Santa Barbara High School Theatre
700 E. Anapamu St
Santa Barbara, CA 93103
ph: 805 966-9101 x220
olayman
News
PINOCCHIO, Fall 2009
PINOCCHIO, The Land of Pleasure, Fall 2009
Carter Crowe, Kristian Sorensen Everybody cut FOOTLOOSE!
A LOOK BACK AT 2008-2009, and a glimpse of the future
We have much to be proud of, as we look back at another extraordinary year...HAIR at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (where we sold out every performance, and 34 young actors and technicians demonstrated on an international stage the talent and professionalism that we cultivate at Santa Barbara High School)...A VILLAGE FABLE, from John Gardiner's novel In The Suicide Mountains, performed in the shadow of the Tea Fire...another knockout production of MUSIC OF THE NIGHT, where students demonstrated just how much they "own" this space, and their own amazing abilities as not only performers, but directors and producers...and finally, FOOTLOOSE!, which played to full houses and even brought Kenny Loggins to the stage to perform with our actors. We thank everyone involved in the theatre, especially the board of the Santa Barbara Theatre Foundation (Jens Soresen, Lana McIntyre, Joanie St. Denis, Kathryn Wrench, and Dani Hahn), who provided a new light board for us when we were desperate to replace an aging system, and who work tirelessly to fund and improve the theatre. Thank you to the parents of these wonderful actors and technicians, and to the patrons of
SBHS theatre, who keep coming back year after year, and compel us to keep raising the bar...a preview of what's in store for the future--we are currently in pre-production on an exciting project, The Adventures of Pinocchio (from the novel by Carlo Collodi). Adapted by Otto Layman, with Christina McCarthy, Lise Lange, production designed by Mike Madden, with original music composed by John Douglas. If you imagine Cirque d' Soleil combined with The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen, you might get an inkling of what we have in store for you in the Fall--the wooden boy Pinocchio and a circus of amazing characters--the fox and the cat, Madame Strumpetta, the Blue Fairy, Gepetto--in a wondrous landscape--Pleasure Island, the belly of the Whale--with the production value and theatrical magic you've come to expect at SBHS theatre. See you in the FAll!
Edinburgh Fringe Festival, August 2008 photo courtesy of Mary Layman
Let the Sun Shine/FleshFailures HAIR Summer 2008
SANTA BARBARA HIGH SCHOOL PRODUCTION OF HAIR! TAKES EDINBURGH BY STORM!
August 24th--After two sold out performances of the tribal rock musical Hair! at Santa Barbara High School on July 31st and August 2nd, we set out for Edinburgh, Scotland and the 61st Fringe Festival. With 28 student performers and a live rock band headed by Musical Director John Douglas, and support staff, we headed for London for two days for sightseeing and a West end performance of WICKED. Then we boarded a 6am train to Edinburgh, where we spent the next 12 amazing days. After an impromtu performance in front of thousands of people on the Royal Mile, we were named bythe Daily Scotsman as one of the "Picks of the Festival," playing to four sold out performances at the George Hotel at the foot of Edinburgh Castle.
HAIR! proved to be as enduringly powerful and relevant as it was 40 years ago, and the cast from Santa Barbara High School represented the school and the United States abroad with dignity and extraordinary talent...afterwards one of the original founders of the Festival told our cast that "your production represents what the Fringe Festival is all about."
HAIR! was directed by Otto Layman, with choreography by Christina McCarthy, Costumes by Lise Lange, Set and Light Design by Michael Maddden, and Musical Direction by John Douglas. 
Critter Canfield, Cole Patterson, Carlin Traxler, Maddy Sachs, and Zoe Raden
AHSTF Selects Santa Barbara High School to perform at Edinburgh Fringe Festival
August 2007--The American High School Theatre Festival, in its twelfth year of presenting the best in American high school theatre programs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, has chosen Santa Barbara High School as one of its 22 programs from across the country that will perform in Scotland in August of 2008.
In 1994. a group of high school and college drama professionals recognized the need for an international forum where America’s top high school drama students could showcase their skills. The result was creation of the American High School Theatre Festival.
The annual festival runs in conjunction with the world-renowned Edinburgh Fringe Festival—the world’s largest performing arts festival—held each August in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The nation’s top high school theatre programs are nominated by state, regional, and national theatre organizations as well as university professors to participate in the Festival. Each nominated school receives an application, which is then reviewed by the Board of Advisors, a panel of college theatre professionals from across the country.
The Santa Barbara High School Theatre program is proud to announce that it has been selected to perform in Edinburgh, Scotland at the Theatre Festival in August of 2008. Each year many schools are nominated to represent the United States at the Fringe Festival, the largest gathering of actors and performances in the world. Top high school programs are identified based on their most recent bodies of work, honors, and awards, technical ability, community involvement, philosophies and recommendations. We live in a talented community—Santa Barbara High School, under the direction of Performing Arts Department Chair Otto Layman, now joins David Holmes and his San Marcos High School Theatre in 2002 as participants in one of the greatest theatre adventures a high school student could experience.
The show will be designed by Mike Madden of the Ensemble Theatre, Musical Direction for thiis production by John Douglas, choreographyby Christina McCarthy, and costumes desgined by Lise Lange.
Santa Barbara High School has chosen one of the seminal works in American theatre, the first rock opera and THE American Tribal Love-Rock musical, HAIR. Created in the heat of the Vietnam protest and the flourishing of the Flower Power, HAIR was a generation’s response to the tumult of a nation in change. HAIR is as relevant and powerful today as it was forty years ago.
KENNY LOGGINS JOINS FOOTLOOSE CAST ONSTAGE!
On Saturday, April 25th, 2009, Santa Barbara native Kenny Loggins was a surprise guest at the performance, and afterwards joined the cast on stage to sing the title song--one of Kenny's greatest hits. Here are some photos:
Footloose, HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO (Choreography by Christina McCarthy, costumes by Lise Lange)
Follow this link to see Kenny's performance with the SBHS Theatre cast of Footloose:
700 E. Anapamu St
Santa Barbara, CA 93103
ph: 805 966-9101 x220
olayman
