Portal Players Dramatic Society’s 2012 musical production of “Suds: the Rocking 60’s Musical Soap Opera” opens on Friday, February 24, and tickets are on sale now.  Portal Players is excited to present their first musical in the new-to-the-Capitol seats! 

Director Blaine Ronning and Musical Director Sandy Bouleau have pulled together a strong cast of diverse local musical talents in the cast and in the band.  Alberni Valley audiences can look forward to seeing Lisa Fryer as Cindy, the young ingénue whose job at a 1960’s Laundromat becomes decidedly more interesting and musical when she is visited by her guardian angels Marge (Janet Deakin) and Dee Dee (Yvette Deveau) on a particularly difficult day.  Chris Arthurs provides comic intervention as a number of characters (Mr. Postman, a washer repair man, and a Mystery Date) who pass by the hilarious proceedings, while Brent Ronning enters the scene to sing along with the ladies as Mr. Right and Johnny Angel.   The show features classic songs like “Please Mr. Postman”, “You Can’t Hurry Love”,  a medley of Burt Bacharach tunes, “Respect”, “Our Day Will Come”, “I Say a Little Prayer”, “Secret Agent Man”, “I Will Follow Him”, and “I Know a Place” among many others woven into the story. 

The band features Sandy Bouleau on keyboard, Dennis Olsen on guitar, Scott Jarvis on bass, James Van Metre on drums, and Kayla Burton on wind instruments. 

The show runs over four weekends on Friday and Saturday nights at the Capitol Theatre, from February 24 until March 17.  Tickets are available online now at the Portal Players website (www.atthecapitol.org) and in person at Rollin Art Centre during their regular business hours.  All seats are $20 in advance, and any tickets left on performance nights will be $25 at the door.

For more information:
Contact Producer Liz Bernstein at 250.724.6650 (liz.rallispaper@shaw.ca)
Or PPDS President Brent Ronning at 250.730.2700 (brent.ronning@shaw.ca)

Tags: Music, Comedy, Rock, Family

Ever wonder what Rumplestiltskin was really thinking, or if the Billy goats gruff have beautiful singing voices? Well you can come find out at this year’s Capitol STAGES “The Works” show. “The Works” 2011 features fairy tale themed fun as our performing youth turn on their best to entertain you.

The Capitol STAGES Youth Drama Program is an after school drama program for youth ages 4 to 16. The STAGES program is in its third year and is the brainchild of Program Director Teresa Drew. “The performing arts are so important to a community,” says Drew. “We wanted to make sure that they were accessible to kids. Portal Players does shows with children every couple of years and we know that so many kids want to be a part of them. STAGES was a great way to involve youth in performing arts and let them learn the lessons and skills that come with it.”

Last year the program expanded to include almost 60 children and also added the Capitol GLEE singers and the WEE GLEE programs to the mix lead by Janet Schlackl and accompanied by Ellen Vander Putten.

“The Works” is a variety style show were children from each class show off what they have been working on all semester. This year’s theme of “Fairy Tales” has produced a lot of great stuff. Three Billy goats with a lot of attitude, a gingerbread girl being chased by a lot of people that look like you may have seen them before, a play about a play about the three bears, weird and wacky farm animals running to tell the king something, and a poor guy that has his reputation ruined completely. Get ready for one extremely entertaining evening.

“The Works” hits the Capitol stage Friday December 16th and Saturday Dec 17th. Doors will open at 5:30pm and the Curtain goes up at 6:00. Admission is only $5 at the door, and seating will be first come, first serve. So give yourself a break from the holiday stress and come support our kids.

If your child wants to come be a star in the Capitol STAGES Youth Theatre Program, registration is at the Capitol Theatre January 9th to 11th, 2 pm to 6 pm.

For more information check out “Capitol Stages Youth Theatre Program” on Facebook, or call Program Director Teresa Drew at 250-730-0678.

Tags: Kids, Comedy

Portal Players Dramatic Society is pleased to open its new season on Thursday night, November 17 with the Classic Canadian Play “Les Belles Soeurs” by Michel Tremblay.

