Grease Paint Online; August, 2003

ACT I's delightful production of The Reluctant Dragon was revived for one final performance on August 15 as part of the August Live at Riverside Series.

In the cast were Brian Larkin, Julie Canaday, Sheila Monson, Marcy Horst, Rob Glass, Gerald Horst, Pat Lyons, David Canaday, Nancy Geiken, and Lois Martin. The accompanist was Laura Zamzow.

The Reluctant Dragon originally ran from February 21 to March 2 at the Palace, and was sponsored by Cedar River Ink.

For additional information about this production (including a full cast list and more pictures) go to the Reluctant Dragon page of this website at www.act1.org/dragon.htm.

ACT I's Main Stage Series for 2003 - 2004 opens September 11 with Annie, staged at the Palace Theatre. The production is sponsored by Farmers Savings Bank and Trust. The cast features Felicia Hertle as Annie and David Canaday as Oliver Warbucks, and is staged and choreographed by Joan Cooling. Below are photographs of the production in rehearsal.

Joan Cooling, left, serves as director and choreographer for Annie, and also appears here in the role of Lily St. Regis, seen with Shelly Haisman as Miss Hannigan and Alex Martinez-Vasquez as Rooster.

Above, members of the cast of Annie pose with employees of Farmers Savings Bank and Trust after performing a number from the show for the bank staff. Farmers Bank is the sponsor of our production.

Rehearsals for Annie had been going most of this summer, but they officially began with a kickoff picnic and read through held Saturday, July 19 at Riverside Park in Vinton. Between the picnic and the reading, cast members enjoyed several games of Hooverball. The timeline for Annie covers both the Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt presidential administrations, so the Hooverball game was a great way for the cast to get acclimated to the timeline of the play.

Annie Cast member Annette Williams displays the Hooverball, which is on loan from the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library in West Branch. Hooverball is a game very much like volleyball. Annette explained that the ball (also known as a medicine ball) weighs six pounds. President Hoover required a daily game of Hooverball for all his staff, held from 7:00 to 7:30 every morning on the White House grounds, rain or shine.

Cast members Alex Martinez-Vasquez (Rooster) and David Canaday (Oliver Warbucks)
respond exhuberantly as their team scores in the Hooverball game. Between, kneeling, is Eric Upmeyer, who plays the butler.

Annie will run for eight performances beginning Thursday, September 11. Seating will be restricted to the main floor of the Palace. The production is sponsored by Farmers Savings Bank and Trust. Production times are 7:00 PM for the Thursday through Saturday evening performances and 2:00 PM for the Sunday matinees.

Ed Cardwell is in charge of set construction, and lighting design is by Kevin Bookmeier.

For additional information about this production, including a full cast list and more photographs, go to the Annie page of this website at www.act1.org/annie.htm.

The ACT I Ticket information line and Palace Theatre Box Office number is 472-9957. Call soon for reservations for Annie, the opening production of this season's Main Stage Series, opening September 11 at the Palace Theatre!

ACT I's 81st production, opening our 24th season, was a smash hit with audiences as over 80 school aged performers took us on a tour through American History in the patriotic historical revue American Hysterical, written and directed by Marcy Horst and Mary Horst. Nearly 1000 ACT I patrons attended the six performances that ran July 11 - 20. The cast of over 80 student actors ranging from kindergarten through high school students was organized by Marcy and Mary, assisted by a score of other adult volunteers. During performances, the large cast was housed in three separate green room spaces, including the Cooling Dance Center as well as the community rooms of both the US Bank and Farmers Savings Bank and Trust.

In addition to the script and lyrics, six original musical numbers were written and arranged by Marcy's brother, Tom Jessen. The set pieces for the play were designed by Mary Horst and built by Allan and Bonnie Lueckenotto. Choreography was by Darci Fuelling, and the keyboard accompanists were Clare Horst, Annie Horst, and April Ahrenholz. Gerald Horst was technical director and the stage crew was Dave Horst, Alex Martinez-Vasquez, and Allen Lueckenotto.

Below are twelve in-performance photographs of this charming and very entertaining production!

