Grease Paint Online - March, 2005

The centerpiece of Season 2004 - 2005: ACT I Take II, You

Can't Take it With You, opens Friday, March 4, 2005 at the Palace Theatre in Vinton for a six performance run, through March 13. This revival of the first production ever produced by ACT I is directed by Patrick Lyons and Nancy Geiken; it was originally presented by ACT I on April 25 and 27, 1980, at the Old Creamery Theatre in a production directed by Old Creamery resident actor Howard Blanning, with Nancy Geiken as assistant director. This 1936 classic American comedy was written by George Kaufman and Moss Hart. It will be the ninety-first production in ACT I's now 25 year history, and the twenty-seventh show we have presented at the Palace Theatre. It is sponsored by Clingman Pharmacy and Kerdus and Barron, P.C, Certified Public Accountants. This production not only honors the actual 25th anniversary of ACT I's formation, but coincidentally, the Saturday, March 12 performance of the play will be ACT I's 400th performance to date.

You Can't Take it With You is a farce about a very unique family, headed by Martin Vanderhof and ruled by his unique philosophy of life, and includes his daughter and son-in-law Penny and Paul Sycamore, and their daughter and son-in-law, Essie and Ed Carmichael; plus a host of other odd characters who come and go in the household. The plot twists around the fact that Mr. Vanderhof hasn't paid his taxes for over 20 years and the play opens with a government agent arriving to try to collect. What follows is a never-ending series of comic twists that keeps the audience in stitches at the delightful combinations of odd characters that inhabit the world of the Vanderhof household.

A nice combination of familiar faces, new faces, and some old friends returning after a long absence comprise our cast. Rick and Diane Maxwell of LaPorte City make their ACT I debuts as Martin Vanderhof and Penny Sycamore respectively, and ACT I board member Kevin Ahrenholz makes his acting debut as Paul Sycamore. (Kevin first appeared earlier this season as a dancer in The Sound of Music.) Also appearing for the first time on our stage is Julie Clingman as I.R.S. Agent Wilma Henderson. Ned Sutton, a foreign exchange student from Australia staying with the Maxwells, appears as Jim. Returning faces include ACT I regulars Julie Canaday as Essie Carmichael, Mike Modrow as Ed Carmichael, Kimberly Shafar as Rheba, Brian Larkin as Donald, Alan Nebola as Mr. De Pinna, Abby Larkin as Alice Sycamore, Mark Noe as Tony Kirby, David Canaday as Boris Kolenkhov, Rick Murphy as Mr. Kirby, Bunny Feller as Mrs. Kirby, Bill Owens as Mac, and Gina Lahue as Olga Katrina. Tony Bopp, a former ACT I regular who last appeared with us in 1988 prior to our variety show Live at the Palace in January, is back once again as "The Man."

One member of our original cast from 25 years ago returns - Julie Zimmer, who played Essie in 1980, completes our cast as Gay Wellington.

Stage Managers for the production are Rhonda Westergard and Leslie McKibben. The set design is by Mark Mahurin and Nancy Geiken, with set construction by Mike Tranel. Stan Geiken, Bill Hawk, Rick Murphy, Tony Bopp, Gina Lahue, Steve Whalen, and Pat and Sandy Lyons. Costumes are by Ida Higgins, Julie Canaday, Barb Casssens, Bunny Feller, Nancy Geiken, and Phyllis Tappen; makeup is by Rhonda Westergard, hair is by Kathy Tranel; properties are by April Ahrenholz and Julie Clingman; and lights and sound are by Kevin and Michelle Bookmeier and Bill Hawk; intermission music prepared by Julie Cligman. Program and tickets are by Gerald and Marcy Horst, Box Office Manager is Lu Karr, and the House Manager is Sandy Lyons. Video production is by Kevin Simnacher, and publicity is by Julie Zimmer and Pat Lyons.

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.

Call now for tickets for You Can't Take it With You! 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!