Directed by Debra and Derek Burke, the play runs for three weeks on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, through to December 3 at The Capitol Theatre at 4904 Argyle Street.

In the play, Germaine, a Montreal housewife, has won a million Gold Star stamps (stamps given out by grocery stores, which customers stuck into little booklets and exchanged for goods like barbecues and lawn chairs) and has invited all the women she knows to come over and help her stick them into the booklets. As they stick, the women discuss the men in their lives, the church, and their small joys. In one elaborate and thrilling spoken-choral passage the women tell of the joys of Bingo.

New for this season, Portal Players is offering online ticket sales. Tickets to all performances of “Les Belles Soeurs” can be purchased online through www.brownpapertickets.com (click on the link for ticket purchases).

The Capitol Theatre box office is also open for ticket purchases two hours before the start of each performance at 5:30 pm. The Licensed Lounge opens at 6:30 for a drink before the show and during intermission.

The Box Office can be reached at 250-723-1195.

Tags: Comedy, Drama

Portal Players Dramatic Society and The Capitol GLEE program are pleased to present “Music Mayhem” on Tuesday, May 31st. This year end concert will feature the young men and ladies of the Capitol GLEE program including the adorable Wee-GLEE singers and they will be joined by local performer Christina Wynans as well as local band J-Walk.

The Capitol GLEE program began last September as a musical addition to the Capitol STAGES program. Instructor Janet Schlackl and accompanist Ellen Vander Putten have built a solid program for young people to enjoy vocal training and learn the basics of choral singing, all while exposing them to a variety of great music and allowing them to have a lot of fun.

“MusicMayhem” will be the first stand alone show for the program so they have invited along some amazing young local talent to join them.
Christina Wynans is a well know local musician with a stellar voice and a seemingly endless musical talent. She has performed at many local events and is a shining light in the ADSS band and music programs.

J-Walk is a three piece rock band that formed early fall of 2010, composed of ADSS students Lucas Bosma, Cameron Stefiuk and Graham Villette. The band continues practices in Villette's basement with hope of creating good music to make people dance. The three players create music influenced by,AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, Oasis, Kiss, and many others. J-Walk now continues to look for new places to play, more songs to jam, and new ideas for music. They are really pleased to be performing in the Capitol for the first time.

“We are very excited about the show” says GLEE instructor Janet Schlackl “ We have worked extremely hard to bring some tough numbers into the show but the kids have done a fantastic job getting ready. It going to be a great night with some really interesting and varied music.”

Capitol GLEE’s Music Mayhem plays Tuesday May 31 at 7pm. Doors open at 6:30. Tickets are $10 each and can be purchased at the Capitol Theatre box office Tues- Fri 1pm-5:30pm or at the door.

Tags: Music, Kids

“There are strange things done ‘neath the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold” These are the famous first lines of “The Cremation of Sam McGee” by great Canadian poet Robert W. Service and there will be strange things done on the Capitol stage as Capitol STAGES Youth Theatre Program brings to life a dramatic interpretation of this literary classic in their yearend show.

Program director Teresa Drew and the youngsters of the STAGES program have been working on developing this script all year and are proud of the work they have done.

“This show is written by the kids.” says Drew “I got the ball rolling and helped clean up the edges but what you will see on stage is all from them. The show breaks down various pieces of the poem and delivers them in interesting, unexpected and often hilarious ways.

In this show you will see an Inukshuk, some sled dogs, and many gold miners, along with Michael Jackson, Hillbillies, The Canucks, and Marge Simpson. We looked at each stanza separately and then chose songs for inspiration for our scripts, or were just inspired by the words of the stanza to create our own original pieces.

Capitol STAGES is an after school drama program for children 4-16 that delivers a full working theatre experience to its students. Designed to be a serious but fun learning experience about what it takes to make a theatrical production work, STAGES runs through the school year and culminates each year in a big joint production.

“The Cremation of Sam McGee” plays Thursday and Friday, June 2nd and 3rd at 6:30pm. Doors open at 6:00pm. Tickets are $10 each and are available at the Capitol Theatre box office Tues-Fri 1pm-5:30pm.

