Veteran Valley Performing Arts director, Larry Bottjen, has done it again with his newest
gem, The Spitfire Grill.

VPA patrons will most certainly remember VPA’s outstanding musical production of The
Beauty and the Beast. Also directed by Bottjen, it was a smash success with its vibrant
costumes, elaborate sets, and cast of thousands. While the Spitfire Grill is a musical,
the similarities between the two plays cease there. Featuring one...

WASILLA History shows Mat-Su Valley theater audiences enjoy a good English farce, and the
newest Valley Performing Arts’ (VPA) production that premiers at 8 p.m. today, “Run For Your
Wife,” will be no exception.

Written by Ray Cooney and directed for VPA’s stage by theater old-timer Grant Olson, “Run For
Your Wife” is the story of a London cab driver with two wives, two lives and a very precise
schedule...

WASILLA There’s stiff competition at the ceramic exhibit and the town’s drunken first lady is dead. The
local tramp is on the prowl and a homely pig farmer is her target. A sudden wedding of the town’s
hairdresser and her honest country man is underway and a bumpkin woman’s baby is about to be
delivered.
Just another day at the county fair.
Welcome to Mineola, a small town located somewhere...

As I took the forty minute drive to the Machetanz Theatre in Wasilla, over rain soaked roads, to see the Valley Performing Arts production of “Nunsense” on Saturday night one question kept going through my mind, “Is this going to be worth it?” The answer? You bet!

The play, written in the mid 80’s by Dan Goggin, is exactly the show the title promises, a silly music and gag...

WASILLA – There’s a reason Valley Performing Arts sold out 18 performances of its newest show, “Beauty and the Beast.”

It’s good. It’s really good.

“Beauty and the Beast” is a big, beautiful Disney production, replete with fantastic costumes, a wonderful set and a large cast. Forty-two people share the stage and another 10 are in the orchestra.
The story is a Disney classic, with heroine Belle,...

Twenty-nine local children participate in this production, with 10 adults thrown in. Normally, in performances with such a large percentage of children, the play can be lost in the sheer number of kids present. That, however, is not the case in this production.

Rather than relegate the more energetic members of the cast to minor roles, where they can be seen and not heard, Hanson masterfully captures their childish...

WASILLA -- "I want your fear."
Fear is currency in Valley Performing Arts' production of the classic horror tale "Dracula," which opened over the weekend. Be prepared for a spine-tingling performance filled with tormented spirits and a few surprises in this battle between the living and the undead.

Fear is only part of this legendary vampire tale, however. The Steven Dietz play closely follows Bram Stoker's timeless thriller,...

WASILLA -- Neil Simon's comedy "Barefoot in the Park" is a smart choice for opening the 31st season of Valley Performing Arts in Wasilla. Set in pre-2001 New York City at a time when negligent landlords and tension between newly- weds could be dominant concerns, the play elicits wistfulness, a nostalgia for less troubled times.

Simon's work comprises a nourishing chowder of a play. The base consists of equal...

No one does lightening-fast comedy like Shakespeare. "Much Ado About Nothing," filled with sharp, witty banter sliced with comedy and drama, is one of the Bard's best examples. Rod Mehrtens' production of "Much Ado" opened Friday at Machetanz Theatre in Wasilla, and it doesn't disappoint.

"Much Ado" is a romantic comedy about climbing the social ladder. On the way home from war, a prince, a count, the prince's...

Valley Performing Arts' production of Frederick Knott's "Wait Until Dark" at the Machetanz Theater in Wasilla kicks off the group's 30th season, and a booming, out-of-the-end-zone kick it is. A significant part of VPA's mission, "to enhance the cultural and intellectual spirit of the community," is realized in its interpretation of this frequently performed melodrama. A cold opening night with pockets of ice fog did nothing to deter a large...