Intermezzo, a mid-season vocal recital, has become a tradition for ACT I in recent

years, and that continued this year with Intermezzo IV, Silly Love Songs, which was the concluding production in this season's Events Series. It was presented at the Ray House museum on February 6 and 13. The performers for this Valentine's Day themed recital were Erin Horst, Derek Ferguson, Lois Martin, Connie Huber, Annie Horst, Clare Horst, Sara Walston, Sara Stephenson, Sarah Allyn, Brittany King, Nathan Horst, Sheila Monson, Luann Urlaub, Allison Canaday, Gerald Horst, and Julie Canaday.

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

Director Nancy Beckman has announced the auditions for the final production of the current season, Blithe Spirit by Sir Noel Coward. Auditions for this very witty British farce will be held Monday and Tuesday, March 7 and 8, at 7:00 PM at the ACT I Studio above Clingman Pharmacy. The play calls for two men and five women. Performance dates are May 6 - 15 at the Palace Theatre. Blithe Spirit was originally presented by ACT I in March, 1981 at the Old Creamery Theatre in Garrison.

Anna Bess Rice and Becky Mossman in our original production of Blithe Spirit in March, 1981

For additional information about this production go to the Blithe Spirit show page of this website at www.act1.org/spirit.htm. For pictures and information from our original production, go to www.act1.org/blithe.htm.

March is frequently production month for us; here's what we were doing 5, 10, and 20 years ago!

Our opening season at the Palace Theatre was a busy one for us. We moved into the theatre at midseason; and our first children's theatre production in the new facility was presented by ACT I STAGE! on March 18 - 26, 2000. The play was an adaptation of the 19th century German opera Hansel und Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck. April Ahrenholz was the music director and the show was prepared by Larry Adams-Bowers, Aaron Murphy, and Kathleen Berger, with choreography by Joan Cooling. Ryan Calderwood and Megan Christy played the title characters; Ray Bookmeier and Cathi Calderwood played the parents, and Sarah Zimmerman played the Witch. Kayla Comer was seen as both the Sandman and the Dew Fairy. In addition, there was a large children's chorus and corps de ballet.

Megan Christy and Ryan Calderwood as Hansel and Gretel are apprehended for confectionary crimes by the witch during ACT I's first children's theatre production at the Palace Theatre in 1980.

For additional information about this production, including pictures and full cast list, go to the Hansel and Gretel show page of this website at www.act1.org/hansel.htm.

ACT I's first dinner theatre production was the murder mystery Said the Spider to the Spy by Fred Carmichael, presented at Tara Hills Country Club in Van Horne (and later at Tilford Middle School) on March 10 - 19, 1995. The production was directed by Edwon Yedlik and Mary Phillips was technical director. The cast included Patti Swift, Mary Phillips, Nich Radcliffe, Darran Sellers, Sara Yedlik (Arnold), Patti Upmeyer, and Dave and Stacy Breummer. The show was also the farewell role for Orin Calhoun, a frequent performer during our early years, who moved from the community the following year.

The show was presented in a dinner theatre format at Tara Hills during the first week and moved to Tilford for the second week.

For additional information about this production, including pictures and full cast list, go to the Said the Spider to the Spy show page of this website at www.act1.org/spider.htm.

Twenty years ago this month at the Old Creamery Theatre, ACT I presented the comedy See How They Run by Phillip King. It was directed by Creamery actor Tom Cunliffe. The cast included Kim Poldberg, Nancy Beckman, Orin Calhoun, Elizabeth McFarland, Bruce Gardner, David Nolte, Steve Koch, Jim Hilliard, Bob LaGrange, and Deb Fowler.

Nancy Beckman as Miss Skillon and Jim Hilliard as Rev. Humphery in See How They Run at the Old Creamery in 1985.

An interesting footnote to this production is that Jim Hilliard later reprised his role for a community theatre production in Marion. The role of the choir boy for the Marion production, played by Deb Fowler for ACT I, was taken by a precocious little six-year old local boy who later went on to make something of a name for himself in the entertainment industry - Elijah Wood.

For additional information about this production, including pictures and full cast list, go to the See How They Run show page of this website at www.act1.org/run.htm.

