Grease Paint Online - November / December, 2004

Originally scheduled as ACT I's next production of our anniversary season, Live at the Palace, a variety show to be presented at the Palace Theatre on December 3, 4, and 5, has been postponed until January 15 and 16. Palace Manager and Production Director Lu Karr, who was being assisted in the production by fellow Palace manager Jan McLeod, cited the recent illness of Jo Sainsbury, a former member of the Palace Trustees and an active theatre volunteer, and a long time friend of both and of ACT I as the reason. Jo, a retired teacher and administrator in the Vinton Shellsburg School District, is currently the president of the Vinton Shellsburg school board. Jo, who was stricken very suddenly last month, is now recovering in Cedar Rapids. All of ACT I wishes Jo the very best!

In the meantime, we look forward to the rescheduled event in January. Lu and Jan had plenty of entertaining acts lined up for the show, with plenty of old faces, some returning after a long absence, as well as new faces as well. The cast is on call for the new dates and we know the show will be wonderful when it hits the boards!

The auditions for our 25th anniversary production of You Can't Take It With You will be December 7th and 9th at 7PM at the ACT I Studio above Clingman Pharmacy. Callbacks (if required) will be at 7PM on December 14th. The show is directed by Pat Lyons and Nancy Geiken.

The show is a revival of the first production ever staged by ACT I, in April of 1980. Nancy Geiken was the assistant director for that production, 25 years ago. An added bonus is the fact that the fifth performance of the show's run will be ACT I's 400th performance.

For additional information about this production go to the Sound of Music show page of this website at www.act1.org/take.htm. For pictures and information from our original production, go to www.act1.org/can't.htm.

The von Trapp Children are caught in an informal pose backstage during
intermission of the final performance of the run.

The Sound of Music by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II concluded its successful run September 19. The show was a great success and proved to have the third largest audience of all past ACT I productions. (Last season's Annie keeps the record of most attended show with our 1995 production of The Sound of Music holding its own in second place.). Director of the production was Eric Upmeyer, along with choreographer Joan Cooling and Music Director Julie Canaday. Ed Cardwell was technical director and the pit orchestra was directed by Judy Trygstad. The show was sponsored by Farmers' Savings Bank and Trust, and by Expressions.

The alley beside the Palace Theatre was converted into an impromptu convent
on performance days as our nuns' chorus warmed up prior to performances.

Cast members relaxed following the final performance with a game of miniature golf
at a cast party held at the Vinton Skate Center.

For additional information about this production go to the Sound of Music show page of this website at www.act1.org/sound.htm. For pictures and information from our original production, go to www.act1.org/som.htm.

The ACT I Ticket information line and Palace Theatre Box Office number is 472-9957!
Keep this number handy for reservations for the rest of our 25th Anniversary Season!

Ten years ago this month ACT I presented the children's comedy The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson at the Old Creamery Theatre in Garrison. Production dates were November 11-20. The show was directed by Steve Arnold with Technical Director Mary Dee Phillips and Stage Manager Patti Upmeyer. The cast featured 36 children and 14 adults. Featured as the Herdman children, a family from the "wrong side of the tracks" who push their way into the Christmas Pageant at the Second Presbyterian Church, were Kevin Bookmeier and Sam Parker alternating as Ralph, Alana Obermeuller and Megan Hanneman alternating as Imogene, Josh and Kyle Brewer alternating as Ollie, Mandy Peterson and Kim Hanneman alternating as Gladys, Scott Barron as Claude, and Burns Mossman as LeRoy.

Ray Bookmeier and Patty Swift were featured as Mr. and Mrs. Bradley and as their children Dan LaGrange and Shawn Usher alternated as Charlie and Peggy Moen and Beckie Stravers alternated as Beth.

The Minister, Rev. Hopkins, was performed alternately by Rev. Clark Frederick, Dr. Dennis Morey, and Eric Upmeyer. A quintet of telephone gossips were masterfully portrayed by Becky Mossman in her final major role with ACT I, as well as Le Cox alternating with Nancy Beckman, Zoanne Frederick, Mary Phillips, and Rhonda Westergard.

The show was one of our best attended shows ever, playing three sell-out houses during our second weekend. The show was preceded by a Civil War presentation by Garrison historian Steve Meyer.

One of the most notable experiences of the production was the discovery of a break-in at the theatre as the cast arrived for a mid week rehearsal after the first week of the run. Several hundred dollars worth of equipment belonging to both ACT I and the Creamery was stolen; most of it was later recovered as the thieves were apprehended before the end of the run of the show.

For additional information about this production, including more pictures and a complete cast list, go to the Best Christmas Pageant Ever show page of this website at www.act1.org/pageant.htm.

