Volume XV
Curtain Call
Quarterly Newsletter of Theatre in the Woods, Ltd.
"YES,
BUT WHAT DO I DO
WITH MY HANDS?”
An Energy & Acting Workshop
with Jan Lee
by Carolyn Burnett
If you're tired of worrying about
what to do with your body when
you're on stage, or maybe you
haven't thought about it, then you
shouldn't miss this opportunity.
TITW’s Energy & Acting Work-
shop with veteran actor and direc-
tor, Jan Lee will be offered on
Saturday, September 12 begin-
ning promptly at 9:00 and last-
ing until 12 noon.
All actors, directors and want-to-
be’s are encouraged to attend, par-
ticularly the cast of Fools and
those interested in trying out for
the spring production of Much
Ado About Nothing. Participants
should wear loose and comfort-
able clothing appropriate for a lot
of moving around.
This intensive and fun-filled 3
hour workshop will focus on the
fact that acting is doing. Through
the use of specific exercises, you'll
be up and moving, breaking down
physical barriers to the point
where you'll never worry about
your hands again!
Please call the Quam at 468-4387
or email Carolyn Burnett shii-
take@chibardun.net to register or
for more information. There is no
charge for the workshop, but ad-
vance notice is requested.
September, 2009
dimmed, candles will be lit, and
Pretty Good Party this would be just the time to dress
“Celebrates 20 years!”
up a little. You know a lot goes on
Saturday, September 19, 2009
at 7:00 p.m. at TitW and it is not all on stage.
Erika Quam Memorial Theater You don’t have to be involved to
come join us, just be ready to have
by Shirley Hile
a “pretty good” time and find out
Please join us to thank you for what we are all about (no strings
your support through your in- attached).
volvement and attendance at our
events. You have made it possible This is a catered event by Lois’
for us to celebrate 20 years. Can Country Cupboard, so we need an
you believe it? Time flies when accurate count of our guests.
you are having fun. Please RSVP to Shirley Hile at
468-7737 or e-mail her at
Come join us for an exciting eve- shile@centurytel.net before Sep-
ning reminiscing our past and tember 10 with your name, phone
sharing with you our exciting fu- number/e-mail address, and the
ture…and a few other surprises. number in your party.
Del Bakkum will be returning as
our “pretty good” emcee for the It should be a “pretty good” time,
evening. The house lights will be don’t miss it…
Much Ado About Nothing
Auditions
Much Ado About Nothing auditions will be held Saturday, September 19
at 9 am & Wednesday, September 23 at 6:30 pm. Directors Carolyn Bur-
nett & Karen Kaufman recommend you plan to attend both time slots.
Speaking roles may include men and women of a variety of ages from
high school through older adult. Actors are encouraged to audition for
the roles of their choice regardless of age or gender. The directors’ per-
spective is that there are no small parts, but there are roles with fewer
lines. We encourage all interested adults to audition.
In addition, we are looking for a male and/or female singer(s) with a
strong jazzy voice. Vocalists are encouraged to contact the directors for
further audition information.
Also needed are a crew of non-speaking usher/waitstaff who will be an
integral part of the production.
The early date of auditions will allow cast to become familiar with the
play and memorize all lines before rehearsals begin in January. Much
Ado is a comedy of language, wit, and farce. Bring your funny bone to
auditions!
 Vol. XV Curtain Call September, 2009

ALADDIN 2009 Youth Production

Ushers in a New Era
by Karen Collins

Theatre in the Woods’ 2009 Sum-

mer Youth Production added a
new dimension to youth leader-
ship: High School Youth as Assis-
tant Directors!

