The WCCT Spotlight The Newsletter of Webster City Community Theatre 1001 Willson Avenue, Webster City, Iowa

June/July 2015

FINAL PERFORMANCES THIS WEEK! July 15, 16, 17 &18 at 7:00 pm

July 19 at 2:00 pm DON’T MISS THIS HILARIOUS QUEST FOR THE

HOLY GRAIL BY KING ARTHUR AND HIS KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE!

A somewhat irreverent quest for the Holy Grail plays out on the stage at Webster City Community Theatre in its upcoming production of “Monty Python’s SPAMALOT.” Tickets for this musical parody go on sale July 6. While the show may not be appropriate for all ages, it is a humorous mix of music, dance, and dialog.

Final production dates are July 15, 16, 17 and 18 at 7:00 pm (note early start time) and July19 at 2:00 pm.

All tickets are $15 and can be reserved by contacting the box office at 515-832-4456 or ordering them online at www.wcctonline.org. The theatre box office is open for walk-in purchases “weak knights” from 5:00-7:00 pm, Saturdays from 10:00 am to noon, and one hour prior to each show. This is the final show of the 2014-2015 season, therefore the final chance to use your WCCT Punch Card.

WCCT BOARD ELECTION Your ballot(s) are enclosed (one for each active member of your family.) Please read the following bio’s to learn

more about the candidates seeking to serve WCCT.

Angela Rottering became a member in 2000 when she

was in the cast of Fiddler on the Roof. She has been on stage in 11 productions, directed Dixie Swim Club and a scene in Almost, Maine. She has assisted and co-directed several other shows. Angela has worked behind the scenes, with Camp Creamery, was secretary of the fund raising committee, and has helped organize the new addition. She has been on the board three years.

Cathy Olson started her involvement with Webster City Community Theatre in 1996. Since then she has enjoyed being on stage, backstage, usher captain and usher, an assistant director for various productions. And is constantly promoting the WCCT organization.

Barb Wollan has served one year as secretary and

seeks another term. She has played clarinet in the pit band for several musicals. Her daughers, Katie and Emi-ly, were also active in WCCT.

Maggie Breitenkamp is a long-time resident of Web-

ster City. She was active in middle school and high school productions, including Grease, Footloose, and The Music Man. She recently dove back in with a scene in Almost, Maine, co-produced The Trial of Goldilocks, and was in the cast of Spamalot.

Sam Ose has been involved in the music and tech areas

of theatre for many years and is happy to be getting involved with WCCT since settling in Williams. He has enjoyed the WCCT shows he’s attended, appeared in a scene in Almost, Maine, and is Lancelot in Spamalot. He looks forward to contributing his skills to WCCT, as well as those of his wife, Nichole.

WELCOME TO THE MIDDLE AGES, RAGBRAI RIDERS!

Bike riders passing through Webster City will have an opportunity to snap a photo or two with the Large Wooden Rabbit, peering through a turret window, or posing with costumed characters from the cast of “Monty Python’s SPAMALOT” on Tuesday, July 21st. The riders are expected to be pedaling through all morning. If you can help set up, be there in costume or a show shirt, and greet our visitors with a hearty welcome, please contact Loween Getter (loweengetter@qwmtel.net or 515-297-0846) ASAP so we can show them what a great organization Webster City Community Theatre is!

Note, Second Street will be blocked off, so park at the theatre and come join us at the corner of Willson and Second.

WCCT’s 2015-2016 Season

Drinking Habits A farce by Tom Smith

Directed by Sally Evans Auditions:

August 9 & 10 7:00 pm

Scripts available at Kendall Young Library

August 3 Roles for 3 men and 5 women

Production Dates: October 2-4 & 9-11, 2015

Accusations, mistaken identities, and romances run wild in this traditional, laugh-out-loud farce. Two nuns at the Sisters of Perpetual Sewing have been secretly mak-ing wine to keep the convent's doors open, but Paul and Sally, reporters and former fiancées, are hot on their trail. They go undercover as a nun and priest, but their presence, combined with the addition of a new nun, spurs paranoia throughout the convent that spies have been sent from Rome to shut them down. Wine and se-crets are inevitably spilled as everyone tries to preserve the convent and reconnect with lost loves.

Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells

From the best-seller by Barbara Park

Directed by Stephanie Hill

Auditions: October 12 & 13

at 6:00 pm Roles for 4-5 adult women & 6-7 adult men

Production Dates: December 4-6 & 11-13, 2015

Junie B. Jones, First-Grader, is super-excited about the upcoming Holiday Sing-Along and Secret Santa gift exchange at her school. Too bad tattletale May keeps ruining all of Junie B.'s fun. So when Junie B. draws May's name for Secret Santa, she comes up with the per-fect plan to teach her nemesis a lesson! But will the Christmas spirit of peace and goodwill interfere before she can give you-know-who what she deserves?

Cheaper by the Dozen Dramatized by

Christopher Sergel Book by Frank B. Gilbreth &

Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

Directed by Doug Getter and Al Yungclas

Roles for 4 men, 3 women, 9 students to play the roles of the teenagers,

adolescents, and kids Production Dates: April 1-3 & 8-10, 2016

Suppose you're an attractive high school girl and you're not only a member of a large and unique family but your father is, in fact, one of the great pioneers of industrial efficiency. Then suppose he decides, for no apparent reason, to apply his unorthodox methods to you and to the rest of your big family. The results are terribly embarrassing, funny and—it must be admitted —extremely effective! To Anne, however, the chief effect seems to be that of making them seem ridiculous to everyone else at school—especially to the boys! She rebels. Then in a deft and moving scene, Dad becomes aware of how much Anne has grown up.

Fiddler on the Roof A traditional Broadway musical

by Stein, Harnick, Bock Directed by Loween Getter

Roles for 22 and other villagers

Production Dates: July 8-10 & 13-17, 2016

The story centers on Tevye, a dairy-man with five daughters, and his

attempts to maintain his Jewish religious and cultural traditions as outside influences encroach upon the family's lives. He must cope both with the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters, who wish to marry for love – each one's choice of a husband moves further away from the customs of his faith – and with the edict of the Tsar that evicts the Jews from their village. The original Broadway production of the show, opened in 1964

SAVE THE DATEs

SEPTEMBER 3, 2015 AT 7:30 am WCCT IS HOSTING THE CHAMBER QUARTERLY COFFEE HELP US SERVE DONUTS, JUICE AND COFFEE SEPTEMBER 27, 2015 AT 5:00 pm WCCT ANNUAL CELEBRATION POTLUCK, MEETING, ALL-VOLUNTEER RECOGNITION, AND AWARDS PRESENTATION

READERS THEATRE

August 9 at 4:00 pm Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells

This will be a great time to get familiar with the script for our holiday production coming in December with auditions in October. Although this is a story about Junie B. Jones and her 1st grade class, the roles will be played by adults acting like children.

Bring a friend, a snack to share and the bever-age of your choice.

(Stick around after Readers Theatre and try out for Drinking Habits at 7:00 pm.)

September 13 at 4:30 pm

Exit Laughing A comedy by Paul Elliott

When the biggest highlight in your life for the past 30 years has been your weekly bridge night out with the "girls," what do you do when one of your foursome inconveniently dies? If you're Connie, Leona and Millie, three southern ladies from Birmingham, you do the most daring thing you've ever done. You "borrow" the ashes from the funeral home for one last card game, and the wildest, most exciting night of your lives involves a police raid, a stripper, and a whole new way of looking at all the fun you can have when you're truly living.

This is one of six winners of the AACTNewPlay-Fest, Exit Laughing broke all records for a non-musical in Springfield Little Theatre's 50-year history at its premiere in Springfield, Missouri.

WCCT Awarded $ 2,731 Grant from Hotel-Motel Tax Board

A request was made by WCCT in the recent round of the Webster City Hotel Motel Tax Grants to help fund a theatre workshop and to continue to run pre-movie ads on the big screen at the Webster Theatre..

