YOUTH: A family favorite Zoom show opens soon STREAM: A unique musical with heart
IN PERSON: Improv is back in the theater
DRIVE-IN: A gender-bending celebration
Conejo youth have class
Streaming on Zoom May 7 – 9
Based on the Emmy Award-winning 1970s educational animated TV series, Schoolhouse Rock uses the familiar songs from the cartoons to teach grammar, math, science, history, social studies and political science in this energetic musical, while telling the story of Tom, a young teacher nervously anticipating his first day on the job. Tom tries to relax by watching TV, when various characters representing facets of his personality emerge from the set and show him how to win his students over with imagination and music. Memorable songs like “Just a Bill” and “Conjunction Junction” bring Tom’s lesson plans vividly to life.
Set in the early 1900’s, the orphan Jerusha Abbott finds herself with an unexpected and anonymous benefactor who will send her to college with the only requirements being that she regularly writes him of her progress and that he will never respond. Inventing his persona to become Daddy Long Legs, she creatively and lovingly writes of her previously unimagined opportunities and her new relationships – including the intriguing Jervis Pendleton.
Watch online May 21 and 22 at 8 p.m., Sunday May 23 at 2 p.m.
June 5 at 7 p.m., in-person and online. Tickets go on sale May 15!
Improv is back, and more vaccinated than ever! Join the troupe live at the Conejo Players Theatre or watch the stream from anywhere. Be prepared to laugh as our seasoned comedians take audience suggestions and make everything up on the spot.
NOTE: Under state and local guidelines, no walk-up ticket sales are permitted. Seating inside the theatre will be extremely limited. All performers will be fully vaccinated. All attendees will be assigned seats based on ticket orders, separate from other guests. No attendees will be allowed on stage. Everyone in attendance must wear a mask. By purchasing a ticket, all attendees agree to abide by all COVID guidelines set in place by the Theatre and attest that the guest’s block of seat reservations contains no more than three households and that the guest, and all members of the guest’s party are in-state or fully vaccinated out-of-state visitors.
“Backwards Broadway” at the Conejo Players is a gender-bending celebration of the Broadway musical that challenges traditional onstage gender norms. Thinking outside the box, our creative cast and crew will reinterpret some of Broadway’s best and sing a number traditionally assigned to a different gender identity. This is a unique and exciting show you won’t want to miss!
Join us as we celebrate and honor the volunteers who kept the lights on in 2020! We will look back at all the shows we did in 2020, and honor a few, special people who really went above and beyond. Watch your email for more info.
Member Spotlight
Rita McCaffrey
The Long and winding road…to CPT for me.
I am the daughter of Irish immigrants, born in Manhattan (a very VERY, VERY long time ago) and raised in the south Bronx, NYC. My stage experience consisted of Irish dancing all over the New York area and once on TV. It’s amazing how much money I made at all the FDNY and NYPD retirement and promotion events, not to mention the St. Patrick’s Day parties that ran from February thru March. There is nothing like a few drunks in the audience to kick up those tips. I loved it.
I finished my nursing degree and worked in St. Vincents Hospital ICU in Greenwich Village. I began studying acting “for fun” at HB Studio and the Neighborhood Playhouse technique. Blessedly, I was cast in several off, off and OFF-Off Off Broadway shows. I moved to Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and worked as research nurse and worked with the man who helped create K -rations in WW2 and was researching nutritional support for Chemotherapy.
Finally, as a split personality nurse/actress I met and married an equally schizo lawyer/actor. With our 4 personalities, we were blessed with 2 beautiful children, Juliana and Ian. I gave up acting, went to work for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals and focused on parenting.
After divorce and retirement I thought, “What now?”
Now living in southern California, a friend called and said that people were needed to paint a set for The Bad Seed at Conejo Players Theatre in Thousand Oaks. I met Elena Mills and her art work, helped paint and had a great day. I have been ushering, painting, helping with props and cooking meatballs for opening receptions ever since. The best thrill ever was when I got to sing onstage as Hattie Walker in Follies; thank you Shawn Lanz and Arryck Adams. A couple years later, I had fabulous fun portraying Frau Blaucher in Young Frankenstein; thank you Tami Keaton. Although scared, I loved it all. In 2020, I have worked under Renee Delgado’s direction on the Car Park theater drive-in events and ran lights for 3 streaming shows under Jim Diderrich’s direction.
The theater process fascinates me and I love nothing more than watching actors develop their characters. I just completed my 2 years of service as Board of Directors Secretary. It was, simply put, not my greatest moment! Grateful for the friends and memories Conejo Players Theatre has given me.
Keep in touch … Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & YouTube!
