Latest news with #communitytheater
Geek Tyrant
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Charming Trailer for MAGNETOSPHERE Highlights a Girl with Synesthesia — GeekTyrant
Freestyle Digital Media has just released the official trailer for Magnetosphere , a quirky indie coming-of-age comedy directed by Nicola Rose. Set in 1997, Magnetosphere introduces us to 13-year-old Maggie Campion, played by Shayelin Martin, who has synesthesia, a rare condition that causes her senses to blend in extraordinary ways. Maggie can see sounds and hear colors, but she's kept her unusual abilities to herself until life forces her to embrace them. As she navigates new experiences in a new town, including first love, school struggles, and a chaotic community theater production, Maggie starts to discover that her 'weirdness' might be her greatest strength. 'Maggie's world turns upside down when her family relocates, bringing with it a quirky new environment filled with oddball characters. Her theatrical dad (played by Patrick McKenna) is busy staging a hilariously unpolished production of The Pirates of Penzance , while Maggie meets her first best friend, her first crush, and a teacher who sees the potential in her. "Along with these new relationships, Maggie's path crosses with Gil, the family's eccentric handyman and exterminator, who might just have a surprising talent of his own.' It's this motley crew of characters that helps Maggie finally understand her condition and come to terms with her unique abilities. 'Maggie begins to realize her so-called 'weirdness' might just be her greatest gift.' The film looks like a charming, heartfelt exploration of adolescence, self-acceptance, and the strange beauty of synesthesia. It will be released on VOD on July 22, 2025. This charming indie promises to be a must-watch for anyone who's ever felt like they see the world a little differently.
BBC News
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Election manifestos to be turned into panto dame's dress
While politics has long been branded a farce by some, the makers of the island's adult Christmas pantomime are taking that one step further this year. Members of Music Theatre Guernsey (MTG) are planning to make unusual use of all the manifesto booklets still in people's home after the recent said they were hoping to gather about 200 copies before they end up in the recycling in order to fashion a dress for the dame in the upcoming 2025 production."We're going to be turning them into something fabulous," said MTG's creative director Darren Alderton. Elections 'nods' He added that the troupe was putting on its own idiosyncratic take on the classic story of said: "It's pretty much already written and we'll be holding auditions next weekend."Then, once we've picked our players, I'll give the script a bit of a rewrite - but you can guarantee it'll have lots of nods towards the recent elections."For example, when the dame is introduced she'll come on stage wearing a dress made from copies of the manifesto."He added that the team had already managed to gather 100 of the said: "We're halfway there, so if anyone has any spare, please could they drop them down to St Saviour's Community Centre, where our door is always open."Failing that, let me know where you are and I'll come and pick them up from you personally." Mr Alderton said that he found it funny how local attitudes had changed towards MTG's racy seasonal productions over time."A few years ago it felt like they were the most taboo thing on the island," he said."But, nowadays, they've become part of the tradition here. I think that's lovely."
CBC
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Thousands petition to save Pitt Meadows, B.C., movie theatre from closure
Social Sharing Rodolfo Assinger has many happy memories of bringing his children to Hollywood 3 Cinemas in Pitt Meadows, B.C. The independent family-owned theatre, known for its affordable prices and buttery popcorn, is a staple in the Metro Vancouver city, according to community members. Now, with it set to close its doors at the end of the month, those community members are rallying to save it. A petition started by Assinger had garnered over 4,000 signatures as of Friday afternoon. "This place means a lot to this community," said Assinger. "It's a place that people love and cherish." WATCH | Community comes together to save B.C. cinema: Thousands come together to save B.C. theatre from closing down 1 day ago Duration 2:26 People in Pitt Meadows, B.C., are coming together to try to save a beloved cinema in the city. Hollywood 3, a family-owned independent theatre, is shutting its doors by the end of month. As Pinki Wong tells us, thousands have signed an online petition hoping to keep the curtains open. Moby Amarsi, the cinema's owner, said their lease is coming to an end in June, and renewing it would mean a 25 per cent increase. "It's impossible for us to pay market rent today," said Amarsi. Additionally, people's viewing habits have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Amarsi, with more people staying home to watch movies. The cinema has been operating for 15 years, and has hardly raised its prices. A movie ticket costs $6 for adults, $5 for children and seniors, and $3 for everyone on Tuesdays. Amarsi said he wanted to maintain an affordable, family-oriented business. "You see families coming here, you see them leaving, they're happy," he said, adding he is sad for a couple who had planned to get married at the cinema in September. Pitt Meadows Mayor Nicole MacDonald said she is disappointed with the closure. "We understand how deeply rooted this place is in our community's heart, and are saddened by the loss of a beloved gathering space," she said in a statement to CBC News. She said there are several spaces in the city that are already zoned to permit a theatre, and while the city is not able to broker space directly, it is willing to work with the Hollywood 3 to explore possible new locations. Amarsi said he would be happy to work with the city to find a solution and will reach out to the mayor. 'Heartwarming memories' The Hollywood 3 has become a second home for Sarah Hargitt-Rowe, the theatre's manager. After working for Hollywood 3 for over a decade, she said the news is devastating. "This place holds a lot of heartwarming memories," she said. She said her favourite part of the job is seeing children grow up and new generations going to the theatre. "Single couples get together and they bring in their kids a few years later, it's just beautiful to see," she said. She said customers love their popcorn because they use real butter, which she travels to Costco every week to buy. Assinger said he hopes the show of community support is enough to raise awareness to find a solution.
