By Jo Watts

Owners, directors and producers of Playhouse Smithville have wrapped up their first theatrical season by giving a gift to their actors. Strictly for fun, director john daniels jr. (sic) wrote a melodrama that included almost all the cast members who have contributed to the success of the playhouse over the past year.

My family and I attended our first performance at the playhouse last December, mostly to support our granddaughter, Bonnie, in her stage debut. It was so funny and so well-performed that we haven’t missed a show since.

We’ve seen a drama, a musical, the campy Christmas special and a second family member participated in art camp during spring break.

This one is an old-fashioned melodrama set in Smithville in the 19th century. Historically accurate? I’m not betting on it, but funny? Absolutely!

Each character is well defined and has the audience cheering, “ahh-ing”, hissing, booing and tossing popcorn between belly laughs. Beau Richie X, played by Chris Bothwell, constantly reminds the audience that his daughter, Heather, played by Bonnie Watts, isn’t spoiled. She has to be promised a pony or an emu or even a pet alpaca to do something as simple as crossing the street! Typecasting? Of course not!

Brad Wilbourn plays the part of Ben N. Sane, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and though Mounties are known to “always get their man,” sisters Pam Latham and Lea Nelson, the “Maxwell sisters,” are right behind him looking for husbands No. 3 and No. 5 respectively.

Show dates are Fridays and Saturdays, June 3-18 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at www.playhousesmithville.com or by calling 512-360-7397.

Playhouse Smithville has been invited to write and present a fun-filled adventure of a play for the Smithville Public Library – The Reading Raiders of Exciting Writing by daniels (sic).  On a quest for the ultimate adventure book, our intrepid explorer races against the Malicious Marauder toward the lost Library of Lumeria!

The play will be performed at the Smithville Recreation Center on Wednesday, June 22 at 2 p.m. Come down and join in the fun! Visit the Smithville Public Library to learn more about their exciting Summer Reading Club 2011.

Workshop

V….Vaughan’s (sic) second workshop at the LPAA Gallery, 301 Burleson in Smithville is June 18 from 10 a.m. .to 4 p.m. A follow-up session is planned for June, to go “Beyond the Stars.” V….will demonstrate and teach the process of painting a large canvas.

You do not have to take the first workshop to enjoy the second.

Contact Cammy Snyder at 512-304-8129 to register. Space will be limited, so let her know as soon as possible.

V…’s collection will be in the gallery through the end of June. The gallery is open Fridays and Sundays from 1-4 p.m. and on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Glass

Patricia Rendulic’s show at the Bastrop Fine Arts Gallery, 1009 Main St. in Bastrop, opened on Friday. This lady does amazing things with glass and somehow managed to mount not one, but two, one-man shows on the same day.

Take my word for it –this was beyond difficult. The second show is in Arizona, so, if you can’t get to downtown Bastrop, hop on over to Scottsdale for the day. I feel honored that she chose to stay here for her hometown opening!

The gallery is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. You can see not just Patricia’s work, but paintings, drawings, sculpture, pottery and works in a variety of mediums from more than 50 artists.

Pottery

My pottery classes begin next week, so if you’ve always wanted to pretend you were Demi Moore in “Ghost,” now is your chance.  Call me to sign up at 512-577-5252.

So often people tell me that they wish they could draw but they can’t even draw a straight line. So, if you’re one of those, watch this space for information about a drawing workshop coming soon. Most people can’t draw straight lines – the ones I worry about are the ones who can’t draw crooked ones!

So, if you’re one of those people who think you can’t draw, I’ll challenge you to come to my workshop. If you really want to learn, I’ll teach you to draw.

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