THE GOOD DOCTOR

Diary Dates for you

to note:

Monthly General Meeting - Wednesday 18 September, 2013, at the Theatre.

Management Committee Meetings and the Casting Committee Meetings are monthly.

The Good Doctor 1

From our President Leo Bradley

2

2013 Productions Monthly Meeting

2

August Entertainment Election Prayer Answered

3

Tribute John O’Donnell 4

What’s on 4

Office Bearers 2013

4

Inside this issue:

September 2013

Volume 52 Issue 9

PROSCENIUM Villanova Players

NEWSLETTER

The

The Good Doctor is still in and is doing very well indeed. Audience numbers have been quite good and with one more weekend to go, the play has been a resounding success. Maria Plumb and her cast and crew should be congratulated for bringing this play to life. It has been commented upon, that this is a very friendly and co-operative cast and crew and indeed it is. One minor setback was overcome after Trish Pledger lost her voice. Director Ma-ria stood in for the voice on stage while Trish mimed the action, with absolutely nothing being lost of the entertainment and audience inter-est. Also some audience members may be a little wary of young den-tists after viewing Surgery but that is life as they say. The play closes on 14th Septem-ber. If you haven’t seen it yet, get yourself down to the theatre for a fine night’s entertainment. Don’t miss out on seeing this fine play.

It has been a wonderful couple of weeks as our season of The Good Doctor is still running. Despite an unexpected date for the federal election popping up in the middle of the run, our audiences have been very solid. An enormous thank you must go to Dan Kennedy, who has set up our new online booking system, with some assistance from Liz Morris and myself. Many patrons have commented on how easy they find the new system and it has cut the waiting times and the work of the box office in half. It has also reduced the number of phone bookings. Last month’s entertainment was fun for all in a light-hearted extracts from a James Joyce short story. Big thank you to Christine Grodd and the “Crying Out Loud” community choir for providing a big part of the musical entertainment and to Anne Gaffney for providing the musical accompani-ment and to Cameron Gaffney and Rod Thompson for joining in on violin and squeeze box. Many member of the choir are also members of VPs while others are very new to performing in front of others. I loved the way that the audience also took part and joined in the singing and the dancing. I must give a big thank you to our out-going Treasurer, Rod Thompson. Rod has done an enormous effort over many years, not only as treasurer but also behind the scenes as Treasurer’s assistant. He and Maria have run box office for nearly every show. His systems for accounting and filing all the money in and out have really helped us stay on top of our finances. This system will make it much easier for a new person to take over the ropes, and

while there is never a good time for such transition, this is a better time than at the beginning of the year. I am also keen to appoint an assistant to the Treasurer to share the load, so if you are interested in helping us manage our accounts please consider nominating for treasurer or putting yourself forward as assistant. We are financially the envy of many similar groups and this is due in great measure to the work of Rod and Maria over recent years. Casting is underway for our final play for 2013, Alone it Stands. This promises to be very entertaining but also a fun-filled and physical produc-tion. Looking forward to the announcement of our season for 2014 at the Octo-ber meeting. Cheers Leo

2013 FORTHCOMING PRODUCTIONS

Play No. 3

THE GOOD DOCTOR by Neil Simon - directed by Maria Plumb

30 AUGUST to 14 SEPTEMBER Doctor Anton Chekov observed life in the restrictive society of 19th century Russia. You will be carried along from the rough physical humour of The Appointment to the bizarre Drowned Man to the pathos of The Sneeze and the sheer delight of The

Audition - a night of intense comedy.

Play No. 4

ALONE IT STANDS by John Breen - directed by Leo Bradley

22 NOVEMBER to 7 DECEMBER An event known to all Rugby players and fans the world over. On 31 October 1978, the impossible happened. The invincible

New Zealand All Blacks met the minor Munster team on a field in Ireland and there was only one possible outcome - or was there? This play has all the excitement of a rugby grand final and is for all rugby fans and those who don’t know one

end of a rugby ball from the other.