Alex Peck (Spooner High Sopho-

more), Emma Frey (Shell Lake
High Freshman), and DJ Shipman
Hi all! (Spooner High Sophomore)
This last summer I realized that after six years with TitW, it was stepped into leadership roles as
time to start pursuing one of my dreams; learn how to become a director. stage, crew, and special effects
This summer I got one step closer to achieving my dream with the opportu- managers during our Summer
nity to be the stage manager in this year’s Children’s Theater Workshop Youth Production of Aladdin.
production, Aladdin. The play was directed by Karen Collins and Deb
Shipman and helped along by many more. It was a growing experience for all
Being able to sit behind the stage and beside the directors had some as co-Directors Deb Shipman and
amazing effects on me and it opened my mind to a world that I previously Karen Collins mentored these tal-
couldn’t see; a world behind the curtain. As an actor, I assumed that our ented youth in their new areas of
directors were naturally gifted and that they made the magic of the theater expertise. Comments from the di-
just… happen. As a stage manager, I realized that my assumptions were rectors state, “Alex, Emma, and
naive. Our directors weren’t just smart…they were brilliant! With quick DJ offered fresh perspectives and
insightful thoughts, directors can be compared only to superheroes. And different approaches to making the
they didn’t just pick up the play on a whim; they took months and months production an exciting success.
and months of careful study and preparation before the auditions were
even held.
Personally, the most challenging part of being the stage manager
would have to be building, painting, and setting up all the scenic back-
drops. After completing the end product, the dedication to these simple
pieces of Styrofoam and wood was totally worth it! Seeing the cooperation
of everyone involved was extremely satisfying and the work accomplished
was monumental!
This experience really opened my eyes to the wonderful world of
theater and has strengthened my interest in pursuing a directorial posi- L to R is Emily Organ, Artie Collins,
and Quintin Clements
tion. Thank you to all who helped in making this play an awesome and
educational experience! I look forward to working with the TitW family We were particularly impressed
who continually make theater come to life. with how these leaders met the
On behalf of the youth program participants, thank you to TitW many behind-the-scenes chal-
for the wonderful chance to express ourselves through theater! lenges. Creativity abounded dur-
ing such discussions as costuming,
from Alladin Stage Manager staging, and lighting! They cer-
-Alex Peck
tainly never lacked for ideas!!”
It was a challenging and reward-
(Continued on page 4)
2
 Vol. XV
Curtain Call
is the quarterly newsletter of:
Theatre in the Woods, Limited
P.O. Box 156
Shell Lake, WI 54871
Phone (715)468-4387
Carolyn Burnett, President, 354-3803
Carol 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, 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:
molsgard@centurytel.net
Check out our our website:
titw.org
Sign in and be a part of our online
TITW Community.
Shawn Tisdell, Webmaster.
(715) 822-3222
We are located in the
Erika Quam Memorial Theater
605 First St
Shell Lake, WI
Do you have an upcoming event?
RENT THE QUAM!
Contact us about rental rates and
availability of our
facilities.
Curtain Call
Rummage Sale
by Shirley Hile
Theatre in the Woods will be
holding a rummage sale in Octo-
ber. Proceeds will go to help fund
several projects at the Quam.
If you have items you would like
to donate, please call Megan be-
fore October 10 at 468-7990 to
make arrangements to drop off
your items. Please, no TVs, mi-
crowaves, computers, etc. Watch
the local papers for the sale date.
Something
to look forward to!
by Carolyn Burnett
CLARISSE & FRIENDS
February 5,6,7, 2010
Written by Dew Harding
Performed by Jan Lee
Clarisse & Friends is a funny and polis. As part of their efforts to
thought provoking original one-
woman show featuring seven dif-
ferent characters - everything from TITW production, directors Karen
a housewife reminiscing about her Kaufman and Carolyn Burnett are
grandmother's plate, to a woman
obsessed with shoes, to a smoker
who is trying to quit, to a futuristic
look back at society and
more! All performed by actress
Jan Lee. Lee is thrilled to be com-
ing back to the TitW's stage, hav-
ing been seen before in Talking
Heads, True Confessions and
Broadway & Beyond.. Jan is a 30
year veteran performer, director,
and designer having worked in
many theaters in the Twin Cities
and around the country, as well as 3803 as soon as you read this.
at the Big Top Chautuaqua. She is
the founder and former Artistic
Director of STAGENORTH in
Washburn, Wisconsin.
3
September, 2009
Much Ado
field trip
coming right up!
by Carolyn Burnett
"Love and courtship are the tar-
gets in this rollicking romance,
presided over by the sparring,
wise-cracking Beatrice and Bene-
dick--who have both sworn never
to marry. Returning war heroes,
mischievous brothers, sweet-
hearts-in-waiting, and a bumbling
constable lead a parade of char-
acters who scheme their way
through one of Shakespeare's
most popular and light hearted
comedies."
Thus is Much Ado about Nothing
described by Theatre in the Round
Players, a community theatre in
the university district of Minnea-
see multiple performances of the
play leading up to our spring
inviting others to journey with
them on:
Saturday, September 12
for the 8:00 showing
at Theatre in the Round.
Tickets are $20 and must be re-
served quickly.
If you are interested in joining
this fun outing, or for further in-
formation, call Carolyn at 354-
Visit TheatreintheRound.org
for more about this community
theatre in its 58th season.
 Vol. XV Curtain Call September, 2009

