curtain call 15.1 june 2009

8/14/2019 Curtain Call 15.1 June 2009

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Auditions were held at the Quamon May 12th and 13th. This years

cast will consist of area students in

seventh through twelfth grade.Many talented youth auditioned,

showcasing their experience frompast TiTW productions.

In addition to putting on a great

production, developing future thea-

ter leaders is a goal of directorsKaren Collins and Deb Shipman.

They are encouraging students to

by Carolyn Burnett

Curtain CallQuarter ly Newsletter of Theatre in the Woods, Ltd. June, 2009olume XV

new home at the Erika Quam Me-morial Theater in 1999.

Now, "Fools" is the Neil Simoncomedy scheduled to resurface as

we begin the celebration of the

completion of

two decadesand begin a

third. Yes,

2009-2010 will

be Theatre in

the Woods'

20th season!!!

This "Fools" will differ from the

second, as the second differed

from the first. Directed again byCarolyn Burnett, Patti Fox di-

rected "Fools" 2.

Auditions are on the calendar for

Wednesday and Thursday eve-nings, August 26 and 27, begin-

ning at 6:30. The director's hope

is to bring back actors from bothpreceding productions as well as

to cast some relatives of those

youngsters in the 1990 cast, andintroduce newcomers to theTITW audience.

The production will run twoweekends in October, 8-11 and

17, 18. Scripts are available for

perusal. More information canbe obtained from Carolyn at

715-354-3803 or

[email protected].

Fools...FoolsFools

That's us at TITW! But put quota-

tions around the word:

"Fools is the title of the Neil

Simon comedy that put Theatre in

the Woods on the cultural map ofWashburn County as our very

first production back in 1990.

"Fools" is the Neil Simon comedythat ushered in our second decade

as the opening production in our

ALADDIN

This years Theatre in the Woodsyouth production will be

Aladdin, a fast paced and funnyversion of the "Arabian Nights"story by William Glennon. The

cast includes: Aladdin and his

friends, a dancing monkey, theprincess, two genies and a village

of flamboyant and mysterious

characters.

develop their skills in all areas ofthe production. From set design

to opening night, theater magichappens with the hard work of

many. If you are interested in

spending a few hours sharing yourexpertise with the students, please

contact Karen Collins at 635-6713

or Deb Shipman at 635-9500.

Evening rehearsals will be held

the last two weeks of June withthe play taking stage for three7:00pm performances starting

Thursday, June 25th. Aladdin is

a show for all ages and we hopeyou will join us for an evening of

Aladdin and his friends.

by Deb Shipman

June 25 26 27


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Vol. XV Curtain Call June, 2009

FRONT ROW: Laurie Bakkum (director), MB King, Don Bruce, Laura Bruce,Emily Organ, Troy Benham, Tam Smith (accompanist), Paul DolanBACK ROW: Alex Peck, Cambria Groehler, Roger Sweeney, Sue Bigelow,Aaron Engstrand, Marilyn Loder, Emily Muus, Rose Bauman, Del Bakkum

ERNESTin LOVEAPRIL 2, 3 & 4

LYRICS BY ANNE CROSWELL

MUSIC BY LEE POCKNESS


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Marge Kolbek, who intended to

attend the March 7th field trip butwasnt able to, sent the following

questions So how was the play?

Did the 20th century staging workfor you? Some answers are pro-

vided by the following comments

solicited from the group of 15people who made the trip to Min-

neapolis with TITW :

What a wonderful day - experi-

encing the unique and expansive

Guthrie! I loved the forever view

of the River and city. The high-light for me was enjoying the play

in the company of friends and

laughing out loud. Let's do "this"again next year.

- Marie

I was really impressed with how

much Dowling (Guthrie artistic

director and director of this pro-

duction) was able to augment one(Continued on page 5)

Submission Guidelines:Curtain Call is published in March,June, September and December. Copydeadline is on the 15th of the previous

month. Submit text as a simple, unfor-

matted e-mail or attached Word docu-

ment. Photos or other artwork should

be sent as an attached file, preferably

JPEG file format. Send to:

[email protected]

Check out our our website:

titw.orgSign in and be a part of our online

TITW Community.