FROM OUR PRESIDENT—LEO BRADLEY

Page 2 PROSCENIUM

MONTHLY GENERAL MEETING

AT THE THEATRE

WEDNESDAY 18 SEPTEMBER 2013 8:00pm

ENTERTAINMENT About a Bloke

September’s presentation recalls, through selected extracts, the life of what many claim to be, Australia’s third greatest bush poet, C. J. Dennis. Today, a selected few children may hear of the poem, “Hist, Hark”, while the old-er generation vaguely remember talks of the Sentimental Bloke, and his girl Doreen. Robert Gettons and Chris Sibley breathe life into the words of C. J. Dennis, or ‘ Den’ as he preferred to be called; and trust that this work will remind you that C.J. Dennis’ poetry reflects the life of the common bloke in Aus-tralia’s early search for identity.

If anyone is interested in presenting an item at our Monthly Meetings, contact a Member of the Casting Committee - phone

numbers are on the back page of The Proscenium]

Page 3 Volume 52 Issue 9

AUGUST ENTERTAINMENT

The August monthly meeting was treated to a great presentation of The Misses Morkans’ Christmas Party and what a thrill it was. Every-one who knew them came to the party, so we were especially privileged to be invited. There was Mary Jane, Gabriel, Julie, Kate, Gretta, Browne, Freddy, D’Arcy, and a mob calling themselves The For Crying Out Loud communi-ty choir. Songs were sung, dances were danced, jokes were told and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Who will ever forget Pat Wock-ner’s thrilling number. Thanks to director Leo Bradley and choir mistress Christine Grodd. The enthusiastic cast included: Leo Bradley; Fiona Kennedy, Trevor Bond; Colleen Lock; Pe-ter Cattach, Pat Wockner and Elizabeth Morris Special guest act: The For Crying Out Loud community choir, led by Christine Grodd; with Colleen Lock; Elizabeth Morris, Danielle Lock; Kate Hopkins; Donald Hopkins; Wayne Lock; Peter Cattach & Simon Gilby On piano: Anne Gaffney On violin: Cameron Gaffney The audience so thoroughly enjoyed them-selves and joined in on the infectious singing. A little bit of Ireland came to Morningside that night.

PRAYER ANSWERED FROM TRACY

Please extend to Mickey and her family my sincere condo-lences on their loss. I would also like to thank you for the lovely mention of me in the proscenium. The cancer is gone, the chemo is over so all I have to do now is wait for all the hair to grow back. I look a little like Fester Adams at the moment - bald and bloated. Have done a play since coming back to Tassy - Launceston Players did Amadeus and I got to play Constanza Mozart - incredible costumes all made from scratch (I even had my own

personal dresser). I will hopefully do a play next year. Please give everyone at Villanova Players my love. Tracy Ollington

An election will be held for the position of Treasurer

and any consequential vacancies at the general meeting of members on

October 16th 2013 At 8:00pm

Nominations will be accepted in writing before the meeting.

VILLANOVA PLAYERS Newsletter

Villanova Players INCORPORATED Established 1948

Balmoral Park, Jean Howie Drive off Bennetts Road MORNINGSIDE PO Box 465 Morningside Qld 4170 Email:villanovaplayers@gmail.com

www.villanovaplayers.com facebook.com/Villanova Players

Theatre Company The Hut: Phone: - 3395 5168 Bookings: Phone: - 3899 9962

2013 MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE President: Leo Bradley 3891 5769 Vice Pres: Andrew Heron 0417 793 133 Treasurer: to be elected Secretary: Anthony Bradley 0424 064 978 Casting Liaison: Liz Morris 0439 670 283 Members: Trevor Bond 3393 6521 Dan Knudson 0410 841 495 Dan Kennedy 3352 7717 Donna Thomas 0412 621 368

