Grease Paint Online - June, 2004

25th Anniversary Season Opens With Children's Theatre Production in Van Horne . . .

Mother Goose Memoirs, written and directed by Mary Horst with music by John Hayden,

kicks off our 25th anniversary season, ACT I TAKE II, with three performances at Benton Community School Auditorium. The production is sponsored by Coon Creek Telephone Company and Benton County State Bank. The show features a cast of thirty-nine, most of whom are making their debuts with ACT I. Performances are Friday and Saturday, June 25 and 26 at 7:00 PM and Sunday, June 27 at 2:00 PM. Tickets are $5.00 per person. There is no reserve seating.

The cast features Rachel Maile as Mother Goose. Also in the cast are Madison Knaack, Anna Hagen, Kelsey Struve, Whitney Schutterle, Ashley Mills, Hayley Frese, Annie Horst, Andy Schanbacher, Kaelyn Knaack, Colton Miller, Paige Namanny, Meghan McDannald, Maxwell Tiedemann, Karly Hagen, Lindsey Cook, Ellie Horst, Haley Hagen, Alex Stewart, Alicia Gage, Jenna Struve, Andrew Brittain, Taylor Stoddard, Lindsay Struve, Bridget Nulty, Nate Horst, Paige Butz, Haley Luther, Taylor Gage, Holly Miller, Cassidy Nulty, Danielle Vollbrecht, Tanysha Truax, Bailey Moore, Amber Hagen, MacKenzie Gage, Morgan Butz, Jennah Langton. Annie Horst and Nate Horst serve as accompanists.

Rehearsals for Mother Goose Memoirs began June 1. Cast members are participants in our ACT I STAGE! summer camp, Second Stage, which was created this year to serve children in the southern part of Benton County. After the orientation week, campers performed five skits and a camp song, "Give Us a Rhyme, Mother Goose" for parents and friends at a Camp Open House on June 4. Orientation directors were Mary Horst, Theresa Thompson, Kelynn Schulte, Ann Franzenberg, Lois Deerberg, Keri Brecht, Angie Hagen, and Bonnie Lueckenotto.

The set design is by Mary Horst, and set pieces were created by Dave and Mary Horst, with help from Allen and Bonnie Lueckenotto, Tom Geistkemper, Ellie Horst, and Evan Lueckenotto, and in the tradition of what we have come to expect from ACT I STAGE!. We'll see a great set of highly original visuals in a strikingly architectural form. Without question, the highlight of the set is a . . . . . no, wait, on second thought, we won't tell what this set features. Let's just say that the set is a true class act, a masterful creation of whimsy and delight, and you should see it for yourself, live, and just be surprised. Trust us, you WILL be all smiles. (Don't worry, there will be plenty of pictures in our next issue if you can't make it to Van Horne this weekend!)

. . . and the dish ran away with the spoon . . . to a sunny seaside resort . . . .

For additional information about this production go to the Mother Goose Memoirs show page of this website at www.act1.org/goose.htm.

For additional information about our next production by ACT I STAGE!, The Adventures of Beatrix Potter, which opens July 9 and which will be featured in our next edition of Grease Paint in two weeks, go to the Adventures of Beatrix Potter show page of this website at www.act1.org/beatrix.htm.

For additional information about our youth program, ACT I STAGE!, go to the ACT I STAGE!, page of this website at www.act1.org/stage.htm.

The ACT I Ticket information line and Palace Theatre Box Office number is 472-9957!
BUT WAIT! The Special, one time only, ticket information number for
Mother Goose Memoirs is 830-2208.

Curtain Call, our annual meeting, was held on Sunday evening, June 23 at the Ray House. The meeting also served to honor our gem sponsors. The membership discussed the purchase of a voice mail system for our box office, the need for additional storage space, the purchase of a trailer, and investing in a closed circuit system for a permanent camera and monitor to pipe stage action into the green room for during performances. Reports were also given on the current children's theatre program and the new season was formally presented.

Three seats on the board of directors were up. Ron Baldwin and Marcy Horst were re-elected to three year terms. Kurt Karr was elected to a new three year term.

A humorous review of the season just concluded was written by Alex Martinez-Vasquez and performed by himself, Shelly Haisman, and Greg Walston. Hors d'oeuvres were served by Kathy Akers of Kathy's Coffee Cake and Confections.

