8-Track:

The Sounds of the 70’s

THE HUMAN RACE THEATRE COMPANY

Grab Your Boogie Shoes!

The Human Race Presents

A Unique Holiday Offering

So this is Christmas and what have you done?

Another year older, a new one just begun.

A very merry Christmas and a happy new year,

Let’s hope it’s a good one without any fear.

Happy Xmas (War Is Over) – John Lennon & Yoko Ono – December 6, 1971

Holiday fare at the theatres can often get stale and repetitive. I love a good Dickens’ tale or Nutcracker ballet like anyone else but wouldn’t it be a great to start a NEW holiday tradition, Recently, we’ve seen local production of fresher holiday fare including classics like Miracle on 34th Street and White Christmas (currently playing at La Comedia) to edgier offerings like Eight Reindeer Monlogues. Nationally, TWO new holiday musicals are making the rounds – a new musical adaptation of the classic holiday film A Christmas Story and on Broadway – a musical staging of the more recent film, Elf.

This holiday season, amid all of the standards, The Human Race Theatre Company is inviting you back to the age of bellbottoms, flower power, and draft dodging. Fifty of the greatest hits of the 70’s wrapped into one rock ‘n’ roll evening doesn’t seem like typical holiday fare but The Human Race is betting on 8-Track: The Sounds of the 70’s.

From the creator of the 60’s musical revue Beehive comes this all new retrospective that the Minneapolis Star Tribune has called “an infectious, joyous celebration.” The show is cleverly split into 8 “tracks” or themes like War and Peace and Disco that give the show a thematic tie to the decade it represents. Be prepared to hear classic songs from Donna Summer, Helen Reddy, KC & The Sunshine Band, The Carpenters, The Bee Gees among others.

The other thing you can be sure of is that these songs will be expertly executed. Under the direction of Human Race Resident Artist Scott Stoney, the cast of five include TWO locals-made-good including EBONY BLAKE and JJ TIEYMEYER – both Wright State graduates and both now New York based. Neither are strangers to the Loft. Blake was seen in Jitney and the workshop presentation of Nefertiti (Ms. Blake was last seen here in Dayton on the national tour of The Color Purple that played the Schuster Center). Tiemeyer has been seen in A Christmas Carol and Man of La Mancha with The Human Race. The cast is rounded out by JENNIFER WREN (Brigadoon at the Schubert) and JONATHAN BURKE (National Tour of Cats).

So go ahead and indulge in your “ghost of Christmases past” and dancing mice but don’t miss the holiday Disco party at the Loft.

Photos by Scott J. Kimmins

Tickets & Performance Information:

8-Track: The Sounds of the 70’s – December 2 through 22 at The Loft Theatre, 126 N. Main St.

Various performances days and times, visit www.humanracetheatre.org or Ticket Center Stage for ticket information.

Tickets also available by calling (937) 228-3630 or toll-free (888) 228-3630

Group tickets for holiday outings (or otherwise) at (937) 461-3823 x 3113

-DB

We encourage local theatre companies to submit calendar items HERE, and official press releases to [email protected]

Shane Anderson & David Brush work with locally based Encore Theater Company.Katherine Nelson, a senior theatre major at Cedarville University, serves as the Literary Intern for ETC. The local theater company recently moved into the new arts collective space in the Oregon Arts District, along with Zoot Theatre Co & Rhythm In Shoes. Encore Theater Company has a mission to help develop new works of musical theater, most recently Next Thing You Know and The Proof, two new musicals in development.