GetYourGoodNews/TristanTapscottOnStage

The One, The Only...
DANNY BOMAN

Danny Boman, currently appearing in JOSEPH at Circa '21, made a small
cameo in the Hilltop's OH BOY and will return to the Davenport venue to
choreograph RENT. He truly is one of a kind...

Full given name: Daniel David Boman (my dad hates that I go by Danny...
he claims that Daniel is the most beautiful name that he has ever come up
with.. claims it to be original... I am pretty sure that 80% of all male children
born in the early 80's were named Daniel)

Hometown: San Diego, Cali

Most recent credit: Benjamin in JOSEPH

Zodiac sign: Bull headed Taurus

Audition song: Scintillating Sophie from A Class Act

Special skills: hmmm... I am half Mexican... that's special

What was your first show in the QCA? JOSEPH

Last good show you saw in the QCA? Rock and Roll cabaret at Circa... it
rocked! I haven't really had the chance to see much... just the national tour
of Drowsy...

Favorite showtune: nothing gets my blood flowing more than Put On Your
Sunday Clothes from Hello Dolly... sometimes I believe myself to be an 80
year old woman trapped in a hunky 26 year old male body.

Last book you read: You Suck by Christopher Moore (a must read, really
any of his books)

Must-see TV show: The Marriage Ref

Last good movie you saw: not Valentines Day/Love Actually 2... Shutter
Island was a great movie

Favorite board game: Balderdash

Local performer you would drop everything to go see:Tristan Tapscott (not
joking)

Favorite Stage Actor/Actress: Roger Bart

Favorite Film Actor/Actress: Will Ferell

Pop culture guilty pleasure: I have a special place in my heart for Lindsay
Lohan.

First stage kiss: still haven't had one... Seeing that I am slightly jewish
looking and small and lanky I tend to be type cast as your lovable
nerd/sidekick who doesn't fall in love... does being kissed on the cheek as
Barnaby count?

Favorite pre-/post-show meal: Double Quarter pounder from McDonalds...
only after dance heavy shows.

Worst flubbed line/missed cue/onstage mishap: I played the Calypsan last
time I did JOSEPH in California... I began the song by singing the second
verse instead of the first... I told myself as it was happening (internally) that
everything was going to be ok... it was going to be a very easy fix... all I had
to do was sing the first verse after the the chorus was done... well the
moment came... I suddenly couldn't for the life of me figure out what the first
verse was then forgot the second verse! I covered it up masterfully (insert
sarcasm) by repeating over and over again, "BANANAS AND
COCONUTS"... the cast lost it.

Worst costume ever: I played a dancing fork in Beauty and the Beast and
was forced to wear a blue lycra unitard with a gold bicycle helmet with a
gigantic styrofoam fork glued on top of it. I have never felt more naked.

Favorite junk food: I love Twix

Worst job you ever had: I was a dancing hotdog outside of a west coast hot
dog fast food chain called Wienerschitzel.

Leading man role you've been dying to play: Seymour in Little Shop of
Horrors

Website?: www.DannyBoman.com

PREVIOUS COLUMN: The Basics On Baez

He's no relation to Joan, no relation to Joey Lawrence, but he does have
two great things in common with both: Talent (in the first case) and a
passion for acting (in the second.)

He's Joey Baez, and he's appearing in Circa '21's ``Holly Jolly Christmas.''
(For tickets to the holiday show, call (309) 786-7733, ext. 2.

Here's the goods on the up-and-coming star who's entertaining local
audiences:

Full given name: Joseph John Baez

Hometown: Born in Newark, NJ, Grew up in Mt. Holly, NJ

Most recent credit: Performance Theatre Director at Indian Head Camp,
before that "Telephone Installer/Ensemble/Choreographer" for GIGI at the
Palm Canyon Theatre, Palm Springs, CA

Zodiac sign: Leo

Audition song: "Goodbye Old Girl" from DAMN YANKEES

Special skills: Stage Combat; Stage Flying (Single and Double Pick);
Clowning; Full Body Costume Work; Choreography; Cartwheels; Bruise &
Scar Makeup; Puppeteering (Full Body/Rod); Improv; Sewing; Driving
Automatic; Clogging and Can burp on cue.

What was your first show in the QCA? WEST SIDE STORY as "Chino" at
Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse

Last good show you saw in the QCA? ROCKY HORROR SHOW at The
Harrison Hilltop Theatre

Favorite showtune: "Freak Flag" from SHREK THE MUSICAL

Last book you read: "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown

Must-see TV show: GLEE

Last good movie you saw: ALL ABOUT STEVE with Sandra Bullock

Favorite board game: Currently love "The Settlers of Catan"...Thanks Justin
D. for introducing me to the game!!!