New York Times
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Celebrating With 150 Guests and Jabba the Hutt
Hayley Michelle Finetti can't help but feel that the talent show championship she was awarded at age 10 should have gone to someone else. 'You should have won,' Ms. Finetti told her onetime competitor Emilio Lopez days before they were to be married in San Jose, Calif. 'It must have been rigged.' Ms. Finetti and Mr. Lopez met in 2009, when she was a fifth grader and he was a new fourth grader at Discovery Bay Elementary in Discovery Bay, Calif., in the Bay Area. Mr. Lopez had moved to town that year with his mother, Lucy Rodriguez, a single parent. Ms. Finetti is a native of Discovery Bay. She and her older brother grew up in a theatrical household where their parents, Jennifer and Chris Finetti, were community theater buffs. 'I started singing before I could talk,' she said. A rendition of Christina Aguilera's 'Hurt' won her the 2010 talent show. Mr. Lopez's talent was speed-drawing — he had set up a projector and asked audience members to name their favorite animals, then combined those animals into mutant monsters. 'It was real avant-garde stuff,' he said, jokingly. [Click here to binge read this week's featured couples.] At the after-school care center where both were enrolled that year, they struck up a friendship. In middle school, it withered. But neither was willing to let budding talent die on the vine: In 2016, they reconnected through their high school's performance of 'Gigi.' Mr. Lopez had a starring role. 'It was a freak thing,' he said. When the actor who had won the part initially slipped up academically, Mr. Lopez said, he became the last-minute replacement. Ms. Finetti was the show's assistant vocal director, charged with helping actors learn to sing. As rehearsals heated up, the play's romantic overtones took on real-life meaning. 'I maybe pretended I couldn't sing as well as I could so I could get more lessons from Hayley,' Mr. Lopez said. In April 2016, Ms. Finetti asked Mr. Lopez, then a sophomore, to be her date for junior prom. During a slow dance that night, he asked, 'Will you be my girlfriend?' 'There was nothing about her that I didn't love,' he said. They have been together ever since. Ms. Finetti, now 26, went on to study at California State University, Chico, where she earned a bachelor's degree in political science. Mr. Lopez, now 25, attended the University of Silicon Valley in San Jose, where he earned a bachelor's degree in art and animation. By 2019, they were living together as college students in Chico. Both retreated to their parents' homes during the early months of Covid, but by 2021 they were again sharing a household in Santa Clara, Calif. In 2023, each took jobs — she as a senior subcontract administrator for Lockheed Martin, the aerospace company, and he as a designer at a robotics company — that routed them to their current home in Oakland, Calif. A year earlier, in July 2022, they had become engaged at Rancho Rubalcava, a San Jose ranch owned by Mr. Lopez's aunt and uncle, but not everyone liked the timing. Mr. Lopez said his mother 'had been adamant that I wait until after I had my degree' to propose. 'I had made it all the way to my senior year, and we had been talking about marriage for years. I couldn't wait any longer,' he said. The couple exercised considerable patience, however, in the nearly three years it took to plan their May 4 wedding at Rancho Rubalcava — in part because they needed time to work on projects for their wedding theme. Mr. Lopez is among the many 'Star Wars' fans who celebrate May 4, or Star Wars Day ('may the fourth be with you'). 'I'm a huge nerd,' he said, as if to explain the life-size Jabba the Hutt sculpture he built out of chicken wire, liquid latex and craft foam for the reception. The couple combined cultural traditions during a ceremony for 150 officiated by Mr. Lopez's uncle, Jesse Rodriguez, who became a Universal Life Church minister for the occasion, while Ms. Finetti's father participated in the ceremony. In a nod to Ms. Finetti's Jewish background, they stood beneath a huppah and stomped glass. Mr. Lopez's Mexican heritage was represented by his traditional charro suit and a lasso ceremony, in which a lasso is draped over the couple to join them symbolically. The reception was held in a barn decked out in 'Star Wars' tchotchkes. There was a hora and a taco truck at the reception (the consumption of 'many tacos' was important both culturally and personally, Mr. Lopez said). As Ms. Finetti and Mr. Lopez danced to a custom 'Guardians of the Galaxy' music medley, guests sipped 'Star Wars'-themed cocktails near Jabba the Hutt. Before they left for a honeymoon, Ms. Finetti and Mr. Lopez saw to the sculpture's future safekeeping: It will be installed at the famed museum of 'Star Wars' memorabilia, Rancho Obi-Wan, where the couple serve as volunteers.