Anatomy of a Production:
Part Three
Some Ado about Much Ado about Nothing
by Carolyn Burnett & Karen Kaufman McMullin will be setting the two Lee. (See page XXX.) Actors
songs written by Shakespeare into interested in auditioning for
Fall colors are appearing in the fo- a similar musical style. speaking and non-speaking
liage, and winter must come. How- roles in Much Ado are
ever we, directors Carolyn Burnett In June, we took a field trip to see strongly encouraged to attend
and Karen Kaufman, have spring the Chicago Shakespeare Com- this workshop.
2010 active in our imaginations. pany’s Twelfth Night and seren-
We have been searching for inspi- dipitously ducked into a restaurant And, speaking of auditions,
ration and elaborating on our plans where we met our set muse. Per- those for Much Ado are Sep-
for the musical and visual aspects suasive talks are now underway tember 19 and 23. (See page 1
of TITW’s forthcoming production with our desired set construction for more information.)
of Shakespeare’s Much Ado about foreperson/guru.
Nothing. Highlights of these ef- Also on September 12 we,
forts include: Tam Smith, musical Mary Kay Latzka and Patti Fox along with other TITWers, will
consultant for the project, has pro- are collaborating on the promo- travel to Minneapolis to take in
vided stacks of CDs and audio tional logo. Look for it on the the Theater in the Round pro-
tapes for our review. From these 09/10 seasonal flyer coming soon duction of Much Ado about
we are developing the musical sig- to your mailbox. Nothing. (See page 1 also)
nature for the production which
will then inform decisions made Big news for this month is a Sep- If you missed Parts I and/or II
about costumes and hair- tember 12 workshop focusing on of Anatomy of a Production,
styles. Additionally, Kevin energizing one’s acting, led by Jan look for them at titw.org

(PICKIN’ UP STEAM Continued from page 6

(YOUTH PRODUCTION, Continued from page 2) Theatre in the Woods board mem-
stage. Michael Burand from south- ing two months for us as directors. bers have embraced this new
eastern Minnesota plays banjo and As our youth leaders learned, the phase of youth leadership. Discus-
guitar, Pete Brooks, graphic artist behind-the- sions of how to continue encour-
raised in Hopkins, MN is on bass scenes stage aging high school students as as-
and vocals, and completing the of produc- sistants during youth productions
quartet on guitar, mandolin, fiddle tion begins was a major discussion at the Au-
and vocals is Somerset, WI native long before gust board meeting.
Dale Marshall. the children
show up for
L to R is Quintin
Pickin’ Up Steam will perform as Clements, Lane Hansen, dress re-
part of Shell Lake’s Town and Josie Shipman hearsals–
Country Days activities on which is the
Friday evening at 7:30, Septem- only part budding thespians usu-
ber 4 at the Erika Quam Theater, ally experience. These high school
605 1st Street, Shell Lake. students persevered despite hitting Top L to R is Audi Griffith, Angela Rom-
some big obstacles! portl - Bottom L to R is Sage Dunham,
Tickets are $12 and may be re- Michelle Emerson, and Corey Peck
served by calling 468-4387.
4
 Vol. XV
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE
- As you’ve never known it!
by Roger Sweeney
It’s a Wonderful Life, a 1946
film loosely based on an original
story “The Greatest Gift” written
by Philip Van Doren Stern in
1939. After being unsuccessful in
getting the story published, Stern
decided to make it into a Christ-
mas card and mailed 200 copies to
family and friends in December
1943. It was brought to the atten-
tion of Frank Capra who immedi-
ately saw its potential. Initially, it
was going to star Cary Grant but
the filming conflicted with another
film he was making – so - enter
James Stewart.
It was common, back in the ‘30s
and ‘40s, when movie stars fin-
ished shooting a film, they’d turn
right around and go into the sound
studio to create the entire produc-
tion for the Lux Radio Theatre!
This is exactly what the cast did
upon completion of filming.
These “movies for the ears” were
every bit as entertaining as their
screen counterparts, using the
original scores and a host of sound
effects to create a version of the
movie-colorized only by the
imagination of the listeners.
The film was twice adapted for
radio in 1947, first on Lux Radio
Theater (March 10) and then on
The Screen Guild Theater
(December 29). The film was also
remade for television in 1977 as It
Happened One Christmas. A mu-
sical stage adaptation, titled A
Wonderful Life written by Sheldon
Harnick and Joe Raposo was pre-
Curtain Call September, 2009
Christmas Show
AUDITIONS
sented in 1986. The film was also
It’s A Wonderful Life, A Live
adapted into a two act play by
Radio Play by Joe Landry will
James W. Rodgers and first per-
be directed by Roger Sweeney
formed in December 1993.
for the 2009 Christmas season.
Production dates will be: Nov
The TITW production of It’s a
27-28-29 and Dec 3-4-5-6.
Wonderful Life: A Live Radio
Play, is a stage production pre-
Auditions are scheduled for
sented as a 1940’s radio show
Sept. 29, 6:30pm – 8:00, at
adapted by Joe Landry and first
the Erika Quam Theater in
produced in 1997. Much of the
Shell Lake. 2-3 men & 2-3
dialog and events will be readily
women are needed
recognizable from the movie and
the original radio broadcast.
Although memorization will be
minimal, actors will be
“playing” several different
characters and will need to de-
velop several voices represent-
ing the different characters.
RADIO SOUND EFFECTS
A noteworthy adjunct to TITW’s production of “It’s a Wonderful
Life” is the sound effects that will be employed during the show. These
sound effects are often referred to as Foley Effects and are invented
sounds using everyday common objects. The objective is to create
sounds that support the impression of some physical activity occurring
during the dialog of the show.
The Foley Artist is the person who creates many of the natural, eve-
ryday sound effects in a production. The term Foley artist is named af-
ter Jack Foley, one of the earliest and best-known Hollywood practitio-
ners of the art.
Rhonda Tisdell is the Foley Artist for this production and is already
exploring, assembling and improvising the “sound effects” you will be
hearing during the performance.
Here’s how some effects are made:
Galloping horses Banging empty coconut shells together
Kissing Kissing back of hand
Punching someone Thumping watermelons
Bone-breaking blow Breaking celery or twisting head of romaine
Bird flapping its wings Flapping a pair of gloves
Fire Rapid opening and closing of an umbrella
along with the crackle of thick cellophane.
5
 Vol. XV Curtain Call September, 2009

