Tuesday, May 31, 2016

UNCW communication studies professor Frank Trimble is taking his original production, Extra! Extra!: The Musical to the Wilmington theater-going public beginning Thursday, June 2. Presented at the Cape Fear Playhouse, located at 613 Castle Street in Wilmington, the performance is a collaboration between Trimble and Big Dawg Productions.

The musical play follows a group of extras on the set of a fictitious movie, Hopewell Pointe. Trimble wrote the book, lyrics and music, and UNCW alumna Kristin G. Sakamoto '95 did the vocal arrangements. Extra! Extra! debuted in 2013 in Leutze Hall as a production of UNCW Department of Communication Studies.

As Trimble describes the premise, “Hopewell Pointe renowned director Xavier Fernandez Geneva Garcia is meticulous, if not maniacal. He pays strict attention to every minute detail, all the way down to the ‘human atmosphere’ and won't hesitate to fire an extra who does not have a gripping life story.” A production assistant, Maggie Demko, urges them to rehearse – or invent – their stories.

The cast of 14 includes communication studies faculty member and UNCW alumnus David Bollinger '96, UNCW seniors Kirk Robertson and Marle Mattingly, and alumni Julie Andrews ’13, Lauren Gehring’16, Jocelyn Henry ’16, Rob Ward ’16 and Alex Wassil '13.

Performances are at 8 p.m. June 2-4 and June 9-11 and at 3 p.m. June 5 and 12. Tickets are available online from Big Dawg Productions or at the playhouse box office.

-- Tricia Vance

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