"A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," Priscilla Beach Theatre, Priscilla Beach, Manomet, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

On August 4th, Priscilla Beach Theatre (PBT) will open the classic favorite, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," for 11 performances. Returning again to PBT as the show's director is Ron Fassler, whom you will remember as the director of last summer's premier of "Fiddler on the Roof,"on the newly renovated Barn Stage. You probably don't know that Ron performed at PBT in 1976 as part of the summer stock - talk about coming full circle 40 years later.  From that foundation at PBT, Ron is still enjoying a successful career in New York and Los Angeles as an actor, writer, and director in television, film, and theatre. The show is produced by Bob and Sandy Malone, owners and guardians of PBT.



We did a photo session recently to get some stills out for publicity. The set construction was not complete yet so we used the main curtain for the background. Somehow something is missing.....a sense of place, perhaps ........



.....different facial expressions but still, something's missing. Let's try a different approach.



I found this image of the Coliseum in Rome on Google Images and it did not seem to contain any copyright restrictions so.....

.....for you photo geeks out there, I cut out the performers from the curtain background in Photoshop Elements using the quick selection tool, then I refined the edges, then saved it as a .PNG file.....



.....then I merged the two into a composite image and - voila! - a sense of place. (It's a lot more cost effective than flying them to Rome!) And yes, maybe it does look a little hokey but, it was still a fun exercise.



Here I darkened the background so the performers would "pop" more.



Or, how about a completely different look. Not!



The sky's the limit - literally! But, it's difficult to avoid it looking hokey; I have more to learn about successful composite images.

Other images from the photo session follow below:



I have only seen a little bit of rehearsal but I can tell already the energetic young cast is full of life and creative energy and will make it another great show at PBT!



Owners and guardians Bob and Sandy Malone breed a joyful approach and deep love and appreciation of theatre that permeates the cast and entire campus.











The above images were posed statically, the following are during live action sequences, thus, some slight motion blurring.



































Contact PBT at this link or by phone at 508-224-4888 for tickets and/or information. They're going fast, better hurry. Support this precious community resource!