This was the scene in mid October at the sheds where ACT I stores many of its set components. The storage facility was packed to the gills and plenty of it had to go, and did! A pile of items pulled from the two single garage size units was sorted and some of it was saved. Below, once again we have room to move as saved items are once again packed away. Thanks to all who helped!

The play selection committee for Season 2005 - 2006 will be formed soon by the board of directors. The board would like to have member input from members and patrons who have ideas about what shows they'd like to see in our 26th season! If you have any ideas as to what types of shows you would like to see performed or if you have any specific titles you would like the selection committee to consider, please contact a board member or e-mail us at ACTIofBC@aol.com and we will forward your ideas to the committee!

With our second production of The Sound of Music now committed to the annals of our history, this is a good time to honor the lady who played the piano for both our Sound of Music productions, Tilford Middle School seventh grade language arts teacher Judy Mitschelen, a frequent member of our pit band for musicals!

Judy has been with us since our fourth production, Deadwood Dick, in 1981 when she played the role of Piano Annie. She served on the prop crew for our next show, The Curious Savage, and she was house manager for Don't Drink the Water in 1983. After that Judy was on hiatus with us until 1995 for our first Sound of Music production. Next, Judy was the pianist for the "Sister Act" segment of our 1998 Variety Show, Be Our Guest. Following that, she was the pianist for our 2000 production of The Secret Garden. In 2001 she was pianist for our first Intermezzo recital and then for My Fair Lady. Later that year she was pianist for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and then for Intermezzo II. Finally, this fall, she returned for our revival of The Sound of Music.

Most recently, Judy has been on stage performing in the chorus for the Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, appearing in productions including Otello, The Marriage of Figaro, and the upcoming production of Carmen.

"I grew up with music in my genes: my maternal grandmother had been a traveling songleader for circuit ministers, my father's family had a lot of ministers and songleaders/composers as well. With two older brothers, father who sang bass, and a choir director mother, there was always "singin' around the piano" at home. By fourth grade I had become Mom's accompanist. It was about that time that I discovered accompanying as a "competitive sport." I had been asked to play for a wedding and the soloist chose "Because," the old standard that sprinkles the title word frequently throughout the piece. The soloist blanked out during the ceremony and asked me to pick it up at "because." We somehow landed on the same measure and an accompanist that looks at every piece as a personal challenge was born. I like the sport of proving to myself that I can "catch" any soloist, director, or ensemble no matter how many measures they skip or tempo changes they decide to throw me. Basically, though, my job is to make other people look good and that has carried over to my career choice. As a teacher, I try to be an accompanist: giving kids enough support to fly solo but always there in the wings to prop them up when necessary.

I accompanied so much for music classes and choirs throughout junior high and high school that somehow I got the idea that someone thought I couldn't sing and that it was safer to keep me on the bench. So I shoved music down my list of priorities and completed my BA at Anderson University in Indiana with majors in education and psychology. As secretary in the music department, however, I fielded all the incoming requests and managed to snag many of the most interesting music jobs for myself. By the time I left, I had also racked up enough course hours for a minor in piano. It was interesting to return this summer as president of a national church musicians organization to the campus where I had been too afraid to be a music major!

I started work as an upper elementary teacher in Vinton in 1976 and within a couple of years had moved to Garrison where the "artists' colony" idea was struggling to take hold. I talked my way into a piano bar job in the courtyard at the Old Creamery Theatre and enjoyed the social life of comp tickets and theater parties that came along with that job. Through those activities, I became acquainted with Howard Blanning and Steve Shaffer, ACT I's first directors, so I was involved with set and properties work on an informal basis early on. My first (name in print) production was one of my favorites. As Piano Annie in Deadwood Dick, I had the dual role of stage prop and pianist. It was a fun challenge to select the themes for the different characters in the melodrama and to "set the atmosphere" through the music.

I graduated from elementary teaching, after a sidetrip through gifted education, and have enjoyed teaching seventh grade language arts for 17 years now; music, however, continues to keep me almost as busy as teaching. In addition to working for various churches, I have accompanied high school musicals, first meeting several current ACT I members and supporters in the 1978 production of Dracula Baby. Church musician work led me to Cedar Rapids where I later became active as a charter member of Chorale Midwest and sang with Concert Chorale. A highlight of those experiences was traveling to Russia with 15 members of Chorale Midwest to sing with the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra. More recently I have limited Cedar Rapids rehearsals to singing with the Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre chorus and was happy to have time to return "home" to ACT I for The Sound of Music.

