ACT I Mounts
The Gift of the Magi

    ACT I’s Christmas show will be The Gift of the Magi, based on the short story by O. Henry.  The production will be staged at the 4th Street Coffee Company December 4, 5, and 6 at 7:30 PM and December 6 at 2:30 PM. In addition to "Magi," the show will also include special Christmas music and other readings in a readers theatre format. Coffee shop proprietor Nick Fisher is eager to host our production and will offering a special pre-show dinner for interested patrons one hour before the performances. Cost of the dinner will be $4.95. Contact Nick for dinner reservations (472-5387) for the performance you plan to attend. For show reservations, contact Linda Radcliffe. (472-4300 daytime or 472-4556 evenings.)

Kurt Karr serves as narrator for
The Gift of the Magi performed in the intimacy of
The 4th Street Coffee Company December 3, 4, and 5.

    The cast for the show includes Gerald and Marcy Horst as Jim and Della, and also features Kurt Karr, Diana Lamphier, Halane Cummings, Maggie Karr, and Todd Frank. Both Marcy and Todd will make their ACT I debuts with these performances. Steve Arnold directs the holiday show, assisted by Lu Karr.

    The intimacy of the coffee shop will allow for a very maximum of 40 patrons per night, and lends to a festive, informal holiday atmosphere. Join us as we present ACT I ‘s Christmas card to the community!

AUDITIONS!

Auditions for the 1999 edition of the ACT I Variety Show will be held Wednesday and Thursday, November 18 & 19 at the Mercantile Bank community room from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. Director Brenda Hackbarth is looking for a variety of interesting acts to give us a very different show from last year’s production. Contact Brenda at 472-3396 for more details.

Auditions for the McElroy Children’s Theatre Series productions, produced by ACT I STAGE! will be held jointly during the first week of January, 1999. The series opens with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, directed by Maggie Karr and Jessica Coulter, performed in March at the Palace Theatre, and The Prince and the Pauper, directed by Steve Arnold, to be presented at the Palace in May. Both are large cast shows with many roles of various sizes for students of all ages. Major roles for the two productions include two boys and two girls ages 10 - 15 for Lion/Witch as well as one additional large male and female role for middle school age or above, and Prince/Pauper requires two look alike boys age 10-14, two teenage girls, and other smaller roles. Contact Maggie, Jessica, or Steve for more information.

STAGE! classes . . . Our new Youth Program, ACT I STAGE! is providing theatre classes to K - 12 students. Currently, our directing class has concluded and classes are currently underway for Accents and Introduction to Theatre for the Elementary Grades. In December an additional acting class will be offered for students in grade 4 and above, with Nicholas Radcliffe as instructor. If your student is interested in registering, please contact us at ACT1ofBC@aol.com. Additional classes will be offered in April and May, 1999.

Board News

President Mike Williams has appointed Joan Cooling to the un-expired board term vacated by Faith Brown’s resignation. The board also elected Ron Baldwin to replace Faith as Vice President.

The attendance at Bye Bye Birdie was reported at 885 for the six performance run.

All in the Family

    One of the highlights of Bye Bye Birdie was a tap number performed by Gerald Horst with his daughters, Erin and Clare.  ACT I is an organization where whole families participate, crossing generational lines. This month’s quiz focuses on participation by family members. Identify the shows and or performers in the following situations:

   1. In which ACT I show did a mother and son play a mother and son?

    2. Name an ACT I show in which sisters played sisters. (You have at least 4 choices!)

    3. In which ACT I show did a husband and wife play an unmarried couple having an affair?

    4. Which two unrelated young performers have played brother and sister in three different productions?

    5. Sometimes family participation skips a generation. Name a grandfather and grandson who have both appeared in ACT I shows in recent years while the generation in between has never performed. (You have two choices!)

    6. Of what highly unusual statistic concerning twins did the Oliver! cast boast?

    7. In which ACT I show did a brother and sister play boyfriend and girlfriend?

    8. Jennifer Rose Williams was born during the run of Bye Bye Birdie to director Mike Williams and his wife Annette, also a member of the Birdie cast. But Jennifer was not the first "ACT I chip" to come along while her mother was working on an ACT I show. TWO families involved in Bridge to Terabithia increased their numbers while that show was in rehearsal. Name one or both of the four year old girls born while Mom was doing that show.

