Don’t miss out! this show is going to be fantastic! Tickets on sale now on our BUY TICKETS page.
Tickets are $13 online in advance, for Adults (or $15 at the Door) and $8 online in advance for Students ($10 at the door)!
Come have some fun with us June 8-10th, and find YOUR Chuck!!
There are some really fantastic theater and performing arts organizations in Philadelphia, and we think you should know about some of them if you don’t already!
We want to take a moment to recognize these other awesome Theater Companies and Organizations who have been fantastic friends to us.
We want to thank them for being so cool and often offering us guidance, and sometimes even the occasional lending of Props and Costumes.
We love these guys and you should too, and we recommend you check out their stuff anytime you can! You will be glad you did!
Avenue Theater Company www.avenuetheater.org
Tribe of Fools www.tribeoffools.org
The Stagecrafters Theater www.thestagecrafters.org
Allens Lane Art Center www.allenslane.org
Our latest film project Eleventeen is wrapped. Shooting on 4 Days at 5 locations it was a fantastic shoot! Jared’s first directing experience was an excellent one, and he commanded the set like a Pro.
Congratulations Jared and all who made this shoot possible!
Here are some pics from the set(s).
Uncle Shelby’s Tall Tales by Shel Silverstein–Directed by Mariangela Saavedra is a collection of poetry by Award Winning American Poet, Shel Silverstein adapted for the stage. Loved by children and adults alike, Silverstein’s poetry books have been translated into 30 languages and sold over 20 million copies. Our youth performers bring to life some of his beloved works. Meet the cast below! We hope to see you at the Show!!
Lia Taylor just turned 10 and is finishing 4th grade at C. W. Henry School. A Mt. Airy native, Lia has been performing since she was 3 years old and took her first ballet class. She danced the role of an angel in The Nutcracker at age 6. Lia is a born actress and has studied drama at Allen’s Lane’s summer camp, Philadelphia Parks & Rec’s summer youth drama camp, and several classes and workshops at the Arden Theatre. Aside from a fashion spread in Working Mother magazine at age 5 and appearing in Casabuena’s short films of Shel Silverstein’s A to Z poems, MmmmBeth was her first professional stage performance where she played Twit the Witch. She made a performance in the award winning short film “Bros & Arrows” as well. This is Lia’s 2nd year working with Casabuena & has enjoyed the experience.
Zivia Avelin is ten years old and has performed in two school plays. She has taken a few classes at the Arden Theatre. She was in a short film with Casabuena last year. She goes to school at Miquon and has a fair number of hobbies, including whittling, braiding, and occasionally knitting. She recently got her first illustrator credit on a book called Spell Shaper.
Sophie Ashley-Carner is eleven years old. She has been acting since she was six and went to her first acting camp. She has been in five plays before, most recently at the McGuffin acting class; the play was Caps for Sale, where she played a monkey, a boy named Max, and a spirit. She goes to the Miquon school. She has an older sister named Mayana, a step-bro named Jack, and a half-brother named Max. Sophie is known for her ability to put both her feet behind her own head.
Hayden Dalrymple-Lepore is happy to be on stage with Casabuena Cultural Productions for the first time. He has ushered for several of CCP’s previous productions, and he participated in the short films Uncle Shelby’s ABZ Book and the upcoming High Stakes. He is very happy to be in Uncle Shelby’s Tall Tales, and he is entertaining all serious offers on the sister-for-sale thing.
Zoey Dalrymple-Lepore Hi! My name is Zooey (but my friends all call me Zoey). Here are a few things about me: I like to play the guitar, violin and piano. I go to Lingelback Elementary with my best friend, Myla. I’ve ushered for most of the plays put on by Casabuena Cultural Productions, and I was in their short film, Uncle Shelby’s ABZ Book. Those are some things about me. Bye for now, and enjoy the show!
Big News! We got Nominated for some awards for the Philadelphia 48 Hour Film Project!!
We find out tonight what we were nominated for and if we won!! This has been such a great experience all around!
We are very excited to be nominated! Stay Tuned!
BrainSpunk Theater in Philadelphia is presenting Crazyface by Clive Barker. It runs through this weekend, and features the talents of our very own Company Member Brian Weiser!
Tickets can be found HERE.
More information about BrainSpunk Theater and this production can be found on their website.
Support Local Theater- and Support Brian by catching this chilling tale in Old City.
Brian Weiser (Center) in Crazyface by Clive Barker as photographed by Ashley LaBonde
Just finished downloading all the paperwork to register for the Philadelphia 48 Hour Film project, and we are beyond excited to be a part of this!!
If you are not familiar with what it is, here is the MAIN WEBSITE.
Philadelphia has its own site as a host City HERE.
Why should we do this crazy amount of work in 48 Hours? These prizes!
We will draw from a hat to receive our Genre. The list if Genres is HERE.
If you are an actor, writer, filmmaker, make up artist, or just want to be involved and on our TEAM for this project please use the Email Us link at the bottom of the page to let us know, and we will gladly add you to the team! You must be available August 15-17th to participate on our team.
