Wyoming County Cultural Center at the Dietrich Theater 


Newsletter for June 13, 2014 
570-836-1022
Now Showing at the Dietrich 
(Click on Movie Posters for Showtimes and Synopses.)
How to Train Your Dragon 2 22 Jump Street
The Fault in Our Stars Maleficent
Coming Soon to the Dietrich 
Jersey Boys
Upcoming Events at the Dietrich 
Shakespeare in the Park
Saturday, June 21 at 7:00 p.m.

At Tunkhannock's Lazybrook Park

Presented by: Gamut Theatre Group

Sponsored by: the Overlook Estate Foundation

Experience Shakespeare in Tunkhannock's Lazybrook Park with Gamut Theatre Group's version of Macbeth.  This 80-minute version of Shakespeare's original text tells the story of Macbeth.  The performance will be followed by a talk-back session with the actors.  Please bring your own blanket or chair to the performance. Call the Dietrich Theater at 570-996-1500 for details.
Open Mic Night
Friday, June 27 at 7:00 p.m. Doors open for sign-ups at 6:30 p.m.
Featuring Ed Crawley & the Everything Natural Drummers
For all ages
Hosted by: Katie Wisnosky
Admission: Free
Open to audiences and performers of all ages. Musicians, poets, comedians and performers of all types are invited to share their talents. Ed Crawley and the Everything Natural Drummers are back by popular demand to lead a drum circle after the open mic. Founded by the belief that rhythm is a universal language, the group will invite everyone to drum along. Bring an  instrument or use one of theirs. Seating is limited. Call the Dietrich at 570-996-1500 for details. 
Folklore and Coal Mining Songs of the Northeast 
Sunday, June 29 at 3:00 p.m.
Presented by: Jay Smar
Admission: Free
Sponsored by: The Pennsylvania Humanities Council
This informative yet musical program highlights the struggles and disasters of coal miners in northeastern Pennsylvania. Jay will explain the origin of and play documented and researched original compositions from our region’s coalmining past. He will accompany his vocals with guitar, claw-hammer banjo, fiddle and a form of clog dancing. Coal mining photos, books and chronicles will also be shared. Recordings will be for sale. Tickets will be available by calling 570-996-1500 or at the door while they last.
At the Dietrich by Hildy Morgan     
        This will be a sad column even though I have so many positive things to tell you about. One of our members of the Dietrich Theater family (and we are a family albeit an odd one – more Modern Family than Father Knows Best) was dealt a terrible blow. Our own Jennifer Jenkins, whose work with live theater is incomparable, lost her beloved father this past weekend. I didn’t know him except to say hello as he came and went visiting Jennifer, consulting on sets he was building for her, binging or picking up Emma, or probably just stopping by to say “Hi” to the daughter he so obviously adored. He died suddenly and without warning and such a death brings its’ own special shock and pain. The mind reels and can’t accept that the person we loved, who was with us just hours before, will never be with us again. I know he built most of the sets for Jennifer’s plays, but the thing I loved the most, that I thought was too cool for school, was the moveable truck he built for The Grapes of Wrath, Jennifer’s first production for us.  It was so fine, so whimsical, so clever, that just looking at it made you smile.
     My sweet nephew, Mike, who works at Bartron’s told his mom yesterday that they felt the loss at Bartron’s  deeply. “Jerry came by most days,” Mike said. “And he and Rob Robinson were planting the field that Harold Groh usually planted with potatoes. Now both Harold and Jerry are gone.” Mike shook his head, even at his young age beginning to understand the  coldness and finality of death. “He was a nice guy,” Mike said of Jerry. “He’ll be missed. Yeah. He was a really nice guy.”
     Our thoughts and prayers go out to Jennifer, Emma (who, after all, has lost her precious grandpa) and all the rest of Jerry’s family. We are very, very sorry for their loss.
      There is no good segue here, so I will just go on to say thank you so much to Ed McMullen for his lecture on Sunday about D-Day. It was so full of detail, so interesting and so heart-wrenching that it moved much of the audience (and we had over 150 folks in attendance) to tears.  And thank you to Tunkhannock’s American Legion and the Honor Guard led by Francis Turner, who was actually there, on the beaches, on D+3. How lucky we were to have him. And when a Vietnam Vet played Taps, so pure and clear, and as those notes  lingered throughout the theater, it was very hard to hold back tears. It was hard not to think about all the wars that have buried so many, many young men. It is true that WW2 was probably one of the few wars in history that needed fighting, but the bodies pile up as politicians declare war here and there and everywhere. In closing, Ed read a poem by A.E. Houseman, one of the great WW1 poets.  I will print it here for you because it is so beautiful and so sad (and we really need to stop sending our children off to war – if we really support the troops we need to be very, very thoughtful about where we send them and for what reasons!)