According to the legend, the Flying Dutchman appeared once ever seven years. Cicadas appear once every 17 years. Julie Zimmer, however, tops them both with the rarity of her appearances. Julie comes to the ACT I Stage every 25 years. Julie, who appeared in our very first production, You Can't Take it with You, 25 years ago, has been active with ACT I and the Palace Theatre during much of that time, but she has not appeared on stage with us again since she first played Essie in the first ACT I show, until this season, when she and her sister Carolyn appeared as the Corken Sisters in Live at the Palace, playing a lip synching comic tour de force, and then her triumphant return to acting as Gay Wellington in the You Can't Take it with You in our anniversary revival. In addition to the 25th anniversary of ACT I, we honor this year five years at the Palace Theatre, for which Julie was so instrumental in helping to establish, and so we honor Julie Zimmer and her daughter Emily, also an ACT I veteran, as our members of the month for March.

Julie Zimmer as Gay Wellington in our current production of You Can't Take it with You.

Julie and her husband, Van Zimmer, an appeals court judge for the State of Iowa, have lived in Vinton for twenty-seven years. (Van is originally from Garrison, where his father was a master butter maker at the Garrison Creamery, making the Zimmers perhaps the only ACT I family to have a connection to the Old Creamery Theatre building which goes back further than the theatre company that began there over 30 years ago.)

Following Julie's first performances for ACT I, she did publicity for our second show, The Man Who Came to Dinner, and then took a 13 year break from the organization, returning in 1993 to be on the stage crew for The Odd Couple, Female Version. She later did publicity for the first production of The Sound of Music in 1995 and Life with Father in 1997, and created the program for Oliver!, also in 1997. It was at this time that Julie began her stint as an ACT I board member, during the time that the organization was searching for a permanent home. Julie and longtime friend Lu Karr helped spearhead the campaign that eventually led us to the reality of the Palace Theatre. While the campaign for the Palace was going on, Julie found time to do publicity for Bye Bye Birdie as well as be a production assistant for Marvin's Room.

After the theatre was opened, Julie became one of the managers, devoting herself to promotion. She continues to write a weekly column in the Times on behalf of the theatre. She created the program and ticket design for our first production in the Palace, I'll Be Home for Christmas, and did publicity work for Life with Mother that first season as well. She also served as a house manager for Charlotte's Web, and did publicity for My Fair Lady, Noises Off, as well as promoting all the ACT I palace shows through her column. In January, she did program and publicity for our recent Live at the Palace, the show in which she finally returned to our stage in a mute but lively performance that preceded her performances in the revival currently on our stage.

Carolyn Corken and Julie Corken (Zimmer) performed a comic performance to the song "Sisters" during Live at the Palace in January.

Julie describes her transition to Vinton: “I spent the summer after my junior year in high school as part of the Silver Dollar Players, a melodrama troupe in Silverton, Colorado. We performed in the evenings at a hotel in Ouray, and during the day we met the narrow-gauge tourist trains in Silverton in our costumes and served lunch while we sang and danced. As
the junior member of the troupe and a mediocre singer and dancer, I excelled at serving lunch. The pinnacle of my acting career was being named Best Actress (as Laura in Glass Menagerie) and our one-act was Best Play of the Day at the state speech contest in Cherokee, 1967. I served on the Old Creamery Theatre board for five years and the proximity of live theater was one of the things, in addition to family, that enticed us to move from Iowa City to Vinton about 27 years ago.” Julie’s work experience has been quite varied. She has taught elementary school, coordinated a Big Brother/Big Sister program, coordinated work experience at the Braille School, taught journalism at Kirkwood, and coordinated marketing for the Palace. She resigned at Kirkwood last spring and resumed her freelance business, primarily writing grants and promotional copy for non-profits and businesses.

Julie refers to herself as stage-mom emeritus to their two children; Emily, 26, Emily is a veteran of three past ACT I productions. She fondly remembers the thrill as a child of her first role as Starry, one of the cherubs in Lovingly Yours by Skeet Powers in 1986.
In 1995 she appeared with ACT I as Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker and the following year she was seen as Sister Margaretta in The Sound of Music. Emily is also a veteran of acting and technical assignments for WHS and the Old Creamery Theatre. While at WHS, one of her onstage roles was as Essie in You Can't Take it with You, the same role her mother played in the original ACT I production. Emily is now a professional actor in the Twin Cities, where she has had two or three major roles a year with The Children’s Theatre of Minnesota, Frank Theater Co, Theatre de la Jeune Lune and the Minnesota History Center, among others. Recently she workshopped an unfinished play for the Guthrie and last summer she went to Lucarno, Switzerland to study clowning. She does some voice work for radio advertising and works steadily for the Bridges Program, a theater-based literacy project in the public elementary schools. In between she waits tables and does temp work. Emily is a member of AFTRA and Lip Service, an actors' guild in the Twin Cities.