We responded to this request for contributions of kids talking about the future with this video we made of Lia, Hayden, Zoey, Jared and Steven talking about the future.
Check it out by following the link below and let us know what you think!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7pKFZ_E02Y
We’ve all heard of “Macbeth,” the powerful classic tragedy by William Shakespeare set in Scotland that shows what happens when evil triumphs over good.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, get ready for “Mmmbeth,” a spoof of “Macbeth” that, if all’s well that ends well, will leave the audience in stitches when it plays in the neighborhood this week.
Mariangela Saavedra, founder of the Mt. Airy-based Casabuena Cultural Productions, is directing the one-act, hour-long spoof, which will be performed this Thursday, Friday and Saturday, June 5, 6 and 7, 7:30 p.m., at Allens Lane Art Center, 601 W. Allens Lane.
Not surprisingly, the cast of “Mmmbeth” has a heavy local flavor.
Take Jared Taylor, for instance. The 12-year-old Mt. Airy resident plays Lord Macduff.
“He’s the good guy. I end up killing Macbeth,” Jared says. “My character is very good at acting and getting good lines.”
Although Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” is deadly serious, “Mmmbeth” is a comedy. Jared says his character sometimes gets frustrated when others steal his lines. “A lot of the ideas make the play so much funnier. There are a couple of lines where everybody is just making things up.”
In addition to some ad-libbing, the play is heavy on props and lighting but not costumes. A seventh-grader at the C.W. Henry School, Jared has worked on the stage crew in “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged” last year, and he did some acting in “Johnny Appleseed” way back in second grade. He also has been involved in some mini-plays at his synagogue, the Germantown Jewish Centre.
As opening night approaches, Jared is eager to get the show on the road.
“I’m nervous, but I’m mostly excited because the play has morphed into something very funny,” he insists.
Jared admits to being a bit concerned about something not uncommon among comedic performers — laughing too much and being too loud during the show. But, he noted, that sometimes even happens to performers on live TV, particularly “Saturday Night Live.”
“If something’s very funny, you can’t help but laugh,” Jared says.
Jared is not the only Taylor to land a coveted spot in “Mmmbeth.” His little sister Lia plays Twit, the youngest of three sister witches. “She’s a bit crazy and insane,” Jared says of the character. “My sister does a pretty good job of it.”
“She’s an annoying little sister,” Lia admits. “You can’t get rid of her because you can’t kill her.” The 9-year-old Lia describes the connection between her witchy characters and the rest of the cast as a “love-hate relationship.” A third-grader at C.W. Henry, Lia expects friends, family members and teachers to be in the audience this week.
Lia says she wants to be an actress, interior designer or teacher when she grows up — but not all three at one time. She’s off to a good start with the acting. She started performing at age 3 with ballet, and at age 6 she strutted her stuff as an angel in “The Nutcracker.” She also took drama classes at the Arden Theatre in Center City and at Allens Lane’s summer camp.
“Mmmbeth” is not for youngsters only. Stephanie Kernisan, 26, plays Queen Duncan, the Queen of Scotland who eventually is murdered by Macbeth — well, sort of. “My character refuses to die,” says Kernisan. “Anytime I show up, somebody notices I’m not supposed to be there.”
The real “Macbeth” is five acts and can last three-and-a-half or four hours. Not so “Mmmbeth,” says Kernisan. “It’s like ‘Macbeth’ abridged,” she says.
Rehearsals with the play’s children and adults have been a lot of fun, she says.
“A lot of the adults are working on terrible Scottish accents,” says Kernisan, a graduate of the University of North Carolina who moved to Mt. Airy eight months ago and has worked with Saavedra on stage productions of “The Rocky Horror Show” and “The Insanity of Mary Girard.”
Jim Broyles, who plays Banquo, Macbeth’s best friend and fellow soldier in the Scottish Army, says the full cast of 10 has been rehearsing two or three times a week since late April. The 37-year-old moved to Mt. Airy from New Orleans six years ago and has appeared in local productions including “The Importance of Being Earnest” at The Stagecrafters Theater in Chestnut Hill earlier this year.
“I’ve loved acting since I was a kid,” says Broyles, whose first performance was at age 6 in a stage adaptation of “Alice in Wonderland.” He’s hoping for “raucous laughter” from the “Mmmbeth” audience this week.
One of my favorite times of the show process is taking promotional pictures. Today was that day. As usual some smoke and mirrors were used to hide a few shortcomings in the costumes that have yet to be sewn. But Hair and Make Up ams together, and I could not be more pleased with how good everyone looks in their tartans. We are ver excited to open in 9 DAYS!!
Here are the fruits of our labors. This is going to be a really great show!
The Witches- Naggy, Haggy and Twit
Lady MmmBeth,Queen Duncan, Macduff and Banquo
MmmBeth, Banquo and the Witches 
The Soldiers-
The MmmBeth’s-
Lady M and Queen Duncan and MacDuff