Tags: Kids, Comedy, Drama

Portal Players Relay for life team, the Capitol Thespians, are teaming up with local musicians to join the fight against cancer. On June 9th 2011 thirteen local music groups and musicians will take to the stage at the Capitol Theatre. Tickets will be available at the Capitol Theatre box office or by calling Melissa Lowe at (250) 730-7356.

The music groups are: Rob Armich and Rob Mooney, Sandy and Walter Bouleau, Janet Deakin and Dennis Olsen, Full House, Peace Keeper, Blaine Ronning, Alexandria Drew, Birgit Kuit, Dented Halos, Justin Levins, ADSS Senior Vocal Trio and Heather Costerton.

“I have never produced anything of this size in my life, I am so excited!” says Melissa Lowe, Team Captain and Variety Show Producer. This will be Lowes second year as captain for the Portal Players team. “It’s a lot of hard work, but those who I am working with are extremely kind and helpful people.”

Lowe has been a member of Portal Players for many years now and felt it was time from them to give back to a community who has been very supportive. “Relay for Life has always been big in this community, and it’s about to get bigger with this Variety Show. It will bring together other relay members and members of the community who like to listen to good music and see a great show. People will be leaving the theatre with a good warm hearted feeling,” says Lowe.

Tags: Music, Comedy, Fundraiser

Portal Players Dramatic Society is pleased to present Oscar Wilde’s "The Importance of Being Earnest". This classic comedy opens Thursday, May 5th at the Capitol Theatre and runs select dates till Sunday May 22nd, when it will open the North Island Zone Drama Festival.

“The Importance of Being Earnest”, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People was first performed on February 14, 1895 at St. James' Theatre in London. It is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome obligations. Working within the social conventions of late Victorian London, the play's major themes are the triviality with which it treats institutions as serious as marriage, and the resulting satire of Victorian ways. Contemporary reviews all praised the play's humour, though some were cautious about its explicit lack of social messages, while others foresaw the modern consensus that it was the culmination of Wilde's artistic career so far. Its high farce and witty dialogue have helped make The Importance of Being Earnest Wilde's most enduringly popular play.

Two special nights will help kick off this great production. First, Friday May 6th will be a “Ladies Night Out”, sponsored by Walk the Coast Footwear and Apparel, Urban Design Hair Studio and Van Isle Ford. This evening will include a Fashion Show, Silent Auction, and a chance for one lucky patron to experience a night of spa pampering and a complete make over to be revealed after the show. There is no up charge for this great evening, but entries for the makeover are $5 each.

Secondly, on Sunday, May 8th, (the only matinee performance for Earnest), we are offering a "Pay What You Can" Event. This means that all door sales that day are by donation and 50% of the proceeds go to Relay for Life by way of Portal Players Relay Team "The Capitol Thespians".

Tickets for "The Importance of Being Earnest" are on sale now at the Capitol Box Office, Tues - Fri 1:00 pm till 5:30 pm. Tickets are $15 for Adults, $13 for Senior and Students. The show runs May 5-8, 12-14, 19-21. Curtain rises at 7:30 for all performance except the Sunday May 8th show, which starts at 2 pm.

Tags: Comedy, Drama

Portal Players Dramatic Society will host the 2011 Theatre BC North Island Zone Drama Festival at The Capitol Theatre from May 22 until May 27 as part of the theatre’s 75th Anniversary year celebrations.

Theatre groups from Port Alberni, Parksville, Courtenay, Nanaimo, Qualicum and Campbell River will gather to present some of their best work of the season to Alberni Valley & visiting theatre goers.  It also gives the theatre companies the opportunity to bring their productions to a new audience and to gather feedback from a Theatre BC adjudicator.  Leon Potter, an instructor in drama at the Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo will provide the daily critiques to the clubs. The festival wraps with the Windsor Plywood Gala Awards Banquet for the groups.

On Sunday, May 22, Portal Players opens the festival with Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest”, a period comedy and Wilde’s most enduringly popular play. 

Monday, May 23, Parksville’s Thin Ice Theatre presents Brian Clark’s “The Petition”, a drama exploring the events around a marriage when an elderly woman tells her elderly husband an unbearably sad secret. 

