Love Letters - Wisconsin Rapids Community Theatre

Presenting live comedy, drama
and musicals since 1975
Spring 2015
President’s
Corner
From the
Executive Director
If you have attended a WRCT production
lately, you are familiar with our curtain
speeches in which various people
associated with the theater have talked to
you prior to the beginning of the show
about the opportunity to help WRCT
through participation in our Sustaining
Membership Program. The monies raised
through this program are used for maintenance of the facility and
purchase of new equipment. I would like to share some of the things we
have done with the money donated so far.
Last year we were able to make several improvements to the sound
system in the theater. We purchased a second set of microphones to
better pick up sound and distribute it to the auditorium when the actors
are on the front of the stage. We were also able to upgrade our sound
system with the purchase of a new sound board as well as equipment to
better deliver sound effects.
Our emphasis this year has been on the purchase of new lighting
equipment. If you took in the ARTi Gras a few weeks ago, and went to
the Disco at the Masquerade Ball, you would have seen some of the
effects we can achieve with our new LED lights. In particular, we were
able to have four lights constantly changing colors without the need to
have an operator on hand. This was possible because each of the lights
can be made to display a wide range of colors without changing gels by
adjusting the amount of color generated from each of three different
colored LED lights contained within each lighting fixture. An all four
lights were slaved to one of the four which told them when to change
color. This is a fascinating new technology which we are just beginning
to explore. An additional benefit of the LED lights is that they run cool
so a small room like the Studio Theatre does not get so hot.
If you appreciate these efforts to improve the operation of the theatre
and to give the audience a better experience, won’t you become a part
of those efforts by contributing to the Sustaining Membership fund? All
it takes is an annual commitment of $250. For more information on the
Sustaining Membership fund, call Cory at 715 421-0435.
Andy Gilbert, President
This season is supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with
funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
wrctheatre.org
ARTi Gras 2015 is a sweet memory now,
but the afterglow of this wonderful event
continues. If you were able to join us for
some of the festivities, we hope you had a
great time. We certainly had fun putting
them together. None of it would have
been possible without the help of a
dedicated group of volunteers and sponsors, and I would like to take
this space to thank them personally.
First and foremost, a big THANK YOU goes to Cathy Meils, ARTi
Gras Festival Director, for creating this celebration and doing most of
the work to get it to happen. Without Cathy, there would be no
festival, and we are greatly appreciative of the fact that she cares so
much about ARTi Gras, she travels all the way from Prague each year
to make it happen. Cathy is the founder of WRCT, but her vision for
the arts in this community (and others) has never stopped there. We
are lucky to have her.
Thanks go to our festival sponsors, who supported in a major way:
• incourage community
• ERCO Worldwide
foundation
(USA) Inc.
•
Ritchay Funeral Home
• Wisconsin Humanities Council
•
Riverview Hospital
• Aspirus Doctors Clinic
Association
• Brazeau, LaChapelle,
• WoodTrust-Bell
Kryshak & Nettesheim, LP
Foundation
• Renaissance Learning Inc.
And thanks as well to those businesses and individuals who
sponsored events or made a general contribution:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Becker & Kumm CPA
Bull’s Eye Credit Union
Corenso America
Pat & Kathy Daly
The Dental Suite
Duncan Disability Law
Heid Music
Herman Taylor Funeral Home
Home Brew Press
• Tom & Crystal Metcalf
• Paper Cities Savings
• Retirement Community
of Nekoosa
• River Cities Bank
• Solarus
• Stoiber Healthcare
• Jeannie & Dick Weymouth
• WI Fellowship of Poets
I could keep going, but there are other things to cover in this
newsletter. But when you come to Love Letters, look in the program
for the names of all the individuals who gave of their time and talents
to help make the event a success and those businesses who
contributed toward some great raffle and silent
auction items. We can’t say it enough – thank you all!
715-421-0435
E-mail us at: wrct@wctc.net
WRCT Presents:
Love Letters
By A.R. Gurney
Performance dates:
March 13-14 & 19-21
7:30pm
This season is supported in part by a grant
from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds
from the State of Wisconsin and the
National Endowment for the Arts.
March 22
2:00pm Sunday matinee
Kathleen Turner, Stephen Collins,
Victor Garber, Julie Harris, George
Grizzard, George Hearn, Richard Kiley,
Dana Ivey, William Hurt, Marsha
Mason, Christopher Reeve, Holland
Taylor, George Segal, Christopher
Walken, Joan Van Ark, Treat Williams,
Frances Sternhagen, Colleen Dewhurst,
Jason Robards, Lynn Redgrave,
Stockard Channing, Jane Curtin,
Edward Herrmann, Kate Nelligan,
Polly Bergen, Robert Vaughn, Timothy
Hutton, Elizabeth McGovern, Swoosie
Kurtz, Richard Thomas, Elaine Stritch,
Cliff Robertson, Nancy Marchand,
Fritz Weaver, Robert Foxworth,
Elizabeth Montgomery, Larry Hagman,
Linda Gray, Barbara Eden, Robert
Wagner, Jill St. John, Stefanie Powers,
Carol Burnett, Brian Dennehy, Mel
Gibson, Sissy Spacek, Sigourney
Weaver, Jeff Daniels, Elizabeth Taylor,
James Earl Jones, Samantha Bee, Jason
Jones, Meredith Baxter, Michael Gross,
Tab Hunter, Joyce DeWitt, Jerry Hall,
David Soul, Larry Storch, Katharine
Ross, Sam Elliott, Hal Linden, Mia
Farrow, Carol Burnett, Alan Alda,
Candice Bergen.