Submit your entries to ACT1ofBC@aol.com, or by snail mail to

ACT I Trivia Quiz,
Box 222, Vinton, Iowa, 52349!

Answers to Last Month’s Quiz

Identify the ACT I show in which the following songs were performed:

1.  We Three Kings of Orient Are  -- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

2.  An Ordinary Couple  --  The Sound of Music

3.  How to Torture Your Sister --  How to Eat Like a Child

4.  Spirits of the Grove  --  Bridge to Terabithia

5.  Anything Goes  --  Sleuth (The opening lines are sung as a clue in this bizarre thriller)

6.  If I Knew You Were Coming I’d Have Baked a Cake   --  Same Time Next Year

7.  Where Is Love?  --  Oliver!

8.  Charlie, My Boy  --  1998 Variety Show

Congratulations to Maggie Karr for submitting the winning entry!

Members of the Month

The Sellers Family

    As ACT I prepares to move into its new home at the Palace Theatre later in the current season, we focus this month and next month on ACT I families who are also "making the move." This month we visit Darran and Teri Sellers and their three sons who will shortly move into their unique new home and next month we visit the Stan Westergard family who has recently settled into their newly constructed home.

    Darran and Teri and their sons, Kordereau, Dakoda, and Kolton have been active in ACT I for several years. Darran, a roofing engineer for Howard R Green Company in Cedar Rapids and a member of the Vinton-Shellsburg Community School board, has been on stage many times in a broad variety of roles. He excels in comedy (Said the Spider to the Spy, The Girls in 509 and Twigs,) drama (The Night of January 16, The Miracle Worker, The Sound of Music,) and we discovered during Oliver! that he’s a pretty fair singer as well. Darran has served on the ACT I board in the past and has also lent us his professional expertise as a member of the Facilities Committee working on the Palace Project.

The new home of Darran and Teri Sellers
and their three sons on the edge of Vinton.

    Son Kordereau (and here we offer the obligatory pronunciation guide - Core DARE oh) is a sixth grader with several acting credits, including appearances in Oliver!, How to Eat Like a Child, and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Kordereau’s most important and most unique role was that of the memory of Jimmy Sullivan in The Miracle Worker, in which he died onstage three times each performance. His younger brothers Dakoda, in third grade, and Kolton, a second grader, also both appeared in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Teri, although she’s never appeared on stage, helps with makeup and props. Teri works at First Trust Bank in Cedar Rapids and likes to do ceramics.

    The boys’ names were selected by Teri with Darran devising their rather unique spellings. Darran says he decided to let Teri name the boys and he would name the girls. Needless to say, Darran never got to name any babies!

    Darran and Teri think ACT I is a wonderful opportunity for their family to participate in activities that not only benefit themselves but also the entire community. They feel "ACT I will grow dramatically after the Palace Project is complete. ACT I has had excellent attendance over the past years in facilities that are less than comfortable for the audience and cast. A new, modern facility will not only give our directors and stage workers a wonderful venue, it will keep our audience comfortable. We all know a comfortable audience is a happy audience."

    The Sellers family has been absent from ACT I so far this season due to working on their new home, which they will move into sometime before November 25. The home will be quite a contrast from the much more modest residence they are leaving. Built on a two acre lot, the home’s striking roof line is only the first of many dramatic elements. Inside, the living room, dining room, kitchen, family room, and foyer merge into one large, open space with an eleven foot ceiling and three sided fireplace at the center. The south wall of the home is almost entirely windows, including three sets of French doors. A large master bedroom suite is secluded at the opposite end of the home from the boys’ wing. An especially unique element of the home is the all steel framework for both the interior and exterior walls and the roof.

    Drawing on his own considerable building skills, Darran is doing much of the work on the home himself, but this has had its drawbacks, including several minor injuries. Darran injured his hand as the very last interior bolt was fastened, and Kordereau required 4 stitches recently.

    We wish the Sellers family every happiness in their new home and a speedy completion to their project so that we can get them back onstage once again!

That’s Grease Paint Online for November!

To look back at previous online issues, visit our Grease Paint Archives page by clicking here!

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