Tuesday, May 24 brings Courtenay Little Theatre’s production of John Mighton’s “Half Life” to the stage.  This Canadian play won a Governor General’s Literary Award and is an exploration of the love story of two nursing home residents, rekindling what might have been a wartime romance. 

Wednesday, May 25, Nanaimo Theatre Group stages “Over the River and Through the Woods”.  Joe DiPietro’s warm-hearted comedy about an Italian family in New Jersey. 

Thursday, May 26 we welcome Qualicum’s ECHO Players and their production of “Lettice and Lovage”, Peter Schaffer’s comedic play originally written specifically for Dame Maggie Smith.

Finally, the festival closes on Friday, May 27 with Campbell River’s Rivercity Player’s production of “Veronica’s Room”.  This thriller from playwright Ira Levin will be a frightfully brilliant way to finish this tremendous week of theatre spotlighting the best of Vancouver Island theatre.

Portal Players President, Brent Ronning, notes that “this festival is a wonderful way to bring live theatre to the Alberni Valley and showcase the talents that exist in the communities of the North Island.  We are so excited to be hosting this in Port Alberni again this year, and are always so pleased to see the tremendous response and support we receive from our community.”

Full Festival Passes are available for all six shows for $60, or you may “Pick 3 Plays” for $40.  Individual tickets are $15 for each show (Theatre BC members with current club cards can buy individual show tickets for only $13.00 each). Tickets are available at the Capitol Theatre Box Office - call 250-723-1195.

Tags: Drama, Mystery, Awards

Fresh off of their appearance on CTV First Story, Vancouver-based Native comedians Brian Majore (The Bloody Savage) and Cliff Paul (Clifford the Big Rez Dog) with 'special guests' (Donovan Patrick Mahoney and Chris Gaskin - "The Token White Guy") are embarking on a tour of BC. The all-Native stand-up comedy tour is a first-of-its-kind in British Columbia.  

Native stand-up comedy is an emerging art form, and Brian Majore and Cliff Paul are at the forefront of this emergence.  "Native people love to laugh and we love making them laugh," says Brian Majore, "so if you love to laugh, come on out to the show."  The tour of British Columbia kicks off with four shows on Vancouver Island, including a stop in Port Alberni on March 10th, 2011.  The Rez Jesters will also be performing in Nanaimo and Victoria.

For more info, please visit the Rez Jester Facebook fanpage at www.facebook.com/thebloodysavageandthebigrezdog

8:00 PM Thursday March 10th, 2011
Capitol Theatre
4904 Argyle St
Port Alberni

Tickets are $20
available by contacting Steven
250-735-2334 or 250-724-4041 ext 26

Tags: Comedy

March 2, 2011 at The Capitol Theatre - tickets now at Capitol box office.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Doors open at 7:00 pm; Concert starts at 7:30 pm
Tickets $28.00 each, includes HST
Available at Capitol Theatre & Rollin Art Centre


It's probably a good thing Carlos wasn't there when the harmonica appeared in North America in the 1860s. Neil Young and Bob Dylan can probably roll with it when it he says they are very mediocre harmonica players. Aspiring harmonica players Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid might have overreacted and pulled out their pistols... Read More...

Get set for a gigantic stage experience as Portal Players Dramatic Society scales up the Capitol Theatre for the classic fairy-tale comedy “Jack and the Beanstalk”.

Join our hero Jack as he fights to win the heart of a lovely princess and deliver his family and friends from a life of fear and poverty by ridding the world of the horrible Giant Blunderbore and his evil henchman.

Done in the traditional British style, this show bring entertainment for the whole family. Stuffed full of zany characters, silly antics, and humour of all kinds there is something for everyone. Wether your laughing in the aisles or humming along with the musical numbers you can guarantee a ggod will be had by all.

Directed by Scott Lowe and Tanya Horne, the cast has been hard at work sharpening their wit and developing the over blown characters that are essential for this kind of show.

