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The magic of theater: Point Loma comes to Hillcrest
Repair shop of cars to host Little Shop of Horrors starting tonight
The crew built its own Audrey II
Hillcrest is getting a new theater in a peculiar place. The Point Loma Playhouse company is abandoning its former stage near the harbor for a former auto repair shop next to Jimmy Carter’s Mexican Cafe on Fifth Avenue. The extra square footage will help the 19-year-old community theater group put on larger-scaled shows —shows like Little Shop of Horrors, which opens tonight under the musical direction of local vocal coaching legend Leigh Scarritt.
It turns out that the cylindrical metal rafters of the former MTH Automotive Consulting building make the perfect skeleton from which to hang stage lights. And since Point Loma Playhouse’s first show takes place on New York’s dilapidated Skid Row, the group didn't have to do much to the old building to set the scene for the audience. “We just needed high ceilings, a big open space, and neighbors who would embrace us,” said Jailyn Osborne, the theater group’s artistic director and vice president (and Little Shop's director and choreographer). They've found all three in the new location; the actors report that Jimmy Carter’s, the landmark Mexican restaurant next door, has literally been fueling their late-night rehearsals.
Artistic Director Jailyn Osborne
Osborne added that she had conducted a mad search for a larger space than the group's old home in the Point Loma Assembly building on Talbot Street. She said she contacted over 30 warehouses before landing the old auto body shop. Now, she is hoping that a combination of ticket sales and donations will help them make rent so they can stay.
“I wanted to find a place where we could grow if we were so lucky as to be able to stay here,” Osborne said.
It's a hugely welcome addition to a neighborhood that desperately needs more playhouses. The interest is certainly there on the performing end: Osborne said she had 400 people try out for Little Shop of Horrors. Typically, she'd get around a dozen for the smaller productions the former Playhouse space could handle.
The troupe got the keys on September 26, just 13 days before curtain, and set to work. Osborne’s husband Thomas Kramer almost single-handedly built a stage in just a matter of weeks. Their cushy black theater seats? Courtesy of the now-closed Landmark movie theater in Hillcrest. The clothes of Kara Tuckfield — the show’s producer and a Point Loma Playhouse board member — were stained purple and green from a recent late night spent painting the new theater’s entrance the colors of Audrey II, the man-eating plant at the center of the show.
Everybody’s wearing many hats, true to form for community theater. Gaby LeBaron serves as assistant choreographer and stage painter and assistant to whatever else production needs. She put some of the shoo-bop-shoo-bop moves behind the Motown singers who serve as a Greek chorus and lead the audience through Little Shop’s narrative.
Aarin Wilson, who plays chorus gal Ronnette, said she hopes to make it all the way to Broadway someday. Tyrah Monique Hunter belts out her soul on the high harmony of “Skid Row” in the opening number as Crystal. But before or after rehearsal, the two grab paint rollers to help put the finishing touches on Musnik’s Flower Shop. “I have become a set designer, a painter and part of the tech crew,” Hunter said.
Hunter signed with a talent agency just a few days before opening night. She's glad for places like Point Loma Playhouse, which offer newcomers like her a chance to expand their repertoire and get connected outside artistic hubs like Los Angeles. “For me, doing community theater is all about the experience," she said. "I try to propel myself, put myself in different spaces with different kinds of people and styles."
Performances run weekends through October 26; go here for times and tickets.
Here's something you might be interested in.
The magic of theater: Point Loma comes to Hillcrest
Repair shop of cars to host Little Shop of Horrors starting tonight
The magic of theater: Point Loma comes to Hillcrest
Repair shop of cars to host Little Shop of Horrors starting tonight
The crew built its own Audrey II
Hillcrest is getting a new theater in a peculiar place. The Point Loma Playhouse company is abandoning its former stage near the harbor for a former auto repair shop next to Jimmy Carter’s Mexican Cafe on Fifth Avenue. The extra square footage will help the 19-year-old community theater group put on larger-scaled shows —shows like Little Shop of Horrors, which opens tonight under the musical direction of local vocal coaching legend Leigh Scarritt.
It turns out that the cylindrical metal rafters of the former MTH Automotive Consulting building make the perfect skeleton from which to hang stage lights. And since Point Loma Playhouse’s first show takes place on New York’s dilapidated Skid Row, the group didn't have to do much to the old building to set the scene for the audience. “We just needed high ceilings, a big open space, and neighbors who would embrace us,” said Jailyn Osborne, the theater group’s artistic director and vice president (and Little Shop's director and choreographer). They've found all three in the new location; the actors report that Jimmy Carter’s, the landmark Mexican restaurant next door, has literally been fueling their late-night rehearsals.
Artistic Director Jailyn Osborne
Osborne added that she had conducted a mad search for a larger space than the group's old home in the Point Loma Assembly building on Talbot Street. She said she contacted over 30 warehouses before landing the old auto body shop. Now, she is hoping that a combination of ticket sales and donations will help them make rent so they can stay.
“I wanted to find a place where we could grow if we were so lucky as to be able to stay here,” Osborne said.
It's a hugely welcome addition to a neighborhood that desperately needs more playhouses. The interest is certainly there on the performing end: Osborne said she had 400 people try out for Little Shop of Horrors. Typically, she'd get around a dozen for the smaller productions the former Playhouse space could handle.
The troupe got the keys on September 26, just 13 days before curtain, and set to work. Osborne’s husband Thomas Kramer almost single-handedly built a stage in just a matter of weeks. Their cushy black theater seats? Courtesy of the now-closed Landmark movie theater in Hillcrest. The clothes of Kara Tuckfield — the show’s producer and a Point Loma Playhouse board member — were stained purple and green from a recent late night spent painting the new theater’s entrance the colors of Audrey II, the man-eating plant at the center of the show.
Everybody’s wearing many hats, true to form for community theater. Gaby LeBaron serves as assistant choreographer and stage painter and assistant to whatever else production needs. She put some of the shoo-bop-shoo-bop moves behind the Motown singers who serve as a Greek chorus and lead the audience through Little Shop’s narrative.
Aarin Wilson, who plays chorus gal Ronnette, said she hopes to make it all the way to Broadway someday. Tyrah Monique Hunter belts out her soul on the high harmony of “Skid Row” in the opening number as Crystal. But before or after rehearsal, the two grab paint rollers to help put the finishing touches on Musnik’s Flower Shop. “I have become a set designer, a painter and part of the tech crew,” Hunter said.
Hunter signed with a talent agency just a few days before opening night. She's glad for places like Point Loma Playhouse, which offer newcomers like her a chance to expand their repertoire and get connected outside artistic hubs like Los Angeles. “For me, doing community theater is all about the experience," she said. "I try to propel myself, put myself in different spaces with different kinds of people and styles."
Performances run weekends through October 26; go here for times and tickets.
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