Pilgrims and Indians at the first Thanksgiving sing the hymn "We Offer Thanksgiving."

In one of the most impressively performed segments of the show, high school
cast members of American Hysterical portrayed angry Boston colonists,
extolling the virtues of tea while berating King George III for the tea
tax in the song and dance number "Georgey, You've Gone too Far!" These
very talented students were a valuable component of the company, serving
as role models for younger, less experienced cast members.

Paul Revere and two Minutemen graciously turn their backs as a patriot woman
removes her petticoat so they can use its cloth to muffle the sound of their oars.

A sleeping Betsy Ross sees a circle of stars in a dream, giving
her the inspiration for the design of the first American flag.

Humor abounds in American Hysterical. Here, Lewis and Clark guides
Sacagawea and Charbonneau discover a fork in the river.

Inventors Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Morse, Alexander Graham Bell, and
Thomas Edison do a song and dance number praising Ruth Wakefield's tasty
invention, Toll House cookies.

A scene portraying the depression shows homeless persons gathering
around a radio for one of President Roosevelt's fireside chats.

Pint sized hoofer Corey Cooling and his partner Megan Horst brought down the
house as they danced up a storm in the 50's number "Rock Around the Clock."

Neil Armstrong plants the American flag on the moon. Note the ingenious spacesuits
dotted with bicycle reflectors, using upturned cutaway plastic wastebaskets as helmets.

In the visually thrilling finale to American Hysterical, the entire cast of over
80 young performers filled the Palace stage to create a living American flag.

For additional information about this production (including many more pictures and a full list of scenes and characters) go to the American Hysterical page of this website at www.act1.org/hysterical.htm.

At the organizational meeting of the ACT I board of directors held Sunday, August 3 at the ACT I Studio, Joan Cooling was elected president of the organization for Season 2003 - 2004 by her fellow board members. Marcy Horst was elected Vice President. The new secretary will be Alex Martinez-Vasquez and the treasurer for the new season will be Linda Radcliffe. The remaining three members of the ACT I Board for the current season are Ron Baldwin, Mary Horst, and David Canaday. Also at the August third meeting, the board authorized the purchase of a new air conditioner for the studio, set their regular meeting time for the third Sunday of each month at 7:00 PM at the studio, and made plans for our participation in the Firemen's Convention September 6. The board also voted to sponsor a performance by the Old Creamery Theatre Company of their recent Depot production, With All My Love, Bill for students at Washington High School in Vinton. The board met again on August 17 for further planning on our Firemen's Convention activities as well as to make plans for play selection for season 2004 - 2005. The board set the theme for next season as "ACT I, Take 2," in honor of what will be our 25th anniversary season.

On Saturday, September 6, for the Firemen's Convention being held in Vinton that weekend, ACT I will be operating a vending booth on the courthouse lawn throughout the day, starting at 8:00 AM. Our menu will include Firehouse Dogs, (hot dogs) Smothered Firehouse Dogs (chili dogs) Five Alarm Chili, Five Alarm Fritos, Flaming Chips, Hot Tamales, Hydrant H2O (bottled water) Fireman's Special Chili Dog, and Rookie Fireman's Special. There are also plans for a dunk tank.

Anyone available to volunteer their time to help ACT I make our food booth a success PLEASE contact Linda Radcliffe (472-4556) as many volunteers will be needed throughout the day!

As ACT I prepares to open its Main Stage Series for Season 2003 - 2004: Better Red than Dead with the musical Annie, we feature one of the featured performers from that production, Alan Nebola, as our Member of the Month for August. Alan plays the role of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and has been performing with ACT I since 2001.

Little did Alan Nebola know when a friend of his from work dared him to try out for a show, that he would get hooked. His friend, a Vinton resident, introduced him to Joan Cooling prior to My Fair Lady, Alan's first ACT I show. His first impressions were that "It was alot of work, but it was alot of fun." He has since declared that this was his favorite ACT I show in which he has particpated.