Pickin’ up Steam fresh and taking the music to new

mandolin, banjo, string bass, and
heights. The group also places great
fiddle. Each artist brings to the
by Carolyn Burnett emphasis on the vocal aspect of its
group a wide variety of influences,
performance, singing in well-
including rock, jazz, latin, folk,
Don’t miss PICKIN’ UP STEAM, a blended three-part harmony. They
country and traditional bluegrass.
contemporary acoustic quartet, bring traditional bluegrass into the
Every member of this ensemble
which utilizes the traditional blue- 21st century with their unique ar-
possesses strong improvisational
grass instrumentation of guitar, rangements of bluegrass standards
skills, keeping every performance
along with original compositions
Upcoming Events at Erika Quam Theater - Call 468-4387 to reserve with thoughtful lyrics and exciting,
August 26 & 27 Auditions for Fools 6:30 p.m. complex instrumentals.
August 29 Quam Day 9 a.m.-3p.m.
September 4 Pickin’ up Steam Bluegrass Concert 7:30 p.m.
September 8 TITW Monthly Meeting 7 p.m.
September 12 Jan Lee Actor’s workshop 9-12 a.m.
September 19 Pretty Good Party-Anniversary Style 7 p.m.
September 19 Auditions: Much Ado About Nothing 9-11 a.m.
September 23 Auditions: Much Ado About Nothing 6:30-8:30p.m.
September 25 Pizza & a Play The Worm Can 6 p.m.
September 29 Auditions: It’s A Wonderful Life 6:30-8 p.m.
October 3 Much Ado cast readthrough 9 a.m.
October 8, 9, 10, 11 & 17 Fools onstage 7:30 p.m. Joe Cruz on guitar, mandolin and
October 13 TITW Monthly Meeting 7 p.m. vocals is regarded as one of the
October 18 Fools onstage 2 p.m. most versatile multi-stringed instru-
November 7 Roxy & Randy in Concert 7:30 p.m. mentalists on the Twin Cities music
November 10 TITW Monthly Meeting 7 p.m. scene today.
November 27, 28 & Dec. 3-5 It’s a Wonderful Life onstage 7:30 p.m.
November 29 & Dec. 6 It’s a Wonderful Life onstage 2 p.m. Joe has a Shell Lake connection
January 16 COLLAGE onstage through his wife Roxy Cruz and the
February 5-7 Clarisse & Friends onstage
guitar/vocal jazz duo Cruz with
March 6 Phil Heywood in Concert
March 26-28 & April 2-4 Much Ado About Nothing onstage
Roxy has performed on the Quam
April 17 Peter & Lou Berryman in Concert
(Continued on page 4)

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