends at the Antelope Valley Winery. Ticketing will be available online starting in a couple of weeks.

We hope you enjoyed this podcast episode. You can download or stream our entire podcast archive directly from our blog. You can also subscribe to our podcast RSS feed, find us on Blubrry, or search for “Antelope Valley Thespians” in the iTunes podcast directory!

Joe Gruca (Papa) rehearses a scene from CROSSINGS in the AVT Blackbox.

Producer Nalin A. Ratnayake sat down with director Karen Gruca, stage manager Kelly Lynn Regan, and cast members Sarah Arnac, Sarah Bialobroda, Joe Gruca, and Kara McCollum to talk about AVT’s final production of the 2010 season, CROSSINGS.

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CROSSINGS opens tonight, November 12th, and runs for six performances through November 21st.

Ticketing and information.

Laura Tsaggaris performed in AVT's black box theatre as part of her Fall 2010 solo acoustic tour.

AVT was recently honored to host musical artist Laura Tsaggaris live in our black box theatre space. Our garage concert series presented its second night this year of live music from talented indie musicians on Saturday, October 9^th, 2010 to a crowd of about 20 local devotees of independent art in our community.  This podcast contains excerpts from this intimate and personal music experience.

Laura’s Fall 2010 tour is promoting her recent album, “Keep Talking,” which was released in 2009.

Laura’s genuine acoustic sound blends with her beautiful voice to evoke emotions that are powerful and mellow in the same moment.

In addition to songs from “Keep Talking”, Laura also played songs from her previous full-length album, “Proof”, which was released in 2005.  We also got an up close and personal preview of songs from Laura’s upcoming album, tentatively called “Unsteady.”

Thank you to all who attended; we here at AVT appreciate your support of our efforts to bring high-quality, personal, and genuine art to our community. You can find more information about Laura at her website.  Her music is available on CDBaby as well as in the iTunes Music Store.

Hope to see you at the next show!

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About the Artist

Born in Reading, Pa. and raised in Pittsburgh, Laura’s early life gave few indications of her eventual calling. She attended The College of William & Mary on a tennis scholarship and graduated with a degree in finance. While working at a Washington, D.C. law firm, Laura started her own record label, Overtime Records, and recorded her first album, Proof, in 2005.

Galvanized by the local, national and international reaction to her debut, Laura quit her job, packed her bags and toured the country alone to promote the record and launch her career as a performer. After the cycle of touring ended in 2008, Laura began work on her second studio album, Keep Talking.

From the cautionary “Warning Signs” to the life-affirming “Get Yourself Right” to the hyper-personal “Pilots”, Keep Talking is a rare effort that rocks, soothes and inspired The Washington Post to write, “When a singer-songwriter builds an array of songs, often arising from a solid pop foundation with a splash of blues, a touch of rock and a hint of soul, that affirms a genuine musical gift.”

Laura has three current arrangements: solo acoustic, acoustic with cello, and full band. She embarks on a solo acoustic U.S. tour in support of “Keep Talking” in September of 2010. Her set features songs to be included on the next studio album, projected for a fall 2011 release.

Kevin J. Hogan as Nathan Hale. Artwork by AJ Currado (www.ajcurrado.com).

We sat down with actor and AVT technical lead Kevin J. Hogan for an interview. In this podcast, Kevin talks about his upcoming role in THE INTERROGATION OF NATHAN HALE, his recently appointed position as the company’s technical lead, as well as how AVT has grown and changed since he first joined the company in January.

AVT’s production of THE INTERROGATION OF NATHAN HALE (by Captain John Montresor of HRM Expeditionary Forces) runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm from September 17th through the 26th.  Keep coming back for more interviews with cast and crew.

Check out show and ticketing information to order tickets now, or visit our Facebook Page for tech week photos as we get them posted over the next few days.

From left: Joe Gruca, Courtney Marietta, and Derric Neal star in AVT's production of BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT, on stage June 4-13 in Quartz Hill.

AVT June 2010 Update

In this episode:

* BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT opens Friday, June 4th for a six-show run through June 13th! Two lawyers duel over the nature of justice… and face a shared past that may undo them both. Tickets available online via secure credit card, or a limited number of physical tickets are available via cash/check at Sagebrush Cafe in Quartz Hill.

* Interview with Karen Gruca, production stage manager for BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT.

* Auditions have been announced for THE INTERROGATION OF NATHAN HALE, which will open in September. Please see our website, under the “Happening Now” box at right for a link to more information.

* Our first Musicians Night was held in the garage blackbox on Saturday, April 24th. Check out our blog for photos and podcast sound clips. We had a great time and have future Musicians Nights lined up! Stay tuned for further updates.

