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Bakersfield Community Theatre takes on Broadway
Topics: theatre, theater, entertainment, Arts, On Stage, auditons
Posted by theatrixx Mon Aug 18, 2008 09:25:40 PDT
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Former founder and Producing Director of
Hollywood Actors Theatre, L.A., finds a home at BCT.

One of the recent arrivals to settle in Bakersfield,  seeking refuge from the hustle, bustle and high housing costs of Los Angeles, is theatre director, producer and TV Writer, Ron Bastone.  Bastone, moved to Bakersfield in 2003.  Now retiring, from Kern County’s Department of Human Services, where he initiated and directed the ACT-OUT program for teenagers, Bastone has now returned to his roots in theatre.  Ron’s extensive background in theatre  and interest in Drama Therapy, inspired him to form the ACT-OUT Theatre workshop as a therapeutic tool for youth at risk. He is intending to continue that program in his retirement.

Bastone’s Masters degree in Marital and Family Therapy, led to five years in Social Work with Kern County and six years with L.A. County. The director/producer of more than 45 productions in L.A. and Northern California has now joined the family of Bakersfield Community Theatre and will direct their November production of David Rabe’s, surreal drama “In the Boom Boom Room” opening on November 7th.  Bastone will also be teaching  two Introduction To Acting Workshops, one for adults and one for teens for North of the River Recreation.

In addition to his theatre background, Bastone also wrote 65 episodes of the first season of  “The New Mickey Mouse Club” for Disney Studios, which aired between 1977 and 1979.  The director/writer later wrote nine episodes of the popular children’s TV series, “Kids Incorporated”  in the mid 1980’s which featured Stacy Ferguson, better known today as pop singer Fergie.

During his time as Producing Director of  Hollywood Actors Theatre, the repertory company became well-known for its productions that ventured into the minds and souls of complex characters and timely but controversial themes. The productions, comedies and dramas, were thought provoking, daring and offered a glimpse into the underbelly of society in both urban and rural populations.  Bastone was responsible for directing the L.A. Premiere of “The Runner Stumbles,” dealing with an affair between a Catholic Priest and a Nun that resulted in a murder inquiry. Another L.A. Premiere, directed by Bastone, was Holy Ghosts, by Romulus Linney a love story set in the makeshift church of a Pentecostal snake handling cult. Bastone was also at the helm of a 16-week run of “P.S. Your Cat is Dead,” by “A Chorus Line” author, James Kirkwood. The warm-hearted comedy was adapted from Kirkwood’s novel about bi-sexual cat burglar who invades the home of  a straight actor - novelist on New Years Eve.  The Los Angeles Times said of the HAT theatre ensemble, “No theatre company has maintained a more consistent sense of theatrical adventure.”

In this latest venture for BCT, Bakersfield Community Theatre, Ron will reprise his directorial efforts, with  “In the Boom-Boom Room.”  Bastone previously directed the Hollywood Actors Theatre production, featuring, Broadway actress-dancer Julie Newmar, who played Catwoman in the original Batman series on TV.  Ron’s L.A. production was chosen by The Los Angeles Herald Examiner as one of the top-ten productions in Equity-waiver theatre in 1982, from more than 300 productions that year.

In the Boom Boom Room was originally produced commercially by Joseph Papp - at the Vivian Beaumont Theater  at Lincoln Center in New York City in 1973 and was nominated for a Tony Award. The play was again performed at the Public Theater in NYC the following year. Mr. Rabe has recently revised the play by slimming it down from three to two acts.

The characters of Boom Boom Room live in the sordid, commercial atmosphere of a sleazy bar where go-go dancers perform for google-eyed Joe Sixpacks. The story of the play unfolds in Philadelphia in the mid 1960’s. It’s dark and disturbing tale is seen through the mind, damaged spirit and surreal imagination of the central character, Chrissy, a naive and child-like go-go dancer who dreams of a serious professional dance career.  Boom Boom and its ensemble cast of 12, probes the psyche’s of  Chrissy’s physically and sexually abusive father, and her equally abusive boyfriend, a drifter whose sidekick prefers to live in an LSD reality. Then there’s Chrissy’s mother, who aborted her three previous pregnancies to preserve her good looks in order to keep her cheating husband.  The play features music from the mid sixties, danced to by the three featured go-go dancers. ''In the Boom Boom Room'' exposes what it means to make it big in a big city where “the big time” beats with an artificial heart.

Auditions for In the Boom Boom Room will take place Sunday, August 17th, 5-7 PM, Saturday, August 23rd 12-3 PM and Monday August 25th, 6-8 PM at Bakersfield Community Theatre, 2400 S. Chester Avenue
Bakersfield, CA 93304  For information, call (661) 831-8114. 
 

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Comment From: NATALIE

I had heard at one point that the Bakersfield Community Theater was at risk of shutting down due to lack of funding. Is this still the case? If so, how can the community help? Comment From: musicaldude2006

Well, you can donate time or money, and you can help promote our shows, or the biggest one is just coming to see our shows. thanks for the concern!