The Online Newsletter of 

Volume 8, Number 3      September / October, 2001

"Comedy Tonight!"

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum Opens Thursday, October 4!

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, the musical farce by Stephen Sondheim, opens this Thursday, October 4, for a seven performance run.  The production, sponsored by Cedar River Ink, is directed by Larry Adams-Bowers with musical direction by Judy Mitschelen and Sara Arnold, set construction by Allen Lueckenotto, costumes by Lisa Finch, and choreography by Charlie Vogl.

Production dates are October 4, 5, 6, 12, and 13 at 7:30 PM and October 7 and 14 at 2:00 PM.  The October 12 performance is SOLD OUT.  Ticket prices are $9.00 for adults and 6:00 for students for the other performances.

Due to content, patrons are advised that the play may be inappropriate for young children.

Above in rehearsal, Alan Nebola and Rick Murphy portray the leading roles of the slaves Pseudolus and Hysterium, scheming to arrange the marriage of their young master, Hero.

Stephen Sondheim, one of the most important of the current composers of musical theatre, had a very lucky start early in his career. He was born in New York in 1930. Following his parents’ divorce, he and his mother moved to Buck County, Pennsylvania where they were neighbors to one of the biggest names in the music business at the time – Oscar Hammerstein II, who was then working on a new show destined to become one of Broadway’s all time greatest hits, Oklahoma. With the mentorship of his famous neighbor, the teenage boy was soon hooked. Beginning his career as lyricist for the classic 1957 musical West Side Story, he then did the lyrics to the 1959 hit Gypsy. In 1962, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum became Sondheim’s first show in which he wrote the music as well as the lyrics. From then on, the composer / lyricist was off and running. Among his other shows are Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), Sweeney Todd (1979), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), Into the Woods (1987) and Assasins (1990). Sondheim’s musicals (except for Forum) are definitely on the dark side and feature very "literate" lyrics and harmonics that tend to destabilize melody.

The cast includes Alan Nebola as Pseudolus, Rick Murphy as Hysterium, Sara Arnold as Philia, John Blix as Hero. Greg Walston and Halane Cummings portray Hero's parents, Senex and Domina. Brian Larkin plays Marcus Lycus, and Ron Baldwin is featured as Eronius. Larry Adams-Bowers portrays Miles Gloriosis. Also in the cast are Elise Dickerson, Bethany Martin, Sherry Stout, Beverly Adams-Bowers, Jennifer Wilder, and Sarah Seemann as the courtesans and Paul Blix, Natalie Stout, and Brian Seemann as the Proteans.

Musicians for the show include Judy Mitschelen, keyboard; wind players Barb Glime and Judy Trygstad, and David Arnold on percussion.

The Friday, October 12 performance will be given for the national convention of the American Legion Women's Auxiliary, to be held in Amana.  Sherry McLaughlin of Mt. Auburn will be installed as president of that organization during the convention.

ACT I Thanks Its

While ACT I thrives on a tremendous base of volunteer participation and support, generous monetary donations from our loyal patrons enable us to produce and stage a vast variety of performances, from big name musicals to local poetry readings.

Our wonderful sets, costumes, programs, and many other theatrical trimmings are due in large part to the following individuals and businesses.

Diamond ($1,000)

Clingman Pharmacy, Jon & Julie Clingman
Production Sponsor, Events Series

Farmer’s Savings Bank, Bill Owens, Vice President
Production Sponsor, Romeo and Juliet

John’s Qwik Stop, John Ketchen
Production Sponsor, Children's Theatre Series 

Ruby ($750)

Expressions, Lori Smith
Production Sponsor, It Runs in the Family 

Emerald ($500)

Cedar River Ink, Mike & Joyce Svoboda
Production Sponsor, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Pearl ($250)

Larry & Beverly Adams-Bowers
John & Shirale Hanson
Dave & Mary Horst
Horst Family Players, Gerald & Marcy Horst
Vernon Research Group, Pat Lyons

Sapphire ($100)

Cooling Dance Center, Joan & Casey Cooling
Frazier Nursery, John & Carolyn Frazier
Greg & Kari Douma
LaGrange Pharmacy, Inc., Mike LaGrange
Judy Mitschelen
April Noeller
Dave & Rachelle Timmerman
Charlie Vogl
State Farm Insurance, Stan & Rhonda Westergard
The In Seam, Jeannie Springer
Three Rivers Insurance, Dave Vermedahl

