Players Company students attend one-hour, age-specific classes, on Saturday mornings for 10 weeks OR 1 hr 15 minutes Tuesday nights for 8 weeks. All Players members in these Theatre Classes are encouraged to audition for a role in that semester’s play, which is presented weeks after classes have concluded.
If you are new to CTW, we have beginner information: click here
The Fall 2023 Players Company play is Super Duck By Brian D. Taylor
It’s the beloved tale of The Ugly Duckling with a super-powered, action-packed twist! When a strange egg falls from the sky and lands near the duck pond, a mother duck decides to let it hatch and raise the strange looking creature as her own. Cluck quickly becomes an outcast at swim school. He looks weird and swimming is impossible because the water burns his skin and all the other ducks make fun of him. Certain that he’s not a duck at all, he sets out to find his real family. Along the way, he discovers he has super powers when he rescues a flirty flock of migrating geese and a crazy chicken who are being terrorized by the evil feline genius, Dr. Tabby Clawslice, and her sidekick, Squishy the Worm. This pair of vile villains wants to destroy — and devour in Dr. Tabby’s case — any feathered creature they encounter. When Cluck meets a beautiful family of royal swans, he finally learns who he really is. No, not a swan — that’s too ordinary a tale! Cluck discovers he’s a duck from another planet with amazing superpowers and a hero’s heart. He finally returns home only to have to rescue his family from — guess who? — Dr. Tabby and Squishy in an epic battle of feline vs. fowl!
(Description taken from Pioneer Drama)
Auditions
Auditions for Super Duck will be Sat Sep 23, 2023 & Wed Sep 27, 2023
Please check your email for a link to sign up for auditions.
(*Reminder auditions are only for students enrolled in the Players Company Core Theatre class for this semester.)
Auditions will be an 30 minute time slot. It’s okay if your child doesn’t feel ready but we hope they will audition anyway. Everyone who auditions receives a speaking role.
Auditions will consist of a monologue and cold reads. A monologue is basically a speech by one actor in a play or movie. Your child’s teacher will also provide monologue options in class for your actor to choose. Or your child is welcome to pick a monologue from their favorite play or movie.
The director would rather see a few short lines of excellent, memorized theatre, rather than a large monologue that isn’t memorized or well-performed. That being said, if you can do something more intensive, the director is interested in up to 30 seconds of monologue. So anywhere in between those two extremes. If your child is an early reader, or if reading sometimes causes undue stress, please reach out to their teacher and director so they can start preparing. We are used to working with early readers in this group, and really want them to participate!
Cold reads are not meant to be practiced in advance. Your student’s teacher will go over how to do cold reads in class, but during the audition, your child will do a new cold read usually from the current play script. The script will be emailed to parents in advance with the audition announcement and signup link.
Rehearsal Calendar
Bio for the Playbill
All participants need to submit a bio form. We will use that information to create their actor or technical bio for the play’s playbill. Please see examples below.
Jayden Williams (Chuck, Cast B) is in the sixth grade at Toledo School for the Arts. This is his seventh year at CTW. Jayden has previously appeared as Caithness in Macbeth, Wadsworth in Clue, Dr Flinn in Radium Girls, Mouse in You Only Live Nine Times, and Apollo in The Disappearance. He has also appeared in Horizon Youth Theatre’s production of The Lightning Thief. Jayden enjoys drawing, acting and spending quality time with his cats.
Jane Doe (Lilith) is a in the second grade at Elmhurst Elementary. We’d like to welcome her to her first show with CTW! Jane would like to thank her parents and family for always supporting her.
Jordan Jones (Tech Crew) is a sophomore at Start High School. This is their second year with CTW. They have previously been involved with Magic Treehouse: Pirates Past Noon as Spot Operator, Macbeth as Deck Head, Emperor’s Old Clothes as Deck Head, The Last Five Years as Spot Operator, and Willy Wonka Jr as Deck Crew. Jordan has also been involved with The Sylvania Youth Theatre’s production of The Addams Family as Light Board Operator. “Thank you to everyone for coming to the show!”
Show Shirts
When show shirts go on sale, they will be available at the below link. Please note that the link will only work during the limited time that show shirts are available for order.
Click here to purchase Players Company Show Shirts
Field Trip – Bring your school to the show!
Children’s Theatre Workshop (CTW) of Toledo offers field trip opportunities to local schools. This CTW programs goal is to increase appreciation and skill in the theater arts. The shows are 45-65 minutes long and are meant for audiences of children. These productions feature youth performers, technicians, and assistant directors
Our programs provide theatrical experiences for children, by children While we are proud to bring child audiences the joy of live theatre, we also aim to educate through materials that correspond with Ohio Content Standards for Drama/Theatre.
Student tickets are $3.00, with one free adult ticket for each group of five students to encourage chaperones Additional adult tickets are available for $3.00 per ticket. There is also a charge of $2.00 per order to cover handling postage, phone calls etc. Reservations are processed as received until the performance is sold out.
Click here to go to the Field Trip webpage where you can see the current date(s) and time(s) for field trip shows, as well as download the field trip form to fil out or share with your school.
Tickets
Tickets for any CTW shows can be purchased at this link: Tickets
*please note tickets will be available at least 1 month before the show. Prior to that, tickets may not be available.
Parent Volunteers
We can’t do this without you! Please consider signing up to help during the performances. Link to sign up will be available closer to the show dates. Below are the usual volunteer positions needed and a brief description.
Box Office Attendant – help sell tickets at the door.
Ticket sales at the door are very similar to buying tickets online through Booktix. A CTW staffer will assist with setup and training and be available to help if you have any problems. Please note volunteers will probably miss the first 10-15 minutes of the show to assist late guests.
Concessions Stand – make and box up popcorn. Sell popcorn and prepackaged snacks and drinks. Before the show and possibly during intermission (not all shows have an intermission).
Usher – help ticket holders find their seats and pass out playbills before the show.
Program Ads and Shoutouts in the Playbill
Why not let your child know how proud you are of them? Ads and Shout Outs (also know as one-liners) can be purchased to put in the playbill. Also business ads available, support CTW and reach a new audience with your business ad in the playbill.
Sample Playbill Shoutout:
Sample Playbill 1/2 page ad:
Performances
Our plays are typically performed at:
The Historic Ohio Theatre, 3112 Lagrange St, Toledo, OH 43608
Parking and other information about The Historic Ohio Theatre, can be found on their website: https://historicohiotheatre.org/visiting-the-ohio-theatre/
-
- The 2022-23 season at CTW is made possible in part by state tax dollars allocated by the Ohio Legislature to the Ohio Arts Council (OAC). The OAC is a state agency that funds and supports quality arts experiences to strengthen Ohio communities culturally, educationally, and economically.
Social Media Spotlights
In the weeks leading up to the play, we will email you to ask if you’d like to submit a photo and message for your student to post and we will hype them on social media. It’s an opportunity to share how proud you are of your student(s) or how much you love them or can’t wait to see them perform. Or have grandparents or other friends/family members send your student a shoutout (but please only one per student). The shoutout format will be as below, with your text in the middle, with the photo you send.
If you wish to send yours now, just email us: click here
Introducing cast and crew shout outs for our upcoming production of Play Name!
Student First Name, I am so proud of you! Love, Family
Come see Play Name Jan 13-15, 2023 at The Historic Ohio Theatre 3112 Lagrange, Toledo, OH 43608. Tickets available at the door or online: https://ctwtoledo.booktix.com/
You can also check CTW’s FB or Instagram pages for examples of the social media spotlights we posted for the last show. Children’s Theatre Workshop (Toledo) or ctwtoledo.