Pia Wyatt, internationally renowned choreographer and director, explained the power of dance to enhance the staging and audience’s enjoyment of Broadway musicals in a recent ‘Behind the Scenes’ talk for the ‘Friends of Thingamajig Theatre’ at the Pagosa Springs Center for the Arts.
Wyatt directed and choreographed “Guys and Dolls”, and choreographed “SpongeBob Musical” in this summer’s “Broadway in the Mountains” Thingamajig season. She began her theatrical career as a ballet dancer at age nine in a musical about painter Emily Carr in Victoria, B.C., Canada and currently is a professor of theatre and dance at Northwestern State University in Louisiana.
Becoming a Friend of Thingamajig Theatre brings multiple fun interactions with the actors and directors including social gatherings, invitations to behind-the-scenes events like this, excursions with the actors, and opportunities for one-on-one interactions if you provide rides to and from the Durango airport for traveling artists. Annual Friends dues of $35 per person can be paid on the theatre’s website at pagosacenter.org.
The three Broadway musicals at Thingamajig this summer are “Bright Star,” with the bluegrass score composed by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell; “Guys and Dolls,” a romantic comedy involving a high-rolling gambler and a strait-laced missionary; and “SpongeBob the Musical,” a family-friendly show based on the Nickelodeon animated TV series. These musicals will run in rotation until August 24.
This year’s fundraising Broadway Gala will take place Tuesday evening, July 26.
Tickets for the Broadway musicals and the gala are available at the theatre’s website at pagosacenter.org.
Thingamajig is an award-winning professional nonprofit 501(c)(3) theatre cofounded in 2011 by Tim and Laura Moore. Its talented actors, directors and production teams come from across the U.S. and Canada to produce Broadway-level musicals, comedies and dramas year-round. Thingamajig also is dedicated to providing educational opportunities for youth and teens in our community.