Emily Zimmer and Jessica Coulter as Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker for ACT I in May, 1995.

Brian, like Van, would rather be in the audience than on the stage. He graduated from UNI in metal casting (industrial technology), works at his craft in Cedar Falls, and is interviewing with manufacturing and art foundries (this week it is Indianapolis and St. Louis).

Julie recalls the efforts to create the Palace Theatre: “All we expected, when we incorporated ACT I so many years ago, was to have some fun performing plays. That goal has certainly been realized over the years.

“When the new goal of having a safe, comfortable, accessible performance space arose, we went to the community and learned that, although there has always been a lot of good will for ACT I, we could not raise enough money to build a facility, even with a donation of land from one of our members.

“Then we worked with the recreation department on a plan for a new theater space with the city, which also died for a lack of support from city voters.

“Finally, the information we had gathered from focus groups helped us think broader. I think it was Becky and Keith Mossman who suggested that Vinton needed a movie theater, and over 500 people and businesses got behind the idea to provide something for the entire
community. Besides offering the performance space we sought initially, the Palace is a public trust for a wider audience. It is an incredible win-win situation for ACT I patrons and the entire community. And, 25 years later, ACT I can still have fun performing plays.”

Our thanks to Julie and her daughter Emily for their support of and participation with ACT I through the years. The organization will always appreciate your hard work in making the Palace Theatre happen for us; and we hope it isn't another 25 years before Julie comes back on our stage again!

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.

Thus Martin Vanderhof in You Can’t Take it with You addresses the Lord as he says grace at the dinner table. (Or perhaps, in our case, he could be addressing Vinton once again as his family returns to ACT I after twenty-five years!) Eating a meal on stage during a scene is a great challenge to any actor, who must carefully make the meal look as convincing as possible while consuming as little as possible. Which of these past ACT I productions can you name in which meals are served, or attempted to be served?

1. In which past ACT I production does a meal of linguini one character is eating end up being hurled at the back wall of the set? (If you’re having trouble with this one, yet another meal scene in this play is aborted due to a capon being burned to a crisp in the oven!)

2. Which play, focusing on the Thanksgiving holiday, contains a meal scene in which a chocolate cake is ultimately worn by the characters on stage rather than eaten by them?

3. In which play is a character’s meal interrupted by a police detective arriving to accuse him of murder?

4. In which play is breakfast served which includes Kippers?

5. Around which food item does the plot of Noises Off revolve?

6. In one past ACT I production, three full meals are served, one in each act, and the second act meal is ultimately scattered and smeared all over the set. Yet the scene in which this happens is anything but comic; it's part of the high drama of this intense show. Name the play.

1. Two different vocal recitals were performed in January, 2002 by guest artist Kathleen Berger, one a program of Broadway show tunes and the other a program of classical works, which was ACT I's second Palace presentation. Where was Kathleen's first recital performed? Wesley United Methodist Church

3. Our current Intermezzo production has the theme "Silly Love Songs." What was the first "themed" Intermezzo program? Intermezzo III, Silent Night (Christmas)

4. In addition to vocal recitals, ACT I has also presented programs of readings. The spoken word equivalent of the vocal recital would surely be a poetry reading. What was the title of the poetry reading we presented several seasons ago as part of our Events Series? What God Tells Me When I Am Alone

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!

Best wishes to Pat, Nancy, and the cast and crew of You Can't Take it with You for a successful run! And happy anniversary to the entire membership of ACT I as we observe this important milestone in the life of this community theatre! May the next twenty-five years be even better than the twenty-five just concluded!

Answers to Our Last Quiz