Intermezzo

Plays January 18, 21

Downtown Cultural Alliance Books Now Available from ACT I!

Member of the Month
Pat  Lyons

Pat Lyons backstage at the Palace Theatre during the run of "The Secret Garden" in which he played Captain Albert Lennox.

Pat is a financial consultant and a partner in the Vernon Research Group in Cedar Rapids.  He says his interest in theatre goes back to elementary school and that he had a great experience doing one acts at Tilford.  He was involved in speech and drama in high school here and started out as a Theatre major at UNI.  He did summer stock with the Old Creamery Theatre in 1980, appearing in "Showboat Follies and doing technical  work on "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"  He says that when Tom Johnson gave him a "B" he changed his major to Economics.

Later, Pat served on various boards, and as director of marketing for a large organization he made it a point to actively support the arts.  Prior to moving back to Vinton, Pat and his family lived in Springfield, Missouri.  While there, Pat served on the board of the Springfield Little Theatre.  There he worked with artistic director Mick Denniston, who local audiences may remember from the Old Creamery Theatre and Theatre Cedar Rapids.  While in Springfield, Pat sponsored a production of "The Odd Couple," guest directed by  the Creamery's Tom Johnson.  In giving a curtain speech thanking Pat as the production sponsor, Pat humorously recounted how that "B" grade from Tom had influenced his career path by dashing his hopes of being a professional actor!

Pat also recalls for us an experience stemming from his good friendship with Howard Blanning, who directed the very first ACT I shows.  Pat tells how in 1980 he and Howard borrowed a car from Lowell and Kathy Ripperdan, driving 2000 miles into the Dakotas in Wyoming, learning lots from Howard about theatre and sleep deprivation!

Pat adds, "I sincerely enjoy participating in live theatre, but I have never aspired to lead from the stage.  My greatest joy is to see the transformation that live theatre produces both onstage with the actors and on the faces of the audience.  The performing arts can have a profoundly positive impact on people’s lives – whether behind or in front of the proscenium.  My ambition and mission as the ACT I president is to create an environment that enriches the lives of as many in our community as possible through the experience of quality live theatre."

Pat's family includes his wife Sandy, their son Wesley (a second grader at West Early Childhood Center in Vinton) and kindergarten daughter Bailey.  Wesley has appeared in one ACT I production, "The Velveteen Rabbit."  We're still waiting for Bailey and Sandy to make their debuts.  Sandy had taught special education at Lincoln school in Vinton for several years, and this year has taken a job as a special education consultant with Grant Wood Area Education Agency, working with the Vinton- Shellsburg district as well as other Benton County schools.  (Editor's note:  Now that I work with both Pat and Sandy regularly, and since they have only one e-mail address between them, Pat and Sandy now find messages from me for each of them, with the subjects "This message is for Pat," and "This message is for Sandy.")  Pat's mother, Dorla Hilmer, now retired, was for many years a fixture at West Early Childhood Center, teaching first grade.  Dorla is a long time patron of ACT I.

ACT I thanks Pat sincerely for his commitment to ACT I and for the many ways he has helped our program, both onstage and off!

"My Fair Lady"
Now in Rehearsal

ACT I TRIVIA QUIZ

Musical Sources 

Last month's quiz looked at past ACT I shows which were based on novels or short stories.  This month we will look at the sources of some well known musicals. And, for a change of pace, our answers will not involve shows that ACT I has produced.

Often, popular musicals are based on other stage works that slip into obscurity once the musical version hits the stage.  As we prepare to perform "My Fair Lady" by Lerner and Lowe, we are reminded that this is not always the case.  "My Fair Lady" is based on "Pygmalion," a play by George Bernard Shaw that has remained popular and continues to be performed regularly.  Below are listed the stage pieces that provided the source material for five well known Broadway musicals.  These stage works, like "Pygmalion," have held their own in spite of the great musicals into which they have been adapted.  None of these shows have been performed by ACT I.  All but one of them are currently running on Broadway.  How many of them can you name?

1.  Of all the shows currently running on Broadway, this musical has been there longer than all but one, but its nine year run comes to a close at the end of this month.  The show is based on the ever popular opera "Madama Butterfly" by Puccini. (Which, in turn, is based on the now forgotten play "Madame Butterfly" by American playwright David Belasco.)

2.    Our second show, another smash hit enjoying a long run, is based on another Puccini work, arguably the most popular opera ever written, "La Boheme."

3.  Our third show opened on Broadway in 1948 and now currently is featured in a smash hit revival.  This musical is based on Shakespeare's play, "The Taming of the Shrew."

4.  The only one of our five shows not currently running on Broadway, this 1957 musical updates Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" to New York City with the action portrayed by warring street gangs.

5.  Although more removed from its original source material than the other four shows, this current smash hit musical finds its origins in Shakespeare's "Hamlet."

Submit answers to: act1ofBC@aol.com

or mail to ACT I of Benton County Trivia Quiz
Box 222, Vinton, Iowa  52349

REMEMBER:  You do not need to have all the answers in order to submit an entry!  

Answers to Last Month's Quiz

(Literary Sources)

Which plays previously produced by ACT I were based on novels or short stories written by the following authors?

The Next Meeting of the Board of ACT I of Benton County will be Sunday, February 11, 2001 at 6:00 PM in the ACT I Studio.
Visitors are always welcome.

Message from
the (Interim) Editor

I've been having a ball this month rehearsing our upcoming musical, "My Fair Lady."  And what a joy it is to be able to concentrate all my energy on an acting role and to leave the directing to Larry!  I was doing some counting and figured up that this is ACT I's twelfth musical.  Then I discovered a second statistic.  What does "My Fair Lady" lack that every other musical ACT I has ever produced has had?  The answer -- A children's cast!  Believe it or not, ACT I is producing a musical that doesn't have kids in it!  There are a few high school students in the adult chorus, but for the first time, we take the stage musically without a moppet element.  Large cast children's musicals have become our bread and butter at the box office, so this is definitely an experiment to watch.

However, an element of ACT I's children's theatre program shows a subtle yet definite influence on this production.  Local audiences can look forward to two very enjoyable performances by Brian Larkin as Alfred P. Doolittle and Rick Murphy as Colonel Pickering, two gentlemen I am having the pleasure of working with for the first time.  Brian and Rick are the latest in an every growing number of adult volunteers who became active with us AFTER their children did.  A partial list of families where one or both of the parents became involved in ACT I after their children include the Bookmeiers, the Karrs, the Hansons, the Vogls, the Coulters, the Noellers, the Longs, the Owens, both Horst families, and others.  Add to this now the Larkins (Brian actually debuted in "Charlotte's Web") and the Murphys.  For Rick and his son Aaron, being in a play together becomes a father/son activity that can be shared in spite of their busy schedules. This is one of the great things about community theatre and ACT I in particular -- not only does ACT I offer opportunities that are available to an entire family, but it also offers a chance to people like Brian and Rick to try something new and discover how their own talents can come alive in new situations.  The cast of our 1995 production of "The Sound of Music" boasted a 70 year age span between the youngest and oldest cast members and gave two different families the opportunity for children to appear in the same show with their grandparents.  What other activity is there that can offer something for so many different age groups and family members?  There truly is something for everyone here, and that is one of the many things that makes ACT I so special.

And if your kids have been involved in ACT I and you haven't, be warned.  We've got our eye one you!

                                      Steve Arnold
                                      SArnoldIA@aol.com
                           472-5308

That's Grease Paint for January, 2001!

To look back at previous online issues, visit our Grease Paint Archives page by clicking here!

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