These are just a few of the actors who
have performed in A.R. Gurney's play
Love Letters since it first opened on
Broadway in 1989. The play has rarely
been out of view ever since, with
productions around the U.S. and
around the world.
Gurney was already a notable
playwright when he wrote Love Letters
as a two-character play, after originally
envisioning it as a novel. He was in the
very first performance of the play,
wrctheatre.org
which was presented as a reading at the
New York Public Library in the late
1980’s. The artistic director of the Long
Wharf Theatre, located in New Haven,
CT, (where Gurney had earned a
master’s degree in playwrighting at Yale
University) mounted the first theatre
production of the play and it soon
transferred to Broadway.
Gurney designed the play as a series of
letters written over the course of 50
years by two childhood friends,
following
them
through
each
important stage of their lives. The
author requires that the play be read
(not memorized) and be staged with
two actors sitting onstage. The
simplicity of the production, the
richness of the characters, and the
beauty of the play have attracted actors
and audiences alike.
The WRCT production began as a
chamber theatre piece performed for
the 2015 ARTi Gras arts festival,
earning rave reviews from audience
members, along with doses of laughter
and a few tears. We had been
discussing ways to bring this
production to a larger audience, and
found the solution by adding it to the
WRCT main-stage season. To that long
list of actors above, we
now add Jody Steinke
and Michael Barrett.
Friday Night
Lights
in the Studio!
April 10
Broadway Show Tunes
7:00pm, $10
May 1
Staged Reading
7:00pm, $10
TRISIS
Vintage Vocal Trio
Sunday, May 10
2:00pm
Treat Mom to a special
performance on her special day;
watch web site for ticket prices
Cathy Meils
Director, Love Letters
SPONSORED BY
This season is funded by
grant funds through
Incourage Community Foundation
715-421-0435
E-mail us at: wrct@wctc.net
Spring Dance Party
Upcoming Auditions:
with
Saturday,
April 11th
Almost, Maine
Check our web site for info updates
Directed By Linda Garski
AUDITION DATES:
Monday, March 23 & Tuesday, March 24
6:30 - 8:30pm - WRCT Auditorium
The WRCT
Silver Foxes
WRCT’s Silver Foxes Club
meets the 1st and 3rd
Thursday of each month in
our Studio Theatre at
1:00pm.
Come Join the Fun!
The Silver Foxes are currently booking off-site
performances for 2015. If you are interested in
having them come to perform at a facility or for your
social group, please contact Mary Beth Rokus at
715-421-3115.
SCRIPTS ARE AVAILABLE NOW at the WRCT office.
LOTS of GREAT parts available! This show is written to
either be double-cast, or to use individuals for each
role…up to 19 people! Each scene is self-contained with
2 or 3 actors, with limited rehearsal time early in the
schedule. Perfect for people who want to do a show and
still enjoy free time in the spring!
ALL ages welcome! The people in this play are couples,
and although the script says they are 20-40, as long as the
couples "match up" age-wise, there is no limit on how
old you have to be!
ALL levels of experience welcome! Newcomers are not
only welcome, but encouraged to audition. It's always
nice to have a blend of veterans and "rookies", so don't
worry if you've never acted before!
The WRCT Silver Foxes
Spring Show
PERFORMANCE DATES:
May 15-16 and 21-23, 2015
Thursday, May 28
7:30pm
Two performances
1:00pm & 6:30pm, Tickets $5
May 24 (2:00pm Sunday matinee)
Visit our web site
www.wrctheatre.org
THE STORY: On a cold, clear, moonless night in the
middle of winter, all is not quite what it seems in the
remote, mythical town of Almost, Maine. As the
northern lights hover in the star-filled sky above,
Almost’s residents find themselves falling in and out of
love in unexpected and often hilarious ways. Knees are
bruised. Hearts are broken. But the bruises heal, and the
hearts mend—almost—in this delightful midwinter
night’s dream.
Go to the website for more information:
wrctheatre.org/Index.asp
for all the latest information!
wrctheatre.org
715-421-0435
E-mail us at: wrct@wctc.net
Wisconsin Rapids Community Theatre, Inc
NON PROFIT ORG
US POSTAGE
PAID
WISC RAPIDS WI
54494
PERMIT NO. 31
220 3rd Avenue South, Ste #6
Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54495
715-421-0435
www.wrctheatre.org
WRCT Board of Directors
2014-2015 Season
This is the place for great theatre!
“Love Letters”
Andy Gilbert
President
March 13-14 & 19-22, 2015
Shirley Jung
Vice President
“Almost, Maine”
Amy Boettcher
Secretary/Treasurer
May 15-16 & 21-24, 2015
Community Space
The Gilbert and Jaylee Mead Auditorium and the Studio Theatre
spaces are available for rent. The auditorium seats 223, and is
designed as a performance or large meeting venue. The Studio
Theatre is a multi-functional, black box facility and seats up to 60
people, depending upon the setup. WRCT personnel are happy to
work with you to accommodate usage for your particular group or
occasion.
The rental policy is available on the WRCT website or by contacting
the office. If you are a non-profit organization, fees will be negotiated.
wrctheatre.org
715-421-0435
Linda Garski
Stephanie Hoerth
Bob Kell
Amy Scheide
Marlin Schneider
Loretta Schoechert
Ellen Roeseler
Executive Director
Cory Shaw
Production & Facility Coordinator
Cathy Meils Founder
Tickets on sale
Tuesday-Friday from 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. at
WRCT office at east end of Rapids Mall
Call 715-421-0435
Tickets will also be sold one hour
prior to performance at the box office
E-mail us at: wrct@wctc.net