Reminder: Members are defined in our by-laws as anyone who participates in an ACT I production, including patrons. If you participate in or attend a production, you are automatically a participating member! Voting members are participating members who are high school age or older and have paid their membership fee. Your gem sponsorship (for as little as ten dollars) is your membership fee. So come join us for Curtain Call next year!

Officers for the coming season will be elected by the board from within its membership at an organizational meeting to be held in July.

Alex Martinez-Vasquez, Shelly Haisman, and Greg Walston reprise their roles from Annie to perform a humorous review of Season 2003 - 2004: Better Red than Dead, looking at each of the shows from the point of view of their characters from last season's musical.

Youth participation is a very valuable component of ACT I. We happily extend our congratulations to the following recent high school graduates who have participated in ACT I during their school years! Following each name are the ACT I shows of which that student was a part.

(The Secret Garden, Hansel and Gretel, My Fair Lady, Romeo and Juliet, Kiss Me Kate)

Natalie Stout
(A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Kiss Me Kate)

Congratulations to all and many thanks for your valuable contributions to live theatre in Benton County! We hope that you all always continue to participate and enjoy attending theatre!

Five years ago this month ACT I presented the drama Marvin's Room by Scott McPherson on June 11 - 20 on the stage of Tilford Middle School in Vinton. The play was the moving story of terminal illness, aging, and damaged family relationships.

The outstanding cast included sisters Diana Lamphier and Halane Cummings portraying sisters Bessie and Lee. Nancy Beckman portrayed Ruth, Jim Hilliard was Bob, Greg Kilberger was Dr. Wally, Linda Radcliffe was Dr. Charlotte, Josh Deutsch was Hank, Joe Trealor was the Retirement Director, Jason Trealor was Charlie, and Marsh Berry was seen in the mute role of the bedridden Marvin.

The show was directed by Larry Adams-Bowers, and the Technical Director was Mary Phillips. Lisa Elliott was the Assistant Director and Stage Manager.

The plot revolves around the need by Bessie to get a life-saving bone marrow transplant, and her hope to find a compatible donor from among her family members, including her sisters and her teenage son Hank, who is incarcerated in a psychiatric institution for the crime of arson. All the while, Bessie's aging, bedridden father, Marvin, is in her care. Totally dependant on his daughter, Marvin's need for care casts a shadow on everything Bessie tries to do. Bessie is overwhelmed by the stress of her other family member's needs and attempts to juggle her own life threatening illness against the other concerns that vie for her attention.

Although Marvin's Room was not well attended, it will always be remembered by those who saw it as one of ACT I's finest achievements, a beautifully staged piece of theatrical art that told its story in an unsentimental but thoroughly gut-wrenching way.

For more information about this past production, visit the Marvin's Room show page on this website by clicking this link or by going to act1.org/marvin.htm..

So begins each of the many meal blessings said by character Martin Vanderhoff in the Moss Hart / George Kaufman comedy You Can't Take it With You, ACT I's first production, which is being revived this season as part of ACT I, TAKE II.

Little did Marsh Berry know when Dottie Anthony asked him to deliver the blessing at the dinner table one night almost 25 years ago that it would lead to a twenty year involvement with the new community theatre group being formed in early 1980 in Vinton. But when Marsh had finished, Dottie proclaimed that anyone who can deliver Grace like that ought to get involved in the new group, and Marsh took her up on the proposition. Marsh was cast in the leading role of Paul Sycamore in You Can't Take it With You, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Marsh Berry, 81, retired in 1988 as Director of Business Affairs at the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School in Vinton after 25 years at the school, and for 20 years before and during his retirement he made regular contributions of his time and talents to ACT I, beginning with You Can't Take it With You and ending five years ago with his final appearances on our stage in Marvin's Room. He played major roles in two of the three shows we are reviving for our anniversary celebration. And so it is with great pleasure and gratitude to him that in this opening edition of Grease Paint for our 25th Anniversary Season that we honor Marsh Berry as our Member of the Month.

Chatting with Marsh in preparation for writing this article was sheer pleasure, talking about everything from ACT I's history (including things I'm willing to print, and things I'm not!) to the idiosyncrasies of our respective dogs. Marsh is a treasure trove of information about the early years of ACT I, and came armed with stacks of papers, programs, and memorabilia.

Marsh Berry (second from right) along with Keith Mossman, Becky Mossman, Colleen Stufflebeam,
and Ellyn Paulus in Sir Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit in 1981 at the Old Creamery.