Alan originally began his acting career at a very early age, as a fifth grader when he played a ten year old brat named Albert in a play titled Tall Story, performed at Northwest Missouri State College in Maryville, Missouri. He was later in high school plays and was a member of the National Thespian Society. However, following high school, Alan put theatre on hold and didn't return to the stage again until his performances in My Fair Lady for ACT I just two years ago. Since then he has really been making up for lost time. Although his role in My Fair Lady was a small one, his next ACT I role was anything but small. In the fall of 2002, he played the central character of Pseudolous in Stephen Sondheim's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. A few months later he was back on the Palace stage again, this time in a totally different role, as Montague in Romeo and Juliet. He was back again for our very next production, our reader's theatre presentation of The Titanic Disaster Hearings in April of 2002. In the Fall of 2002, Alan returned for the role of Senator Harrison Howell in Kiss Me, Kate, and in October of 2002 he was in the performance ensemble of our Events Series presentation, Monster Medley Spooktacular. And now he's back for Annie.

Alan Nebola, left, as Pseudolus, elludes the Proteans during the climactic
finale of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

Alan grew up in Iowa, graduating from high school in Atlantic, Iowa. He was a submarine sailor (a Navy Nuke) for nine years in the Navy. He joined the navy in February of 1970, and was in nuke school for two years before being sent to Pascaglula, Mississippi to be part of the construction of the nuclear submarine U.S.S. Tunny (SSN 682). Alan explains that at that time all fast attacks were named for fish (tunny is a kind of tuna). Once the construction of the submarine was completed, Alan served on the crew as an operator in the engine room, operating the nuclear reactor. After his Navy career, he traveled around the country doing startup testing on new construction nuclear plants, but ended up doing consulting on projects for various nuclear plants around the country.

After the broad comedy of Forum, Alan tried his hand at
Shakespeare, playing Romeo's father in Romeo and Juliet.

Traveling turned out to be a very good thing for Alan, when he met his wife Angie at the American Airlines baggage claim in La Guardia Airport in 1979. That was on April Fool's Day. New York resident Alan, being no fool, traded addresses and phone numbers with Chicago resident Angie after 15 minutes. Angie has followed Alan all over the country during the 21 years that they have been married. Angie has a Physics degree, but works for a company that designs web sites, Overcoffee Productions. One of her work assignments is doing the website for Theatre Cedar Rapids. To date, Angie has appeared in one ACT I production, the reader's theatre performances of The Titanic Disaster Hearings. Her role was that of Cedar Rapids native and Titanic survivor Mahala Douglas. Angie is an excellent photographer and has taken photographs of many ACT I productions that appear on this website, including My Fair Lady, Forum, Romeo and Juliet, It Runs in the Family, and Kiss Me, Kate.

In our readers' theatre production of the Titanic Disaster Hearings,
Alan portrayed Arthur Rostron, captain of Titanic's rescue ship, Carpathia.
Playing a sea captain was a natural role for this U.S. Navy Veteran.

Prior to meeting Angie, Alan was living in Saratoga Springs, New York beginning in 1978. Following that, they lived in Chicago and California before they were married in January of 1982 in Las Vegas. (Following his service in the Navy, Alan worked in a variety of nuclear power plants, usually doing start up work for new plants.) Following their marriage, the couple lived in New Orleans, Louisiana; Burlington, Kansas; Pennsville, New Jersey; London, Arkansas; Berthid, Colorado; then back to Kansas before moving to Omaha, where they lived for ten years. During that time, he worked occasionally at the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Palo, commuting from Omaha. During 1994, Alan lived temporarily at the Hummel Apartments in Vinton while doing work at the Palo plant.

Alan, right, playing a Republican United States Senator in last fall's musical Kiss Me, Kate.
Now, for his latest role in Annie, he switches parties and is elevated to the presidency.

In 1997, the Nebolas moved to Atkins, Iowa with their two dogs when Alan started working full time at the nuclear plant in Palo. (Being a regular for ACT I keeps him in Vinton as much as he is in Atkins!) Besides being a regular performer, Alan has also served a year on the Board of Directors for ACT I.

It was in The Titanic Disaster Hearings that Angie Nebola made her ACT I
debut, playing Mahala Douglas of Cedar Rapids, one of the Titanic survivors.

Since Alan has played politicians twice, when asked about his political ambitions, he notes that perhaps he should run for Governor of California!

