Blog Posts

The sound of music - playing maria in santa maria

7/18/2022

Having a wonderful time in "the hills" this summer as Maria in The Sound of Music
at The Pacific Conservatory Theatre - PCPA.
~
Incredible voices, beautiful design, swoon-worthy Captain, and the cutest, most talented
von Trapp children this side of the Alps!
Running through July 31st

"Emily Trask, as plucky postulant nun Maria, embodies the 'drop of golden sun'... Her radiant, steadfast enthusiasm is consistently infectious through the show." - New Times SLO

"the lovely strains of a perfectly cast Maria (Emily Trask)..." Wise to the Words

Director Kitty Balay - Stage Manager Rebekah Carriere -
Scenic Design Jason Bolen -Costume Design Sara Curran Ice - Lighting Design Cody Soper - Sound Design Elisabeth Wiedner -
Scenic Charge Abby Hogan - Properties Director Tim Hogan -
extra special shout-out to amazing dresser Adriana Gonzalez Hernandez
(12 costume changes per show! and those are just Maria's not counting all the other changes she has hands in)

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As you Like it... and then some

4/14/2022

"As I make curtsy, bid me farewell."

As You Like It - Pacific Conservatory Theatre - PCPA 2022. Rosalind - Jennie Greenberry* Costume Design - Sara Curran Ice, Lighting Design - Jennifer "Z" Zornow, Scenic Design - Jason Bolen, Props Master - Tim Hogan, Paints - Abby Hogan, Photo Credit - Luis Escobar

Cheers to a successful run of As You Like It at PCPA's Marion Theatre this February through March. Honored to have had the opportunity to direct this beautiful production and to join forces with some many lovely collaborators to bring Shakespeare's whimsical, shape-shifting, and most musical comedy to life.

New Play development and direction

Got to spend a week in March developing and directing an exciting new script with some amazing ladies!

Word 'o Mouth by Susanne Skubal
"A death row cook, a new mother, a caramel corn junkie, a court stenographer in an infamous murder trial – these are just a few of the fascinating females you’re about to hear from. A mosaic developed from first-person interviews, real events, cross-cultural texts, and imaginative explorations, Word o’ Mouth is a deeply human tour of the pervasive pleasures, dreads, desires, and dramas of the foods and rituals that unite us all in the most fundamental way. Open wide for this “baker’s dozen” of compelling characters that will make you laugh, ache, and question what goes in and comes out of your own mouth."
Stay tuned for where this delicious new work will be showing up next!

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Broadway world awards

1/24/2022

Best Direction of a Stream - Emily Trask InterPlay Festival - PCPA - Pacific Conservatory Theatre
Best Supporting Performer in a Musical - Emily Trask Together - PCPA - Pacific Conservatory Theatre
Best Streaming Play - The Thanksgiving Play, by Larissa Fasthorse, Directed by Emily Trask Starring: Andy Philpot, Erik Stein, Katie Fuchs-Wackowski, Victoria Sanders, and Kitty Balay - Pacific Conservatory Theatre

THANK YOU Broadway World Santa Barbara, the Central Coast audiences (near and far thanks to Zoom), and PCPA!

I think anyone who managed to produce theatre over this past year and half deserves an award.
And during a time when so many professionals in the performing arts lost their livelihoods, I have been incredibly lucky to just stay employed, let alone, get to do theatre. I'm so glad some of that theatre reached some people and that they liked it.

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Back at it

9/19/2021

Kicking off The Pacific Conservatory Theatre season with two incredible plays! September 23rd - 25th

PCPA's Popular InterPlay Series is BACK! LIVE AND IN PERSON in the Severson Theater (with Sept 24th's performance also offered streaming) featuring TWO phenomenal fresh plays.
Tickets available now!

a few memories from TOGETHER: A Musical Journey
A welcome back concert and show for PCPA at the beautiful outdoor Solvang Theatre
July - August 2021

Director - Katie Fuchs-Wackowski, Playwright - Erik Stein, Music Directer (and Music Arranged by)- Michael Wilkins, Lighting Designer - Jennifer "Z" Zornow, Costume Designer - Eddy L Barrow, Scenic Designer - Jason Bolen, Sound Designer - Lindsay Putnam, Stage Manager - Laura Danek,
Production Stage Manager - Suzanne Tyler

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American theatre Magazine - where the year went

3/29/2021

Honored to be included in American Theatre Magazine's surreal year retrospective with dozens of other theatre artists who have been navigating this past year. And acutely aware how lucky and unique I am to have actual work in the theatre to talk about at this time.

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2-much-fun Projects

3/1/2021

Had a fantastic time talking theatre and things

with these two charming neighbors!