Shawn Tisdell, Webmaster.

(715) 822-3222

Curtain Call is the quarterlynewsletter of:

Theatre in the Woods, Limited

P.O. Box 156

Shell Lake, WI 54871

Phone (715)468-4387

Carolyn Burnett, President, 354-3803Carolyn Seehafer, Vice PresidentKathy Mitchell, SecretaryPatti Fox, Treasurer

Margaret Olsgard, Curtain CallEditor,

(715) 635-8171

Bob Olsgard, Curtain CallTech Guru

TITW Field Trip

The Two Gentlemen

of Veronaat the Guthrie Theater

by Carolyn Burnett

Theatre in the Woods

Skews Statistics!by Carolyn Burnett

The accepted number for the life

time of a community theatre is 5years, or maybe even fewer.

TITW is moving into its TWEN-TIETH season this fall.

What do you remember as highpoints for your association with

TITW? As audience, on your list

of favorites? As an actor, whatrole was the most challenging, the

most fun? What backstage memo-

ries stand out for those who havedone that important work?

Do you think you might win the

prize for the most productionsseen over the past twenty years?

the most acting roles? the most

baking for concessions?

Tell us your memories of Theatre

in the Woods. Tell us what you

think TITW has contributed to thecommunity the past two decades.Tell us what having a vibrant

community theatre means to you.

Tell us any and everything!

Send comments to the message

taker at 715 468 4387, or send tothe Curtain Call editor at

[email protected]. Then

watch for the September issue tocompare your thoughts with oth-

ers.

We want to hear from you!

(ed. note:Also see titw.orgfor this dis-

cussion thread on our website. Look for20 Years of TITW Stories under the-

Discussions tab and share your stories.)

Come visit us at our home,

The Erika Quam Memorial Theater

605 First St

Shell Lake, WI

RENT the QUAM!Contact us about rental rates and

availability of our

facilities for your event.


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Vol. XV Curtain Call June, 2009Anatomy of a Production:

Part TwoMuch Ado about Brunchby Karen Kaufman & Carolyn Burnett

(for Part One, see the March is-

sue of Curtain Call)

It could have been the three kinds

of quiche. Or that Much Adoabout Nothing is the awesomest

play in the world. Perhaps the

reason lies in someone having

Middle English as her second lan-guage. No matter what drew them

there, some fifteen hardy souls

gathered around a table inthe basement of the Quam

on Saturday morning, April

4 for a collective read ofShakespeares comedy.

Amidst laughter at the rep-artee of Beatrice and Bene-

dick, hisses at the evil na-ture of Don John, and

groans at how easilyShakespeares characters

can be fooled, directors

Karen Kaufman and Caro-lyn Burnett pointed out a

few cuts to be made in thescript. When asked why,

the directors explained the

cuts were for clarification

when the meaning of theline would be so obscure to a

modern audience as to distractattention. As the morning pro-

gressed the readers easily under-

stood.

This collective reading encour-

aged some of those present to

check out copies of the play for

further reading on their own.Anyone else interested in ob-

taining a script, or wishing

more information, should call

either Karen at 635 7641 orCarolyn at 354 3803.

Next on the agenda for the di-rectors have been a couple of

meetings to discuss script, set-ting, and style. During a recenttrip to Chicago, the pair spent

about 12 hours discussing keyaspects of the production in ad-

dition to much in depth internet

research. Priorities include au-dience accessibility, respect for

the Shakespearean tradition,

and commitment to a fun, light-

hearted process and production.

Its clear the production will notreuse the fabulous Elizabethan

costumes from our12th Night,

but neither will the actors be in

contemporary 2010 clothing.

More than that the directors arenot saying, except that the mu-

sic of the period chosen willplay a significant part.

As with 12th

Night, a series ofacting workshops will be held,

beginning with one on Septem-

ber 12. Led by Burnett andKaufman, this workshop will be

open to all interested actors and

directors and will focus on theenhancement of basic actingskills. The second workshop,

tentatively scheduled for

October 24, is planned tocover movement and the

use of the body to develop

characters, with the thirdworkshop, tentatively

January 9, 2010, devotedto Speaking Shake-

speare. Workshop twowill be open to actors inboth the Fools cast and

the cast of Much Ado.

