Have you ever wondered who is on the ACT I Board and what exactly it is that they do?  Well, wonder no more.  All seven members of our board are currently involved in our upcoming production of The Music Man.  (This is the first time in my memory that the entire board has been involved in one production at the same time.)  Board President Joan Cooling is the choreographer for the show, member Ed Cardwell is the show's Technical Director in charge of Set Construction; Treasurer Greg Walston, Vice President Kevin Ahrenholz, and member Alan Nebola are all in the cast, and new board member Mike Modrow is one of the assistant directors and the Stage Manager.  Rounding out the board is Sue Freet, newly elected Board Secretary and the other Assistant Director for The Music Man.  Unlike last year, when our Member of the Month feature was focused on members who were involved in ACT I's early years, for Season 26 we'll be looking at current members whose arrival within ACT I has been far more recent but who have become very involved in the operation of the organization.  And Sue seems a good place to start!  So this month we honor Sue Freet as our Member of the Month for July, 2005!

Although Sue Freet may not be someone all of our patrons may immediately know, those of us involved in production have come to rely on her expertise and dedication in all things theatrical.  Sue is currently serving as Assistant Director with us for the fourth time (including Life with Mother in 2000, Kiss Me, Kate! in 2002, and Noises Off in 2004) and she will also be our Assistant Director for Lend Me a Tenor in March.  She was appointed to a vacancy on our board earlier this year.

Sue has lived in Vinton since June of 1999 when she became the Human Resources Specialist for the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School in Vinton.  In that capacity she handles hiring of personnel not only for the local campus but for services provided to visually impaired individuals throughout the State of Iowa.  Sue is single and from the Waterloo area.  She is a graduate of Don Boscoe high school in Gilbertville (where she played Alma Hix in The Music Man) and has a B.A. in Speech Pathology and an M.A. in Elementary Education, both from U.N.I.  Her Mom is long time Black Hawk County Treasurer Barbara Freet.

Sue has been active in theatre from her school years on, and has remained active though different job changes.  She spent two years as a speech therapist on a Navajo Reservation and during that time was Assistant Director for The Marriage at the Red Mesa (Arizona) High School.  She then returned to the Waterloo area where she taught at a Cedar Falls preschool.  A summer job with an engineering firm led to a job offer in the Human Resources department a year later and she has remained in that field ever since.  Sue was also on the staff of the Waterloo Community Playhouse for six years, and was very active in that organization in a variety of productions.  She was a frequent Stage Manager for WCP productions (Dracula, Fiddler on the Roof, Sketches of a Family Portrait, Godspell, Johnny Blue - How Do You Do? and Charlotte's Web).  Sue also did crew work on costumes (Sound of Music, Noises Off, Witness for the Prosecution), makeup (Once Upon a Mattress), sound (Johnny Appleseed, A Christmas Carol, Tribute), lights (Snow White), and props (A Servant's Christmas, Barnum).  At WCP she appeared onstage in Oliver!, a show she also did in high school.

In addition to work at WCP, Sue was Stage Manager and did props for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf at Theatre Cedar Rapids and she had a stint as Drama Director at Marion High School, where she staged Snoopy, South Pacific, Grease, Cinderella, and Bye Bye Birdie.

In addition to theatre, Sue enjoys quilting, cooking, scrapbooking, traveling, and spoiling her nieces and nephews.  She is also active on "Team Communicate" at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Vinton.  She was also involved with the Cedar Rapids Jaycees while living there and was on that organization's board of directors.

Sue's organizational skills are readily apparent to any ACT I member who has done a show with her and her importance to the success of the shows with which she has been involved.  Sue says of ACT I:  "Benton County is so lucky to have a theater of this quality locally.  I've seen some really good shows at ACT I and some extremely talented actors and actresses."

ACT I is very fortunate to have Sue's talents available to us and to have her involvement in the organization expand.  We look forward to her continued involvement with us!