See information about the theatre workshop on August 21-22 in the next column

Be watching for the new 320-second ads which will run several times before each show. The ad will be created by Kent and Missy Bailey of OHP Marketing.

Thanks to Loween Getter for completing the application and Mark Dohms and Bill Greenley for making the presentation to the Board.

OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD CHILDREN’S THEATRE

CAMP PRESENTS July 27-August 1

Camp Creamery will give 51 kids the chance to learn about theatre, meet new friends, and have fun as they audition for parts as mad scientists, glee club singers, news reporters, and, of course, aliens! They will learn their lines, songs, & dances as they rehearse for two performances for their families and friends.

The extraterrestrial musical will be held on Friday, July 31, at 7:00 pm and Saturday, August 1, at 11:00 pm. Tickets are $3.00 each. Come see what they achieve in just one week, rehearsing just four hours daily.

The kids will work with three professional actors from The Old Creamery Theatre in Amana, Iowa. Facilitating the camp are Loween Getter and Donna Foster, with help from Angela Rottering, Stephanie Hill, Kelly Trask, and Al Yungclas. If you would like to help, let Loween know.

Camp Creamery will be funded, in part, by a grant from the Webster City Hotel-Motel Tax Committee. We are grateful for the support.

THEATRE WORKSHOP Directing, Stage Management, Stage Makeup

Friday, August 21, 6:00-9:00 pm Saturday, August 22, 9:00 am –3:00 pm

Tim and Katie Slaven are not strangers to WCCT. Wil Groves has had the father-daughter duo do at least two other workshops for us. They have led sessions on directing, dialects, opportunities in theatre, and worked with the casts of Guys and Dolls and Spamalot.

The workshop will be open to members of WCCT, Iowa Community Theatre Association, and others in the area interested in learning more about theatre. Cost is $15.

Directing Workshop An interactive focus on the main steps of bringing a show to opening night: selecting the play, acquiring rights, royalties, auditions, casting, putting together a production team, rehearsal schedules, interpreting the script, warm ups, stage movement/blocking , adding the finishing touches, and resources for directors.

Stage Management Explore the relationships between the stage manager and the director, actors, and crew; controlling movement of people, props, and set pieces to and from the stage.

Basic Stage Makeup Observe demonstration to apply basic theatrical makeup, including aging and facial hair.

Getter’s Attend National AACTFest in Grand Rapids June 23-27

Representing ICTA at the National AACTFest 2015 in Grand Rapids, Michigan were Donna Smithson (Lenox), Doug

Getter (WCCT), Mel Wilson (Newton), Peggy Brown (Lenox), Pam Ratliff (Newton), Loween Getter (WCCT), Bobbi

Lutzen and Christal Lewiston (Keokuk), Sue Beukema (Newton), and Elise King (Clinton). Other Iowa attendees were

from Des Moines, Waterloo/Cedar Falls, and Sioux City.

Doug and Loween Getter completed the “theatre triathlon” when they attended the recent National Community Theatre Festival in Grand Rapids. The couple had also attended the State Festival in Waterloo/Cedar Rapids

and the Region 5 Festival in Newton in April.

They saw 10 of the 12 plays in competition: Orphans from Spokane, WA; The 39 Steps from Bristol, IN; God of Carnage from Conway, AR; The Romancers from Dassel-Cokato, MN; Feeding the Moonfish from Rochester, NY; Freud’s Last Session from Kokomo, IN; The Nina Variations from Brighton, CO; Winter Flowers from Torrington,

CN; Detachments from Mons, Belgium; and The Lady of Larkspur Lotion from Albany, GA.

The adjudicators were John Viars from the Des Moines Playhouse; Genevieve Aichele from Portsmouth, NH; and James Sohre from Las Vegas, NV. Their comments were a wonderful way to learn more about what makes a good play great. They may not always have agreed with what the judges said, but the Getter’s agreed with

them when they selected Freud’s Last Session as the winning play.

