Student showcase exhibit at Gallery 625, auditions at DMTC | Center Stage

Robyn Dobson

June 2

The Davis Musical Theatre Company will be holding auditions for their production of "Jekyll & Hyde" at the end of June.

Based on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic thriller, "Jekyll & Hyde" is a gripping tale of a brilliant mind gone horribly awry.

Set to a powerful pop-rock score, the story follows talented physician Dr. Jekyll as he attempts to cure his ailing father's mental illness by separating "good" from "evil" in the human personality. However, Dr. Jekyll inadvertently creates an alternate personality of pure evil, dubbed Mr. Hyde, who wreaks murderous havoc on the city of London. The show will include popular songs such as "This is The Moment" and "Someone Like You."

Auditions will be held at the Jean Henderson Performing Arts Center, located at 607 Pena Dr. in Davis, on Sunday, June 23 or Monday, June 24 at 7:30 p.m. Callbacks will be the following day at the same location on Tuesday, June 25 at 7:30 p.m.

Those auditioning should bring a prepared song that is not from "Jekyll & Hyde," sheet music with piano accompaniment and be prepared for cold readings.

The show will open on Friday, Sept. 6.

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The 2nd Annual Woodland Community College Student Showcase is set to open at Gallery 625 on June 7.

Curated by college art professor Manuel Fernando Rios, the exhibition features exceptional work from Woodland Community College students, including the 2024 WCC Kingsley Merit Scholarship finalists.

"The finalists were carefully and skillfully selected by the YoloArts Exhibition Committee," said a press release from YoloArts. "YoloArts firmly believes in the value of recognizing the top finalists and thus has happily provided the funding for this year's additional awards."

Each year Sacramento's Kingsley Art Club sponsors an awards program to support emerging art students from community colleges in the Sacramento region. The visual arts faculty at each of the colleges selects one outstanding student to be recognized and receive the $550 monetary award.

Woodland Community College's art department was revived in 2020 with the hiring of Rios, the college's first full time art professor in over a decade. Coupled with the announcement of the college's new Performance and Culinary Arts building, students have been enrolling in art classes and responding with impressive artwork, as the programs are being re-built, according to Professor Rios.

"With the addition of the new Performance and Culinary Arts building and the offering of more art courses this past year, I believe our students really responded with some inspiring artworks," Rios said. "I believe the art community in Woodland as a whole has grown significantly since I was hired, and I'd like to think that WCC art students have a lot to do with it."

The artists and Rios will attend the opening reception and awards ceremony from 5:30-8 p.m. on Friday, June 7, coinciding with the downtown Woodland First Friday event. Live music by Amataza Yasha, light refreshments and Yolo County wine will round out the reception which is free and open to the public.

The artwork can also be viewed and purchased online at https://yoloarts.org/online-galleries/.

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Tickets are on sale for the Woodland Opera House's upcoming production of "Peter and The Starcatcher."

A Tony award winning play, the show upends the century-old story of how a miserable orphan comes to be The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up, also known as Peter Pan.

"A wildly theatrical adaptation of Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson's best-selling novels," said the Woodland Opera House's website. "From marauding pirates and jungle tyrants to unwilling comrades and unlikely heroes, 'Peter and the Starcatcher' playfully explores the depths of greed and despair and the bonds of friendship, duty and love."

The show is scheduled to run from June 14 to 30 on Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $30 for adults, $28 for seniors 62 and older and $15 for children 17 and under. Balcony tickets are $18 for adults and $9 for children.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit https://woodlandoperahouse.org/.

Center Stage is a column exploring the arts in and around Yolo County.