Our First Musical--Coming in January 2014!!!

From the desk of Executive Director, Deedee Eldridge...

"While my theatre roots are in the Musical Theatre genre, it has been many years since I have directed one, and this is the first we will have produced at FreeFall Stage in our 11 year history. Why, you ask?  First, because there are just so very many good scripts of other genres we have wanted to produce, and stories not yet told or put on stage, that we have been focusing on them." 

                

Deedee's Musical Theatre days at the "Old Opera House Dinner Theare" at the Gold Rush Plaza in Auburn, circa 1970's

Why now?

"While we will always primarily focus on legitimate (an industry term meaning everything other than musicals) theatre, I felt it was time to honor my roots and produce a musical. Also, as a bonus incentive, so many actors we have worked with have requested we produce one!  

Why The Emerald City of Oz?

We didn't want to do any of the old stand-byes. Not that there is anything wrong with them, we just wanted to do something fresh. Having played Dorothy Gale as a teen, and knowing the love of all things L. Frank Baum by my grandfather, (who named my mother Dorothy)  I got one if his original copies of The Emerald City of Oz and decided to adapt it to the stage for the first time! 
With the musical talents of Laura Wardrip composing all of our songs, and our former student, Ashleigh Wardell, choreographing, we will be bringing this 6th book of Baum series to the stage in musical form. 



We hope you will follow our journey in the next 7 months, and join us at the premier in January, 2014!

~Deanne "Deedee" Farinha Eldridge

Looking Back On | Telling Twain

Join us as we say goodbye and look back on our 3rd Production of 2013, "Telling Twain", based on Mark Twain's Sketches Old and New as  adapted and compiled for the Stage by Deanne Farinha Eldridge with the stories being adapted for the stage by the Spring 2013 High-school Theatre Class...

These group of student actors acted out each of the short stories portrayed in "Telling Twain"

Deanne Farinha Eldridge filled in the spaces in between the stories with the interactions of Mark Twain (aka Samuel Clemens played by Stephen Watson) and his daughter Jean (played by Mia Comstock)

"My Watch"

Adapted for the Stage by "Deanne Farinha Eldridge"

"My First Literary Adventure"; Adapted for the Stage by Chad Eldridge
Pictured: Cheyenne Keim and Chad Eldridge

"About Barbers"; Adapted by Deanne Farinha Eldridge
Pictured: Chad Eldridge and Shaun Pierce

"Honored as Curiosity"; Adapted by Shaun Pierce
Pictured: Shaun Pierce and Stephen Watson

"The Story of the Good Little Boy"; Adapted by Madison Keim
Pictured: Cheyenne Keim, Chad Eldridge, and Shaun Pierce

"A Fine Old Man"; A Poem by Mark Twain

"Those Annual Bills"; A Poem by Mark Twain

"Answers to Correspondents"

Adapted by Deanne Farinha Eldridge

"Curing a Cold"; Adapted by Madison Keim

The production ended with some of Mark Twain's most famous quotes

The "Telling Twain" Cast