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Sunday, May 17, 2009

Hurry! Hurry Hurry!

Run, do not walk' skip, do not crawl; hop, do not shuffle to the Cal Poly Spanos Theatre (the "old" original theatre nestled behind the large PAC) for the College of Liberal Arts and the Theatre and Dance Department's amazing presentation of "The Phantom Tollbooth."

Woa! The students did a extraordinary job, the whole cunningly done set was on stage with the audience snugged up onstage too, and wait until you get a gander at the costumes, designed by Thomas John Bernard with Kathy Dugan, the Costume Shop Manager, stitiching up everything. Not to mention Los Osos resident, Ron Roundy's whimsical car and puppets, all beautifully directed by Erma Stauffer.

I had missed reading this children (young people's) classic book in my misspent youth, but it's a quest tale of our bored young hero into an Ozian/Alice in Wonderland world filled with Lethargarians, Verb & Noun Sellers, the Spelling Bee, a fabulous orotound Humbug and Dr. Discord and the Decibelles, to learn a whole lot of critical lessons about time and courage and what's important in life besides being bored. It's magical, enchanting, funny, very wonderfully wrought, pure theatre magic.

It's playing today at 2 pm. (Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! can get tickets at the door) and also May 20, 21,22 at 7 pm. General Admission $14.00 Students and Seniors (kids?) $12.00. Seating on stage is limited so you can call 756-2787 to see about tickets. Or just get up and go. Parking in the huge PAC lot was free (we were told that if nobody's out collecting $ at the top of parking lot entrance, then it's free).

Don't miss this presentation. Take the kids, take a friend. You'll have a magical, fun time.

Posted by Churadogs at 6:16 AM

6 comments:

Shark Inlet said...

One quibble about the parking, Ann.

Parking is free sometimes on campus, but it is best to call in advance to find out when instead of just relying on the presence or absence of a parking attendant at the PAC lot ... a ticket can be far more expensive and time consuming than a phone call.

8:06 AM, May 17, 2009
Watershed Mark said...

This latest fundraising suggestion comes on the heels of other money-making ideas that included selling state-owned properties such as San Quentin State Prison and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

I can see it now, San Quentin Estates

2:32 PM, May 17, 2009
Churadogs said...

Inlet sez:"Parking is free sometimes on campus, but it is best to call in advance to find out when instead of just relying on the presence or absence of a parking attendant at the PAC lot ... a ticket can be far more expensive and time consuming than a phone call."

Thanks for the suggestion. The info regarding parking came from the nice folks at the PAC ticket office, so I hope they've got their info right. The student parking lots require student/staff stickers, but from what she said, if nobody's taking $ fro the performances, the PAC lot is free -- which made me wonder at the time why students wouldn't just go park there, unless they throw a chain across it during the weekdays when there's no performances at either the PAC or Spanos?

7:40 AM, May 18, 2009
Shark Inlet said...

Ann,

You got it exactly right. For some performances which are midweek (or worse, midweek and midday) there will likely not be someone collecting money at the entrance to the structure but one still might get a ticket.

8:54 AM, May 18, 2009
Churadogs said...

That's another question that popped into my head. That PAC parking structure was paid for by donations ? Public money? School money? If it sits empty day after day, why doesn't Cal Poly use it for campus parking? Put in a manned kiosk and charge a few bucks? One of the screwier set ups is you used to have to go get a day pass from one of the outlying kiosks, then wander all to hell and gone for some lot somewhere, bypassing this ginormous centrally located EMPTY parking structure. In short, parking on campus is what keeps me away for many events. It's too much of a hassle so I usually say, ta hell with it. Why not utlitize this HUGE structure in a coordinated way, make it clear there's paid parking available nearby in the PAC lot when gallery or lecture events are scheduled and being advertized (mid week, mid day, evenings when the PAC isn't lit) so people will have no trouble figuring out thre actually is a clear, easy place to park. What gives?

7:12 AM, May 19, 2009
Shark Inlet said...

Well Ann, the PAC lot is used for campus parking.

It is also rarely empty during the Mon-Fri 7-7 hours. Most days it is full by 10am.

To park there during the day one needs a permit (and there are self-serve kiosks inside the structure ... near the North-West elevator ... for such permits if one doesn't have a long-term parking permit ... it takes $1 bills and you'll need five of them).

You can also stop at the kiosk on Grand and buy a comparable permit during nearly any reasonable hour when a permit would be required and then park in the PAC structure.

The problem I tend to find is this ... the PAC structure tends to be full or nearly full by 9am most days. I would suggest the parking lot just East of the structure to be more likely to get a spot.

For many of the mid-day events, at least for those that the PAC puts on for local school kids anyways, they take some of the spots on the top deck of the structure and cordon them off for people who've bought permits specifically to attend that event.

HTH

7:42 AM, May 19, 2009

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