FEEDING YOUR SOUL - an interview with Emily Trask

We were thrilled to sit down with The Pacific Conservatory Theatre's very own Literary Associate and Resident Artist Emily Trask. Join us as we find out how a 3rd grade poet ignited her love for words and launched an amazing career.

ALSO!

Had waaaaay too much behind-the-scenes fun

doing this SPICY INTERVIEW for SLO REP

starring Michael Brusasco and Melinda Parret

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Back by Popular Demand!

2/21/2021

STARTING THIS WEEK!

FOUR FRESH-PICKED PLAYS ON CALIFORNIA'S CENTRAL COAST!

The Mountaintop by Katori Hall - Feb 26 @7:00pm PST & Feb 27 @1:30pm PST
Into the Breeches! by George Brant - March 5 @7:00pm PST & March 6 @1:30pm PST
Two Degrees by Tira Palmquist - March 12 @7:00pm PST & March 13 @1:30pm PST
Fade by Tanya Saracho - March 19 @7:00pm PST & March 20 @1:30pm PST

FOR MORE INFO ON EACH PLAY CLICK THE TITLE

FOR TICKETS CLICK HERE!

Each reading is performed LIVE!!
and will be followed by an interview with the playwright that I had the pleasure of recording exclusively for PCPA audiences,
and a live talkback with the cast and director of the reading.

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Home for the Holidays

12/22/2020

PCPA Reads@Home features a special reading of The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry.

with donation to Locks of Love

And tons of fun performing for
PCPA's HOME FOR THE HOLIDAY'S VIRTUAL CABARET this month!

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Rutherford and Son

10/14/2020

NOW STREAMING!

Rutherford and Son, by Githa Sowerby

part of Quintessence Theatre Group's

Shout Into The Void reading festival.

Named one of the “100 plays of the century” by the Royal National Theatre andwritten in 1912, by a rare and remarkable Edwardian female dramatist -- Githa Sowerby’s rarely produced Rutherford and Son is a piercing study of class and gender politics through the lens of one family's breaking point.

So fascinating and fabulous to get to direct this phenomenal play and to collaborate with this incredible cast and the Quintessence team.

Check out a PODCAST I did with Artistic Associate, Lee Cortopassi - or better yet! - check out the amazing interview Lee did with Sowerby Expert Scholar, J. Ellen Gainor.

Click Here for Tickets!

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InterPlay Halfway!

10/6/2020

We're halfway through PCPA's InterPlay Series
and I can't stop talking about it!

talkin' bout it on KSBY

talkin' bout it in the Santa Maria Sun

talkin' bout it in the SLO New Times

talkin' bout it on KEYT

Three fabulous plays down!

And three fabulous plays to go!

loving getting to direct, act, and lead the discussions in this series.

CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR TICKETS!

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Having a wonderful time in "the hills" this summer as Maria in The Sound of Music at The Pacific Conservatory Theatre - PCPA. ~Incredible voices, beautiful design, swoon-worthy Captain, and the cutest, most talented ​von Trapp children this side of the Alps! Running through July 31st

"As I make curtsy, bid me farewell."

New Play development and direction

Kicking off The Pacific Conservatory Theatre season with two incredible plays! September 23rd - 25th

a few memories from TOGETHER: A Musical Journey A welcome back concert and show for PCPA at the beautiful outdoor Solvang TheatreJuly - August 2021

Had a fantastic time talking theatre and things ​with these two charming neighbors!

ALSO! Had waaaaay too much behind-the-scenes fun doing this SPICY INTERVIEW for SLO REP ​starring Michael Brusasco and Melinda Parret

STARTING THIS WEEK!

FOUR FRESH-PICKED PLAYS ON CALIFORNIA'S CENTRAL COAST!

FOR MORE INFO ON EACH PLAY CLICK THE TITLEFOR TICKETS CLICK HERE!​

NOW STREAMING!Rutherford and Son, by Githa Sowerby part of ​Quintessence Theatre Group's ​Shout Into The Void reading festival.

Archives

Having a wonderful time in "the hills" this summer as Maria in The Sound of Music
at The Pacific Conservatory Theatre - PCPA.
~
Incredible voices, beautiful design, swoon-worthy Captain, and the cutest, most talented
von Trapp children this side of the Alps!
Running through July 31st

a few memories from TOGETHER: A Musical Journey
A welcome back concert and show for PCPA at the beautiful outdoor Solvang Theatre
July - August 2021

Had a fantastic time talking theatre and things

with these two charming neighbors!

ALSO!

Had waaaaay too much behind-the-scenes fun

doing this SPICY INTERVIEW for SLO REP

starring Michael Brusasco and Melinda Parret

FOR MORE INFO ON EACH PLAY CLICK THE TITLE

FOR TICKETS CLICK HERE!

NOW STREAMING!

Rutherford and Son, by Githa Sowerby

part of Quintessence Theatre Group's

Shout Into The Void reading festival.