Curtain Call 14.3

Curtain Call Volume XIV

Quarterly Newsletter of Theatre in the Woods, Ltd.

9th AnnualCommunity Collage by Mary Hemshrot

Have you seen the movies where Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney declare “we’re gonna put on a SHOW!”? Each winter, Theater in the Woods channels that enthusiasm and inventiveness and puts on “a show” featuring middle and high school students from our area. It is unlike any other performance at the Quam. A steady stream of young talent graces the stage as musicians, dancers, poets and actors flow seamlessly from one act to the next in this special program called Community Collage.

ensemble performances is marking its ninth year. Each year brings us some seasoned performers and introduces us to new local talents. Past years’ audience members consistently comment on the high quality of performances presented. This is not just for parents!

Don’t miss this great opportunity to hear and see students who are truly excellent performers. You’ll be glad you came out on a wintry evening to share this experience. Collage is for anyone with an interest in music, dance, theater and the support of the arts in our local Northwest Wisconsin is becoming communities. known as a place with diverse artistic offerings. TitW is proud to Community Collage is onstage offer this opportunity to comple- Saturday, January 17. Curtain ment the youth theater offered in time, 7:30 pm. the summer. While some students perform pieces that will be preFor more information contact our sented in judged events later in the Collage Director, Mary Hemshrot year, this is true theatrical experi- at 468-2271 or at ence away from school events. [email protected] This fast-paced collage of solo and

December 2008

Holiday Tea & Bake Sale Sunday, December 7, from 1 - 3 p.m., the Erika Quam Memorial Theater will be open, festively decorated, and filled with the warmth of the holiday spirit. Tam Smith will be at the piano and everyone can join in the entertainment. This come and go affair is TITW’s annual offering to the community of a time to meet with friends and neighbors, socialize and share the joy. Bring a friend for an hour or so of holiday cheer. Enjoy a plate of savories and sweets with your beverage of choice. Pick up some yummy home baked goodies for yourself or as gifts. The $5.00 admission offsets the expense of the goodies, the good will is provided for the taking. Please join us.

TitW Christmas Party On Tuesday, December 9, 2008 at 7:00 p.m., Theatre in the Woods will be hosting the annual Christmas Party. The party will be potluck, bring a white elephant gift to exchange if you wish. Beverages will be provided. A short business meeting will follow.

Vol. XIV

Curtain Call

Directing The Crucible by Donna Barnes-Haesemeyer

Directing 20 kids is much easier than directing 20 adults, I’ve decided. As long as you give them a cool costume to wear and there’s a party at the end of the production, they’re happy. I’m saving the National Enquirer expose for my memoirs, but suffice it to say that directing The Crucible was my own personal crucible. That said, the show was a success by most any measure. Theatre in the Woods received a $2000 grant from the Wisconsin Humanities Council to produce a lecture/

December , 2008 ful that “it might set a precedent.” (One could only hope!)

Nearly 500 people attended a performance of The Crucible and/or the humanities series. Cast and crew rewarded all with a remarkable production. Special thanks to Assistant Director Sam NadonNichols, whose astute understanding of the play and creative sensibility informed the production and Shell Lake High School embraced created a realistic set. I never want the curriculum we developed in to direct another show without conjunction with the show and Cynthia Hanna by my side as proawarded credit to five students duction assistant. She provided who were in the cast and attended much needed organization to the the six sessions of the humanities chaos, some great graphics, some series. Spooner High School unfor- good photos, and she kept me sane tunately did not, the principal fear- in moments of insanity. discussion/film series, bringing UW faculty members to the Quam for stimulating discussions of the Salem witchcraft trials, the McCarthy era, civil liberties and the works of Arthur Miller and Elia Kazan.

The yellow bird appears to the young girls

Danforth

Abigail , Hathorne

Proctor confesses

Elizabeth and Parris

2

Tituba, Herrick and Sarah Good

Vol. XIV

Curtain Call

December , 2008

QUAM DAY

Come for the fun on January 3, 2009 Looking for a way to counter the post holiday let down??? Want to make a productive start to the new year? Is one of your resolutions to participate in more community service activities? We have the solution for you!!! QUAM DAY Saturday, January 3, 2009. From 9 until around 3 on that day there will be work to do that might seem more like play. And lunch is provided!! We’ll be taking down the festive lights, setting up the stage for Collage, tackling the ever present piles of detritus (oh, no, not detritus - theatre treasures). Whether your expertise is in sorting, organizing, cleaning, building, or even supervising, there’s a place and a need for you. Join us on our first Quam Day of 2009. Don’t be shy. If you’re new to the area or TITW it doesn’t matter. Everyone is welcome and heartily invited. ’See on the 3rd.