Alan says of his involvemt in ACT I: "The show must go on! ACT I has been kind of a family for us and we really enjoy it!" Might we add, Alan and Angie, that we really enjoy your involvement, too -- and we hope that you settle down now and stay with us for some time to come!

Member of the Month is our way of honoring the hundreds of past and present volunteers who have made ACT I the vital organization it is today. All previous Member of the Month features (beginning with September, 1998) have been archived and can be accessed in one convenient place. Older articles are being updated to make the members' accomplishments with ACT I current! To visit the Member of the Month Archives, go to www.act1.org/mom.htm.

Prior to the current season, ACT I has never portrayed a sitting president on stage before. (For that matter, no standing presidents either!) This season corrects that in a big way - our recent production of American Hysterical portrayed no less than four U. S. Presidents - Washington, Jefferon, Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt. Add to this our upcoming production of Annie - and you have ACT I producing two consecutive shows portraying President Franklin Roosevelt. (We assume that actors Dustin Martens and Alan Nebola will give ACT I patrons two distinctively different interpretations of FDR!)

Corey Cooling as Jackson Tranel as Matt Meyer as Dustin Martens as
George Washington Thomas Jefferson Abraham Lincoln Franklin Roosevelt

Despite the lack of presidential appearances for ACT I, there has been no lack of presidential references on our stage, and one past ACT I production did portray a future president at earlier time of his life. Name the past ACT I productions in which the following presidents were mentioned, pictured, insulted, or alluded to:

1. Ulysses S. Grant (1869 - 1877) Grant was portrayed, not as president, but as a Civil War general onstage in this show.

American Hysterical provided a child's eye view of American history with an original script by Marcy Horst and Mary Horst. Below are several other plays featuring events or characters from American history. Some have been produced by ACT I, others have not. How many can you name?

1. Like the piece written by Marcy and Mary, this play covers the complete history of America, but in a much more irreverent and humorous manner. It was seen last year at Theatre Cedar Rapids and can be seen in September at the Waterloo Community Playhouse.
The Complete History of America, Abridged

2. This Rodgers and Hammerstein musical about the American navy during World War II featured Mary Martin in its original Broadway run. South Pacific

3. This popular musical about the creation of the Declaration of Independence was performed outdoors last summer at the Brucemore Historic Site in Cedar Rapids. 1776

4. Taking place on the other side of the Atlantic about ten years after the play in question #3, this is the story of the man who "lost the colonies" and the insanity that overtook him.
The Madness of George III

5. Produced by ACT I as a readers theatre production, this Arthur Miller drama portrays one of the darkest incidents of American history. The Crucible

6. Produced by ACT I in 1995, this play portrays the incidents in the early life of Helen Keller. (Extra credit: Name Helen Keller's real life Vinton connection.) The Miracle Worker (Extra Credit: Helen Keller once spoke at the Palace Theatre in Vinton)

7. This intense drama is a fictional retelling of the Infamous Scopes Monkey Trial of 1924, portraying the confrontation of two giants of early 20th century thought, Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan. Inherit the Wind Inherit the Wind

8. Our American Cousin, an otherwise forgotten play, is itself a piece of American history because of the role it had in a very historic event. On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was shot while attending a performance of this play at Ford's Theatre in Washington

9. This ACT I production was a readers theatre adaptation of an actual congressional hearing. The Titanic Disaster Hearings

Congratulations to Jessica Rundlett, who answered all 9 questions correctly, and to Sue Freet, who answered eight out of nine questions correctly!

The next meeting of the Board of ACT I of Benton County will be Sunday September 28 at 7:00 at the ACT I Studio above Clingman Pharmacy. This is one of our quarterly Membership Meetings.

Members and visitors are always welcome at board meetings!

Minutes of meetings of the ACT I board from July, 2000 on can be accessed from a link on the "Everything You Need to Know About ACT I" page, or on the "Minutes" page of our website, www.act1.org/minutes.htm.

