Traverse City, MI
Sept 20
City
Opera
House
7PM
Upcoming Shows
Traverse City, MI
Sept 20
City
Opera
House
7PM
The 80-minute, 18-character show is performed by its authors, Betsy Bennett and Rick Compton.
Betsy Bennett
In venues between 150- and 300-seats, the show works best in extended runs of as many as eight performances a week. Most often, a single pianist accompanies, perhaps with two other musicians.
Assisted Living: The Musical®'s
About The Authors
Rick Compton and Betsy Bennett are Compton & Bennett. They have been writing and performing together since 1995, plowing the fertile fields of political and social satire in and around Naples, Florida.
Together, they have written and produced more than a dozen stage musicals.
Rick Compton
Rick leads the creative life since escaping from the corporate world in 1988.
During his fifteen-year career as a freelance magazine writer, Rick wrote features for glossy regional lifestyle magazines and won numerous state-level professional awards. An article he wrote for the national educational publication Dramatics Magazine on the uses of electronic music in live theatre was selected for inclusion in the Mandarin Knowledge Base.
For eight years, Rick was as a regular contributor to publisher CPAmerica’s newsletters. He wrote articles on issues pertinent to not-for-profit corporations.
An article he wrote on the condition of Florida’s tourist industry received a special commendation from the Florida State Legislature in 1994. That same year, he founded Via Colori® Street Painting Festivals which he franchised to fourteen cities around the country. It has raised more than $8 Million for a variety of social causes.
Rick authored the children’s book The Essential Street Painter (Simon and Schuster) and in 2010 appeared in New York on CBS’s The Morning Show to discuss it and the art of street painting.
Rick served on the boards of directors of eight not-for-profit corporations, two of which he founded.
He has toured in the United States and Japan as keyboardist for The Platters and has played in pit orchestras and served as music director for dozens of theatrical productions.
Rick’s earlier career includes a corporate period as General Manager of Private Label Products at ServiStar®Corporation, a billion dollar hardware wholesaler; a concert promoter; and general manager of Zachariah’s Red-Eye Saloon, an 850-seat venue in Ohio featuring national acts.
Rick lives with his wife Cher of 40+ years on ten-acres inland from Naples, Florida with three horses, two Corgis, and Larry the Peacock. Larry enjoys his own FaceBook page.
Rick is a Life Member of The Dramatists Guild.
Betsy Bennett
Betsy has theatre in her veins. At age ten, she was cast in her first show. It so captured her imagination, she began to write and produce shows in her basement. Five years later, after The Junior Theatre in her hometown Battle Creek, Michigan, she took her first professional acting job, in summer stock theatre. She was 15, and in high school at George School, a Quaker boarding school in Bucks County PA. It is the same prep school that years earlier had graduated a bright-eyed Stephen Sondheim.
The summer before her senior year, however, she was given the choice to take a make-up American History summer school class so she could return to George School or work as an unpaid apprentice at a non-equity theatre in Northern Michigan. She chose the latter.
At Kellogg Community College, she was immersed in the theatre program and wrote prose and poetry for Perhaps, the literary magazine there. Her last year at Kellogg, she was named “Theatre Student of the Year”.
Betsy left for Albion College's Theatre Program. There, she won a term in New York City as an intern at Playwrights Horizons under the leadership of Robert Moss and Andre Bishop.
After graduation from Albion, Betsy moved to Chicago and became active in that theatre community. She co-founded a short-lived professional company called Arcane Theatriks.
Betsy has performed in more than 90-different productions, from regional touring troupes such as The Acting Group to dinner theatre.
Some favorites include Abigail and later Elizabeth in The Crucible, First Witch in Macbeth and Mama Rose in Gypsy for which she received 30 consecutive standing ovations.
Betsy lives in Naples Florida with her son Jack, where she tries to grow vegetables on her lanai.
Betsy is a member of The Dramatists Guild.
Jeremy Franklin Goodman
Jeremy Franklin Goodman is a pianist, composer, conductor, music director, arranger, and orchestrator. He holds a M.M. in Film Scoring and a B.M. in Music Composition from New York University.
Jeremy was the music director and pianist for “ANNIE TURNS 40: Back to the Orphanage” filmed for CBS “Sunday Morning” starring original cast members Andrea McArdle, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Shelley Bruce.
As a pianist, Jeremy has played numerous musicals, revues, and cabaret acts, as well as his own works for chamber ensembles in Florida and New York City. His live Latin jazz big band CD is available on CD Baby and all the usual music sources.
Jeremy is the music director, arranger, and orchestrator for Ronald Kaehler’s “UNDER THE OVERTURE,” a new comedy for opera singers which premiered in October, 2019. He is a member of ASCAP, The American Federation of Musicians, and The American Composers Forum.
Nancy Price
Nancy is Compton & Bennett's publicist.
In her native Prescott, AZ, Nancy got her first experience in public relations. An essay she’d written for a high school assignment was used as a feature story by a local glass company. She found writing was a way of overcoming her extreme shyness.
Nancy studied communications at Wright State University, married and moved to Media, PA.
Nancy balances her professional life with volunteer work for The National Omniplegiac Association.