Selected Podcast

Arts and Entertainment in Farmington

Christa Chapman discusses arts and entertainment in Farmington.
Arts and Entertainment in Farmington
Featuring:
Christa Chapman, NA
Christa Chapman isĀ Assistant Director of Cultural Affairs & Marketing at San Juan Regional Medical Center.
Transcription:

Christa Chapman: Hello, I'm Christa Chapman, the Assistant Director of Cultural Affairs and Marketing at the City of Farmington. So I sit under the Department of Parks, recreation and Cultural Affairs, and I get to directly support our Farmington Museum system, our Civic Center, theater Properties, theater programs, and the Farmington Indian Center. So today I wanna let the San Juan Regional Medical Center team know all about one of our favorite new programs, and that's Four Corners Musical Theater Company. So this is a professional theater company that was founded by the city, and it's directed and managed by our Farmington Civic Center supervisor, Randy West.

So Randy's spent his life producing amazing theater all over the country, and we're thrilled to have him here helping to bring theater culture to our corner of the world. So this new theater company brings professional actors and talent from across the nation. It pairs it with our budding local talent. And not only does this create top-notch theater experiences for us in the audience, but they're also offering theater education to those of all ages right here at home. Four Corners Musical Theater Company is going into its third season, and they're going to be presenting five shows in 2023.

Starting with Celebrate Sondheim, which opens March 23rd. Celebrate Sondheim as the name suggests. Is a celebration of all the genius musical theater work written by Steven Sondheim. So he brought the world shows such as Sunday in the park with George Company into the Woods in Sweeney Todd. So this is an original piece that's actually co-written by our own Randy West. He studied directly under Sondheim himself and is really a Sondheim expert. So, this should be just a fun night filled with music that we know and love.

So the show runs March 23rd through April 2nd at the Farmington Civic Center with evening shows, Thursday through Saturday, and matinee on Sunday. Tickets are 14 to $18, and remember that all San Juan regional employees get a special 20% discount to all of our Four Corners Musical Theater productions, including this one. So use your code SJ Regional 23, that's SJ Regional 23 online or at the box office. In conjunction with all of their shows, the theater company also teams up with our Heather McCoy Theater Academy to offer master classes in various musical theater skills such as dance, vocal lessons, tips for auditioning.

You get a peek into what it's like to play in a pit orchestra if you'd like. Theater, makeup, and so much more. So it's an amazing opportunity for anyone who's around eight years old, up through adult to spend a few hours or a few days learning more from these professional performers. So some of the spring classes have already started, but you can still catch a few this season. If you'd like, you can learn more from the Civic Center staff by calling there, or you can go online to fmtn.org/academy. If you can't catch any of these classes, you can look for another round of registration, which will open on May 15th, and that'll coincide with our summer theater season.

And this brings me to summer theater, and it's gonna be such a fun season. So I'm excited to announce that we will be doing Spam A Lot at the Farmington Civic Center in June. We'll be doing Into the Woods, out at the sandstone stage at Lion's Wilderness Amphitheater during the whole month of July. And then we'll be back at the Civic Center again in August for Joseph and the amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. So Spam A Lot is hilarious. It's the stage musical version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Regardless of whether a huge musical theater fan or not, the show's gonna be enjoyable.

So remember that's coming in June. Into the Woods is gonna be stunning on the outdoor sandstone stage. That show is set outdoors. This is Randy's third year directing out at the Natural Sandstone Theater. He learns more every year about how to work with that natural environment. And his team is really looking forward to transforming that space into the magical and sometimes scary backdrop for all the fairy tales within that show. Then as always, we'll have dinner and the cash bar before the show, during the summer so you can plan to make a whole night of it in July.

And then to wrap up the summer season, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat will be back at the Civic Center and this show has all of our adult professional actors, but then also pairs it with 30 to 35 local kids that will be joining us. So they'll be rehearsing all summer, and then they'll join us on the big stage during the last two weeks in August. So just to wrap it up, call the Civic Center to sign up for your master classes. Save the date for our amazing summer season. Follow us on Facebook to keep up with all the updates on these shows and also our traveling show schedule.

And then most importantly, get your tickets today for Celebrate Sondheim, starting March 23rd at the Civic Center Box Office, or online@fmtn.org/shows. And remember to use your 20% off code. SJ Regional 23 to get your discount, and hope to see you at the theater. Thanks so much for listening and enjoy the rest of your day.