Opal ($50)

Davis Photography, Lisa Coots
The Solutions Store, Rick & Betsy Hadley

Gem ($25)

4^th Street Coffee Company
Cardinal Motors, Inc., Vicky Hunter, Vice President
Vinton Family Practice

ACT I is pleased to offer many perks in conjunction with the Gem Sponsorships, including free tickets to ACT I shows, recognition in every ACT I program and from the stage, and for our Diamond Gems, advertisement on the Palace marquee during the week of one of our main stage shows. We also honor our sponsors at an end-of-season reception, and plaques are presented to those whose donations total $250 and over. Please consider becoming a Palace Gem by contacting board member Joan Cooling, 472-4551, to discuss your donation.

Season Ticket

Due to the change in schedule for the recital "Family Affair," the ACT I Board has voted to extend the deadline for the purchase of Season Tickets for Season 2001 – 2002. Season tickets can now be purchased until October 14, the closing performance of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Season tickets cost $28.00 for adults and $20.00 for students and give admission to all the remaining productions in both the Main Stage and Events Series, as well as a paid membership in ACT I. It’s quite a deal! Write to act1ofBC@aol.com or call 472-9957 for more information, or just get your season ticket when you buy your tickets to Forum.

The ACT I Ticket information line and Palace Theatre Box Office number is 472-9957.

Sweet Corn Days Great Success for Vinton and ACT I

Junk Food Corner Resurrected

ACT I members were out in full force on Saturday, September 1 for the return of Vinton Sweet Corn Days. ACT I veteran, Linda Radcliffe organized and led the JUNK FOOD CORNER fundraising campaign. This food booth was a replica of the one ACT I annually sponsors for the Cruise, and just as successful. Many folks ventured downtown to the Court House lawn to join in the festivities and most of those present stopped in for a snack. Grand total earnings were right around $1,000. THANKS A MILLION to all those who helped man the stand!

Over 500 people visited Evergreen Cemetery on Sweet Corn Days for the Cemetery Walk sponsored by Overton -Van Steenhuyse Funeral Home and featuring many of our ACT I membership. Clare Horst appeared as an Indian Girl, who died north of the Cedar River. Julie Clingman represented Mrs. Virgina Chadbourne, who coincidently built the home where Jon and Julie and daughter Emma now reside. Steve Arnold was superior as the esteemed Buren R. Sherman, 11th Governor of Iowa, and Ron Baldwin gave a winning performance as Roy M. Dunstan, Vinton teacher and rural mail carrier for 40 years.

This well-planned community event was both moving and informative. Watch for it again next year.

BUY SEASON TICKETS!!!

Adults $28, Students $20!

For more information about our ticket prices, visit our E-Box page!

Fowler, Deutsch, Parmeter, Ketchen, Meyer, Sellers, Hanson . . . does this sound like the lineup for the WHS Viking Football team? It is, but it’s also the lineup for the Capulets vs. the Montagues in ACT I’s first ever Shakespeare production, Romeo and Juliet. Between now and February, eleven Viking football players (plus one graduate player) will be mixing their punting and passes with passados and poetry, and their tight ends with, well, tights. These young actor/athletes, who sometimes go directly from the football field to the rehearsal stage, are becoming proficient not just in the delivery of Iambic pentameter verse but also in swordsmanship and dance, proving themselves to be Renaissance men in the truest sense – and also very literally, since the play takes place in 14^th century Italy.

Heading the cast in the title roles are Brandon Jolly as Romeo and Megan Christy as Juliet. Brandon, a Bettendorf native and a junior at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, was on the set construction crew for our production of My Fair Lady last season. This is his first acting experience. Megan has appeared in several ACT I productions; this will be her third major role. She is a ninth grader at WHS.

