Grease Paint Online - January, 2005

ACT I opens its Events Series for Season 2004 - 2005: ACT I Take II, with Live at the

Palace, a variety show presented at the Palace Theatre on January 15 and 16, 2005. The production is part of our 25th Anniversary celebration, and also serves to observe the fifth anniversary of the reopening of the Palace Theatre as a public Cinema and ACT I's resident venue. The Palace, which opened in November of 1999, was first used by ACT I December 3, 4, and 5 of that year for another variety show I'll Be Home for Christmas. The current production is directed by Lu Karr, with Kevin Bookmeier as Technical Director. A wide range of acts, from vocalists to dance to comedy to instrumental soloists including trombone and classical guitar, highlight the varied cast of all ages. The program includes several new faces as well as return engagements from old friends long absent from our stage. Serving as emcees of the show are long time ACT I and Palace Theatre volunteer Dorothy Albert and her grandson, Blake Hansen. Dorothy, who was a very active fundraiser during the Palace project, has also appeared in numerous productions throughout the better part of ACT I's twenty-five year history. Blake, also a veteran of several ACT I productions, will be most remembered to date for his role as Jay Kurnitz in Lost in Yonkers.

Appearing on the bill for Live at the Palace will be solo vocalists Kevin Bookmeier, Doug Martens, Dave Gates, Gina Lahue, Jill Lockard-Bopp, Abby Larkin; vocal duets by Carolyn and Julie Corken, Mark and Katie Hancock, Erin and Clare Horst, and Jill and Tony Bopp, a vocal ensemble consisting of the Owens, Huber, and Martin girls; a mime by Mandy Peterson; trombonist David Canaday; classical guitarist Ray Knoff; comedy sketches by Kurt Karr and Doug Martens, and Brenda Hackbarth and Professor Simon Feston-Fagel; and a performance by the vocal/dance group Beautiful Dudes and the Dead Flower. Pianist Tess Noeller, who was the first ACT I performer to ever appear on the Palace stage when she was the opening act on the first Variety show on the Palace stage five years ago, will again open the show with this production.

Behind the stage for Live at the Palace will be Michelle Bookmeier, lights; Jay Appleby, sound; House Manager Barb Bookmeier, and Videographer Ray Bookmeier. The poster design is by Bobbie Hendrix, with program and publicity by Julie Zimmer.

Curtain times are 7:00 PM on Saturday and 2:00 PM on Sunday. All tickets are $5.00.

For additional information about this production go to the Live at the Palace show page of this website at www.act1.org/livepalace.htm.

Call now for tickets for Live at the Palace! 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!

No, this isn't a sellout audience for a new readers' theatre production. This is one of our
audition nights for our next Main Stage production, You Can't Take it With You!

Directors Pat Lyons and Nancy Geiken have announced the results of our recent auditions for our next Main Stage production, our 25th Anniversary production of You Can't Take it With You, by Moss Hart. Our revival of the first show ever produced by ACT I takes place on March 5 - 13 at the Palace Theatre in Vinton.

Penelope Sycamore: Diane Maxwell*
Essie Carmichael: Julie Canaday
Rheba: Kimberly Shafar
Paul Sycamore: Kevin Ahrenholz
Mr. De Pinna: Alan Nebola
Ed Carmichael: Mike Modrow
Donald: Brian Larkin
Martin Vanderhof: Rick Maxwell*
Alice Sycamore: Abby Larkin
Wilma Henderson: Julie Clingman
Tony Kirby: Mark Noe
Boris Kolenkhov: David Canaday
Gay Wellingtron: Julie Zimmer
Mr. Kirby: Rick Murphy
Mrs. Kirby: Bunny Feller
The Man: Stan Geiken
Olga Katrina: Gina Lahue

Directors: Pat Lyons, Nancy Geiken
Stage Managers: Pat Lyons, Leslie McKibben
House Managers: Sandy Lyons, Kathy Tranel
Costumes: Ida Higgins, Nancy Geiken
Properties: April Ahrenholz, Julie Clingman
Set Design: Mark Mahurin and Nancy Geiken
Set Construction: Mike Tranel, Steve Whalen
Light Technician: Kevin Bookmeier
Sound and Lights: TBD
Video Production: Kevin Simnacher
Publicity: Julie Zimmer, Pat Lyons

The revival production of You Can't Take it With You is Sponsored by Kurdus and Barron, P. C. and Clingman Pharmacy, Jon and Julie Clingman.

For additional information about this production go to the You Can't Take it with You 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.

Our Events Series offers two performance opportunities this year - the upcoming Variety Show at the Palace on January 15 & 16, and a recital on February 5 and 6 at the Ray House. If the smaller, more intimate venue of the historic Ray House appeals to you, please call Marcy or Gerald Horst. We are still looking for 2 or 3 performers.

The event is entitled Intermezzo IV Silly Love Songs. We're promoting a Valentine theme. Whether or not you choose to participate as a performer, please make plans to bring your sweetie. It's a cheap but romantic date at only $2.

For additional information about this production go to the Intermezzo IV show page of this website at www.act1.org/intermezzo4.htm.

There are two changes in our board of directors effective this week. Ron Baldwin and Marcy Horst are leaving their board posts and president Mary Horst has just announced their replacements. The new board members are Kevin Ahrenholz and Sue Freet. Kevin, an attorney practicing in Vinton in association with a Waterloo firm, is relatively new to the organization, but his wife April and step-daughter Tess Noeller have both been active for many years. Kevin was a dancer in The Sound of Music last fall and plays the major role of Paul Sycamore in our upcoming Main Stage production You Can't Take it With You.