The Cast of Jack and the Beanstalk are as follows:

Jack Trot, our hero - Cydney Pedersen
Princess Melanie, our lovely heroine - Alexandria Drew
Dame Trot, Jack’s manish mother - Scott Lowe
Silly Billy, Jack’s dim-witted brother – Elliot Drew
Daisy, a cow - Teresa Drew
Fleshcreep, the Giant’s henchman - Dan Brennan
The Vegetable Fairy, a good-meaning and hapless immortal - Irene Williams
King Satupon, the princesses doddering father - Walter Bouleau
Sergeant Spick, a simple guard of the King - Chazz Lozorko
Corporal Span, an even simpler guard of the King - Ryleigh Horne
Clarance Clanger, the town crier - Amanda Oxley
Blodwyn Blunderbore, the Giant’s ugly wife - Dave McGarry
The Dread Dragon, a dreadful dragon - Madison Horne
THE GIANT, a huge fe fi fo fumming nasty guy - Giant Blunderbore

The show also features a host of youth talent ranging in age from 10-15 who join us as chorus, villagers, slaves and other characters from time to time.

Jack and the Beanstalk opens Friday, February 11th and plays the following two Fridays, February 18th and 25th. Saturdays, February 12th, 19th and 26th. These are evening show with curtain at 7:30pm. Sundays, February 13th,20th and 27th are matinee showings with the curtain rising at 2:00 pm. Tickets are available now at the Capitol Box Office, Rollin Arts Centre and Echo Centre. Adults $15, Senior and Students $13 and children under 12 are only $5 each.

Tags: Comedy, Kids, Music

February 8, 2011 at The Capitol Theatre - tickets now at Capitol box office.

What happens when 4 comedians join forces to go snowboarding during the day and do comedy shows at night? The Snowed In Comedy tour brings together some of the top international comedians in the world. Join Phil Nichol (Corky and The Juice Pigs, BBC, Mad TV), Dan Quinn (Winner of Just For Laughs Canadian Comedy Competition, CTV, XM Radio), Craig Campbell (Michael Mcyintyre road show, Just For Laughs, CTV, Paramount) and Peter Kelamis (Star of Stargate Universe, Just for Laughs, Two time Nominee of Canadian comedy awards best male stand-up) for a night of hilarious comedy. "Better than the just for Laughs Tour" Kelowna Daily Courier. Doors open at 8:00 pm; show starts at 8:30 pm. Tickets $35.00 + HST each, available now, exclusively at The Capitol Theatre box office.

Tags: Comedy

December 3 & 4, 2010 at The Capitol Theatre - tickets at the door on show nights.

Oh the joy of sitting at home hopelessly flipping through the endless channels of the boob tube. What is more amusing than catching snippets of a bunch of shows you might want to watch but just want to see if anything better is on. This years Capitol STAGES and Capitol GLEE show “The Works” celebrates this great past time as our performing youth turn on their best to entertain you.

The Capitol STAGES Youth Drama Program and The Capitol GLEE singers are after school drama and choral programs for youth ages 3 to 16. The STAGES program started last year as the brainchild of Program Director Teresa Drew. “The performing arts are so important to a community.” says Drew “We wanted to make sure that they were accesable to kids. Portal Players only does shows with children every couple of years and we know that some many kids want to be apart of them. STAGES was a great way to involve youth in performing arts and let them learn the lessons and skills that come with it.”

This year the program expanded to include almost 60 children and also added the Capitol GLEE singers and the WEE GLEE programs to the mix. Capitol GLEE is lead by Janet Schlackl and accompanied by Ellen Vander Putten and they have been working hard to get ready for their inaugural performance.

“The Works” is a variety style show were children from each class show off what they have been working on all semester. This years theme of changing channels has produce a lot of great stuff. A Drama related Survivor, an engrossing soap opera entitled Soapy Hospital, bits and pieces of a great Monty Python Movie and of course what TV watching experience would be complete without zany commercials. Add in a bunch of great musical interludes from the Capitol GLEE and you have one extremely entertaining evening.

“The Works” hits the Capitol stage Friday Dec 3rd and Saturday Dec 4th. Doors will open at 6:00pm and the Curtain goes up at 6:30. Admission is $10 at the door only and seating will be first come first serve. So put down your remote and come support our kids.

Tags: Kids, Comedy