Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story (a shameless promotional plug) at The Georgetown Theater

(poster by Rich Simms)

My whole life revolved around theater and music even at a young age.  I strive to enrich my life and passion of theatrical work with authenticity, credibility, research, and professional quality to this day.  The values and skills I gained throughout my experience and professional life did not stop short in creating, maintaining, and providing support backstage, onstage, and in pre/post production aspects of this show - Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story..

From left to right: John Wallace (Bass), Benjamin Blaise (Buddy Holly/Guitar), & Raymond Johnson (Saxophone) in the Winter Dance Party - Clearlake concert scene.  (Picture by Elaine Funk)

Ritchie Valens played by Justin Wright (picture by Elaine Funk)

JP "The Big Bopper" Richardson played by Mitch Fairchild (picture by Elaine Funk)

What people don't realize that it goes further and beyond all that you see on stage, in the moment, and in show.  Builders, promotions, publicity, press releases, advocacy, and commitment are the true themes in any kind of theater projects and product.  We are not only putting on a show for a packed audience to see nightly but rather we are MAINTAINING a complete show package from start to finish for over a 5 month time span. This requires passion, commitment, focus, and basically having some fun while we all do it.

Benjamin Blaise as Buddy Holly (left) & Annie Violette as Maria Elena (Buddy's wife) (picture by Elaine Funk)

Nathan Campbell on guitar in Clearlake concert scene (picture by Elaine Funk)

Come see what we ALL have been crafting in Georgetown, Texas.  Live music, attention to authenticity and detail of the time era we are re-creating on stage can be seen through aspects and detail to sound design, the lighting design, from Fender & Gretsch back line , instrumentation, musical direction, stage set design, video/projections, photography, period props, and nostalgic & even the period costuming of the musicians. Pair this all with a talented cast, committed backstage crew, and a production team that carries a vision of what the music, essence, and all-things Buddy Holly should be portrayed on a historical stage like the Springer Memorial Stage.  We genuinely we have ourselves a memorable show.

Jacqui Cross (left), John Wallace (center), and Benjamin Blaise (right) (picture by Elaine Funk)

Cody Wayne Eastman as Hipockets Duncan & Benjamin Blaise as Buddy Holly (picture by Elaine Funk)

Mary Katherine Kinney in the Clearlake concert scene (picture by Elaine Funk)

Watch us have some fun on stage and take you back to how influential Buddy Holly is to rock-n-roll and how the cast of Norman Petty (Sean Denton), Vi Petty (Mary Katherine Kinney), Maria Elena Santiago (Annie Violette), Hipockets Duncan (Cody Wayne Eastman), JP "The Big Bopper" Richardson (Mitch Fairchild), Ritchie Valens (Justin Wright), , Raymond Johnson (Austin saxophonist), Jacqui Cross, and Buddy Holly (Benjamin Blaise) with The Crickets (John Wallace, Nathan Campbell, and Paul Feinstein).

For tickets go here:  The Georgetown Palace Theater website
* UPDATE - WE ARE SOLD OUT! If you ain't got your tickets by now, then I feel bad for you. 


Show runs every Friday (7:30pm), Saturday (2:00pm & 7:30pm), and Sunday (2:00pm) until June 10th.  Thursday nights begin May 31st (7:30pm) at the Georgetown Palace Theater.

P.S.  I was asked to play the role of Peggy Sue. She gets married with the drummer (Paul Feinstein) of The Crickets.  Sadly, I said yes and here is the picture to prove it.

That's me (right) and Paul Feinstein (left) (picture by Elaine Funk)

P.S.S. I am NOT married -THIS IS A SHOW PICTURE that you can see during one of the scene / set transitions.