Weather
The Pine Tree, News for Calaveras County and Beyond Weather
Amador Angels Camp Arnold Bear Valley Copperopolis Murphys San Andreas Valley Springs Moke Hill/West Point Tuolumne
News
Business Directory
Weather & Roads
Sports
Real Estate
Search
Weekly & Grocery Ads
Entertainment
Life & Style
Government
Law Enforcement
Business
Wine News
Health & Fitness
Home & Garden
Food & Dining
Religion & Faith
Frogtown USA
Calendar
Polls
Columns
Free Classifieds
Letters to the Editor
Obituaries
About Us

Coming Soon...
Friday, Mar 22
03:30 PM Bear Valley Adventure Company's Trailblazers Youth Ski Program
Saturday, Mar 23
All Day Saturday, March 23: Green Sand Molding & Foundry Practice Workshop at Knight Foundry
All Day Calaveras Gem & Mineral Society's Gem & Jewelry Show is March 23 & 24
10:00 AM Calaveras Gem and Mineral Show 2024
10:00 AM Calaveras Gem & Mineral Show 3/23 & 3/24
Sunday, Mar 24
All Day Calaveras Gem & Mineral Society's Gem & Jewelry Show is March 23 & 24
All Day Our Sunday Edition with Local Features, Local Specials & More Every Sunday All Day Long!
Until 05:00 AM Calaveras Gem and Mineral Show 2024
Until 05:00 PM Calaveras Gem & Mineral Show 3/23 & 3/24
Tuesday, Mar 26
01:30 PM Calaveras Community Blood Drive, Tuesday March 26
Friday, Mar 29
03:30 PM Bear Valley Adventure Company's Trailblazers Youth Ski Program
Sunday, Mar 31
All Day Our Sunday Edition with Local Features, Local Specials & More Every Sunday All Day Long!
03:30 PM Bear Valley Adventure Company's Trailblazers Youth Ski Program

Log In
Username

Password

Remember Me



Calendar

< Friday, December 9, 2016 >


02:00 PM Mark Twain Returns To Mother Lode For Only Four Performances
Columbia, CA...Acclaimed actor and former Tuolumne County resident Randy Maple will chronicle Mark Twain’s life in a narration drawn from the wealth of his writings in his one-man show, “Mark Twain: Wit and Wisdom of an American Legend,” December 9-11. After a 13-year hiatus from stage, Maple resurrects Twain’s spirit and relevant cultural commentary for four performances only at the Fallon House Theatre in this unique benefit for Sierra Repertory Theatre.

twain_5394
Maple first presented his show at Sierra Rep in 1982. He continued in the role for more than 20 years at theaters throughout the Gold Country and Central California, including a performance for the Mark Twain Project at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1998. Additionally, he provided the voice for the project’s award-winning film on the life of Mark Twain. His Mark Twain connection solidified after twice meeting Hal Holbrook, whereupon they traded Twainian barbs and discussed Maple’s now 18 years of research.

“SRT let me do this show for the first time, so now it’s my turn to give back in an effort to quell rumors of Twain's death,” Maple said.

On the Tuolumne County stage, Maple was a popular and critical favorite for his role as Buddy in SRT’s world premiere of “The Gift Giver” in 1982. He had acclaimed roles in “The Foreigner” at Sierra Rep and “The Wild Guys” at Stage 3 Theatre in Sonora, where he also co-starred in the 2002 premiere of Sonora playwright Rick Foste’s original two-man drama, “Inventing the West: The Dangerous Friendship of Mark Twain and Bret Harte.” That production was repeated by invitation at the Mark Twain Center in Elmira, New York, in 2003.

Maple was born in Los Angeles in 1947 and moved to Sonora in 1979. He retired from the California Department of Corrections in 2000. Three years later, he and his wife, Rosa Lee, moved to Germany, where she fulfilled one of her lifelong dreams of teaching abroad. In 2006 they returned stateside and settled in Ashland, Oregon, to live near their new grandchildren.

Mark Twain is the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, who was born Nov. 30, 1835, in Florida, Missouri, and died April 21, 1910, in Redding, Connecticut. He entered life in the year of Halley’s Comet, 1835, and died in the year of its return, 1910, one day after its closest approach to Earth. He wrote his first major fictional story while living on Jackass Hill in Tuolumne County during the winter of 1864-65.

William R. Gillis, one of the budding authors of Tuolumne County, recalled in his memoirs: “(Twain) has a mania for story writing, imagining his name to be handed down to posterity from generation to generation.” His life and writings resulted in unparalleled artistic achievements -- and relentless personal suffering.

Maple is now 18 years into the research and writing of a book on the mythological lineage of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. He believes both are descended from the ancient Celtic myth “Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool),” and that James Joyce’s 1939 masterwork “Finnegan’s Wake” is in fact a deliberate, enigmatic retelling of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” published more than 50 years earlier.

“I have found verification after verification and it all resonates,” Maple said.

However, Maple’s show in Columbia will not venture into this area.

“One thing I’m adamant about is that when I’m in costume, it has to be Mark Twain’s words,” he said.

While striving to be entertaining, Maple's goal is to introduce the depth of wisdom and substance lying just below the surface of the man and his humor.

The Fallon House Theatre is located at Columbia State Historic Park. Evening performances will be given at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Dec. 9 and 10, with matinees at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 10 and 11. All tickets are $25, available online atwww.sierrarep.org or by calling the box office at 209-532-3120. All proceeds will benefit Sierra Repertory Theatre.

