April 6th/2013 Kingston Acting Classes

Bottle Tree's Acting Classes start up again at St Andrews Presbyterian Church in downtown Kingston at 130 Clergy St East on April 6th for kids and teens. 6-10 year-olds can enroll in the 9:30-10:30 am class. 11-12 year olds can enroll in the 10:30-12 noon class. And teens from 13 up can enroll in the 1-2:30 class. Adult classes will occur Wednesday evenings from 7-8:30 pm.

Bottle Tree Productions Musical Theatre Class Show

Our classes involve warm-ups, improv and scenes or original scripts. Anne Marie Mortensen is a registered Educator in the Arts with the Ontario Arts Council. Charles Robertson has been involved in all facets of theatre for many years.

Our classes are a safe place for kids to learn drama, to develop self-confidence, to learn to speak clearly and effectively, to develop the potential within.

Each child or adult that wants to get better will get better.

When we do our major productions such as Sound of Music, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and others that we are involved with like Fiddler on the Roof and Oliver!, we like to take actors that have worked with us previously and that includes giving special consideration to the kids, teens and adults that have taken our acting classes.

When we do one of our major productions we stress that importance of the team. Theatre is a collaborative effort and everyone has to be pulling in the same direction in order for the production to work. We stress the team atmosphere, the family atmosphere in our classes.

Our classes are also a great way for like-minded people to get together and share common interests.  Parents of kids in our acting classes often say that finally, here is a place where other kids 'get their kids'. They all understand each other and where they're coming from. It is a place where kids can finally be themselves.

We make sure that our acting classes are bully-free.

For further information about our Acting Classes please go to April 6th Acting Classes

Pretty Pieces at the Screening Room

The Film Adaptation of Charles' play Pretty Pieces opens at The Screening Room on March 10th. Local film maker; Leigh Ann  Bellamy had acted in the play when Bottle Tree Productions produced it in Kingston, Toronto and Halifax. It is a play full of darkness. Pretty Pieces is about two people who could have had another life, a beautiful life, but their lives are shattered by something that happened to them in the past. Their past prevents them from getting on with their lives. They are broken. Like pretty pieces of broken glass. Interestingly enough; Zorba Dravillas, who starred opposite Leigh Ann in Charles' original production is starring is in another movie running along side Pretty Pieces, directed by Brent Nurse and filmed by Curtis Campsall called Funny Thing About Coffee.

Show times and dates are Sunday March 10th at 7 pm and Monday March 11th at 9 pm.

Pretty Pieces is having its world premiere in a night of three new short films by local film makes, 

'All three movies take you on a dark journey through the minds of their characters, leaving you never knowing where things will end up. The third, "The Collider”, is a sci-fi thriller looking at what happens when the Collider is turned on and a tragic accident happens. What follows is a harrowing journey of one man’s survival.' Screening Room.

Bellamy; who stars in the film, has starred as Juliet in Charles' production in the park of Romeo and Juliet and Ophelia in his production of Hamlet at the Wellington Street Theatre.

Zorba Dravillas; who stars in Funny Thing About Coffee, has appeared in a number of plays directed by Charles. Zorba is a very talented actor.

Kingston seems to have a very active independent movie scene. With cameras being affordable now and editing suites falling in price, alongside Kingston's very vibrant theatre scene, you have the makings of a burgeoning creative hub for indy films.

For more information about these three films and what is happening at The Screening Room please go to The Screening Room

Young Kingstonians star in Disney's Little Mermaid

Bottle Tree Productions brings Disney's beloved Little Mermaid to life on stage at L'Octave Theatre Friday March 29th at 2 pm and 7 pm and Saturday March 30th at 2 pm and 7 pm. Tickets cost $12, including hst, L'Octave Theatre is located out on Dalton Avenue off of Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard near the 401. From the team that brought you The Sound of Music, Oliver and Fiddler on the Roof comes the wonderful watery world welling up from the imaginations of the great creators at Disney.

