As the Camille Playhouse prepares to open its 59th season, the beloved Brownsville theater has come full circle, rebounding from the pandemic’s darkest days to fully open for its first full season since 2019.
Pippin leads off this year’s lineup with shows on successive weekends Sept. 16-18 and 23-25.
The circus-inspired show features an acrobatic troupe of performers, led by the charismatic Leading Player, who tell the story of Pippin, a young prince who longs to find passion and adventure in his life.
“All of this is happening in a circus, under a tent, the Leading Player is in control of the show and commands the cast as well as the audience participation,” executive artistic director Brandon Binder said
“There’s a lot of connection with that and the show is full of singing and tricks and stunts and acrobatics. Everything is tied to that circus while following the life of Pippin.”
San Benito resident Kike Diaz, a music student at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, plays Pippin.
Brownsville native Ayleen Perez, a Rivera Early College High School graduate who just moved back down after studying musical theater at Michigan State University, portrays the Leading Player.
“That is an incredible role,” Binder said. “It starts off very jovial, very fun, and then she becomes more demanding as the show happens. It’s a really fun, fun arc that she’s been happy to do.”
The Camille production of Pippin, which had its debut on Broadway in 1972, has eight principal characters. Its ensemble, those eight plus 13 other cast, numbers 21.
“So the rest of them make up the players, they are the ensemble, the continuation of the story behind the eight main players, and I want to shout them out first because they are the ones that are doing the stunts and the dancing and the acrobatics,” Binder said.
The eight include:
>> King Charlemagne, played by Bobby Torres, who was one of last season’s volunteer directors and directed the first two shows.
>> Queen Fastrada, played by Karen Goldschmidt , who is from here and had never done theater before last season. “She came in and did three of our shows and she helped backstage and has fallen in love with it, both her and her daughter,” Binder said.
>> Pippin’s stepbrother, who is played by Freddy Avilez, a Brownsville native and new to the Camille.
>> Nancy Rodriguez plays the grandmother, has been a staple of the Camille for a couple years and is back after taking some time off.
>> Her love interest is played by Natalia Garza. “She’s been here at Camille probably as long as I have We both grew up doing young show together. She has now moved back to Brownsville and she was featured a lot last season,” Binder said.
>> Last is the character Theo, who is played by Helen Cano, the youngest cast member. “She is 13 but an incredible dancer, an incredible tumbler and she plays the young child in the show.”
Binder also credited his creative team, who he said is critical to the show.
They include music director Isaac Mancias, a university student and “an incredible pianist who is helping us put all the music together.” Also:
>> Isabella Barrios, a Brownsville native who does everything from pageants to quincaeneras and modeling, and is the choreographer. She is teaching all of the dancing.
>> Souther Recio, “who is my costume designer Being in a circus, we don’t exactly have all of that stuff ready in our costume locker, so she is helping create and find new pieces for that theme,” Binder said.
>> “And then Aaron Bravo is my stage manager … the team of us, that’s five. We’re the ones who are keeping everything together,” he said.
In May, the Camille named Binder as its executive artistic director. Lisa Esteve, board vice president, said his selection followed a nationwide talent search.
“In the end it came down to the person who is talented and is right here in our backyard.” she said.
Binder has been involved with the Camille since 2008, when he was cast in the main stage production of Bye, Bye Birdie” while still in high school.
“When the pandemic hit we were actually preparing to do Pippin that March and we were in the second or third week of rehearsals for Pippin and then the shutdown happened, so it’s actually very serendipitous that now, this full season where we’re actually back and established, we’re going to reopen with Pippin, where we kind of left off … And actually I was going to be part of that Pippin in 2020 and then everything stopped and now here we are,” he said.
Tickets are available at the box office or online.
Camille board member David Salinas said the theater has been resilient.
“During the shortened season during the pandemic we refused to die. We had cabarets from home, had online performances and that’s what gave us the umph and showed the community, you know what? Look at what they’re doing. A lot of theaters kind of folded. We didn’t,” he said.
The Camille’s 59th season consists of seven shows. After Pippin is Luis Alfaro’s Mojada, a bilingual production about crossing the U.S. Mexico border.
It is scheduled Oct. 21-30 during Hispanic Heritage Month. The Sound of Music is Dec. 9-18, Spider’s Web Jan. 27-Feb. 5, 2023, Songs for the New World March 3-12, Shakespeare’s As you Like It on April 7-16, and Dorothy Meets Alice in a comical mashup of the Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland on May 12-21.
