The
Online Newsletter of ACT I of Benton County
Volume 5, Number 8
May, 1999
Josh Brewer as Prince Edward and Kyle Brewer as
Tom Canty
stand outside the Tower of London. The costume for the Prince
was created by Ida Higgins, copying a portrait of the real Edward VI.
The
concluding production in this year’s McElroy Children’s Theatre Series,
The Prince and the Pauper, runs this weekend for four performances at Wesley
United Methodist Church in Vinton. Opening Saturday morning, May 8, at 10:00 AM, the show
continues that day with performances at 3:00 PM and 7:00 PM and closes Sunday afternoon at
3:00. Featured in the cast are Josh and Kyle Brewer as Prince Edward and Tom Canty. Other
major roles are played by Kate Westergard, Megan Christy, John Westergard, Aaron Murphy,
Greg Tucker, Kordereau Sellers, Lisa Elliott, Britt Roster, Erin Horst, Darran Sellers,
and Alexander Vasquez. Tickets are $5.00 for adults and $2.00 for students.
A major element in recreating 16th century London in this production
has been costuming. Two different worlds are portrayed in the show; the dark world of the
Offal Court slum, and the splendor of palace life for the Royal Court. Great effort has
been taken to assure historical accuracy in costuming the court characters. For the
prince’s costume, Ida Higgins has recreated the costume worn in an actual portrait of
the play’s main character, the boy King Edward VI. Jane Seeley has created
costumes for Lady Jane and Lady Gwen based on authentic patterns, and the costume for Lord
Hertford has been patterned by Teresa Strong after a 1512 engraving of the Earl of
Oxford.
Streetcar
Named Desire
Auditions Set for for May 4 and 5
Work on the 1999 - 2000 Season gets underway May 4 with auditions for the opening production of our main season, the classic drama A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. Open auditions will be held May 4 and 5 at the Mercantile Bank community room from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. The show has six male and six female roles, with two major roles of each gender. Production dates are August 13 - 22, 1999. For more information, contact director Larry Adams-Bowers, 472-4637.
Auction Nets $24,400!The Arts auction benefiting the Palace Theatre Project more than doubled expectations and netted nearly $25,000 for the Palace Project. Targeting the auction to net the project $10,000, organizers Lu Karr and Julie Zimmer were delighted with the proceeds. Among the top selling items were two water colors by former Vinton resident Hugh Mossman. A job well done by all, Lu and Julie! Congratulations on your excellent effort on behalf of ACT I and the Palace Theatre!
Annual Meeting May 22The Annual meeting of the ACT I membership will be Saturday, May 22 at Linda Radcliff’s cabin. The fun will continue all afternoon, with a short business meeting thrown in for some real excitement. Items for the agenda include election of two new board members. (The terms of Margie Ortgeisen and Joan Cooling expire this spring.) We will also be electing a new member to the Palace, Inc. Board of Trustees. As always, this promises to be an afternoon of good fun, good food, and theatrical fellowship as we kick off our 1999 - 2000 Season!
Casting Announced forDirector Larry Adams-Bowers has announced his cast for Marvin’s Room by Scott McPherson, to be performed June 11 - 20. Playing roles in the production will be Diana Lamphier as Bessie, Halane Cummings as Lee, Nancy Beckman as Ruth, Greg Killberger as Dr. Walli, Jim Hilliard as Bob, Josh Deutsch as Hank, Jason Treloar as Charlie, Joe Treloar as the retirement director, and Linda Radcliffe as Dr. Charlotte. The play will be the concluding production of the current season. The show will be featured in next month’s Grease Paint.
Bookmeier FamilyThe newest member of ACT I of Benton County is Jordan Mitchell Yessak, born April 17, 1999 in Waterloo to Jason and Anita Yessak. He was seven pounds, 4.4 ounces, and 20 inches long. Anita is the daughter of ACT I members Ray and Barb Bookmeier, and Jordan’s doting uncle is Kevin Bookmeier. Congratulations to the Bookmeier family and to Jordan’s parents, Jason and Anita!
Members of the Month The Brewer FamilyThis month’s production of The Prince and the Pauper features in the titles roles two members of one of our most supportive families. Sixth grade twins Josh and Kyle Brewer are in their sixth ACT I production, and this month we take a look back at the contributions to ACT I their family has made. Josh and Kyle, along with their parents Steve and Christine, have lived in Vinton for several years. The boys turned twelve on May 3; and the night they were born, their father was at the North Pole! They first became interested in ACT I after seeing our production of Bridge to Terabithia and appeared for the first time sharing the role of Ollie Herdman in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Later they appeared as dancers in The Sound of Music, and next shared the role of Percy in The Miracle Worker. For their next production they appeared onstage together, playing several roles in "How to Eat Like a Child." Last year, Kyle played the title role in Oliver! in which Josh also appeared. Josh is currently playing the role of Prince Edward in The Prince and the Pauper and Kyle appears as Tom Canty. In addition to drama, the boys’ other interests include Civil War re-enacting, Tae kwon do, which they will test for their black belts in August, Boy Scouts, music, reading, Legos, and sports.