The workshop offerings they attended ranged from the now-trending “Senior Theatre” to “Playing the Verbs” and “Blocking-Creating a More Interesting Visual Presentation” for directors, “Theatrical Lighting for Small Spaces on a Limited Budget”, and “I Won’t Dance-Don’t Ask Me! “which had great ideas for choreography for

non-dancers.

There was an opportunity to hear from playwright Dan Goggin, (shown at right autographing posters for Loween and her nuns). He is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the arrival of The Little Sisters of Hoboken on the stages of many community theatres, including WCCT, which has done six of his nine musicals. Meeting the vendors proved valuable. They met the President/CEO of Theatrical Rights Worldwide, which holds the rights to Monty Python’s Spamalot, representatives of Stage Rights, Dramatic Publishing, and MTI, which are all licensing agencies we have used, and even won $100 for ICTA in a drawing conducted by Arts People! Loween and Doug are looking forward to the 2017 National Festival to be held in nearby Rochester, MN, and hope you will join them there.

Webster City Community Theatre Endowed Scholarship Fund

For decades, WCCT has offered a scholarship program for students graduating from a Hamilton County school district. For many years just one scholarship was awarded. In recent years, up to three $500 scholarships have been awarded to graduates who have been active in theatre at WCCT, in their schools, and community.

With the success of the Simon Estes Roots & Wings Concert, organized by WCCT volunteers, the Webster City Community Theatre Endowed Scholarship Fund has been established with the assistance of the Enhance Hamilton County Foundation and the Greater Des Moines Foundation. Over $20,000 was generated from the Roots & Wings Concert. An additional $1,000 donation has been received for the new Fund.

Under the endowed program, every May 1, WCCT will receive a check from the Endowed Fund of 5% of the Fund balance as of December 31. Based upon the current balance, WCCT would receive approximately $1,000 next May 1. The WCCT Board will utilize the same county-wide scholarship application process that has been in use in the past. The Board will evaluate the applications and references and announce the scholarship recipient(s) at the respective school district’s awards programs prior to graduation.

Over time, it is the Board’s hope that additional donations will be made to the Webster City Community Theatre Endowed Scholarship Fund. Donors will have the capability of receiving an additional 25% Iowa Income Tax credit, in addition to the regular federal and state income tax deductions. For questions about the endowed fund, please contact Doug Getter.

A special thank you to all those assisting with and attending the Simon Estes Roots & Wings Concert on May 10 at Prem Sahai Auditiorium. Thanks also for the $6,000 grant from the Enhance Hamilton County Foundation and the donors who provided the seed capital for securing the Estes concert.

WCCT

Board of Directors 2014-2015

President Al Yungclas

Vice President

Bill Greenley

Secretary Barb Wollan

Treasurer

Jim Heerema

Past President Newsletter Editor

Loween Getter

Board Members Angela Rottering

Stephanie Hill David Borer

Cut on dotted line

THEATRE WORKSHOP REGISTRATION FORM

I/We plan to attend the Theatre Workshop offered at WCCT by Tim and Katie Slaven on August 21 and 22, 2015. The focus of the workshop will be on directing, stage management, and basic stage makeup, although other topics may be addressed as well. A detailed schedule will be emailed to you prior to workshop. Include $15 cash or check per person (made payable to WCCT) to help defray expenses for the two-day workshop, including the Friday night pizza party at 6:00 pm and the Saturday continental breakfast and snacks. Lunch will be on our own so we can experience the fine eating establishments in Webster City. If overnight accommodations be necessary, they are available by contacting AmericInn, Super 8, Executive Inn, and Anderson Manor B&B.

NAME _____________________________________________________________________

ADDRESS __________________________________________________________________

CITY ___________________________________________ STATE _____ ZIP __________

PHONE __________________________ EMAIL ___________________________________

Return your registration to WCCT, PO Box 272, Webster City, IA 50595 DEADLINE: August 15, 2015

For questions, contact Loween Getter at 515-297-0846 or loweengetter@wmtel.net.