Curtain Call is published quarterly by: Theatre in the Woods, Limited 605 First Street P.O. Box 156 Phone (715)468-4387 Carolyn Burnett, President, 354-3803 Carolyn Seehafer, Vice President Kathy Mitchell, Secretary Patti Fox, Treasurer Margaret Olsgard, Curtain Call Editor, (715) 635-8171 Bob Olsgard, Curtain Call Tech Guru SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: Curtain Call is published in March, June, September and December. Copy deadline is on the 15th of the previous month. Submit text as a simple, unformatted e-mail or attached Word document. Photos or other artwork should be sent as an attached file, preferably JPEG. Send to:

[email protected]

BUT WAIT! There’s MORE Check out our our website: titw.org including the new interactive beta site. Sign in and let us know what you think! Shawn Tisdell, Webmaster.

The Quam Gets a Lighting Makeover by Bob Olsgard

This fall TitW made major improvements to its stage lighting. The new equipment will make lighting easier than ever to create on our stage. The most significant (and most visible) piece of new equipment is a new light bar placed directly overhead in the house. This position was recommended to give optimum lighting for the front of our stage. Along with the new bar, we also acquired a number of new lighting fixtures and the control equipment that connects them to a new control board. The new board with its easy-toprogram controls will make it far easier to set up and run lights for each show. (With our old equipment, this job was somewhat mysterious.) 3

The lights, new lighting bar and new controls were installed just in time for this fall’s production of The Crucible. With our “maiden voyage” done, we’re excited about both the ease of execution and the greater range of visual expression offered by the improvements we’ve made. Along with the equipment upgrade, we'd also like to upgrade our crew of tech volunteers. If you’d like to get involved in lighting at Theatre in the Woods, please contact Bob Olsgard, [email protected] Many thanks to our board, our supporters and to all of you who worked so hard over the last few months to make this happen.

Vol. XIV

Curtain Call

ANOTHER PRETTY GOOD PARTY by Shirley Hile

The date was September 27, 2008 and the lights were all on at the Quam. It was “Another Pretty Good Party” and fun was had by all. At least we hope everyone had a good time, because we certainly did.

A masked Carol Seehafer

Lois, from Lois’s Country Cupboard, outdid herself by providing us delicious snacks. John Cook served up drinks, and Laurie Bakkum was the leader of the pack as she emceed and introduced actors reviewing the year just past and calling the attention of the audience to what lies in store for our 19th season. A preview of “The Crucible”, our first production of

December , 2008 are really looking forward to the 2009 party. It will be a special anniversary celebration as we kick off our 20th season. The tentative date has been set for Saturday, September 19, 2009. Mark your calendar!

Our Pretty Good Bartender John Cook

cers, directors, actors, light and sound folks, costumers, set designers and builders, and all those who clean, plant, mow, wash dishes, usher, serve, and all the rest of the tasks that make our theater a great place to be. We are grateful to all of you and look forward to seeing your at the Quam whenever you can come.

The Hair of the Dog that Bit You Group

Mike and Kathy Mitchell and Shirley Hile

Amy and Ron Carlson and Deb and Richard Shipman

Patti Fox and Marie Shipley

Gary Schneider

Donna and Karen with Laurie Bakkum in background

the new year, gave us a taste of the quality entertainment coming up. About 70 people were in attendance. This party is our opportunity to say thank you to our donors, offi-

The party Joanne Olson and Gina Lewis was hardly over when To all of you who came to our the committee got together to start party, thanks - and come again making plans for next year. We next year! 4

Vol. XIV

Curtain Call

December , 2008

Shakespeare Project II by Carolyn Burnett and Karen Kaufman

“…Sounds kind of ambitious and daunting, but in fact it promises to be fun! Co-directors Carolyn Burnett and Karen Kaufman heard the rumblings of interest in TITW producing one of Shakespeare’s plays and decided to make it happen.” - Karen Kaufman in Curtain Call

Shakespeare’s comedy, Twelfth Night. Project II will not be as lengthy. We’re looking at a spring 2010 performance date. But we hope to be as thorough in providing education and training opportunities.

Vol. VI , September, 2000.