05:00 PM - 08:00 PM Zucca After Hours
Join us all year on Friday and Saturday nights from 5-8pm for a relaxing evening in our garden with your favorite Zucca varietals. Enjoy a glass, bottle or a flight of four wines and savor the atmosphere of our wine garden.

Bring your own dinner from home or one of the great local restaurants.
05:30 PM - 08:00 PM Friday Jazz At Alchemy
Every Friday, Alchemy features jazz standards by Matt Cullen on our patio from 5:30-8 pm. Matt will play with an “enhanced rhythm” section and will sometimes be joined by guests. There’s room to dance :)
The music is free; all we ask is that you call 728-0700 for reservations and that you eat some dinner. Hear samples of Matt’s music on his website here: mattcullenonline.com
05:30 PM Friday Music at Alchemy
Every Friday, Alchemy features jazz standards by Matt Cullen on our patio from 5:30-8 pm. Matt will play with an “enhanced rhythm” section and will sometimes be joined by guests. There’s room to dance The music is free; all we ask is that you call 209-728-0700 for reservations and that you eat some dinner. Hear samples of Matt’s music on his website here: mattcullenonline.com

No cover charge

Alchemy Market and Cafe
191 Main Street Murphys, CA 95247
07:00 PM Leg Lamp & BB Gun: The Stars Of Sierra Rep’s A Christmas Story
Sonora, CA...Sierra Repertory Theatre presents a stage adaptation of the nostalgic holiday film, “A Christmas Story,” November 11 – December 18 at the East Sonora Theatre on Mono Way.

rwm_4512
The 1983 movie has become a bona fide Christmas perennial with its affectionate, wacky and realistic portrayal of an American family’s typical Christmas joys and travails. The drama follows 9-year-old Ralphie Parker in his quest to get a genuine Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model Air Rifle under the tree for Christmas. Ralphie pleads his case before his mother, father, his teacher and even Santa Claus himself. The consistent response: “You’ll shoot your eye out!”

“It’s always fun and challenging to translate iconic holiday movies to the stage.” SRT Artistic Director Scott Viets said. “We’ve done it before with White Christmas, It’s A Wonderful Life and now, A Christmas Story. These shows are very well-written and evoke a warm nostalgia for holidays past – and they are challenging in that you are working with movies that are so beloved. There are certain expectations of how it should feel and look when presented on stage. The nature of it being live will make it fresh and unique while hopefully capturing the essence of what continues to make these stories so enduring decade after decade.”

In the stage adaptation the adult Ralph serves as the play’s leading character and narrator, the storyteller on stage who reminiscences about his childhood. All the elements from the cherished motion picture are here, including young Ralphie Parker’s shocking discovery that his Little Orphan Annie decoder pin is really a device to promote Ovaltine; the family’s temperamental exploding furnace; the Bumpus hounds; the school bully Scut Farkas; the boys’ experiment with a wet tongue on a cold lamppost; a major award in the shape of a leg; Ralphie’s fantasy scenarios; and most crucially, Ralphie’s unstoppable campaign to get Santa – or anyone else – to give him a Red Ryder air rifle.

Twelve-year-old Joey Fitzgerald (Mary Poppins, Macbeth, A Columbia Christmas Carol) plays the role of young Ralphie Parker and Carter Peterson (The Music Man) plays the school bully. Other children rounding out the youth cast include Noah Diamond, Cole Harvey, Autumn Jachetta, Ruby James, Kallie Stofle and Jacob Tangenberg.

The adult cast is headed by SRT newcomer Kevin McKillip as Ralph/The Narrator. McKillip makes his home in Chicago, has appeared at theaters across the country and has been nominated three times for the

Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Supporting Actor. Kevin Crowley also appears for the first time at SRT in the role of the The Old Man. Crowley is an actor and director with Second City and has also appeared at theaters nationwide. His television credits include CSI and Murphy Brown and films include Major League and The Fugitive. Other adults in the cast include Cathy Schenkelberg (Honky Tonk Angels, Les Miz) returning to SRT to play Ralphie’s Mother, and SRT newcomer Dionna Eshleman as Ralphie’s teacher, Miss Shields.

The set is designed by Dana Moran Williams (The Drowsy Chaperone, Anna in the Tropics, Forever Plaid), with costumes by Diana Newington (A Columbia Christmas Carol, Hank Williams: Lost Highway). SRT resident artists complete the production team: lighting design by Michael Sali, properties design by Matt Sweetland, and stage management by Emily Gatesman.

A Christmas Story opens Friday, November 11 and runs through Sunday, December 18 with performances Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Thursdays at either 2 or 7 p.m. A special question and answer “talk back” will follow the Thursday, December 1 performance. Tickets cost from $32 to $37, with senior, student and child discounts available. The show is rated G for audiences six and up (children under the age of six are not allowed in the theatre). For tickets and information, visit www.sierrarep.org or call the Box Office at 209-532-3120.

Mark Twain Medical Center
Meadowmont Pharmacy
Angels & San Andreas Memorial Chapels
Bear Valley Real Estate
Gerard Insurance
Bank of Stockton
Fox Security
Bistro Espresso
Chatom Winery
Middleton's Furniture
Bear Valley Mountain Resort
Cave, Mine & Zip Lines
High Country Spa & Stove
Ebbetts Pass Scenic Byway
Sierra Logging Museum Calaveras Mentoriing
Jenny's Kitchen

Copyright © The Pine Tree 2005-2023