Following his role in You Can't Take it With You, Marsh appeared in several more shows in the early years of our organization. In our second production, The Man Who Came to Dinner, he was cast in the role of Bert Jefferson. For our third production, Blithe Spirit (1981), another show being revived for our anniversary season, he played the role of Dr. Bradman. Our fourth show, Deadwood Dick, saw him cast in the role of Blackman Redburn, and in our fifth show, The Curious Savage, he was seen as Titus. For ACT I's sixth show, The Murder Room (1982), Marsh left the stage and took on a new role, that of Technical Director. He recalls taking a week off from work to build the set, by himself. Director Steve Schaffer gave him a sketch and Marsh created his set from that.

When Steve Shaffer directed our 1982 production of The Murder Room, he asked "Can anyone get going on the set?" Marsh Berry volunteered, taking a week off from work to create this complicated realization of Shaffer's sketch, including a staircase, window seat with a secret passage, and disappearing mirror.

ACT I's show number seven, Woody Allen's Don't Drink the Water (1983), found Marsh back onstage again, this time in the role of Father Drobney, a wacky priest whose hobby - magic - is the source of great humor throughout the show. In our next show, A Thurber Carnival (1983), Marsh was again onstage in a variety of roles, and in our next show, Never Too Late (1984), he played Dr. Kimbrough.

A portrait of President Reagan looks down on Marsh Berry as Father Drobney as he fails to produce a rabbit during a magic trick, only to have the rabbit appear seconds later in the hands of the chef, played by Linda Radcliffe, on its way to an ignominious end. Our 1983 production of Woody Allen's cold war comedy Don't Drink the Water also featured (pictured from left) Orin Calhoun, the late Sally Ludden and Theresa Juhl as the Hollander family, trapped in an American embassy in Eastern Europe.

At this point Marsh left the stage for an extended time, sticking to set construction for The Mousetrap (1985), My Three Angels (1986), The Cat and the Canary (1987), Take a Number Darling (1988), and Klondike Kalamity, (1988). Following these shows and his 1988 retirement, Marsh did staff work for one summer in the office of the Old Creamery Theatre.

In 1993, Marsh returned to the stage to play the role of Judge Heath in Night of January 16, a show for which he also served as Master Carpenter, building the courtroom set for that show. The following year, Marsh appeared in Twigs as Ned. Finally, in 1999, Marsh appeared one last time for us in the mute role of Marvin in Marvin's Room. Although this play calls for the title character to always be offstage in an adjoining room, heard occasionally but never seen. Director Larry Adams-Bowers decided to add a twist to his production by changing this to have the aging Marvin on stage at all times in a hospital bed, giving the show an extra poignancy.

Marsh assured me that his acting days are now over, saying he just can't learn the lines any more. But it is clear from talking with him that not only were his stage experiences rewarding to him personally, but that his contribution was rewarding to those who worked with him as well!

Marsh fondly recalls the two directors from the Old Creamery who staged our earliest shows, Howard Blanning and Steve Shaffer. Marsh described Blanning, who directed both You Can't Take it With You and Blithe Spirit, as someone who worked well with new actors who hadn't done anything since high school. "I treasure that I worked with Steve Shaffer and his wife (former Creamery actress Mary Woolever)," he went on to say. Shaffer directed five early ACT I productions, all of which involved Marsh. "I enjoyed Steve very much, he was strictly a comedian at heart." He went on to describe the warm welcome he received when visiting the former Creamery actor in Minneapolis when traveling to see one of his performances. Shaffer is now a featured performer at the Log Cabin Theatre there.

When asked whether he preferred acting or technical work, Marsh was quick to say he preferred being on stage. He cited his favorite role as that of Ned in Twigs. I expressed surprise at this, considering that, as the director of Twigs, I had not considered this a successful show. But in response Marsh was quick to praise Nancy Beckman and Jim Hilliard, however, who shared the scene he was in. "That scene just clicked," he said. (And it DID, thanks to these three talented stage veterans!)

Sue Freet, a current ACT I member and presently the Director of Human Resources at the Braille school, did some asking around among her colleagues who knew Marsh from his days at IBSSS for some of their recollections of him. Some of those comments follow:

"Marsh was a magician with money. We always had enough!!! And he controlled all the purse strings but always with devotion to meeting the needs of everyone."

"He was full of funny phrases; things like, “flying over the pond” meant flying over the Atlantic Ocean!"