Principal actors playing youth roles include the welcome debut of Jared Parmeter as Mercutio, as well as a trio of very familiar young ACT I veterans – Josh Deutsch as Tybalt, Matthew Meyer as Benvolio, and Aaron Murphy as Paris. Josh, Matt, and Aaron all have several major roles with us to their credits and are all students at WHS. Jared, a graduate of WHS, is now a junior at UNI. Also in the youth cast are ACT I veteran actors Jake Fowler as Sampson, Kordereau Sellers as Gregory, and Blake Hanson as Abram.  Ben Melhow makes his debut as Balthasar.

Jill g. Lockard Bopp returns to ACT I in the role of the nurse after an eight year absence. She is also serving as our costume designer. Jill is a veteran actress and director of many past ACT I shows. Edgar Dickerson makes his Main Stage debut as Friar Lawrence, but he is not unfamiliar to our audiences. He appeared in both our Reader’s Theatre productions last season as well as our poetry reading. Steve Arnold appears as Capulet and Jeannine Peyton makes her debut as Lady Capulet. Alan Nebola plays Montague, and Kelli Otting makes her debut as Lady Montague. Alexander Vasquez plays the Prince, and long time veteran Ron Baldwin plays the Apothocary.

Also in the cast are Josh Brewer, Kyle Brewer, Brian Lefstad, Ryan Calderwood, Dan Greaser, Will Ketchen, Cody Robison, Erin Horst, Kaitlin Karrick, Josie Rundlett, Kayla Comer, Hallie Marble, Meghan Kriz, Adam Icenogle, Dakota Rundlett, Trevor Walker, Jacob Christy, Adam Smith, Nathan Horst, Bill Owens, Zach Parmeter, Taylor Felker, JoDee Edmonds, Jessie Geiger, Kristin Fuehrer, Lucas Aamos and Lindsey Aamos.

The production is directed by Steve Arnold. Alexander Vasquez serves as Assistant Director, Stage Manager, and Fight Coach. Kevin Bookmeier is the technical director with lighting design by Austin Karr.  The costume mistress is Laura Payne.  Charlie Vogl serves as Choreographer and Sound Editor.

The production opens from February 22, and is sponsored by Farmers' Savings Bank and Trust.

Member of the Month

August of 1996 was a lucky month for we Benton County neighbors and thespians. That year, as children were packing their school bags and sharpening their pencils, the Brian and Sara Larkin family was packing their travel bags and sharpening their adjustment skills as they escaped the Windy City area to settle and thrive in loverly Vinton, Iowa.

Lucky for us, the Larkin family quickly entered the Vinton Shellsburg school system, where Sara continues to teach Math and Computer Programming and coach the Math League at Washington High School. Abby and Rachael now walk the halls of Tilford Middle School, and John and Katie are both 4^th graders at Lincoln Elementary. Brian began his local career in reality, found his niche, and soon opened Cedar River Reality.

Luck continued to befall Benton County in 1999, when Abby, Rachael, and Katie graced the ACT I summer stage for the first time, at the Braille School Auditorium, as Toys in The Velveteen Rabbit. Since that fortuitous summer, ACT I audiences have seen Abby and Rachael in The Secret Garden, Hansel and Gretel, Charlotte’s Web, and The Emperor’s New Clothes, and Katie in Hansel and Gretel, Charlotte’s Web, and Stone Soup.

From the beginning of their relationship with ACT I, Sara has pitched in backstage, helping with make-up, costumes, set, and overall cast control. This year, during the You’ve Got To See It To Believe It! productions, Sara took on the ambitious job of house manager. When Sara is not helping off stage you may find her leading the applause from the front row with son John, one of our biggest ACT I supporters.

As parents of ACT I STAGE! actors often do, Brian fell into a bit of luck himself, during the summer of 2000, when he was asked to step in as Fair Barker/Judge/Announcer. He made the most of his small collection of characters during that performance. It was then that several ACT I talent scouts discovered Brian’s history in music and theatre, and realized the luck was, indeed, all ours. Fortunately, Brian’s love of the theatre came back to him once he heard the laughter and applause that continued beyond the final curtain, and he was off to the My Fair Lady auditions before Sara could utter, "You’re going to what?" Very little luck was involved when he was cast as Alfred P. Doolittle, unless you count the luck of his fellow cast members, the director, and the grateful audience.

Brian Larkin (above, center) as Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady

Brian is now gearing up to open with the cast of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum this weekend. Word from rehearsals is that he is outstanding as the leacherous Marcus Lycus.

