We Did It!
“A Hit, A Very Palpable Hit”
—Hamlet, Act V
Well, we did it! The Classics Company launched its inaugural season on January 8th with The Seagull. With any new venture, expectations were tempered by the unknown. How would we create visual settings in a limited venue? How could our costume designer beautifully outfit over a dozen characters with over thirty costumes on a tiny budget? How would a cast of Rochester actors embrace a Chekhovian characters for the first time? And would anybody buy tickets??
For all these questions, and many more we hadn’t thought of, our artistic team and audience rose to the occasion: The Seagull was a hit! Audiences were amazed at the quality of our production, and word-of-mouth was fantastic. We sold out two of the final three performances and exceeded our sales goals. It was a gratifying experience for all of us, and I hope for you, too, if you were one of our almost 600 attendees.
If you missed it, here is a collection of media and social posts that celebrated our classical mission with our first Chekhov play. A big thanks to our PR Team: Dresden Engle and Maddie Green.
Plus…
The Rochester Beacon will feature The Classics Company in an upcoming issue, with the story by arts writer David Raymond. The popular online newspaper can be read at https://rochesterbeacon.com.
CITY magazine will publish a feature story on The Classics Company in its March issue, with a focus on Mark Cuddy and the upcoming productions, written by award-winning journalist David Andreatta. You can read the March issue online in a few weeks, as well as grab a free issue of CITY magazine at Wegmans and spots around town.
We want YOU to join our volunteer hospitality team!
At the Multi-use Community Cultural Center we have a need for three volunteers at every performance to check-in ticket holders at the box office, hand-out programs to patrons, and sell snacks & drinks at our concessions counter. It’s fun!
“And your little dog, too…”
…is welcome at The Classics Company! We are casting a small dog (under 15 lbs.) for our upcoming production of The Cherry Orchard. Time commitment is March 1 to 14 for rehearsals and performance run at the Multi-use Community Cultural Center (MuCCC) on Atlantic Avenue.
How to audition: Record and submit a video of your dog on a leash and being carried (video length 30 to 45 seconds). Finalists will be invited to an in-person meeting.
Fast facts: Your dog will be led on a leash and carried by one female actor during the play and must be able to be quiet backstage (in the dressing room) for the entire 2.5-hour production. The owner can be backstage as well and a small stipend will be provided. We look forward to meeting your dog!
Into the Orchard
February 1st is first rehearsal day for our next production: The Cherry Orchard. It’s Anton Chekhov’s final play, written in the year of his death when he was 44. It has all the earmarks of a Chekhovian comedy: roller-coaster passions, idiosyncratic characters, and bouts of melancholia. Once again, our actors will immerse themselves in turn-of-the-20th Century Russia. They are up to the task! We’ll see you in March!
Act I
(Photo Credit: Ron Heerkens Jr // Goat Factory Media)
Act II
(Photo Credit: Ron Heerkens Jr // Goat Factory Media)
Act III
(Photo Credit: Ron Heerkens Jr // Goat Factory Media)
Act IV
(Photo Credit: Ron Heerkens Jr // Goat Factory Media)