* Updates for playwrights – $300 bounty continues, several playwrights are wrighting furiously as we speak. Next Playwrights Expo will be July 24th. Short scripts for staged reading and limited production due June 26th. AVT is moving towards a phased set of event types to help bring locally written work from concept to full production.

* As a 501(c)3 nonprofit company, we depend on your support – ticket revenues recover only about 65% of what it takes to operate AVT. The generosity of our Patrons is what allows us to continue producing unique, original, and experimental drama. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation easily by credit card on our website today.

Our closer act featured professional artists JIMMY LEE YOUNG and GIL GABALDON II, rocking the house (literally) with their award-winning, Native American folk rock.  Young’s powerful voice rang out, singing soulfully about lost love, resilience, natural beauty, and occasionally a deep and burning anger.

A huge thank you to our musicians for lending their talent to our fundraiser concert.  We did a little better than break-even (sweet!!!), got our name and season out there to some new people, and earned a new individual patron, Mr. Al Bowers!  We also appreciate the members of the community who came out to support local arts in Quartz Hill.

You can listen to some clips and commentary in our latest podcast:

Scroll down for artist bios.

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS

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SPECIAL K

Kurt has been playing guitar and writing songs since his teenage years.  Struggling with non-conformity and the desire to sound like the popular radio, he was encouraged by friends to write songs and play the music as he sees and feels it.  Taking this advice to heart, he has been performing sporadically for about 5 years and seems to be much happier and more musically productive.

In Kurt’s words, “The songs I write are usually about a notable event or observation that has occurred in my life.  The songs give the soul a mechanism of emotional release as a reaction to the event.  For example, “Killer on 138” was written as a warning to the new drivers on this highway to beware and also as a state funding advocacy.”  Kurt also plays guitar at the Village Grind coffee house and plays a gehu (a chinese cello) at a local church choir in Wrightwood, CA.

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JIMMY LEE YOUNG and GIL GABALDON II

Jimmy’s music career started right here at Edwards Air force base in 1991. As an airman, Jimmy worked in the space program doing the weather for the Space Shuttle and flight testing, while supporting the Gulf war effort. Gil Gabaldon II, his drummer, worked under the 6500 ABW doing morale support troops stationed here. Jimmy had left his native New Orleans not only to finish school in the Air force, but to settle in Southern California armed with his education and honorable discharge, to pursue a career in music.

The duo started recording on Valentine’s Day, 1997. Their first CD, “Apache”, was completed in the fall of 1999. It was a long haul as neither of them had ever made a CD before. But the experience laid the groundwork for their future careers.

In the early summer of 2001 they were asked to play a July 4th benefit concert for California City, by KCEL radio. The station had started playing their CD 2 weeks before, and had them in the studio for an interview and CD giveaway. After playing a few of the songs, the phone lines lit up! The concert was packed with people pulling up lawn chairs and offering them soft drinks all day. Over next year, three of their songs stayed in the top three chart positions at that station.

In 2001 Jimmy sent a CD to Daryl Dragon (the captain half of “Captain and Tennille”). He included a letter detailing the duo’s exploits. Daryl taught Jimmy to market his music independently, he spent hours at the computer helping Jimmy get his website up and running. It was a crash course in marketing music!

In 2002, Jimmy and Gil received their first nomination for a major music award. They were nominated in the category of “Best New Group” at the Native American Music Awards. It gave them the confidence to continue, and 2 years later with release of their second CD,”MAYA”, they returned to win the category of “Song of the Year” Within weeks they began to count nominations, winning about half of the time in each category they entered. Between 2003 and 2007, they were nominated and won awards at the Rock City Music Awards, The Native American Music Awards, The L.A. Music Awards, The Indian Summer Music Awards, The First Americans in the Arts Awards, and the Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards.

In 2007 they had racked up 27 nominations nationwide and in Canada, winning a total of 17 national music awards. The run culminated with a “Song of the Year” finalist placement at the 49th Grammy Awards, and they became Grammy Foundation members. The song chosen by the Grammy foundation was,” MAYA”, the title track from their second CD, which Jimmy wrote as a tribute to his mother and her people. This year Jimmy and Gil were awarded Native America’s Silver Arrow Award. Jimmy and Gil can now be heard on over 120 stations in the U.S. and overseas.

Jimmy now writes songs for major acts in Native America, such as Felipe Rose of the Village People, Quatisi, and Yolanda Martinez. Jimmy and Gil are currently working on their third full-length CD, and continue to perform in Europe, the U.S. and Canada.

For more information and to hear free song samples, visit www.cdbaby.com.