Local performer you would drop everything to go see: I don't know many so I
would say ANYONE I KNOW!!

Favorite Stage Actor/Actress: Sutton Foster

Favorite Film Actor/Actress: Jamie Bell

Pop culture guilty pleasure: Showgirls...it is just one of those things...

First stage kiss: NEVER THE SINNER in Charlotte, NC...I was playing
"Nathan Leopold, Jr." and I had to be kissed, violently, by the guy playing
"Richard Leob"

Favorite pre-/post-show meal: Whatever I can get before the show/after the -
Hamburger or something greasy like that...usually a meat!!

Worst flubbed line/missed cue/onstage mishap: I was in the "Ensemble" of
BRIGADOON during High School and I had to do a quick change for a full
Scottish outfit (with kilt and all) into an all Black Outfit. So obviously, I
underdressed my white shirt so I can quick change back into the Scottish
outfit. Anyway, I had to be background in a bar scene what the curtains
where black, bar was black, everything was black. So I go onstage, the
leads do a song in front of me with the spot on them. The scene goes on
and I realize people in the audience laughing, actors are laughing and I am
like what is so funny. The scene was not funny. The scene ends, I go
backstage to change and find that my white shirt was sticking out of my
black pants through the zipper. I forgot to zip my pants up!!! To make it
worse, my dad was recording the show that night. A moment I can watch
whenever I want too!!

Worst costume ever: A skin tight black unitard that showed EVERYTHING.
Nothing could be hidden in this costume. EMBARRASSING!!!

Favorite junk food: Crackers topped with Strawberry Jam and Cheddar
Block Cheese

Worst job you ever had: Spending an entire summer as a Carpet Installer
Assistant...grrr.

Leading man role you've been dying to play: "Usnavi" in IN THE HEIGHTS,
"Pinocchio" in SHREK THE MUSICAL and "Angel" in RENT

Website?: www.myspace.com/josephjbaez

PREVIOUS COLUMN:
Welcome To On Stage With Tristan Tapscott

The year: 2004. It was a good time. This is when it all began.

It started with an e-mail. Of course. As all good things do...

It was from Sean Leary (the getyourgoodnews.com guy). A well respected theatre critic,
writer and arts columnist, Leary had been extremely kind to my career in the QCA. I had
contacted him about a script that he had been working on for a number of years. I was
looking to bring the Quad-Cities something they hadn't seen before: something edgy, fresh,
and you know, a good time. When I heard about his new show, a multimedia comedy
entitled Your Favorite Band, I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of. More than
that, I wanted to produce it.

This was a completely crazy notion at the time. I has just turned 20 and who in the hell
was going to take me seriously? Leary did. He sent me the script. I read it. We met for
coffee at Theo's and struck up a handshake deal to co-produce the show. Secured
Comedy Sportz as the venue. And we were off. Less than two months later we had
signed a director, cast the show, and filmed over a dozen short film segments with
Bluebox Limited that were interspersed throughout the show.

Less than six months later we found ourselves opening a brand new type of show in the
Quad-Cities. It was the first time multimedia had been used in such a way on the local
stage, with filmed segments interspersed with live action which took place throughout the
venue.

It was also a first in that it was the first time two complete neophytes had started up a
theater company and produced a show of that sort, totally funded out of their own
pockets. Most theater groups had been around for a long time or operated as
not-for-profits using grant money or had boards of theater veterans with degrees and
extensive resumes. We were a college student who wasn't old enough to drink and a
theater critic who hadn't done live stage since he wasn't old enough to drink.

If nothing else, we showed people that if two schmucks like us could do it, anyone could.

It was the beginning of era, really. From that day forward the theatre scene in the Quad
Cities was never the same. Over the time My Verona was in business and after,
countless other indie theater groups popped up. All of them in the My Verona mold. Just a
couple of people committed to doing quality shows and willing to put the time and money
and effort into making them happen.

This where it all began.

After the success of ``Your Favorite Band'' in 2004, over the following three years, the
group Sean and I formed - My Verona Productions - gave the Quad-Cities
critically-acclaimed productions of ``The Pillowman,'' (we were only the fifth theater in the
country to produce the Tony-nominated show), ``Santaland Diaries,'' ``Closer,''
``Tuesdays with Morrie'' and several other dynamic works. My Verona's final project was
the film version of their first production, ``Your Favorite Band.'' The film had an incredible
cast and crew and was shot in August 2007 and released in December of the same year.
Ironically, the film debuted in December 2007 in the coffee shop where it all began.

