editorials.png

Our Opinion: Put a paddlewheel boat on Harveys Lake, and bring other leisure-time activities to Luzerne County

letter-to-editor-opinion.png

Letter to the Editor: Public deserving of facts on fatal incident involving Luzerne County prison elevator

<p>BLOOMSBURG &#8212; Frank Murphy is under a table when he accidentally jabs himself with the screwdriver he was using to scrape chewing gum. Ouch. Now he&#8217;s bleeding.</p><p>&#8220;This is my boss,&#8221; a character named Shake tells the audience at the Alvina Krause Theatre. &#8220;You&#8217;re probably seeing him at his worst.&#8221;</p><p>But that little mishap is not the worst thing that will happen to Frank Murphy and a bunch of other people during the &#8220;Birthday Showdown at Penguin Pete&#8217;s Pizza Emporium.&#8221; Not by a long shot.</p><p>As the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble&#8217;s family-friendly summer show continues through Aug. 3 you&#8217;ll see Penguin Pete &#8212; actually, it&#8217;s Shake dressed as a penguin &#8212; pulling himself across the floor, exhausted, after a girl with a cattle prod has forced him to give numerous piggyback rides. A costume that forces him to waddle didn&#8217;t make the task any easier.</p><p>But, maybe another character, Jesse, has it worse, being tied to a chair and all.</p><p>Or maybe it&#8217;s worse for Natalie, compelled against her better judgment to keep refilling a punch glass.</p><p>Or maybe the chaotic situation at Penguin Pete&#8217;s &#8212; a business that, incidentally, is facing foreclosure &#8212; is worst of all for the four grown-ups who are trapped in the colorful ball pit in the corner.</p><p>&#8220;Grown-ups should be seen and not heard,&#8221; says Penelope, a young tyrant whose birthday party quickly morphs into a hostile takeover of a place once well known for &#8220;hot pizza, rockin&#8217; tunes and a lot of video games.&#8221;</p><p>Why would a little girl want to cause so much trouble? Shouldn&#8217;t she just be happy with pizza, a big bag of tokens, a doting mom, and the six friends who brought presents for her?</p><p>&#8220;She&#8217;s evil,&#8221; 9-year-old Irene Combs-Cannaday said, describing the character she plays. &#8220;And bratty. And snobby.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;In real life I usually try to be nice to people,&#8221; she said, admitting it&#8217;s fun to portray someone with a more devilish mindset.</p><p>&#8220;Her studious, sweet self melts away,&#8221; director Richie Cannaday said, describing how the young actor adapts to the role.</p><p>Ensemble member Cannaday wrote the play and is Irene&#8217;s real-life dad, but said he didn&#8217;t pen the script intending for her to have a leading role.</p><p>&#8220;She auditioned with everyone else,&#8221; he said. &#8220;If she had any kind of leg up, it might have been that she heard parts of the plot as bed-time stories.&#8221;</p><p>Cannaday has pleasant memories of eating pizza and playing arcade games when he was growing up and he arranged for the character Shake to express &#8220;the voice of nostalgia&#8221; for places like Penguin Pete&#8217;s.</p><p>Penelope, meanwhile, is the voice of a bully, used to getting her own way, not caring whom she alienates.</p><p>It&#8217;s fun to watch her get her comeuppance, and equally fun to watch the three figures in an animatronic band &#8212; a bear, a walrus, and of course, a penguin &#8212; play music and, when necessary, talk.</p><p>&#8220;They&#8217;re real animatronics,&#8221; Cannaday said, describing how ropes, rigging and a foot pedal worked by stage manager A&#8217;nie Kirchner make them move.</p><p>After a matinee earlier this week, some young audience members said they wouldn&#8217;t want to be friends with someone like Penelope.</p><p>&#8220;Too greedy,&#8221; 9-year-old Logan Monroe, of Hamburg, explained.</p><p>But his little group of six friends and cousins liked the performance so much they wanted cast members to autograph their programs.</p><p>&#8220;It was funny,&#8221; 7-year-old Maya Woodland, of Elysburg, said. &#8220;And a little scary.&#8221;</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_Birthday-Showdown-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Penelope, played by Irene Combs-Cannaday, right, is annoyed when she realizes Ben (Zach Schultz, center) and Marco (Jorge Gonzalez, at left) and Tristan (Andrew DiRienzo, far left) have come to Penguin Pete&#8217;s Pizza Emporium to celebrate a birthday party at the same time she has a party scheduled. But then, Penelope is easily annoyed. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_Birthday-Showdown-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Penelope, played by Irene Combs-Cannaday, right, is annoyed when she realizes Ben (Zach Schultz, center) and Marco (Jorge Gonzalez, at left) and Tristan (Andrew DiRienzo, far left) have come to Penguin Pete&#8217;s Pizza Emporium to celebrate a birthday party at the same time she has a party scheduled. But then, Penelope is easily annoyed. </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_Birthday-Showdown-2-1-.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Trouble-making Penelope (Irene Combs-Cannaday) gladly accepts a very unusual cupcake from her friend Brewster (Levi Fritz), but later she will play a mean trick on him in the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble play &#8216;Birthday Showdown at Penguin Pete&#8217;s Pizza Emporium.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_Birthday-Showdown-2-1-.jpg</photo1><caption1>Trouble-making Penelope (Irene Combs-Cannaday) gladly accepts a very unusual cupcake from her friend Brewster (Levi Fritz), but later she will play a mean trick on him in the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble play &#8216;Birthday Showdown at Penguin Pete&#8217;s Pizza Emporium.&#8217; </caption1><photoCredit1>Submitted photo </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_Birthday-Showdown-3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">No matter how badly Penelope (Irene Combs-Cannaday) behaves, the girl&#8217;s mother, Connie (Cassandra Pisieczko), can&#8217;t believe her daughter does anything wrong. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_Birthday-Showdown-3.jpg</photo2><caption2>No matter how badly Penelope (Irene Combs-Cannaday) behaves, the girl&#8217;s mother, Connie (Cassandra Pisieczko), can&#8217;t believe her daughter does anything wrong. </caption2><photoCredit2>Submitted photo </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>BTE stages family-friendly summer show</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>IF YOU GO</strong></p><p>What: </strong>&#8216;Birthday Showdown at Penguin Pete&#8217;s Pizza Emporium&#8217;</p><p><strong>Who:</strong> Presented by the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Alvina Krause Theatre, 226 Center St., Bloomsburg</p><p><strong>When:</strong> 7 p.m. July 29 and 30; 3 p.m. July 31; 1 p.m. Aug. 2 and 3</p><p><strong>Tickets:</strong> $5 to $14</p><p><strong>Info:</strong> 570-784-8181.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble’s ‘Penguin Pete’ continues through Aug. 3