ACT I members all agree that our community theatre group has greatly profited from our partnership with the Larkin family. And it is to our advantage that Brian and Sara Larkin both feel that this acting association is also beneficial to their family.

"Being involved in live theatre gives kids experience speaking in front of groups, helping to overcome shyness.  (Which is why you'll never see Sara on the stage!)  Involvement in the arts also stimulates the mind and has a direct impact on academic success."

Brian is now a member of the ACT I board, and has generously taken on the large task of Promotional Director.

Camping, movies at the Palace, family game time, singing in the choir at St. Mary’s, attending High School sporting events, and riding bikes top the Larkin’s Fun Things to Do in Vinton List.

And, With a Little Bit O’ Luck, supporting and participating in ACT I will continue to grace that list as well.

Here's a first for our Trivia Quiz!  This month's clues are all pictures.  You can get glimpses from the pictures above of the unique, fanciful set created for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum by set designer Erica Grindle and built by technical director Allen Lueckenotto.  How many of our past sets can you remember?  Below are views of sets or parts of sets (in a variety of conditions) from some of the 58 past ACT I shows.  How many can you identify?

Although most of these answers to last month's are also contained in the lead article of this current issue, here they are again, matched with the clues: 

1.  Stephen Sondheim was mentored as a teenage boy by Oscar Hammerstein II. 

2.  Sondheim's first Broadway show as lyricist was 1957's West Side Story. 

3.  Sondheim's first show in which he wrote both music and lyrics was A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in 1962.

4.  "Send in the Clowns" (as well as "A Weekend in the Country" and "The Sun Never Sets" are from A Little Night Music (1973).

5.  Sondheim's 1987 fairy tale musical is Into the Woods.

6.  Sondheim's 1979 show about a serial killer is Sweeney Todd.

7.  The well known painting "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte," by French impressionist artist Georges Seurat was the inspiration for the 1984 show Sunday in the Park with George.

8.  Sondheim's show about all the men and women who have attempted to murder the president of the United States is Assassins, (1990) scheduled for its first Broadway run this season.

Congratulations to Sue Freet for answering five out of eight correctly!

The Next Meeting of the Board of ACT I of Benton County will be Sunday, October 14, 2001 at 6:30 PM in the ACT I Studio.  Members and visitors are always welcome.

Minutes of meetings from the current year can be accessed on the Board page of our website.  

              Message from
the Editors 

"Tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight!"  (Or perhaps that should read 'Tragedy in February, comedy in October!")  It's always exciting to watch another show come together, especially when someone else is doing all the work!  As A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum opens this week, your editors Marcy and Steve will have prime seats in the audience, happily watching others do all the work!

It's great to see ACT I try something new, and this season ACT I mounts, for the first time ever, productions of plays by two theatrical giants -- one of the leading dramatists of the 20th century, Stephen Sondheim, and the leading dramatist of the 16th century, William Shakespeare.  Both offer heavy challenges to ACT I's resources.  We hope our audiences enjoy our efforts on these two very different productions.

The events of September 11 are a grim reminder to us to keep our priorities straight.  "Tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight" is Stephen Sondheim's way of reminding us of how fickle life can be with us.  A good friend who is a member of the Forum production company said to me a few days after September 11 that he hoped we would never go back to the way we were before that dark date -- being caught up in our posessions and taking our lives for granted, not fully appreciating what we have.

As we reel in horror at the destructive side of man's nature, let us not forget that there is another side; that wonderful creative side that stands in defiance of man's destructiveness.  The arts can help keep our perspective so that we don't take the good for granted nor let the bad destroy our spirits.  The arts help us to see the comedy in tragedy, and the tragedy in comedy.  Together with religion, that arts play a vital role in helping to make sense out of our insane world.

There are dark times ahead.  Our nation has been wounded in ways that will never quite heal.  But if we lose the ability to laugh, that will be a loss that is profound indeed.  So come laugh with us over the next two weeks as we present A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.  We don't know what tomorrow may bring, but in Vinton, it will be "Comedy Tonight!"

  Steve Arnold
         Marcy Horst

That's Grease Paint for October, 2001!

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

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