One final ACT I connection. Probably more than having been around the Creamery, it was Fred Banda, half of ACT I's first on stage kiss and the first minister I worked with in Vinton, who got me involved in ACT I. Fred also introduced me to the Association of Disciple Musicians. It was an honor to have Fred come back from Texas this summer and join me and the rest of the Disciple musicians as I presided at ADM's summer conference which was held at Anderson University. It's hard to decide which was best: spending time again with Fred and his wife, welcoming friends from all around the country to "my" place, or having my former dean of students and his wife (my college piano teacher) come to our closing concert.

Theater and music are certainly great ways to make friends that last a lifetime! Benton County residents are fortunate that the arts have been kept alive in our area and that we have so many opportunities to not only entertain but be enriched through these experiences."

View the past articles in our Member of the Month series! All previous Member of the Month features (beginning with September, 1998) have been archived and can be accessed in one convenient place. Older articles in this archive section have been updated to bring the members' accomplishments up-to-date! To visit the Member of the Month Archives, go to www.act1.org/mom.htm.

They're gone! They've slung their mud, their commercials are over, and the junk mail has stopped! Following are quotes from past ACT I shows that might very well tell the politicians what we think of them for clogging our airwaves and mailboxes for the past several weeks and months! Name the show from which each quote is taken!

4. "You are a sincere type of person but I must ask you not to use that kind of language ..."

5. "Well anyway, it looks like a Democrat!"

6. "He's the only Republican who didn't run for the nomination!"

1. Oscar Hammerstein II, lyricist for The Sound of Music, died in 1960, just a few months after the show premiered in New York. When the 1965 feature film of the play was made, several songs were dropped and two new ones were written. With his artistic partner gone, Richard Rodgers himself wrote the lyrics for the new music. One of the two songs written for the movie has been included in the current ACT I production, as it was last time around, replacing the song “An Ordinary Couple,” originally written for the stage version. Name the new song. "Something Good"

2. The setting for the play version of The Sound of Music is a fictional town in Austria, Nonnberg, named for the Benedictine Abbey where Maria von Trapp had been a nun. The actual city where the von Trapps lived was Salzburg. When the film version was made, Salzburg became the setting for the story once again, and the movie was filmed in and around this famous musical city, famous world-wide for its music festivals and as the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. But Salzburg has another claim to fame that has no relation to music. Name the basic natural resource which has been mined from the mountains of Salzburg since ancient times. Salt (Salzburg = City of Salt)

3. Dottie Anthony, featured in the September edition of Grease Paint as our Member of the Month, gave her final performances in an ACT I play as the Mother Abbess in our 1995 production. Three other long time ACT I members also gave their final performances during our 1995 production. Name them. Bob LaGrange, Keith Mossman, Becky Mossman

4. Name the only member of the cast of ACT I’s first production, You Can't Take it With You, who is in our current cast of The Sound of Music. Ron Baldwin

5. Name the director of two later major ACT I musicals who made his debut with us in our first production of this show. Larry Adams-Bowers

6. In real life the von Trapp’s escape from Austria was much less dramatic than that portrayed in the play and film. Rather than escaping over the mountains into Switzerland (an impossibility since the Swiss border is 200 miles from Salzburg) and without the added visual humor of a nun pulling a Mercedes distributor from her habit. Prompted by an invitation to sing for Hitler’s birthday, the family left in October of 1938 simply by driving across the border on the pretense of going on a mountain climbing vacation. The von Trapps went not to Switzerland as in the story, but into what country? Italy

The next meeting of the Board of ACT I of Benton County will be held soon. Check back to this box for the exact date.

Members and visitors are always welcome at board meetings!

Grease Paint would be remiss not to say something about a very important wedding that took place in November between two very special ACT I members, Kevin Bookmeier and Michelle Sturtz. Michelle, though she hasn't been on stage, has done many behind the scenes things and has frequently run our light booth. Kevin, despite his young age, holds the distinction of having worked on more ACT I shows and served in more capacities than any other volunteer in ACT I's history.

I have known Kevin since he was in second grade. I had him as a student my first year in Vinton, in the fall of 1988. And I directed the first ACT I show Kevin worked on. (Bridge to Terabithia.) I will not, however, take the credit for that first involvement.

In January of 1994, when Terabithia was being cast, we didn't have enough boys audition. (Can you imagine that happening NOW?) So I turned to then Lincoln music teacher Kathy Ripperdan. "Give me names of boys who can sing," I asked her. Kevin was on her short list. The rest is history.

During the dinner reception for Kevin and Michelle's wedding, my parents and I sat across from Kathy Ripperdan. We enjoyed reminiscing about Kevin's early ACT I experiences. I'm certainly glad he was on Kathy's list!

Congratulations, Kevin and Michelle, may your life together be long and happy. And thank you both for your many contributions to ACT I!

Answers to Our Last Quiz