Leaders of these work-

shops will be announced ata later date.

Auditions for Much Adoabout Nothing are sched-

uled from 9 AM to 11 AM

Saturday, September 19,and from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM

Wednesday, September 23, in

the basement of the Quam.

Keep watch on coming issues ofCurtain Callfor continuing arti-

cles on the Anatomy of a Pro-duction.

Much Ado about NothingBy William Shakespearey William Shakespearey William ShakespeareAuditions:uditions:uditions:

SATURDAYTURDAYTURDAY, SSSEPTEMBERPTEMBERPTEMBER 1919199 AMAMAM TOOO 11 AM11 AM11 AM

WEDNESDAYDNESDAYDNESDAY, SSSEPTEMBERPTEMBERPTEMBER 2323236:30 PM:30 PM:30 PM TOOO 8:30 PM8:30 PM8:30 PM.Actors Workshops:ctors Workshops:ctors Workshops:

SEPTEMBERPTEMBERPTEMBER 12,12,12,OCTOBERTOBERTOBER 242424JANUARYNUARYNUARY 999

onstage:nstage:nstage:MARCHRCHRCH 262626-28 , A8 , A8 , APRILRILRIL 222-4


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of Shakespeare's earlier less

developed plays into an afternoon

of fun for the audience. Shake-speare would have approved!

-Roger

Though we often talk about get-

ting over to the Guthrie more fre-

quently, the trips never seem tomaterialize for want of planning.

The opportunity of the group trip

was just the impetus we needed.

Thanks for planning this and get-ting us off dead center. We en-

joyed the whole experience im-

mensely. Great antidote forMarch Cabin Fever in the North-

woods!

-Gary and Diane Peterson

I thoroughly enjoyed it. Major

visual stimulation and way acces-sible entertainment after uncer-

tainty about dealing with Shake-spearean language and heavy

doses of archaic puns. After

reading the totally goofy play andscholars comments about it reallybeing about the friendship of

young men, the 1950s spin on it

may be close to what I imaginethe original rollicking audiences

expected of these comedies circa

1600: jokes and more jokesimbedded in a back stabbing ro-

mantic adventure. Throw in the

Guthries musical (doowap) con-

cepts and the emotional rol-lercoaster of the woman playing

Julia (art that makes me cry gets

bonus points) and I start thinkingopera for masses (of course

legitimized by the word SHAKE-

SPEARE)

-Sam

(FIELD TRIP, Continued from page 3) 1) The new Guthrie is intimidat-ing in its size and a bit cold, but I

love the "magic" graphics on the

walls and ceilings.2) I've never seen Shakespeare so

bastardized, but I thoroughly en-

joyed the Guthrie's 2 Gents. Itwas a bit schizo with the 50s stuff+ many of Shakespeare's lines,

but somehow it worked as a piece

of real entertainment. I loved theset, the music, and the danc-

ing. The cast looked like they

were having as good a time per-forming as we were having

watching them.

3) I love a happy ending...

-Carol

I was pleasantly surprised be-

cause I'm not that into Shake-speare. It was very entertain-

ing. I loved the costuming (of

course that's where my eye goesfirst) and the actors did a great

job playing to the audience. The"new" Guthrie is a beautiful

building, it sits right on the river

and the view is wonderful. I thinkthe only drawback, and not a

problem for me (smile), was the

seats are very close together andnot made for tall people. The

Quam has them beat in that de-partment. I love the idea of see-

ing a play or doing anything with

my theatre family that is outsideof doing a production of our own

and jump at the chance. It is a

good way to get to know eachother better and to meet new peo-

ple who join us.

-Megan

My first reaction to the Guth-

rie was how easy it was to get

there and park, and then thebeautiful view from the

"bridge". This was not anything I

expected, (crowded, old, ..). The

production itself was slick withthe clever premise and use of tech

available. However, somehow,and I don't even know how, but

somehow I expected the acting to

be better. Makes me think at the

acting level things aren't reallythat different-Chuck

So, a good time was had by all.

