SEQUIM — “The Mikado,” that Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera, is on this weekend at the Dungeness Schoolhouse, 2781 Towne Road, along with another Readers Theatre Plus event.
The Dewey Awards, honors for local actors and directors who have been part of Readers Theatre Plus shows since spring 2012, will be presented at 4:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon at the schoolhouse. That’s right after the final performance of “The Mikado.”
The show, a story of love, misunderstanding and marriage in the town of Titipu, has its last three performances tonight, Saturday and Sunday. It stars Ric Munhall as the Mikado — a Japanese emperor — and Trent Pomeroy as our hero Nanki-Poo and Karen Pritchard as his sweetheart Yum-Yum.
Joel Yelland is Ko-Ko, Lord High Executioner of Titipu, and John Silver is Pooh-Bah, Lord High Everything Else. Carl Honore portrays Pish-Tush the Noble Lord. Yum-Yum’s sisters, Pitti-Sing and Peep-Bo, are brought to coquettish life by Bonnie Christianson and Valerie Lape, respectively.
Curtain times are 7:30 tonight and Saturday night and finally 2 p.m. Sunday, and the ticket outlets are Pacific Mist Books, 121 W. Washington St., Sequim, and Odyssey Books, 114 W. Front St., Port Angeles. The prices are $15 per person or two tickets for $25.
If any tickets are left at show time, they will be sold at the door. But last Sunday, the performance was sold out and people were turned away, said Readers Theatre Plus board member Paul Martin.
While attending these shows, theater-goers can also indulge in some shopping — with proceeds to benefit the Readers Theatre Plus scholarship fund for local high school students. A silent auction, with items ranging from 5th Avenue Theatre tickets to ukulele lessons to a Sunny Farms gift certificate, will be open in the downstairs hall at the Dungeness Schoolhouse while “The Mikado” plays upstairs.
Then, at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, the Dewey Awards — named in honor of Peninsula Singers director and “Mikado” conductor Dewey Ehling — will begin. Public voting took place on the Readers Theatre Plus website with ballots due June 22 for best production, director, lead actor and actress, supporting actor and actress and best ensemble. The envelopes will be opened and trophies presented in Sunday’s ceremonies.
All Readers Theatre Plus productions raise money for local causes, which include the Peninsula Friends of Animals, the Sequim guild for Seattle Children’s Hospital and the theater troupe’s own scholarship program.
For more information about the Dewey Awards, “The Mikado” and Readers Theatre Plus, see www.ReadersTheatrePlus.com or phone 369-797-3337.
