Grease Paint Online; February, 2003

An absolutely enchanting family production comes to the Palace Theatre this weekend and next, the second installment in ACT I's Main Stage Series for Season 2002 - 2003, A Cast of Outcasts. The much loved children's story by Kenneth Grahame, The Reluctant Dragon, opens this Friday, February 21 in a musical adaptation by Steven Anderson, Dana Rowe, and John Dempsey. This gently whimsical retelling of the legend of Saint George and the Dragon features an equally whimsical musical score in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan, which is both entertaining and sophisticated. The music is meticulously prepared and skillfully executed by a production company that includes no less than six music teachers, giving the small choral ensemble one of the best sounds ever achieved in an ACT I musical production. A story that truly fits this season's "outcast" theme, The Reluctant Dragon tells the story of a friendship between a boy who reads too much and a dragon that is anything but "dragony." The fire breathing dragon, an outcast from the human community, wants to live a quiet, peaceful life. But the nearby villagers, fearful of the imagined dangers the dragon will cause them, send for the famous dragon slayer, Saint George, who promises to rid them of the dreaded beast. Only a young boy, who has befriended the outcast dragon, realizes the true gentle nature of the gentle creature.

Befitting the whimsical nature of the piece, the company has created a very simple set which portrays both a small town and the dragon's den. The musical accompaniment is provided on the piano by WHS band instructor Laura Zamzow. WHS Vocal music instructor Rob Glass plays the role of the Boy. Saint George is portrayed by Gerald Horst, and the voice of the Dragon is portrayed by Pat Lyons. The dragon is performed (and sung) by a quartet consisting of Pat Lyons, David Canaday, Nancy Geiken, and Lois Martin. David Canaday appears with ACT I for the first time.

Rounding out the ten member singing/acting ensemble are ACT I veterans Brian Larkin, Marcy Horst, and newcomers Julie Canaday and Sheila Monson. Running about an hour and a half in length, The Reluctant Dragon is performed without an intermission. The production is directed by Marcy and Gerald Horst.

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.

The ACT I Ticket information line and Palace Theatre Box Office number is 472-9957. Call now for reservations for The Reluctant Dragon!

Our production of The Reluctant Dragon that opens this week features a young man in a leading role that has recently become one of our most active regular members. Rob Glass, now in his second year as vocal music instructor for Washington High School in Vinton, has in the past year been regularly involved in several ACT I productions, and for this issue of Grease Paint we feature him as ACT I's Member of the Month.

Originally from Fairfield, Rob is a 2001 graduate of Wartburg College in Waverly, where he studied with David Katz, who appeared with ACT I in 2000 as Dr. Craven in The Secret Garden. At Wartburg, Rob sang with every vocal ensemble possible and played the role of Gad in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. During his college years he also traveled to Europe and Australia twice.

While a student at Fairfield High School, Rob appeared in Alladin, Anything Goes, and played the title role in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. For the Fairfield Community Theatre, he appeared in The Wizard of Oz and The Music Man.

Since coming to Vinton, Rob has been very busy with his teaching responsibilities. He directs concert choir, DanSingCorps Show Choir, chamber choir. He has also served as music director for two WHS musicals, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown last year and this season's Guys and Dolls. Rob says he’s really enjoying himself as a member of the WHS faculty.

ACT I patrons will get a chance to see Rob Glass (right) as the Boy in our upcoming musical The Reluctant Dragon. Rob is pictured with Gerald Horst who plays St. George in the production at the Palace this weekend and next.

After enjoying several ACT I shows as a patron, Rob decided to get into the "ACT," so to speak, and auditioned for a role in last year's season finale, It Runs in the Family. In that production, he was cast in the role of Police Sergeant Connolly, whose misadventures with a selzer bottle provided some uproarious comic moments. Next up for Rob was the assignment of music director for this season's musical Kiss Me, Kate. Following that, he appeared in our Christmas production, Intermezzo III, Silent Night, in which he was featured in several solo and ensemble numbers.

Rob Glass as Seargent Connolly takes a direct hit from the seltzer bottle in last season's hit comedy It Runs in the Family at the Palace Theatre.

Soon after the Intermezzo recital, Rob took on his current role, the Boy in The Reluctant Dragon. Rob says of his involvement thus far in three major ACT I productions, “So far I’ve worked with three completely different groups of people, and all have been really fun and unique.”

We thank Rob for his talent and dedication to ACT I and wish for many more years with us, both as a teacher and an ACT I member!

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 have been updated to make the members' accomplishments current! To visit the Member of the Month Archives, go to www.act1.org/mom.htm.

In our adaptation of The Reluctant Dragon, we encounter one of literatures most common mythical beasts, the dragon. This month our trivia quiz focuses on other such mythical beasts portrayed or discussed in past ACT I productions!

1. The Reluctant Dragon is not the first play we’ve staged to feature a dragon. In which past production was a dragon also portrayed on stage?

2. Our summer, 2002 children’s theatre productions all featured what sort of creature?

3. In which play did a man see a unicorn, though unseen by either his wife or the audience?

4. In which production did we see a part human / part goat creature known as a faun?

5. In which past show was a Celtic mythological creature known as a “pooka” a central part of the action?

1. “Are you a real mother or a balloons up top mother?”
It Runs in the Family

2. “Do you know that when I was ten years old and I did something wrong, my mother used to hit me with a copy of Time magazine with my father’s picture on the cover.” Don't Drink the Water

5. "This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both."
A Christmas Carol

6. “Cold capon?? COLD CAPON??? For a sit down dinner? You think I’m some kind of BARBARIAN?” The Odd Couple, female version

8. “Well, I thought nothing of that, because when you’ve lived in a town as long as I have lived in this one, you get used to the fact that everybody knows your name.” Harvey

9. "He's four years old and he's double jointed, but he could probably scrunch up." The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

10. "All that money that people all over this country lose in Wall Street must go in somebody's pockets." Life with Mother

11. "With blackest moss the flowerpots were thickly crusted, one and all."
My Fair Lady

The next meeting of the Board of ACT I of Benton County will be Monday, February 24, 2002, at 8:30 at the Cooling Dance Studio.

Members and visitors are always welcome at board meetings!

Minutes of all 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.

Everyone knows how rushed and harried an ACT I production can be. We all know how as a show approaches production the stress of things unfinished can drive the members of a production company to insanity. But all I've ever heard about the rehearsal process for this one is "Everything is going very well." I've seen portions of some recent rehearsals, and I can tell you that this warm and gentle show is truly a must see. It is a delight to both the ear and the heart.

Answers to Last Month’s Quiz Great Lines from Past ACT I Shows

Answers to Last Month’s Quiz

Great Lines from Past ACT I Shows