Sue, the Human Services Specialist for the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School in Vinton, has been involved behind the scenes for several years, whose ACT I assignments include having served as assistant director for Life with Mother, Kiss Me, Kate, and Noises Off. She is a former staff member of the Waterloo Community Playhouse and also served for a time as drama director at Marion High School.

As we revive the variety show format for our 25th anniversary season of revival productions, we feature this month the director of our first two variety shows, long time ACT I volunteer Brenda Hackbarth, who returns to our stage in the current production as part of a comedy team with a most unlikely sidekick!

ACT I was five years old when Brenda Witt became involved, back in 1985, as a member of the prop crew for our production of The Mousetrap. Brenda credits her involvement to Nancy Beckman, with whom she bowled regularly. Brenda was recently divorced, working at the State Bank of Vinton, and looking for ways to fill her time. After hearing so much about ACT I from Nancy, Brenda decided to give involvement with the organization a shot. She quickly became one of the organization's regulars.

After being on a prop crew, Brenda was ready to tackle being on stage. The following spring, Brenda went onstage for the first time as Emilie Ducotel in My Three Angels, a show for which she also worked the prop crew. That same year, she served as assistant director for the first of many times, working on our first production of The Girls in 509. She also played a small role in that production and did an assortment of crew assignments.

Brenda was now hooked in a long, continuous string of ACT I productions, working vigorously off-stage and going onstage as well. Crew work for The Rainmaker (she recalled some great times with the cast and crew of that show, as does everyone from that production that we feature!) Crew work and the role of Cicily Young in The Cat and the Canary, Assistant Director and multiple crew assignments for Take a Number, Darling, more crew assignments and the role of the Mistress of Ceremonies for Klondike Kalamity, and crew work for Morning's at Seven. In 1990, Brenda worked on the show that was used to celebrate our 10th anniversary, Play On, for which she served as Assistant Director and took several crew jobs. There were more crew assignments and the title of Stage Manager for our next production, Daddy's Dyin', Who's Got the Will.

"It was the most wonderful organization to fill my free time," Brenda said of her early years with the group. (During this time she was sharing a home with fellow ACT I member Faith Brown.) "There were singles and families and married people, everybody worked with everybody."

Brenda, as the Mistress of Ceremonies in our melodrama Klondike Kalamity in October, 1988.

Brenda also praised our children's theatre program for helping to keep ACT I going. She commented on the number of families where the parents have become involved in the group after their children have. (Indeed, that list is long!)

Brenda (red shirt, right, standing) with the rest of the cast and crew of Play On in April, 1990.

In November of 1989, shortly before Play On went into production, a new manager came to the Fareway Store in Vinton, Craig Hackbarth. In 1992 Craig and Brenda were married, and Brenda's life changed completely, but it didn't end her involvement with ACT I. She and Craig worked the Box Office for Dancers in 1992, and Brenda was on the lighting crew for Bye Bye Birdie in 1998. Brenda also directed our first two variety shows, Be our Guest in 1998 and That's Entertainment in 1999. She has continued to volunteer regularly for ACT I as house manager for numerous productions at the Palace, and also does weekly volunteer work at the theater.

Now, at last, Brenda is back on stage, doing a comedy routine in our current production, Live at the Palace. When she's not busy at the Palace, Brenda remains very active in numerous organizations. She is president of the Vinton Garden Club and is also active in T.T.T.. She enjoys spending time with grandchildren and each summer she hosts "Camp Hackbarth," when as many of her nieces and nephews as possible spend a week in Vinton with the couple. Brenda says of ACT I, "This is still a very, very worthwhile group. The friendships you make are just everlasting. Bob LaGrange and I see each other on the golf course and still call each other by our stage names."

Brenda, like all of the individuals being featured as Member of the Month during our anniversary season, was one of the members who helped shape ACT I in our early years and she played a very active role, both on stage and off. We are so pleased that twenty years after her involvement with this organization began, that she remains active with both ACT I and the Palace. We welcome her back onto our stage with the current production, and hope she is back on the boards many more times as well! Thank you, Brenda, for being a part of ACT I's first twenty-five years!

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.

The variety show format has been used for several productions since January, 1998, when Brenda Hackbarth presented our first production of this type, Be Our Guest. What do you remember about past variety shows?

2. Which variety show was accompanied by photographic exhibition in the lobby to be enjoyed by patrons before the show and during intermission?

3. Our only variety show presented at the Ray House was this holiday themed show.

4. Every variety show has its share of funky, off beat, and very unusual acts. In which variety show did we feature an Elvis impersonator?

5. In which variety show did the list of acts include a lecture about Benton County Civil War soldiers?

6. Surely one of our strangest acts ever presented was a duet for piano and laser light. In which variety show did this hilarious presentation occur?

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 ..." Harvey

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

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

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!

The editor's home, shortly before midnight last Wednesday night, 8 inches down and 6 more on the way.

It's hard to imagine that the renovated Palace Theatre has now been open for five years! Congratulations to everyone who made this facility happen for the greater good of the Vinton Community! We hope our patrons enjoy the current production which serves as our observance of this milestone!

Answers to Our Last Quiz