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On stage at the Palace Theatre: Ruth Condomine (Diane Maxwell) argues nose to nose with her husband Charles (Anthony Bopp) over whether or not he saw the ghost of his first wife at a supposedly fake séance.

Set designer and construction crew chief Kevin Bookmeier, and Director Nancy Beckman, have created this beautifully detailed interpretation of a 1940s English country house for this production, playing on stage now at the Palace Theatre in Vinton.

The final production of Season 2004 - 2005: ACT I Take II, Blithe Spirit, opened May 6 at

the Palace Theatre and continues this weekend, May 13, 14, and 15. Although attendance was light during the first weekend of the run, audiences were treated to a well crafted production performed by a solid ensemble cast, a group whose incredible chemistry with each other brings this witty and urbane comedy to life in a lively, well timed, and very entertaining manner. The cast is headed by Anthony Bopp, a master of comedic supporting roles for ACT I during the 1980s, who returns to us after a twelve year absence. Tony plays his first ACT I leading role as Charles Condomine, a tour de force portrayal of a mystery author who invites a medium (whom he assumes to be a fake) to his house to conduct a séance so that he can make notes for a new book. The séance proves real, and causes the ghost of Charles' first wife Elvira to materialize, whom only Charles can see. From there, the comedy takes off like a rocket. Tony Bopp's expertise at comedy and comedic timing rules the day in this production, and he never lets up as he portrays the henpecked, frantic Charles in this high energy role. The rest of the cast matches Tony's level, including the energetic and dramatic Diane Maxwell as his second wife Ruth, who finds the séance laughable until she realizes that the ghost of her husband's first wife is truly following her every move. Charles and Ruth "duke it out" verbally in the breakfast scene during the second act in a scene that is truly one of the highlights of this production. Director Nancy Beckman doubles as the ethereal, scheming Elvira, floating about the stage airily and visible to no one but Charles, introducing a strong visual element to the comedy. As the zany medium, Madame Arcati, whose séance sets the comedy in motion, Jill g. Lockard Bopp delivers the kind of top flight comedic performance ACT I audiences came to expect of her during the 1980s through 1993. This over-the-top character fits Jill like a glove and she plays the character to perfection. The supporting cast in the show is equally solid, including Mike Modrow as the rational, level headed Dr. Bradman, Michelle Bookmeier as his chatty wife, and Patti Upmeyer as the very funny Edith, the dingy maid who bursts in and out of the room at a frenetic pace.

As director, Nancy Beckman's attention to detail is evident throughout, from the beautifully designed and well dressed set created by Kevin Bookmeier to the never ending string of comic bits throughout the show. Nothing is left to chance. Nancy's skill as a director in knowing what to do with this demanding, difficult material is the glue that bonds a very skilled and experienced cast to this first rate script. The result is no accident, a well disciplined, well timed production like this could not succeed without a very strong director's hand. The results are fast paced and deliciously entertaining and the 2 1/2 hour running length feels like merely half that time.

Madame Arcati (Jill g. Lockard Bopp) leads the Condomines and the Bradmans in a séance that has hilarious results.

Ruth gazes incredulously at the vase of flowers floating through the air, not seeing the ghostly hands that lift them from the piano to carry them across the room.

Madame Arcati is furious when she learns why she had been asked to perform the séance in the first place.

This play was originally presented by ACT I on March 27, 28, and 29, 1981, at the Old Creamery Theatre in a production directed by Old Creamery staff member Howard Blanning. The play was written by British theatre legend Sir Noel Coward and first produced in 1941. The current production is sponsored by Cedar River Ink, Tim and Emily Wilson.

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.

Call now for tickets for Blithe Spirit! Lets FILL UP THOSE SEATS for the second week of this run! The ACT I Ticket information line and Palace Theatre Box Office number is 472-9957!

Season 2005 - 2006 Announced: You Can Fool All of the People Some of the Time!

From River City, Iowa to the Garden of Eden, ACT I is going to spend next season looking at deception and con games! Our nostalgic look back at favorite shows from our first twenty-five seasons is nearly behind us, it's time to look ahead to season twenty-six! The ACT I board has recently announced the repertory for Season 2005 - 2006, a season we'll call "You Can Fool All of the People Some of the Time."

Opening the season will be back to back productions by ACT I STAGE!, our youth program. On July 8, 9, and 10 Let Your Hair Down, Rapunzel will be produced by Second Stage Theatre Camp at Benton Community Auditorium in Van Horne. This will be followed by The Princess Plays, a trio of one acts produced by STAGE ONE Theatre Camp at the Palace Theatre in Vinton July 27, 28, 30, and 31.

