Happy Summer!!!!! 
The things that keep my world spinning around: good friends, family, God, performing, and - summer!!! Woohoo!!
Happy Summer, everybody!
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Happy summer!
I hope you all are enjoying the summer. If you have some free time and would like to
catch some of my performances in the DC area this summer, I’d love to see you
there. Either way, I hope you are well
and being blessed by whatever this season brings to you and your families this
year.
Best wishes,
Abby Wright, Mezzo
Soprano
This Tuesday, June
20 at 7:30pm – Mendelssohn’s Elijah
Conducted by Edward Maclary with Matthew Osifchin (Elijah)
and Abigail Wright (Alto Soloist)
To be performed as part of the 2006 Washington Summer Sings,
sponsored by New Dominion Chorale at Western Presbyterian Church (24th and G
Streets, NW, Washington, D.C.) - Tickets: $10.00 – Music Rental: $2.00
For more information and directions, visit http://www.newdominion.org/
July 14-30 –
Maxwell Anderson’s Anne of the Thousand
Days
To be performed Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays in July with
Vpstart Crow Productions, Inc., at the Cramer
Center in Manassas,
VA.
For more information, please see the press release. Visit http://www.cramercenter.com/theater/directions.html
for directions to the Cramer Center.
Upcoming this Fall –
Save the dates:
September 8, 10,
15, and 17 – 7.30pm – An evening of French Opera – Bel Cantanti
French opera scenes and arias to be performed in various
venues including La Maison Francaise, Embassy
of France.
November 18 (2pm), 19 (3pm) and 21 (7:30pm) – Mozart’s Don Giovanni
To be presented by the Maryland Opera Studio at the Clarice
Smith Performing
Arts Center. More information to follow this fall.
Written by Anderson in 1947, Anne of the Thousand Days is described by Dramatists Play Service as a "beautiful presentation of the story of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn played against the well-known historical background of the Court of Henry." The play was later adapted into an Academy Award-winning film in 1969, directed by Charles Jarrot and starring Richard Burton as Henry VIII and Genevieve Bujold as Anne Boleyn.
The production will run Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Vpstart Crow Interim Artistic Director Christine Lange will direct Anderson’s masterpiece, having previously co-directed A Christmas Carol for Vpstart Crow in 2005 as well as appearing onstage there in Romeo and Juliet (Benvolio/Apothecary) and The Taming of the Shrew (Bianca) last season.
Anne will feature Vpstart Crow veterans Jay Tilley (Henry VIII), Ted Ballard (Thomas Boleyn/Bishop Fisher), Sallie Ronan (Elizabeth Boleyn) and Paul Rubenstein (Henry Norris/John Houghton).
The production will also include the following talented newcomers: Pamela Sabella (Anne Boleyn), Don Neal (Cardinal Wolsey), Carl Brandt Long (Mark Smeaton), Sam McCrea (Norfolk), Brian Crane (Thomas Cromwell), Brett Bartosavage (Percy/Bailiff), Abigail Wright (Mary Boleyn), Brian Ross Huse (Thomas More), Lauren Christopher (Jane Seymour) and Melissa Klein (Madge Shelton).
Melissa Jo York-Tilley serves as production manager and assistant stage manager with properties and set dressing by Erika Wahle, costumes by Elizabeth Vernaci, dramaturgy by Kate McConnell, poster and program cover by Christopher Robin, and publicity by Jay Tilley.
Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students, seniors, and City of Manassas or Prince William County employees. For tickets, please contact Tickets.com or call them at (800) 955-5566. For group sales or more information, please contact Vpstart Crow at vpstartcrow@comcast.net or (703) 365-0240 or visit www.vpstartcrow.com.
PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN PREVIEW AND TALK BACK PERFORMANCE
In an effort to make this production accessible to all members of the community, Vpstart Crow has made arrangements with The Cramer Center and production personnel to open the final dress rehearsal on Thursday, July 13, at 8 p.m. as a "pay-what-you-can" preview. Everyone is invited to bring their entire family to the show, making only a small donation, if possible. We will also be hosting a special "talk back" with the entire production team - actors, directors, designers and crew - on Sunday, July 23, immediately following the performance. This unique opportunity is provided for those interested in the entire "page-to-stage" process and always proves to be very informative and entertaining for those on both sides of the curtain.
ABOUT VPSTART CROW PRODUCTIONS, INC.
Founded in 1994, Vpstart Crow Productions, Inc. is a professional theatre company dedicated to performing the works of Shakespeare and other theatre classics. Vpstart Crow’s mission is to produce live theatre as a vital, accessible and exciting part of community life. Employing a resident company of local professional actors and artists of the highest caliber, Vpstart Crow is dedicated to breaking down the barriers between audience and actors in a performance style that is thought-provoking and altogether vpstartling.
Well, it’s official. Since I started sleeping as often as possible to purge myself of this virus I have, my body no longer knows what time zone to expect from me. So, here we are at 3am discussing Paris Hilton.
Paris Hilton? Yes, that’s right. I was driving back from a night in Manhattan last week when I heard her new !song! on the radio, complete with the program manager from Z100 explaining her decision to play the song. Of course, they all fully admitted they edited the song "a lot" to get it to its current state of - um, quality. If you’re curious, you can play it on (where else?) www.parishilton.com. You can even check out her new video there. Of course I was curious, but she does nothing but practically have sex with a hunky guy on the beach. I think my favorite line is, "If you show me real love, baby, I’ll show you mine." Ha ha ha. Classic Paris Hilton.
Why am I talking about this? Well, the Z100 DJ’s brought up a very interesting question. Would this song play on the radio if she were just some random girl from Oklahoma? Her new single didn’t make me vomit, but it wasn’t exactly the best piece of music I’ve ever heard.
Of course not! It is interesting though, living in America, where the poor really do get poorer and further in debt. As nice as it would be to "make it big" someday and have the ability to buy my dad his dreamboat (sailboat, that is) one Father’s Day, right now I’m working toward the goal, living in a house with 4 other people and getting - that’s right - further in debt and my master’s degree.
As for Paris, it would seem that the rich and famous have nothing better to do but to find ways to make them even more rich and famous. We all know she’s not a singer, but she sure does know how to keep getting attention, doesn’t she?
And by the way, I do like my pipe dream and the way I have to work to try to achieve it. I am performing, and I know I can sing. ;) As for my popular listening choices, I think I’ll stick to Christina Aguilera’s new single - "Ain’t No Other Man." It’s much more fun - and with a girl who can sing and worked hard to get there at a young age. Good for her - and even for me, despite my smaller fan base. 
