ACT I is opening its twenty-seventh season of bringing live community theatre to Benton County.  During that time, we have given 375 performances of eighty-five different productions at no less than twelve different locations throughout Benton County!  Here's where we have played up to now . . .

The Palace Theatre in downtown Vinton is ACT I's resident venue.  It was purchased and renovated by ACT I for use as a performing arts center and public cinema.  Nearly $600,000 was raised locally for the project.  This multiple use facility is managed by a separate corporation, Palace Inc., and was opened in mid November of 1999.  ACT I performed its 1999 - 2000 Variety Show, I'll Be Home for Christmas, there in December shortly after the facility's grand opening, and we have performed all our major productions there since its opening.  After seven seasons, the Palace has become our most frequently used venue throughout ACT I's 26 years of operation; since opening the theatre through the end of our twenty-sixth season, we have performed there 140 times in thirty-four different productions.

The Old Creamery Theatre was instrumental in founding ACT I of Benton County in the spring of 1980.  Established in a formerly a dairy co-operative in Garrison seven miles from Vinton, The Old Creamery is Iowa's only Equity theatre company.  Early productions by ACT I were directed by staff members of the Old Creamery, and ACT I performed on both stages of the theatre, the main stage with its three quarter thrust design, and the smaller Brenton stage.  (The third performance space at the Creamery, the outdoor courtyard, was never used by ACT I.)  ACT I began its life at the Creamery with You Can't Take it with You.  We last used the Brenton stage for Twigs in the fall of 1994 and our last production on the main stage was our revival of The Girls in 509 produced in the fall of 1996.  The Garrison theatre was closed following that production and most of the building is now gone.  The Old Creamery Company now performs in two different spaces in the Amana Colonies.  The Garrison building was notoriously cold in the fall and spring, and unusable during the winter months.  A perennially leaky roof proved an interesting challenge during our final years there, no matter which stage was in use.  The Old Creamery Main Stage was used by ACT I for 111 performances of twenty-seven shows; we used the Brenton Stage for ten additional performances of two different shows, for a total of 121 ACT I performances in the theatre building that first brought us to life.

Tilford Middle School Auditorium, with approximately 500 seats, was been our most frequent venue after the closing of the Old Creamery until the Palace Theatre was opened.  Ideal for large cast shows such as Oliver!, the space is problematic for more intimate productions.  Scheduling conflicts with school activities always kept life interesting.  Tilford was the site for 12 ACT I shows, totaling an even fifty performances.

The Ray House in Vinton was the location of our 1998 production of Sleuth.  The museum, available to a variety of groups as a meeting place, is one of the properties of the Benton County Historical Society.  Sleuth took audiences of 16 patrons or less throughout the mansion for a unique "on location" performance of this intense drama.  It was also the site for our Readers' Theatre series during the 2000-2001 Season, and of two of our classical Intermezzo recitals.  All told, the Ray house has seen twenty-two ACT I performances of seven different productions.

Wesley United Methodist Church in Vinton hosted the inaugural season of ACT I STAGE!, our children's theatre program.  The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and The Prince and the Pauper both ran there during the spring of 1999.  It was also the site of An Evening on Broadway with Kathleen Berger and our poetry reading, What God Says to Me When I Am Alone, in March of 2001 -- the site of thirteen performances of four shows.

Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School has long been a part of the Vinton community.  Established in the 1852, the main building, well over a century old, boasts a lovely Victorian auditorium with a magnificent pipe organ.  The most famous former student of IBSSS was Mary Ingalls, sister of author Laura Ingalls Wilder, a distinction which earned Vinton mention in the "Little House on the Prairie" television series.  The auditorium hosted three ACT I productions with a total of twelve performances, most recently The Velveteen Rabbit.  Poor acoustics, limited seating, and a small stage make large scale productions there difficult, but this jewel box auditorium will always be one of Vinton's architectural treasures.

The Vinton Country Club has hosted two ACT I dinner theatre productions, Knock 'Em Dead and The Boardwalk Melody Hour Murders.  The casual intimacy of the club dining room was ideal for these funky audience participation mysteries.  ACT I returned to the Country Club in February, 2004 for our Events Series production of Love Letters, and in November of 2005 for The Diary of Adam and Eve, making the total for this space 16 performances of four shows.

The Benton Community Schools Auditorium in Van Horne becomes the latest venue to be used by ACT I in June of 2004 for our Second Stage production of Mother Goose Memoirs, and in July of 2005 for Let Your Hair Down, Rapunzel.  The 400 seat auditorium works very well and it's likely, considering the success of our first two Second Stage summer camps, that our use of this facility will continue!

The Riverside Park Band Shell in Vinton was the stage for eight performances of three ACT I productions.  Bye Bye Birdie opened the 1998 - 99 season there.  We were incredibly lucky that none of the six performances were rained out, though negotiations with area mosquitoes proved a losing battle.  We returned to the band shell to close Season 2001 - 2002 in early June for our casual, family oriented vocal recital called Family Affair, which was presented as part of the Party in the Park celebration, and again in August, 2003, for a single performance revival of our hit production of The Reluctant Dragon.

Vinton City Hall is added to our list of performance venues as of April of 2002, selected as the location for the six performances of our readers' theatre production of The Titanic Disaster Hearings.  The City Council chamber offers us the perfect official space to replicate the atmosphere United States Senate hearings investigating the Titanic disaster, held in April and May of 1912 in the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, D. C.

The former 4th Street Coffee Co.  (Now under new ownership as Java Alley)  across from The Palace Theatre hosted our the three performances of our Christmas 1998 production of The Gift of the Magi, and also plays host to the occasional cast party.  The intimate "60's" atmosphere makes it a favorite gathering place, and is an ideal venue for small scale events served up with food.  The gracious hospitality and good food provided by the staff proves an integral part of any evening.

Tara Hills Country Club in Van Horne was the venue for three performances of our first mystery dinner theatre, Said the Spider to the Spy.  The production later moved to Tilford Middle School, making it one of only two shows in ACT I's history to play more than one venue.

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