Meredith Willson's The Music Man opens the Main Stage Series running September 15 - 25 at the Palace Theatre. It's a seventy-six trombone extravaganza, one of the best loved musicals of all time, and it's set right here in Iowa and was written by an Iowan. It tells the story of a lovable con man who convinces the town of River City, Iowa that they need a boys' band. The only problem is, he can't read a note of music! He fools the entire town into believing he is a musician - but after he pockets their money, he can't quite tear himself away. A joyful, energetic, celebration of small town Iowa, a show about US!

The Diary of Adam and Eve opens our Events Series November 11 and 12. We return to the Vinton Country Club for a dinner theatre, featuring this delightful two person play by David Birney, based on "Adam's Diary" and "Diary for Eve" by Mark Twain. Here we look at deception from the beginning of time!

On Broadway! The Events Series concludes with this extravaganza at the Palace Theatre on February 18 and 19!

Lend Me a Tenor by Ken Ludwig. The Main Stage Series continues at the Palace with this lively comedy on March 10 - 19, set in Cleveland, Ohio in 1936. The Cleveland Grand Opera Company books the world's greatest tenor, Tito Morelli, to perform Verdi's Otello. But then the demanding, alcoholic, womanizing, pill popping singer is found dead in his hotel room! The unscrupulous opera manager has to choose between canceling the performance and refunding everyone's money - or fooling the entire audience by substituting an amateur tenor for the real thing! A door slamming romp, filled with wild costumes, mistaken identities, and even a love twist thrown in for good measure. One of the funniest plays you'll ever see!

Love, Sex, and the IRS by Jane Milmore and William Van Zandt. Maybe you can fool some of the people all of the time, but can you fool the IRS any of the time? But in this play, two young male roommates are ready to try! Jon and Leslie share an apartment, and Jon decides that posing as a married couple on their tax returns will cut their tax bills. But can they pull off the con when the IRS comes to investigate? Can they convince friends and neighbors to cooperate, and most importantly, can Leslie convince the man from the IRS that he is really Jon's wife? This hilarious farce closes the Main Stage Series at the Palace on May 5 - 14!

Auditions for each of these productions will be announced in Grease Paint and on the website at a later date so please keep checking back for that information!

This festive cake featuring an edible photograph of the Palace Theatre was used to celebrate the five years of service to the Palace Theatre by managers Lu Karr and Jan McLeod, and to honor their successors!

Five and a half years after the Palace Theatre reopened its doors as a dual purpose cinema / performing arts center, managers Lu Karr and Jan McLeod are stepping down from their positions which they have held since the facility opened. Lu was part of the Palace from the initial conception of dream, guiding the fundraising and being involved in the project through the construction phase, with husband Kurt serving as general contractor. Lu, a long time ACT I member, plans to remain an active participant with us. Jan, a retired teacher from the Vinton-Shellsburg school district, will devote more time to care for her long time friend and fellow Palace volunteer Jo Sainsbury, who is recovering nicely from a spinal stroke in October. Taking Jan and Lu's place at the helm will be Kim and Dave Staab, who have been long time volunteers at the theatre. Lu, Jan, Kim, and Dave were honored at a reception on Sunday afternoon, May 1 at the Stage Door Cafe next to the theatre. Congratulations to all!

Ten years ago this month at the Old Creamery Theatre, ACT I presented the drama The Miracle Worker by William Gibson. The play ran May 5 - 14. The cast included then seventh grader Jessica Coulter as the haunting child Helen Keller, the largest non-speaking role in ACT I's history, and Emily Zimmer as Annie Sullivan. Also in the cast were Darran Sellers as Captain Keller, Le Cox as Mrs. Keller, Adam Frederick as James Keller, and Rhonda Westergard as Aunt Ev.

Also in the cast were Eric Upmeyer as Mr. Anagnos, Bob LaGrange as the Doctor, Beckie Stravers as Martha, Josh and Kyle Brewer as Percy, Mary Dee Phillips as Viney, Kordereau Sellers as Jimmy Sullivan, and Buster the dog as Belle. The cast also included Abby Hilton, Denise Laughton, Maggie Karr, Kate Westergard, Sarah Barron, and Abby Barron.

Emily Zimmer as Annie Sullivan and Jessica Coulter as Helen Keller, with Rhonda Westergard as Aunt Ev looking on, in the final moments of William Gibson's The Miracle Worker produced by ACT I ten years ago this month at the Old Creamery.