This was not the first such fieldtrip for TITW, nor will it be the

last. Please send your sugges-

tions at any time for such anotheradventure!


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Mix ten nuns, two super heroes,

four Irish accents, three men intights and a woman with a pair oftongs and what do you get? Wis-

consins 2009 state AACTFest.

So begins the Wisconsin Asso-

ciation of Community Theatrecurrent newsletter. Send in two

representatives from Theatre in

the Woods, and you get the fol-lowing highlights of the work-

shops offered during the Febru-

ary 27-March 1 American Asso-ciation of Community Theatre

biannual state festival, held at the

River Arts Center in Prairie duSac.

Patti Fox, current TITW treas-

urer and Carolyn Burnett, prez,opted to attend the 8:00 AM

workshop on The Art of the

Monologue, looking for clues

on directing one person shows orthose heavy on the use of mono-logue. Both came away im-

pressed with the young talent

from Sauk Prairie high schooland with ideas for augmenting

TITWs own summer youth thea-

tre project.

At 10:00 oclock the Fox Burnett

team split up. Patti took in the

ETC: Lighting! workshop ledby Spencer Lyons of Electronic

Theater Controls of Middleton.

This company manufactures andsells through such dealerships as

Norcostco in Minneapolis a full

spectrum of theatre lighting tech-nology. The companys focus on

outreach training parallels

Following lunch and on into the

evening, hour long excerpts

from five different plays(produced by five different

community theatres) were

shown and adjudicated. Fancy

word for constructive criticism.On Sunday, awards for the best

of this and the best of that were

given out, with two plays se-lected to go on to the regional

AACT Fest. Eventually, as

plays are selected at regionalfestivals and then the national

festival, some community thea-

tre group is faced with the thrilland challenge of taking a show

beyond the road over to a for-eign country for the interna-

tional festival.

Burnett and Fox talked about

whether TITW should ever con-template entering a play at the

Wisconsin level of AACT Festi-vals. While they started out say-

ing, Were not about competi-

tion, their minds were some-

what opened by the argumentthat its not about competition.

Its about the growth factorwhich comes with the opportu-

nity to play to different audi-

ences. Theres no doubt TITW

would stand up well in compari-son with the plays seen at

WACTFest 2009!

TITW's in-house training offered

by Bob Olsgard. Patti saw po-

tential to bring that training (oursand/or ETCs) to a combination

of theatre personnel in our re-gion, including the high schools.

She, herself, is keen to get a bet-

ter handle on just what TITWowns and uses, as well as to help

establish an annual maintenance

schedule for all our tech equip-ment.

Burnett, always on the look outfor directorial insights, went tothe Creating Ensemble work-

shop led by Lauren Rose of UW

Baraboo. The phrase openingpositions of leadership struck

Burnett as just what TITW has

been pretty good at over theyears, but needs to continue to

be diligent about. This workshop

was a very active one, with the

group trying out several differenttheatre games geared to creat-ing an ensemble whole from a

group of previously unac-

quainted individuals. These

games can be used to cohere aboard of directors as well as a

cast of actors.

Wisconsin AACT Fest 2009

by Carolyn Burnett & Patti Fox


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To those of you who were present

and those of you who missed itdrum roll pleasedid we get rid

of stuff or what!! The biggest job

we have tackled in some time wassuccessfully completed with the

help of 10 volunteers. Those vol-

unteers were: John Cook, Caro-lyn Burnett, Patti Fox, Carol See-

hafer, Shirley Hile, Eva Olsgard,

Troy Benham, Thorin Benham,

and Jean Speaker.

The storeroom (dont even call it

the shed) was actually moved outalmost entirely onto the lawn. I

was a bit worried when it took

about two and a half hours to getall the stuff out of the room,

knowing it all had to go some-

where in the next four or fivehours. But much discussion and

brute strength seemed to make it

disappear or be arranged nicely back in the room. You can actu-ally walk in there now versus

crawling over stuff. Hey letsface it; there were things we

havent seen since we moved in.