After that, My Verona went on hiatus. Sean and his wife were just a few months away
from welcoming their first child and with the long hours of theater production not being
conducive to spending a lot of time with an infant, Sean went on sabbatical to enjoy his
time as a new father.

After years of working with Sean and the who's who of the Quad Cities, I decided I
needed some time to figure out exactly what I wanted to do. I needed to know exactly
what my next step was going to be. I spent the next nine months working professionally
on tour, with the Q-Cs former Green Room Theatre and with Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse.
While I was thoroughly enjoying my time as an actor, I felt something was missing. It was
that surge of adrenaline that you get from working on the "other side of the table."

About six weeks into our three month run of Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story at Circa '21
Dinner Playhouse, I decided I needed something more. I posed an idea to Chris Walljasper
and the idea was this: producing a workshop of a brand new play by a respectable new
playwright. He loved this idea… and we went to work. He agreed to direct, I would
produce, and we found a terrific cast of familiar local performers. The show needed some
work and wasn't a perfect production but what we did was important. It gave a us a
spark. And thus the planning stages of what is now the Harrison Hilltop Theatre began.

Over the next several weeks, Chris and I developed a solid business plan, started looking
at shows we wanted to produce, and more importantly, began looking for a permanent
space. Though that decision was met with much frustration and angst from certain
members of the theatre community, we knew it was the most important step we could
take. We wanted to bring the intimate, Chicago-style storefront theatre to the Quad Cities.
If we were to be able to grow and produce the quantity of material we wanted, we
needed our own space. Sharing a space with five other groups was not appealing to us.
After meeting with several real estate agents and looking at countless storefronts in
Davenport, we finally found what would become the Harrison Hilltop Theatre.

Located on the corner of 16th Street and Harrison Street, the former bank building seemed
to be the right place and the right time. It was a rather unique building that had that IT factor
we were looking for. We could see the potential from day one. It had a very charming
architecture and though the inside was a bit of a disaster, we knew we could make it
something. And we did. Though we had to mount our first production ``Proof'' in the former
Green Room Theatre in Rock Island, we had the Harrison Hilltop Theatre ready for
``Almost, Maine'' in July. With help from friends, family, and cast members, the space was
ready to roll around 6;45 p.m. on opening night, July 17th, 2008. It was official; the
Harrison Hilltop Theatre was off and running.

By the time we celebrated our first anniversary on July 16 with the opening of our first
musical (Jonathan Larson's ``Tick, Tick… BOOM!''), we had produced 14 full-scale
productions, ranging from the minimalist Pulitzer finalist ``Thom Pain'' to the sprawling
classic ``A Streetcar Named Desire.'' Each production had its own twist, its own feel. Our
intimate space with a beautiful built-in second story allowed to do some very exciting
productions in some very intriguing ways. Thus our "tagline" was born: classic ideas, a
new vision. We are proud that we have been able to give the Quad-Cities a variety of
productions and be, as Mike Schulz said, "eclectic to the point of frenzy." This fall marked
an important milestone when we mounted Richard O'Brien's ``The Rocky Horror Show
Live'' for the first time in Q-C history. We will again make an important mark in the
Quad-Cities when we bring Jonathan Larson's ``RENT'' to Davenport in 2010. We are not
interested in doing the same old thing. We don't want to get into a pattern. We want to do
the material we want to do when we to do it. Dubbed the most "prolific theatre in the
Quad-Cities" by David Burke at the Quad City Times, the Harrison Hilltop Theatre has
become a very important theatre in the area.

As we continue to grow (and grow rapidly), we promise to bring the most talented artists
in the Quad-Cities and combine them with some of the talented working professionals in
the nation to produce some of the best theatre in the area. With a staff of four and
countless volunteers, the Hilltop is determined to be more than a blip on the radar; we will
be one of the most exciting attractions in the Quad-Cities.

The arts scene is an impressive and important part of the Quad Cities. Please support all of
the local art galleries (The ARTery, Quad City Arts, MidCoast, etc.) and the local theatres -
the big dogs Circa '21 Quad City Music Guild, Playcrafters, etc. and the small groups - The
Curtainbox, Prenzie Players, etc. We make up this beautiful mecca and we need to support
everyone.

That's why I am here. Each week I will showcase a different arts organization in the
Quad-Cities. Whether it be highlighting the company's history, its actors, or their current
show, I will be sure to give some love to all the groups in the area! I love this area and am
very excited to see where we can go from here!

The Quad Cities? It's a good time.

www.harrisonhilltop.com

copyright 2009 Tristan Tapscott / Publishing Rights: GetYourGoodNews.Com