     Here Dead We Lie, by A.E. Houseman
     Here dead we lie/Because we did not choose/To live and shame the land/From which we sprung.  Life, to be sure/Is nothing much to lose,/But young men think it is,/ And we were young.
     We hope Ed will come back soon with another piece of history to share with us. He is so gifted!
     Well, this is certainly turning into a sad column, isn’t it? And the dreariness of the weather isn’t helping at all!
     Okay. Don’t forget to bring your chairs and your blankies and your very own selves to Lazybrook Park on Saturday, June 21 at 7:00 p.m. to see the Gamut Theater’s production of MacBeth.  Oooooh. Shivers. Now you want to talk about dysfunctional families???? Here’s a prime example. A cautionary tale indeed. Come join us for a wonderful night under the summer sky.
     And one more thing – 22 Jump Street is raunchy and hilarious. If life has you down, come see it. And bring the kids to How To Train Your Dragon 2 and there’s still the magnificent Maleficent and of course the gorgeous The Fault in Our Stars and I have to tell you, those two young people can act! I loved it! Terrific  films!
     See you at the Dietrich.
Live at the Dietrich by Erica Rogler 
What a grand show!  Last Wednesday, the Dietrich Theater Radio Players transported us back to the 1940’s and 1950’s with an episode of Fibber McGee and Molly, Jack Benny’s parody of “High Noon” and the Grand Marquee Radio play “Haunt Me a House”.   I especially loved the old time sound effects of Fibber’s closet and the horse hoof sound effects in “High Noon”.  We would like to thank Esther Harmatz for directing the show and the cast for giving us an evening of pure entertainment.  Cast members included: Owen Frazier, Mary Brown, Jack Frazier, Tim Kinsey, Courtland Birchard, Elizabeth Winski, Richard Ryczak, Corky Miller, Bob Kirby, June Lybolt, Marlene Miller, Pam Frazier, Ian Frazier, Georgia Smith, and Barbara Jones. 
The next event that the Dietrich will be presenting is Shakespeare in the Park on Founders’ Day night.  Join us on Saturday, June 21 at 7:00 p.m. in Tunkhannock’s scenic Lazybrook Park for an evening of live theatre.  Gamut Theatre Group of Harrisburg will be bringing us their eighty minute version of the original text of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”.  This play tells the story of Macbeth who when returning from battle encounters three mysterious women who tell him he will become king.  Urged on by his wife, he decides to take his destiny in hand by murdering King Duncan as he sleeps.  One atrocity leads to another, and Macbeth finds that the choices we make can have unexpected consequences.   
Immediately following the performance, the actors will stay for a talk-back discussion with the audience.  Admission is free and the play is underwritten by the Overlook Estate Foundation.  Please bring your own lawn chairs or blankets. 
What I like about Gamut Theatre Group’s performances is that they are extremely accessible.  We often see families attend Shakespeare in the Park, and it reminds me of my first introduction to Shakespeare at a Theatre on the Green performance at College Misericordia that my mother took me to when I was young.  Even though I didn’t understand the entire play, it was something my mom and I talked about for days following the performance and is a fond memory for me now. 
Oh, and I have a summer camp update to share with you.  We have decided to add another week of camps with Rand Whipple of Box of Light Theatre.  That means there will be another session of LEGO Maniacs, the camp where students will build with LEGOS and learn to make LEGO animated films.  It will be offered Monday through Thursday, June 30 through July 3 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. 
 During the afternoons of the same week, the Dietrich will be hosting Digital Arts Camp from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.  During Digital Arts Camp, students will learn how to shoot, edit and score their own films, work with green screen and create a claymation short movie.  These camps are geared for students ages eight to fourteen, and admission is $50 per camp. 
 The Dietrich also has openings in All About Pottery & Sculpture Camp, Mask Making Camp, Where the Wild Things Are Theatre & Visual Arts Camp and more.  For a full listing of summer camps and classes at the theater, please visit www.dietrichtheater.com.  And to register, please call us at 570-996-1500.
60 E. Tioga St. | Tunkhannock, PA 18657 US
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