Coming Up from the Paramount Players

   The Herald-Dispatch ran this story earlier in the week previewing some upcoming events from the Paramount Players in Ashland. You can read it at this link - here are the highlights:

'Dracula'

The Paramount Players will present, "Dracula" based on the novel by Bram Stoker and adapted for the stage by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston.

The story of Dracula follows Lucy Seward, (whose father is the doctor in charge of an English sanitarium) has been attacked by some mysterious illness. Dr. Van Helsing, a specialist, believes the girl is the victim of a vampire. And so the search to find the elusive Count Dracula begins. Dracula is Rated PG-13 for violence and mild language.

Performances will be 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26 and Saturday, Oct. 27 and there will be a special midnight performance on Friday, Oct. 26. Tickets are $25 (price goes up $2 day of show) online at www.paramountartscenter.com, at the box office, 1300 Winchester Ave., Ashland, or by calling 606-324-0007.

Auditions for "Honk, Jr."

The Paramount Players resident theatre company of the Paramount Arts Center will hold auditions for the next show in their Paramount Kids Series "Honk, Jr.," at 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 29, for ages 8-18.

The play tells the story of Ugly, who looks quite a bit different from his darling duckling brothers and sisters. The other animals on the farm are quick to notice and point this out, despite his mother's protective flapping. Feeling rather foul about himself, the little fowl finds himself on an adventure of self-discovery, all the while unknowingly outwitting a very hungry Cat. Along the way, Ugly meets a whole flock of unique characters and finds out being different is not a bad thing to be. There are many parts available for a large cast. There is a $75 fee if cast in the show to cover script and T-shirt and some of the costs of the show. Scholarships are available for anyone who needs one.

The production will be directed by Matt Hammond with choreographer Sarena Johnson. The production date is Jan. 15 and will include two day time shows for area schools and an evening performance for family and friends at 6:30 p.m. Music cuts are available in the box office for those who wish to learn music prior to the audition, but it is not required.

Dinner theater fundraiser

The Paramount Players will present the musical revue, "Forever Plaid," on Friday, Nov. 2, as a dinner theatre production. This production is a fundraiser hosted by the Paramount Players Boosters. Money raised will help finance the Paramount Players as they attend the Kentucky Theatre Association community theatre festival.

This fun revue is chock-full of classic barbershop quartet harmonies and pitch-perfect melodies. Once upon a time, there were four guys (Sparky, Smudge, Jinx and Frankie) who discovered that they shared a love for music and then got together to become their idols - The Four Freshman, The Hi-Lo's and The Crew Cuts. Rehearsing in the basement of Smudge's family's plumbing supply company, they became "Forever Plaid". On the way to their first big gig, the "Plaids" are broadsided by a school bus and killed instantly. It is at the moment when their careers and lives end that the story of Forever Plaid begins.

The cast is Joshua Jannotta as Frankie, Thaddeus Stambaugh as Sparky, Rick Payne as Smudge and Matt Hammond as Jinx. Accompanist is Mark Smith. Songs include: "Three Coins in the Fountain," "Moments to Remember," "Sixteen Tons," "Workin' on the Chain Gang" and many more.

Dinner will be catered by Cab's Catering and includes salad, pasta alfredo, grilled chicken, roasted red potatoes, broccoli casserole, desserts, rolls and lemonade or tea.

Tickets are $35 and include dinner and the show. Tickets must be purchased by October 30. Visit www.paramountartscenter.com, the box office at 1300 Winchester Ave. or call 606-324-0007.