TitW’s first Shakespeare Project did turn out to be fun. And now that we have recovered, we’re ready to go again! In 2000 we launched a three year project of reading and selecting a script, field trips to view productions, actor training workshops, community previews, and finally well received performances of THE TERMINAL WONDER DIALOGUES:

Kevin Kling & Claudia Schmidt How much better can it get? Claudia Schmidt, singer songwriter par excellence, favored performing artist at the Quam, and Kevin Kling, renowned story teller and playwright of national fame (NPR, Guthrie Theatre, and beyond) will join their talents in a performance not to be missed. Mark your calendars NOW! March 6, 2009, 7:30. Ticket price will be an unbelievable bargain at $13.00

Once again we will choose a comedy. If you have a favorite to suggest, feel free to contact either of us. (Details below.) As we did in the first Shakespeare Project, we’ll be looking for opportunities to view professional and non professional productions. Our first known such possibility is a field trip to Minneapolis, Saturday March 7, NEW TITW OFFICERS INSTALLED at October Meeting Donna passes the gavel

2009. We will view the Guthrie Theatre matinee production of Two Gentlemen of Verona. In order to obtain best seats available (at half price!) we have set December 20 as the deadline for reservations. After that date tickets will no doubt be available, but not at the bargain price of around $25-$30. To make reservations for the field trip please call Carolyn Burnett at 715 354 3803 or email to [email protected]. For further information or to suggest a play for consideration contact either Carolyn as above or Karen Kaufman at 715 635 7641 or [email protected]. STONES IN HIS POCKETS from page 6

With Stones in His Pockets, playwright Marie Jones turns the movie business on its head. In her play, the extras are the stars playing out their lives against the backdrop of Hollywood dreams and folly. As Jake says, “Don’t we have the right to tell our story the way we want it?” Yes, we do.

Our new Pres & V.P:

Patti & Kathy stay the course

Laurie gets the Door Prize.

5

Welcome to Stones in His Pockets. Saturday February 21 at 7:30 and Sunday February 22 at 2:00 at Erika Quam Theater. For reservations, call 715-468 4387.

Vol. XIV

Curtain Call

Coming to the Quam Feb 21 & 22

Stones in His Pockets by Carolyn Burnett

Directed by Shell Lake native and frequent Theatre in the Woods guest artist Julie Ahysay, Stones in His Pockets takes place in and around a small village in County Kerry, Ireland. The story centers on the set of Quiet Valley, another Irish film written, produced, directed and starring movie people from anywhere but Ireland. The real Irish people do have a role to play— they’re the extras, paid 40 pounds a day to stand around looking “dispossessed,” “angry,” “defeated,”and above all, colorful and authentic. Two actors play two of those Irish extras. They also play just about everyone else associated with the film—15 individuals in all. Men, women, and children. Scottish bouncers. Glamour girls. Angry teenagers. Charming old drunks. Accent coaches. Uppity assistant directors. Kindly school teachers. (Continued on p. 5)

December , 2008

AUDITIONS Jan 27 & 29

ERNEST IN LOVE Ernest in Love is a musical based on Oscar Wilde’s famous comedy of manners, The Importance of Being Ernest. Lyrics were written by Anne Croswell with music by Lee Pockness. Try-outs will be held on Tuesday, January 27 and Thursday, January 29 at 6:45 at the Quam Theater in Shell Lake.

Rehearsals will be Mondays and Thursdays through February and Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays through March. Performances will be March 27, 28, 29 and April 3, 4, and possibly 5. For more information, call Director Laurie Bakkum at 468-7900.

Please bring a piece to sing. Upcoming Events at Erika Quam Theater Call 468-4387 to Reserve December 7 Holiday Tea & Bake Sale 1 to 3 p.m. December 9 TitW Christmas Party 7 p.m. December 20 Reservation deadline, Guthrie Trip January 3 Quam Day 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. January 13 TitW Monthly Meeting 7 p.m. January 17 Community Collage TBA January 27 & 29 Auditions for Ernest in Love 6:45 p.m. February 17 TitW Monthly Meeting 7 p.m. February 21 Stones in his Pocket 7:30 p.m. February 22 Stones in his Pocket 2 p.m. March 6 Kevin Kling/Claudia Schmidt 7:30 p.m. March 7 Guthrie Trip, Two Gentlemen TBA March 9 TitW Monthly Meeting 7 p.m. March 27-29, April 3-5 Ernest in Love TBA

Please recycle this newsletter - Share it with a friend! 6

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 31 Shell Lake, WI 54871