The Tellico Community Players take the stage June 8-10 for a readers theater production focusing on the life of the king of rock ‘n’ roll.
In “All the King’s Women,” readers work through scenes from the life of Elvis Presley through the eyes of those who saw him.
“The playwright, Luigi Jannuzzi, wrote it in monologues and scenes, and it is based on actual happenings in the life of Elvis Presley, when he was a young boy in Tupelo, Miss., when he was 11 years old, when he went to the White House to meet President (Richard) Nixon, the fact that he drove pink Cadillacs,” lyn cozadd, director, said. “So there is a basis for truth in every scene. Some of it’s funny, some of it is very reminiscent. Good music is introduced. It’s just a fun evening of comedy and memories.”
The play tells some stories new to members of the audience, Doris Ryan, assistant director along with Ku Adams, said.
“People in our age group, a lot of them are big Elvis fans,” Ryan said. “I think they would appreciate the fact that all these skits have some historical background. For example, one of the scenes is Elvis meets Nixon, and sure enough he did have a meeting with Nixon. So all of the scenes have some historical background.
“The music and the dialogue leading up to the scenes tell something about the era that is being depicted in the scene,” she added. “So I think that could be fun and interesting to a lot of people. It will bring out things they didn’t know about Elvis.”
The play will also feature a monologue not in the original script. The playwright contacted cozadd and requested it be added.
“He said, ‘I wrote a new monologue and I would really like you to insert it into the show’,” cozadd said. “So I looked at it, he sent it to me and I read it. We knew we had the talent to do it but we just didn’t know if the show was running too long to do it. We timed it and it was fine and we’ve entered it. He was very excited about it, so he sent a long email to the cast. This is very, very rare and we were very excited. The cast was really motivated by that.”
In Jannuzzi’s email to the cast, he thanks them for putting on the play and offers advice and encouragement.
“Theater is so wonderful,” he said in the email. “There is so much excitement. And by creating theater you are helping to create a magical world that will make your friends smile and laugh and have a wonderful evening. Thanks for being part of that.”
The play will feature more movement than a typical readers theater, with cozadd calling the performance a “free readers theater.”
“A readers theater, it really requires that you get through voice and through gestures that you get the information across to the audience,” she said. “You’re really down and speaking to the audience more than you are in legitimate theater. Most of the time these actors know these scripts. They may have their script in front of them, but they know 90 percent of that script. If you took their scrip away, they’d still know it.”
Because the most recent Players performance finished recently, the cast had little time on the stage. Even so, the group has worked hard to be ready, cozadd said.
The play is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. June 8-10 at the Patricia Smith Theater in the Tellico Community Playhouse. Tickets are $21 and can be purchased online at http://www.tellicocom munityplayhouse.org/tickets.
