The director has been busy completing casting for “The Carol Burnette Show” at the Sampson Community Theatre. The cast is dedicated to push through the summer with an expanded schedule of rehearsals in spite of summer vacations, work schedules and other factors, which means the cast is committed to a heavy August schedule of rehearsals. Fortunately there are several weeks left before opening in late August so the cast will be in a more intense mode as the days dwindle down to a precious few.

The cast has a nice mixture of veterans and newcomers in this comedy which features the funniest skits from the TV show that was popular from 1967 to 1978, with a total of 278 episodes and winning 25 prime time Emmy Awards. Some of the stage veterans you can expect to see are Guy Padgett(“South Pacific”, “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”, “It’s A Wonderful Life”), Gary Wilso n(“Harvey”, “Annie”, “Greater Tuna”), Bruce Creech (“The Sound Of Music”, “Come Blow You Horn”, “Putnam County Spelling Bee”), Sue Winfrey(Never Too Late”, “Harvey”) and Jessica Watts (“Little Women”,”Doo Wop Wed Widing Hood”, “Beauty And The Beast”) .In future columns, newcomers to the cast will be introduced if we are able to get them off the stage long enough to interview them. There is still a need for backstage workers to help with scene and costume changes.

The annual Summer Drama Camp will be held Aug. 13-17 under the direction of Angela Martin. If you have a child or grandchild who would like to learn more about the inside-outs of acting contact Angela by e-mail at alm2sing@yahoo.com for an application which she will forward to you.

Upcoming events

• Annual Summer Drama Camp-Aug. 13-17. E-mail alm2sing@yahoo.com for an application. Only a few spaces remain.

•”The Carol Burnette Show”-Rehearsals ongoing. Productions Aug. 24, 25, 26, 31 and Sept 1 and 2. A Patron Sponsor event.

•”Nuncrackers”-Auditions Saturday Sept 1 at 10am. Performances Nov. 9-11 and 16-18. A Patron Sponsor event.

•”A Christmas Carol”-Auditions Oct 27. Performances Dec. 7-9 and 14-16. A Patron Sponsor event.

•Theater Rental-“The Elves And The Shoemaker” performed by the Sampson Little Players and directed by Lucy Lockamy on Aug. 3 at 7 p.m. and Aug. 4 at 2 p.m. NOT a Patron Sponsor event.

Thoughts until next week

• Poor results that are explainable are not always excusable.

• Gambling: The sure way of getting nothing for something.

• Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.