If you haven't gotten on your bike yet to ride the Old Creamery Nature Trail that runs from Vinton to Garrison to Dysart, then by all means do. It's well worth the effort. Thanks to the efforts of a committee that includes presently and formerly active ACT I members Bob LaGrange, Eric Upmeyer, Ron and Nancy Baldwin, and Lois Banse, the 15 mile trail is a Vinton biker's dream come true. No longer do I have to load the bike into the station wagon and drive for half an hour to reach the Cedar Valley Nature trail in order to have a safe trail experience. Two minutes from my driveway is the Old Creamery Nature Trail, and the ride is wonderful. I encourage everyone who enjoys biking to give this trail a try, and to thank those ACT I members for adding this wonderful asset to our community.

Unfortunately, if you ride as far as Garrison on the trail, there is a very sad site which will make any ACT I member who has been around at least seven years to pause and perhaps shed a tear. If you turn to your left at just the spot where the above picture of this trail was taken, you will see the remains of the trail's namesake, The Old Creamery Theatre -- the building and the company that brought ACT I into existence. For those of us who were lucky enough to attend plays there by the resident Equity company, and for those of us who had the opportunity to come to love the building as participants in ACT I productions there, the sight of the Creamery in its current state is one of profound sadness. Now, with the portions of the building that remain standing wide open to the elements, a bike ride to Garrison brings a flood of ACT I and Old Creamery memories. As we approach our 25th Anniversary season next year, it is important to look back and to look ahead at the same time.

In the picture above, taken at the rear of the building from the Old Creamery Nature Trail, we see the remains of the Brenton Stage and the shop beyond, and the upper level, which housed the prop room for the entire length of the building shown here. (I'll never forget the joys of exploring the prop room!) The Brenton Stage was the Creamery's studio theater, an auditorium of about 100 seats where the Creamery staged plays that were not necessarily to the taste of the general theatre going public. ACT I last used the Brenton Stage in 1994 for Twigs.

Like the Titanic, the Creamery is now broken into two sections. The kitchen section is completely gone and the remains of the restaurant have now been separated from the remainder of the former theatre. Little remains of the restaurant section, just three walls with rubble at their feet. The restaurant, which closed several years before the Creamery left Garrison, was the scene of many ACT I post show parties. In the picture below, taken from the front of the building looking into the courtyard, you can see how the building has been sliced in two. The courtyard was the Creamery's outdoor performance space, with the fire pit still in place, as though waiting for the next performance. ACT I members and Creamery patrons should remember with great fondness going into the courtyard at intermission from either the Brenton Stage (center) or the Festival Stage (left) to find a warm fire glowing in the firepit. Or you might remember the fire going steadily as the sun went down on one of the outdoor performances. I was at one of those performances on a summer night in 1996 for the closing night of one of those outdoor productions, which ended with all the actors in tears. There had not yet been a formal announcement, but everyone at that performance knew it wasn't just the closing of a show. It was the closing of the theatre.

The Old Creamery Theatre was used one last time, the following month, for the ACT I production of The Girls in 509. Now there are just the memories, and soon the building itself will be just a memory.

As ACT I's 25th anniversary approaches, remember that we was offerred this building for one dollar, but chose to follow another vision -- the vision that gave us the beautiful Palace Theatre. The Creamery also followed its new vision to Amana, where the company enjoys a beautiful theatre, also with its own outdoor performance courtyard, complete with a firepit -- and the studio theatre's Brenton Stage has been replaced with the excellent Depot Theatre, the rennovated Amana train station which seats about 100 people for excellent small scale theatre. No doubt, ACT I and the Creamery both have things a lot better than they used to. But the theatre in Garrison - that drafty, creaking structure with the leaky roof and the bad seats, still had a powerful emotional hold on everyone who had the privilege of setting foot onto its stages.

The building that brought ACT I to life won't be there for our 25th anniversary celebration next year, but the memories will. And as we ride out bikes on the Old Creamery Trail, we'll pause at the spot where ACT I began, but keep looking down the trail at the road ahead. We'll cherish our past and never forget it, but keep our eyes focused on the trail ahead.

Our next issue of Grease Paint Online will be out in less than two weeks and will be devoted to Annie, opening September 11 at our sparkling home venue.

Answers to Last Month�s Quiz