Its amazing!! At the same timethings were being gone through

to put in our rummage sale this

fall (watch for the date), yardwork was also done, as well as

straightening up the workshop

(dont even refer to it as the ga-rage).

Soif you are missing what is

being said behind the scenes, soto speak, you really need to at-

tend one of our Quam Days

they are so much fun and youlearn the inside jokes. You dont

have to know anything about

theater, just show up and you will

be assigned a task, and enjoy afew hours of fun with friends

new and old. Hey, you even get

a free lunch (well maybe not en-tirelyfree - you are working, after

all)!

Directors take note; thanks to theintrepid souls who attended our

recent basic lighting workshops,your lighting team just got bigger,

better and brighter.

If you werent there, you missed

out on the fun of positioning

lights high atop our new mega-ladder, programming our new

easy to use controller and other

equally exhilarating thrills toonumerous to elucidate here.

For those of you who couldnt

make our first two lighting work-shops, fret not. Well be doing it

again in the future. Stay tuned toCurtain Callfor future lightingnews.

Another Successful

QUAM DAY

by Megan Connors

Bigger, Better, Brighterby Bob Olsgard

A big thank you to Jean Speakerour master gardener for working

on the flower beds, as well as

Troy and Thorin Benham forhauling away items no longer

needed.

The next Quam Day is set for Sat-urday August 29 (9:00-3:00).

Come for an hour or all day. Its

a great no pressure way to get toknow us and/or keep in touch

with each other outside of work-

ing on a production.

To the Dump

Toss or Keep?


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Upcoming Events at Erika Quam Theater

Call 468-4387 to ReserveJune 9 TITW Monthly Meeting 7 p.m.

June 25,26 & 27 Alladin onstage 7 p.m.

July 14 TITW Annual Picnic & Meeting 6 p.m.

August 11 TITW Monthly Meeting 7 p.m.

August 26 & 27 Auditions for Fools 6:30 p.m.

September 8 TITW Monthly Meeting 7 p.m.

September 12 Actors workshop 9-12 a.m.

September 19 Pretty Good Party-Anniversary Style TBA

September 19 Auditions:Much Ado About Nothing 9-11 a.m.

September 23 Auditions:Much Ado About Nothing 6:30-8:30p.m.

September 29 Auditions:Its A Wonderful Life 6:30-8 p.m.

October 8-11 & 17,18 Fools onstage TBAMarch 26-28 & April 2-4 Much Ado About Nothing onstage TBA

Non-ProfitOrganization

U.S.Postage

PAIDShellLake,WI54871

PermitNo.31

Please recycle this newsletter - Share it with a friend!

Heres a heads up for you!

Many of you have attended our

Pretty Good Party in the past.

Now its time to mark Saturday,

September 19, 2009 on your cal-endars. This will be our very spe-

cial Pretty Good Party - Anni-

versary Style.

Join us for hors doeuvres and fun

as we celebrate TitWs first 20

years. Learn some of our historyfrom the founders of our organi-

zation and get a sneak peak atwhat we have in store to start our

third decade!

We couldnt have done it withoutyou and we dont want to cele-

brate without you. Did you mark

your calendars yet?

See you at the Quam!

IN THE WORKSIN THE WORKSIN THE WORKSChristmas Show 09hristmas Show 09hristmas Show 09It's A Wonderful Life: A LiveRadio Play by Joe Landry will

be directed by Roger Sweeney

for the 2009 Christmas sea-son. Production dates will

be: Nov 27-28-29 and Dec 3-4-

5-6. Auditions are scheduledfor Tues, Sept 29, 6:30pm -

8:00 (2-3 men and 2-3 women).

Watch for more information inthe September Curtain Call.

ReturnServiceRequested

Pretty Good Party -

Anniversary Style!Come join the fun at our

annual picnic on July 14 at

6:00 p.m. at the Quam.

Bring a lawn chair, a dish to

pass, and anything you would

like to grill. The grills and

beverages will be provided.

A short business meeting

will follow.

by Shirley Hile

TITW Picnic

July 14

P.O.Box156

ShellLake,WI54871

curtain call 15.1 june 2009

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