Gettysburg Community Theatre, the non-profit 501c3 organization located within the first block of Lincoln Square at 49 York Street, is now in its 15th season of volunteer, educational, and performance opportunities year-round for all ages and abilities with local talent in 12 productions a year plus classes, improv shows, musical cabarets, and other special events.
GCT is producing the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning Angels In America by Tony Kushner, which is a two-part epic play. Part One: Millennium Approaches will perform on May 5 & 6 at 7 pm and May 7 at 2 pm, with Part Two: Perestroika performed on May 12 & 13 at 7 pm and May 14 at 2 pm. Both plays are stand-alone, but seeing both parts is exhilarating. One of the great plays of the 20th century, this two-play blockbuster explores topics of sexuality, race, inequality, and the future of America through the lens of the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. In the first part of Kushner’s epic, a gay man is abandoned by his lover when he contracts the AIDS virus, and a closeted Mormon lawyer’s marriage to his pill-popping wife stalls. Other characters include the infamous McCarthy-ite lawyer Roy Cohn, the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg, a nurse, and a messenger from Heaven. In the second part of Kushner’s epic tale of AIDS, sexuality, and religion in the 1980s, the plague of the illness worsens, relationships fall apart as new relationships form and unexpected friendships take the form to find hope and a great work that must begin.
“It is hard to believe that Angels In America is set in the 80s and premiered in the early 90s”, says GCT Founding Executive/Artistic Director Chad-Alan Carr, “when it is still so very relevant to today’s problems with catastrophe within marginalized communities, politics, deadly viruses, and religion. It is hope and kindness, however, that must prevail. That is the work we as humanity must focus on. As the Angel says in the play ‘the great work begins’!”
Directed by Karen Land, this production contains very mature language and content, as well as staged violence and strobe lights. This production is not recommended for young audiences. The cast includes Kaitlin Ball, Debbie Williams, Chad-Alan Carr, D. Scott Hartwig, Buff Wills, Greg Trax, Ellen McIntosh Burke, Joshua Naderi, Andrew Metcalf, and Cory Metcalf from Gettysburg, Sara Bollinger, Megan Rikas and Joshua Rikas from Hanover, Allisa Baker from Fairfield, Erin DiNello from Westminster, Timothy Vinson from Waynesboro, Travis Houtz from Shippensburg, with Vanessa Rice and Roger Dalrymple as Stage Managers.
Karen Land (Director) is a theatre educator, director, and teacher specializing in improvisational acting. She received a B.A. in theatre arts and an M.D.S. from Johns Hopkins University. After completing internships at The Paper Mill Playhouse in N.J. and The New York Theatre Workshop in N.Y.C., Karen focused on an academic teaching career. She taught at Gettysburg College for ten years and at Carroll Community College for twelve. She founded the Gettysburg College Improv Troupe (Shots in the Dark) and the Musical Theatre Club (Gburg SMuT). In the last five years, Karen has been devoting time to teaching children, teens, and adults the art form of improvisational acting. She has directed award-winning productions at The Vagabond Theatre, Fells Point Corner Theatre, Baltimore Artscape, and more. Karen offers master classes in “ZenProv,” where improv and spiritual philosophies collide. In addition to teaching private acting, musical theatre, and improv lessons to all ages, Karen has directed many shows here at Gettysburg Community Theatre. Karen is the Director of the GCT Improv Troupe and is a consultant for new playwrights, taking their works from page to stage.
The Racehorse Alley Parking Garage is one block from the theatre just off N. Stratton Street for paid parking is available 24 hours, but there are many street meters close to GCT along York, Stratton, and Middle Streets, which stop at 8 pm. Most tickets are now on sale at www.GettysburgCommunityTheatre.org or by calling 717-334-2692.
GCT Mission Statement: To inspire creativity and confidence, provide cultural enrichment, and instill a love of the theatre arts in people of ALL ages and abilities through quality education and performance.