By show time, 20 local kids will have spent ten weeks mastering their craft and honing their skills. Learning to act, sing and dance, these kids will leave the theatre on closing night having accomplished much. It is important for a cast to pull together and become a team. And this cast has  done that. They have supported each other and because of that each young actor has grown in ability and confidence.

Based on the Hans Christian Anderson fairy-tale of the same name; The Little Mermaid follows the adventures of Ariel the mermaid with the beautiful voice. With her best friend;  Flounder she heads to the surface to collect human artifacts. They visit the seagull Scuttle. Scuttle is a self-styled mis-informed expert on Humans. During a storm, Ariel saves the handsome human Prince Eric from drowning and she falls in love. She wishes she were human, too and could walk among the humans. She wished she had feet instead of fins. She finds an unexpected ally in Ursula the Sea Witch who will make her human in exchange for her voice. Disney creates a magical world under the sea with the faithful Flounder, the entertaining Sebastian and the friendly sea gull; Scuttle. There is a host of imaginatively created characters with wonderful songs such as Part of Your World, Under the Sea, and She's in Love.

The audience cannot help but be moved by this very energetic and talented young cast of local performers, as they breathe life into this Disney classic

Buy Tickets

Fri March 29 2 pm $10.62 CAD Fri March 29 7 pm $10.62 CAD Sat March 30 2 pm $10.62 CAD Sat March 30 7 pm $10.62 CAD

Award winning television writers finish second and third in One Act Play Competition

Do television writers make good playwrights? The results of Bottle Tree Productions One Act Play Competition for Writers 2012 would seem to suggest so. Seth Freeman took second place in Bottle Tree's play writing competition. James Harmon Brown finished third. 

From reading their plays, two things become apparent. One is that nothing hones a writer's skill like continual practice. The right words fall into place when you learn to write under tight schedules and under strict guidelines. There's nothing like a deadline. Two; is that television writing with its obvious differences from theatre writing, has to contend with very different visual rules. You can't shoot a closeup in theatre. You have to manufacture the effect of a closeup in other ways. You can't switch locations quickly in theatre. The world of theatre is more dependent on words though than television is. Television is more of a visual medium. However, the rules of good writing for the theatre, namely good dialogue, apply equally to television. We look at these characters from the outside, revelation only elicited through words, actions and the skill of the vast team that supports either medium. Good television is hard work and the artists that work in that medium have often worked in theatre as well. Both theatre and television require great amounts of skill and a great degree of sacrifice and hard work.

Eighty-Two; The first prize winner is a tender look at an ex-ball player in his eighties living by himself in New York. Guilford Blake is a master craftsman in the dramatic medium. Evan has won 39 play writing competitions.

Imperfectly Frank is Seth Freeman's Bollywood trip through Toronto. A very funny look at arranged marriages in modern Canada. Seth has won three Prime Time Emmy awards and a Writer's Guild award. He is also a prolific playwright.

The third place winner Close Your Eyes by James Harmon Brown is a very funny, very insightful, very touching look at mortality. James won a Daytime Emmy for Guiding Light.

The thing that unites these three American writers is their skill with words and they have won numerous awards over the years because of that skill. 

To find out more information please go to Bottle Tree Productions One Act Competition for Writers

Finalists for Bottle Tree Productions One Act Competition for Writers 2012.

Bottle Tree Productions is pleased to announce its announce its 12 finalists for the 2012 playwriting competition. Next week, we will announce the first, second and third place winners.

Last year we decided to announce a larger list than we had previously, at least a top ten list of finalists because so many good plays that were submitted did not get the recognition that they deserved. All of these plays are worthy of being winners-so this is our way of acknowledging the great writing out there. Keep it up guys.

Surprised by Snails by Charlie Richards
Close your Eyes by James Harmon Brown
Welcome Home by Geoffrey Craig
Box O Thoughts by Le Ann Dowd
Eighty-Two by Evan Guilford-Blake
Imperfectly Frank by Seth Freeman
A Nice Girl by Dave Pescod
Stalled by Eugenie Carabatsos
Out of Water by Anthony MacMahon
Everywhere I go People are Smiling by Greg Gasawski
Collaboration by Leigh Hunt
Catwalk by Angela Wye