ACT I of Benton County - Season 2006 - 2007: Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

Calamity James
by Jan McLean, Peter Hill, Neil Jackson, and Doug Williams

The Palace Theatre
July 26 - 30, 2006

Marcy Horst and Shirale Hanson, Directors
Shelia Monson, Music Director
Joan Cooling, Erin Horst, Clare Horst; Choreographers
April Ahrenholz, Accompanist

Sponsored by: John's Qwik Stop, The Kevin and April Ahrenholz Family, Louise Gilghrist Charitable Trust, Vinton Community Foundation, The Kirkland Trust

The ACT I season kicks off with ACT I Stage! One Summer Theatre Camp. After a three-day Orientation and Workshop Session, campers will be cast in Calamity James, A Rootin' Tootin' Fast Shootin' Western, written by Jan McLean, Peter Hill, Neil Jackson, and Doug Williams of Upstage Productions in Victoria, Australia. The script is set in the mythical American Wild West town of Fortune Gully, a town beset with bad guys who are making life miserable for the townsfolk. A hero is needed and, as if a dream has come true, Calamity James stumbles into town. He is unanimously elected sheriff and proceeds to unravel the mystery which surrounds the disappearance of Mister Fortune, the town's founder. In the final round-up everyone receives their just rewards.

110 in the Shade
By N. Richard Nash
Music by Harvey Schmidt
Lyrics by Tom Jones

The Palace Theatre
September 14 - 24, 2006

Jill g. Lockard-Bopp, Director
David Canaday, Music Director

Sponsored by: Farmers' Savings Bank and Trust

September 14-24 brings an ACT I musical to the Palace Stage. Based on N. Richard Nash's The Rainmaker, 110 In The Shade is the musical retelling of Lizzie, a self-deprecating, lonely woman and Starbuck, a man who sells dreams. 110 in the Shade is the story of a town suffering a ceaseless heat wave, a woman whose social life is suffering a similar drought, and the traveling con man who promises to do something about the former, but ends up addressing the latter. At the center of the production is Lizzie, the town spinster who doesn't want to become an old maid, but can't bring herself to be the girly girl who can get a man. A genuine portrait of a no-nonsense woman who won't lower herself to brainless flirtatiousness, but secretly longs for a married life of quiet domesticity. Starbuck, the traveling rainmaker. File, the sheriff with whom Lizzie wouldn't mind being fixed up.

Family Album

The Palace Theatre
November 18 - 19, 2006

Doug Martens and Michelle Bookmeier, Directors

Sponsored by: The Vinton Eagle

The Cemetery Club tells the story of three widows who meet once a month for tea before going to visit their husbands’ graves. Ida is sweet tempered and ready to begin a new life, Lucille is a feisty embodiment of the girl who just wants to have fun, and Doris is priggish and judgmental, particularly when Sam the butcher enters the scene. He meets the widows while visiting his wife's grave. The climax of the story comes when the three women stumble back from the wedding at 2 a.m. drunk and full of honesty.

Moon Over Buffalo
By Ken Ludwig

The Palace Theatre
May 11 - 20, 2007

David Canaday, Director

Sponsored by: Betterton Family Chiropractic, Matt Betterton

The season concludes with this backstage farce by the author of last season's Lend Me a Tenor! It tells the story of an acting couple on tour in Buffalo in 1953. This play brought Carol Burnett back to Broadway and also starred Philip Bosco as her often drunk husband and leading man. Fate has given these thespians one more shot at starring roles, but will Charlotte Hay appear or run off with their agent? Will George Hay be sober enough to emote? Hilarious misunderstandings pile on madcap misadventures, all of which are magnified by Charlotte's deaf mother who manages the theatre.

ACT I is currently seeking GEMS sponsorships for the 06/07 season. For more information, call 472-9957. http://www.act1.org/