Darran Sellers as Captain Keller and Le Cox as Mrs. Keller look on as Helen pets Belle.

The Miracle Worker was directed by Steve Arnold. Patti Upmeyer was Stage Manager; Mary Dee Phillips was the Technical Director, Kevin Bookmeier was the Assistant Technical Director, and Maggie Karr was the Assistant Director . Zelda Brower and Carolyn Dullard from the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School in Vinton served as consultants to the production.

The set, belonging to the Old Creamery Theatre, had originally been used for their production of Dancing at Lughnasa, and had also been used by ACT I for The Best Christmas Pageant Ever several months earlier.

The play is based on the early life of Helen Keller, an extraordinary and inspirational woman who lost her hearing and sight to an illness in her very early life. Annie Sullivan was her teacher who finally "made contact" intellectually with the stormy little girl. In her later life, Helen Keller actually gave a speech at the Palace Theatre in Vinton.

For additional information about this production, including pictures and full cast and crew list, go to The Miracle Worker show page of this website at www.act1.org/miracle.htm.

As we conclude our look back at our first 25 years with the brilliant comedy Blithe Spirit by Sir Noel Coward, we honor one of the stars of our original production, staged twenty-four years ago. Colleen Stufflebeam, our original Madame Arcati, was a featured performer in our first three productions and six more after that, and so as we repeat this play once again for our audience, we honor Colleen as our Member of the Month for May, 2005!

Colleen Stufflebeam as Madame Arcati and Anna Bess Rice as Elvira in our original production of Blithe Spirit in March, 1981.

Colleen Stufflebeam has always liked performing, and she began her acting career early - as Bobo the Clown in 4th grade. From then on, she says, she has enjoyed being in plays. Colleen moved to Vinton from Missouri at age seven. She later performed at Monmouth College in Illinois. She graduated from the University of Iowa in 1950, majoring in Spanish. Her husband Kent, former owner of Vinton Plumbing, is originally from Waverly and came to Vinton when he was in High School. Colleen continued her acting after she and Kent were married and he was working as an insurance agent in Little Rock, Arkansas in the early 1950s. She described performing in the play Wake Up Darling with an integrated theatre group there. She described the precautions the group had to take for being a mixed race organization. "We were warned about the White Citizens Council," she said. She described a back exit participants were to use to escape the building in case they were given trouble, "but fortunately we never had to do that."

After returning to Iowa, Colleen taught one year in Truro and 2 years in Vinton, followed by a 22 year teaching stint at the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School here, where she taught upper elementary students. During that time, ACT I of Benton County was being formed, and Colleen was tapped to play the role of Olga Katrina in our first production, You Can't Take it with You. She also appeared in our second and third productions, as Mrs. Ernest W. Stanley in The Man Who Came to Dinner in November, 1980, and then as Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit in March of 1981. She appeared the following year, in March of 1982, as Ethel Savage in The Curious Savage, our fifth production.

Colleen Stufflebeam as Ethel Savage with the late David Nolte in our 1983 production of The Curious Savage.

In November of 1983 she appeared in our production of A Thurber Carnival as part of the ensemble cast, and she next played Mrs. Van Pelt in our production of In 25 Words or Death, performed at the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School in Vinton in October of 1989. In April of 1990 she was featured as Phyllis Montague in Play On, the production that honored our tenth anniversary.

Linda Radcliffe as Gerry Dunbar with Colleen Stufflebeam as Phyllis Montague in Play On, in 1990.

Colleen was then absent from our stage for eleven years. She returned once again in March of 2001 to participate in our poetry reading, What God Tells Me When I Am Alone, held at Wesley United Methodist Church. Her final performances with ACT I took place in November of that year, when she was a member of the cast of Words and Music by Skeet Powers.

In addition to her acting credits with ACT I, Colleen has appeared in three television commercials: for the Humane Society, for Miller Medical, and for Mercy Medical Center. Colleen, now 76, and Kent are retired. In addition to ACT I, they have been active in the Democratic Party, have traveled extensively in the United States and have visited 16 countries. They have a daughter Susan, who now lives in Phoenix, and two grandchildren, Jeff and Elizabeth.

We thank Colleen for her efforts as a trailblazer in the establishment of ACT I!

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.

Our twenty-fifth anniversary has been observed with revivals of past shows and events with both our Main Stage and Events Series productions. What do you remember about the season just concluding as well as the rest of our first 25 years?