2013 CASTING COMMITTEE Rod Thompson 3391 7180 Michael Byrnes 3849 4521 Maria Thompson 3391 7180 Liz Morris 0439 670 283 Samantha Tierney 0449 861 812

WHAT’S ON IN THEATRE

ST LUKE’S THEATRE SOCIETY presents HOLIDAY FOR LOVERS featuring Trevor Bond directed by Cameron Gaffney - 22nd to 30th November - Book-ings - 3255 6675 ARTS THEATRE presents STRANGE ATTRACTOR - directed by Greg Scurr - 4th to 26th October - Bookings - 3369 2344 CENTENARY THEATRE GROUP presents WHEN THE RAIN STOPS FALLING directed by Cam Castles - 7th to 28th September Bookings - 3379 3937 SUNNYBANK THEATRE GROUP presents NO SEX PLEASE, WE’RE BRITISH directed by Anne Ross - 20th September to 5th October - Bookings - 3345 3964 BEENLEIGH THEATRE GROUP presents FAME devel-oped by David De Silva - 15th to 30th November - Bookings 3807 392 TOOWOOMBA REPERTORY THEATRE presents LET-TICE AND LOVAGE by Peter Schaffer - 16th to 30th November - Bookings 4632 8058 MOUNT COTTON THEATRE GROUP presents FUN-NY MONEY - directed by Zac Clarke - 25th Octo-ber to 9th November - Bookings online. SAVOYARDS presents THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE directed by Alec Raymond - 28th September to 12th October - Bookings 3893 4321

A TRIBUTE TO JOHN O’DONNELL VPs recently lost one of its life members. We are all saddened at this loss, but we can take heart and look back on a splendid life full of dedication, loyalty and full of happy memories. Our sincere thoughts are with Mickey and her family as they celebrate his wonderful life. Here are some of John’s accomplishments. FIRST STAGE APPEARANCE: When just a slip of a lad, John appeared in VPs production of Summertime in 1958 and has rarely been offstage since. He has been a true backbone of the society ever since. CAREER: 1958 also saw John stage managing the production of Bamboo Cross. As an actor, John has had a wide and varied career in many exciting roles over the years. Some productions he has played in, include, The Billion Dollar Saint in 1959, Hot Summer Night in 1961, Farewell, Farewell Eugene in 1963 [where he met Mickey] Hobson’s Choice in 1965, Brush with a Body in 1966, The Diary of Anne Frank in 1968, The Rainmaker in 1970, The One Day of the Year in 1973, The Miracle Worker in 1981, Breaker Mo-rant in 1987, Tons of Money in 1992, Stage Door in 1994, The Time is Not Yet Ripe in 1997 and Faces in the Street in 2000. The only time John has ventured from the VPs stage, is when he was asked to reprise his role of Jocksa Daily in The One Day of the Year in 1975 for La Boite theatre. John has also directed several plays for VPs, including, Our Hearts were Young and Gay in 1963 and Two Dozen Roses in 1972. Throughout the years too, John has held the positions of President [January 1973 to February 1975], Treasurer and Committee member. Outside of VPs John has held the position of Treasurer for Camp Quality an organisation that gives great enjoyment to children who are not well. FAVOURITE ACTORS: Joanne Woodward and Spencer Tracey. FAVOURITE ROLE: Jocksa Daily in The One Day of the Year. He enjoyed it so much, he played it twice. Once for VPs and once for La Boite theatre. EMBARRASSING MOMENT: Not exactly a stage moment, but John went along to a theatre evening dressed as Rudoph Nureyev complete with tights and the agility. AWARDS: John was awarded the VPs Life Membership in 1998. AMBITION: John has always wanted to be happy, which he is, and to be helpful whenever he can. John has recently gone into care. Mickey reports that he is popular with staff and patients—still being helpful where he can. VPs once again, thanks John for his valuable contributions to the society over the years. LEGACY: He will always be remembered fondly and we celebrate his wonderful life and contributions.