"His eyebrows always gave his expressions away; laughter, surprise, irritation – those eye brows could fly up and down! And he always had a great ‘twinkle’ in his eye."

"He did fool us. For a very long time he had a fax machine in his area (when they were a new invention). He assured us the fax was only capable of faxing directly to the Board of Regents office in Des Moines. We believed him. He saved money! It took a long time before we realized we could fax anywhere!"

Marsh Berry and his wife Helen continue to live in Vinton across the street from the IBSSS campus with their poodle Mandy. The have three children living, including Lori, who lives in Minneapolis, John of Vinton, and Cynthia of Kansas City; another son, Bruce, is deceased. They have six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Although Marsh is retired from our stage he remains a valuable part of our lives and was a vital player in the early history of our community theatre organization. The dedication of ACT I members like Marsh Berry are what have made this organization what it is today!

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.

We open our 25th season by performing for the first time in a new-to-us venue, the auditorium at Benton Community High School. How many of these questions about past ACT I performance spaces can you answer?

1. Prior to this season, ACT I had only performed one production out of the Vinton-Garrison area. What was the show, and where was it performed?

2. When you go to Mother Goose Memoirs this weekend, you will note that a major construction project is underway at the school, which is being re-roofed. This is not the first ACT I venue to have roofing issues. The Old Creamery Theatre roof in Garrison leaked profusely. (Patrons of the professional company may remember the "Jesse Helms Memorial Seat," on the end of the third row left center -- so named for the North Carolina Senator who advocated reducing the National Endowment of the Arts -- a seat which was always leaked upon when performances occurred during a rainstorm.) But even the Creamery was not the worst roof we have ever performed under. Name the venue whose roof caved in just days after the conclusion of a run of ACT I performances. (Hint: the title and subject of the show was a darkly ominous foreshadowing of this disaster to come.)

3. On what stage has ACT I presented the MOST performances?

4. What is the OLDEST stage on which ACT I has performed?

5. What was the first ACT I show NOT performed at the Old Creamery Theatre, and where was it performed?

6. The Ray House has become, during recent years, almost our second home. What was the first show to be performed in that space?

How many of these questions about the first five seasons of our youth program, ACT I STAGE!, can you answer?

1. What was the first ACT I STAGE! production to be presented at the Palace Theatre?
Hansel and Gretel

2. What was the first musical to be presented by our youth program?
The Velveteen Rabbit

3. All of the early ACT I STAGE! shows had at least token adult participation as members of cast. What was the first production by ACT I STAGE! in which no adults appeared at all?
Henny Penny and Stone Soup, presented as part of our You've Got to See it to Believe it Triple Bill, each had no adult cast members. Henny Penny, as a puppet show, arguably had no actors appearing at all, but came ahead of Stone Soup in the bill.

4. What earlier show by ACT I, produced before the conception of ACT I STAGE!, also feature no adults at all in the cast? How to Eat Like a Child

5. In recent years, ACT I STAGE! has frequently presented original material, either in the form of scripts or music, most notably last year's American Hysterical. What was the first original script presented by ACT I STAGE!? The Red Shoes

6. What event appeared at the very end of the stories of each of the first two ACT I STAGE! productions?
A Coronation

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!

Don't miss the ACT I STAGE!, Second Stage production of Mother Goose Memoirs presented this weekend on the Benton Community stage! But I would also like to make a plug for two other productions which are well worth seeing! The Old Creamery Theatre productions of Perfect Wedding, running on the Price Creek Stage in Amana, and Trio for Two, running on the Depot Stage, each make for very entertaining evenings. Though Perfect Wedding was panned by the Gazette critic, don't let that fool you, this farce is great fun to watch and will keep you laughing from beginning to end! And if you like your comedy with a slightly serious edge, don't miss Trio for Two, running in the Creamery's 90 seat black box theatre at the former Amana train depot. Two actresses, Meg Merkens and Marquetta Senters, and a nearly bare stage keep you totally engrossed for two hours with three one act plays about friendship.

As we observe our twenty-fifth anniversary season, let's not forget supporting the Old Creamery Theatre company that played such a big role in bringing our own organization to life. These Amana stages are only 40 minutes away -- we are truly lucky to be able to compliment our enjoyment of our own community theatre with these productions by Iowa's premiere professional theatre company. Attend the Creamery, and thank them for helping to make ACT I a reality.

Answers to Our Last Quiz