1. In the revivals of our three Main Stage productions, three individuals took on the same assignment this year as they did when the shows were originally presented. Name them.

2. Which two actresses performed in all three of the original productions of the three Main Stage shows presented this season?

3. Our revival of The Sound of Music featured numerous costume pieces made for our original production. Name the costumer who created over 50 costumes for our original 1995 production.

4. Prior to this season of Main Stage revivals, only one play had ever been produced twice by ACT I. Name that show.

5. All of this season's Main Stage productions take place within a very few years of each other. Identify the single era of these three shows by naming the American president who was in office during this time - a president who has been portrayed twice on our stage.

6. Especially this year, ACT I is all about the people who have brought our community theatre to life. One of the pleasures of this season has been the return of many performers to our stage who have been absent for far too long. Which of these performers who came back this year was absent from our stage the longest?

One of the best written and wittiest scripts every presented by ACT I is Sir Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit. The play has many similarities with other past ACT I shows. Which of these other show can you name?

1. In which past ACT I production does the ghost of a man's late wife appear to him, but NOT Blithe Spirit? The Secret Garden

2. In which past ACT I production does a character arrive on a bicycle, but NOT Blithe Spirit? The Sound of Music

3. Name another past ACT I show taking place in the English Countryside in the early 1940s, which also features the supernatural, but NOT Blithe Spirit. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

4. In which past ACT I show does an English writer set the plot in motion by experimenting for one of his stories, but NOT Blithe Spirit? Sleuth

5. In which past show is a certain character invisible to everyone in the cast but one, but NOT Blithe Spirit? Harvey

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!

From the ACT I archives (March, 1981): "There are a couple of good reasons to go see Noel Coward's 'Blithe Spirit' as performed by the Area Community Theatre, Inc. in three shows this weekend. One reason is there are nice attractive new seats in the Old Creamery Theatre's Main Stage Theatre. Another is, the set is quite charming, with a multitude of plants and summery wire mesh furniture.

"Beyond that, though, high points in the play itself were kind of few and far between Wednesday night. To be fair, the production will probably be much better when it opens Friday night at 8:00 p.m. The cast, before its first audience Wednesday, looked tight rather than excited on stage, and a full house on opening night should help pump up the performers. Another day of practice should go a long way in reducing the number of technical problems, particularly in the sound effects department. And actors will have another day to iron out their parts, although it's better to deliver lines twice than to leave them out altogether."

Thus began a 13 1/2 column inch review, accompanied by multiple pictures, of the 1981 production of Blithe Spirit, published in the Cedar Valley Daily Times, written by staff writer Steve Exley. Admittedly, it's not the most glowing review ever written, and its opening paragraphs are almost laughable, but it is a REVIEW, printed in our local paper, prepared by a writer who actually took the time to attend a final dress rehearsal and evaluate it, then seriously write a thoughtful column that the paper was willing to print. (I didn't even notice any spelling errors!)

Unfortunately, while many aspects of ACT I have improved over the years, this is not one of them. Perusing scrap books from ACT I's early years, one finds clippings from all manner of ACT I activities - announcements of a variety of events, photographs of audition sessions, rehearsals, and regular reports on our activities. Past local editors such as theatre buffs Faith Brown and Dan Adix lavished coverage on our program. We are certainly grateful to Julie Zimmer of the Palace staff, whose weekly column always covers ACT I events at the theatre. But Julie's column doesn't have the room to provide the kind of extensive coverage ACT I once enjoyed in the local print media, when our paper saw itself as a partner with the arts in informing the public of what was happening with live theatre.

Circumstances are different now, and that's regrettable. And even larger papers are stingier with press coverage of live theatre. The Gazette doesn't usually review productions at the Old Creamery Depot Stage and even the two current main stage shows running at the Creamery have yet to receive the Gazette's critical eye.

We know that our local paper is a business, concerned with making a profit, and newspapers nationwide are shooting for higher profit margins than they once did. As with every other business, that usually means downsizing and reductions. The local paper has a smaller staff than it did when ACT I was getting started, providing fewer voices for coverage of local events. Now, much of ACT I's print coverage is written by our own people and submitted to the paper.

But even without a visit from the local media, Blithe Spirit is an outstanding production that deserves the full support of the ACT I community and all those who love live theatre in Benton County. Attend the show this weekend, and if you've seen it once, come see it again! This hard working cast has created some high quality entertainment and you won't be disappointed by their efforts. So let's fill those seats this weekend!

Answers to Our Last Quiz