Josh and Kyle Brewer
perform "How to
Beg For a Dog" from our August, 1996
production of How to Eat Like a Child.
Kordereau Sellers appears as the dog.
The
boys’ parents, Steve and Christine, are both military veterans. Steve, now an
Operations Instructor at the Duane Arnold Nuclear Power Plant in nearby Palo, is
originally from Georgia. He served four years in the Marine Corps as an aviation
electronics tech. He spent eight years in the Navy as a Machinist Mate/Engineering
Laboratory Tech, achieving the rank of E-6. He served on fast attack submarines Trepang
and Billfish. He has finished his twenty years through the Naval Reserves and holds the
rank of Chief Petty Officer. Steve is very well traveled and just happened to be on
assignment at the North Pole while Chris was busy birthing the twins! During that
time he was allowed only limited communication with the outside world -- only 40 words a
month with Chris! Thank goodness for sisters and family support! While
at the pole he enjoyed the company of the crews of both French and Russian submarines, and
played baseball at the pole. Steve occasionally takes technical assignments for ACT
I, among them helping to create the pump with running water for the set of “The
Miracle Worker.”
Chris Brewer, originally from Pennsylvania, holds a black belt in Tae
Kwon Do, which she teaches at the Recreation Center in Vinton. Chris served in the US Navy for
six years where she was a Petty Officer 1st Class, and a Nuclear Machinist Mate,
specializing in Radiation and Contamination Control and Environmental Sampling. She spent
most of her time on a Rad Con barge stationed at Groton, CT, servicing submarines. She
later worked as a chemistry/environmental technician at Perry Nuclear Power plant in Ohio.
Chris has put in many volunteer hours for ACT I, and has served as parent coordinator for
two different productions.
The Brewers also count in their family a golden retriever named
Meshach, a black lab named Cocoa, and two guinea pigs named Sassafras and Bunny. They are
currently renovating their spacious 100 year old Queen Anne home near downtown
Vinton. Other family interests include building their own log home and
traveling as
much as possible. Chris and the boys are planning a trip to Korea next year to visit with
friends and see as much of the country as possible.
The Brewers feel that ACT I has been instrumental in bringing out and
developing the twins talents in theater. The joy acting has brought to their children has
been a wonderful surprise. They think the Palace Theatre will be one of the best
things that has ever happened to Vinton. Steve always said one of his dreams would be to
run the movies in a small town theater when he retires from nuclear work. Chris will be
happy to have a great place to put on plays without having to drive out of town!
We thank the Brewer family for their work in ACT
I and congratulate Josh and Kyle for a job well done in our current production!
ACT I Trivia Quiz
Darran SellersDarran returns to our stage in the cast of The Prince and the Pauper after an absence of over a year. Darran has long been recognized as one of our most versatile and talented performers, proficient in comic, dramatic, and musical roles. This month’s quiz takes a look at some of the many roles Darran has performed in ACT I productions.
1. Darran was active in drama at Washington High School in Vinton, performing such roles as Demetrius in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but didn’t make his debut with ACT I until November of 1993, in The Night of January 16th. What national accent did Darran use for his role in that production?
2. For his next ACT I role, Darran played a very unsavory character in our production of Twigs. Name his character. (HINT: The answer to this question is nearly the same as the answer to question #1.)
3. In which show did Darran play a character who was frequently asleep in a window seat?
4. The Prince and the Pauper is the third historically based play which Darran has performed for ACT I. In what "historical" play did Darran play Nazi heavy Herr Zeller?
5. One of ACT I’s most notorious traditions is the midweek brush rehearsal, that director’s nightmare which purports to keep a production in shape for its second weekend but in reality provides the cast with the perfect opportunity to lampoon their show. Perhaps the most legendary of these rehearsals took place for a historical drama in which the climactic scene featured a pitcher of water. During this rehearsal, the otherwise straight laced Jessica Coulter dumped the entire contents of the pitcher on Darran’s head. Name the play and the historical character which Darran so soggily portrayed.
6. In which ACT I production did Darran play a character with the same name as the character that his son Kordereau is now playing in The Prince and the Pauper?
Remember, you don’t have to have all the correct answers to win!
Submit your entries to Act1ofBC@aol.com
or by snail mail to
ACT I of Benton County
Trivia Quiz
Box 222, Vinton, Iowa 52349
(Identify previous ACT I shows by these sibling groups.)
1. Liesl, Friederich, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta, and Gretl The Sound of Music
2. Catherine and Ellard The Foreigner
3. Imogene, Ralph, Leroy, Claude, Ollie, and Gladys The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
4. Jimmy and Annie The Miracle Worker
5. James and Helen The Miracle Worker
6. Emily, Celia, and Dorothy Twigs
7. Charlie and Beth The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
8. Brenda, Ellie, Jesse, and Maybelle Bridge to Terabithia
9. Kim and Randolf Bye Bye Birdie
10. Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
That's Grease Paint for May, 1999!
See you at the Annual Meeting!
To look back at previous online issues, visit our Grease Paint Archives page by clicking here!
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