Church Hill Theatre is accepting applications for the following paid staff positions for the 2023 Green Room Gang program. The theatre requires a Green Room Gang Sr. director and a Green Room Gang, Jr. director along with up to three interns to work with the directors during the 5-week summer program.

Green Room Gang is a summer theatre workshop that consists of two camps. GRG Sr. is a five-week, full day program of theatre instruction for youths entering grades 6—12 that culminates in a fully staged musical for public performance. GRG Jr. is a four and a half week, half day program for youths entering grades 1—5 which also culminates in a fully staged musical production. Both camps are in session Monday through Thursday.  GRG Sr. begins June 19, 2023 and ends with performances July 19, 20 and 21, 2023; GRG Jr. starts June 21 and culminates with the production at the same time.

The directors of Green Room Gang are the instructors and artists who oversee and orchestrate the theatrical education of the Green Room Gang students and the mounting of fully scripted productions by creatively facilitating all aspects of the productions.  The directors have the challenging task of bringing together the many complex pieces of a production—the script, actors, set, costuming, lighting, sound and music—into a unified whole.  They will be responsible for all aspects of the production; however, the focus of the position is the instruction of the students and the casting, directing and rehearsing of the show.  Applicants should have extensive formal education and experience in all aspects.

The interns of the Green Room Gang will have duties that vary with the nature of the script, the director, the designers and the production facilities. An effective intern will adapt to the needs of each production. He or she will always make it his/her priority to see that the director has everything he/she needs to bring the play’s vision to the stage.  They will work closely with the directors of both GRG Jr. and GRG Sr. and will assist in instructional, directing and production aspects of the camp. The two intern positions require a HS diploma as well as college training in a variety of the aspects of theatre.

Interested applicants can learn more about CHT and its previous seasons by visiting our website at http://www.churchhilltheatre.org, by phoning the CHT office at 410-556-6003 or by email at: office@churchhilltheatre.org.

Applications are available on the CHT website or by calling the CHT office. The deadline for applications is December 30, 2022.

Gunner, his wife Peg and son Jack; A family.

Gunner, beginning to lose touch with reality, his wife worried about their future together and son Jack whose married life has collapsed and left him adrift.

In a series of flashbacks we see Gunner’s hurtful jokes harassing young Jack for being “too soft”; Peg who never followed through with her acceptance into college; and Jack who has always wanted to be a chef and to own a restaurant but never the courage to follow through.

Colleen Minahan, Gil Rambach, Christopher Wallace. Photo by Steven Atkinson.

As Gunner in a rare moment of lucidity, ecstatically delivers news of a plan to allow for his family’s financial security and his own peace of mind……he however wants his wife and son’s blessing.  Peg and Jack struggle with the proposition and their own definitions of what it means to truly love someone.

Join us and watch as they all learn how to accept each other for who they are and to forgive.

Tickets and reservations by phone at 410 556 6003 or by checking online at CHURCHHILLTHEATRE.org.

Church Hill Theatre’s production of Clybourne Park opened on September 9 and will run weekends through September 25.  Although inspired by Lorraine Hansberry’s classic A Raisin in the Sun, Clybourne Park is most definitely a play about NOW. It is a biting and sometimes funny punch in the gut that deserved and won both the Pulitzer and Tony awards for Best Play.

In Act 1, which takes place in 1959 before A Raisin in the Sun, a white couple leaving their middle-class Chicago neighborhood for personal reasons has accepted an offer from a Black family, the Youngers (the protagonists in Hansberry’s play).  Worried white neighbors intervene, concerned about integration and property values.  The audience is left wondering just how great a neighborhood Clybourne Park really is, as prejudices and misconceptions threaten the status quo.

L to R: John Hodgson, Anthony Daly, Matt Folker, and Cynthia Bayne rehearsing Act II of Clybourne Park

Fifty years later, in Act 2, Clybourne Park is solidly Black but changing again, as gentrification has made the location newly desirable. When a white couple is thwarted from razing the Younger house to build a mini-mansion, cordial discussions rapidly turn to racial and sexist invective. The old prejudices and misconceptions have not really disappeared with time.

The excellent cast deals comfortably with truly uncomfortable themes, saying out loud what usually stays politely unsaid. Since the play bridges the past and present, most actors play two roles. Jon Hodgson portrays Russ and Dan; Christine Kinlock is Bev and Kathy; Simone Collins plays Francine and Lena; Gary Tucker is Albert and Kevin; Matt Folker plays Karl and Steve; Cynthia Bayne portrays Betsy and Lindsay, and Anthony Daly plays Kenneth and Eddie Vance is Jim.

L to R: Simone Collins and Gary Tucker rehearsing Act I of Clybourne Park

Clybourne Park is directed by Michael Whitehill, assisted by Kathy Jones, Steve Atkinson, Sylvia Maloney, Debra Ebersole, Rachel Gwin, Doug Kaufmann and Tom Rhodes.

Performances are at 8 pm on Fridays and Saturdays and at 2 pm on Sundays. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for members, and $10 for students. Reservations may be made on the CHT website: http://www.churchhilltheatre.org or by phone at 410-556-6003.  Audiences are reminded that the play contains strong language.

Do you remember Lorraine Hansberry’s searing A Raisin in the Sun, the now classic 1959 play about racial integration and “white flight” in Chicago? Have attitudes and realities really changed over the last sixty-plus years? How does an ethical person deal with the political, economic and moral baggage of our shared American experience?

Bruce Norris helps us explore the dilemma in his prize-winning 2010 drama Clybourne Park. The first act takes us back to the 1950s, where Hansberry’s characters (and some new ones) find that middle-class suburbia may not be the American dream they hoped for. Fifty years later, Clybourne Park is changing again, as young professionals begin to gentrify the established African-American community. Clybourne Park was awarded the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2012 Tony Award for Best Play.

Clybourne Park Cast

Michael Whitehill, who brings his expected flair and innovative staging to the production, directs Church Hill Theatre’s revival. With identity politics, the Black Lives Matter movement, and other social issues dividing our country, Whitehill believes that while Clybourne Park’s themes may sometimes be painful, the play is a powerful nudge to reflection and constructive dialogue.

Intentionally linking the past and the now, Bruce Norris has the actors play different roles in each act. The cast comprises Cynthia Bayne (Betsy/Lindsay), Simone Collins (Francine/Lena), Anthony Daly (Kenneth), John Hodgson (Russ/Dan), Christine Kinlock (Bev/Kathy), Gary Tucker (Albert/Kevin), Eddie Vance (Jim/Tom), and Frank Wirmusky (Karl/Steve).

The production team includes Kathy Jones, Assistant Director; Steve Atkinson, Stage Manager and photographer; Sylvia Maloney, Producer; Debra Ebersole, Costumes; Rachel Gwin, Make-up and Hair; Doug Kaufmann, Light Design; and Tom Rhodes, Set Construction.

Clybourne Park opens on September 9 and runs through September 25, with performances at 8 pm on Fridays and Saturdays and at 2 pm on Sundays. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for members, and $10 for students. Please note that the subject matter may be difficult for younger audience members. Reservations may be made on the CHT website: http://www.churchhilltheatre.org or by phone at 410-556-6003.