Volume X1V

Curtain Call Quarterly Newsletter of Theatre in the Woods, Ltd. March, 2009

The Terminal Wonder Dialogue

Claudia Schmidt & Kevin Kline
March 6 at the Quam
by Carolyn Burnett

We say historic, they say histeric! storyteller has been heard on Na-
Claudia Schmidt - wonder woman tional Public Radio and seen on
QUAM DAYS
of inventive, dynamic vocal range the Guthrie stage in Minneapolis. March 14 & May 2
from moodful musings to roller The social and culinary
coaster rides of scat rhymes and Together, Schmidt and Kling take highlights of the season!!
rhythms - has played to capacity the audience on a journey into the Starting around 9 in the morn-
audiences in Theatre in the improvisatory potential of stories ing, continuing through a pro-
Woods’ Erika Quam theater sev- and songs. In their show The Ter- vided lunch (you can look at it
eral times. She will be joined will minal Wonder Dialogue the two- as free if you wish) and petering
by masterful storyteller Kevin some share their enchantment with out around 3, friends, neighbors,
Kling for his first time in our the strengths and fragilities of our people you wish you knew,
venue on Friday, March 6. To species. These two are masters of some you hope to know better,
have these two incredible enter- their craft and the stage is their maybe even family members
tainers on stage together is, in to- natural habitat. will be out in the spring air
day’s jargon, ‘to die for’. clearing away the debris of win-
Be ready Friday, March 6 at 7:30 ter, making our joint home all
Claudia Schmidt has performed for an emotional ride which will fresh and neat and recovered
here in North America and in have you holding your sides from from the dark days. Inside work
Europe in settings as intimate as laughter and perhaps wiping a tear lurks as well. There'll be tasks
our theater in Shell Lake, and as from your eye as well. suitable to all interests. Techies
vast as a festival stage in front of will want to participate in Bob’s
25,000 listeners. Kevin Kling, na- Admission is an affordable $13 lighting workshops (see left, be-
tive of Osseo, MN, a nationally for this magical duo. Reservations low).
recognized playwrite, actor and may be made at 715 468 4387
Don’t miss out! Saturday March
14. Wear green to celebrate St.
Spotlight on Lighting at Quam Days Pat's Day early! You'll have so
by Bob Olsgard much fun that you'll immedi-
‘Ever wondered about those lights that hang over the stage or ately look forward to Saturday,
how they work? With our new equipment its easier than ever to May 2 when another free lunch
bring our stage to life using light. We’ve scheduled two lighting is scheduled.
workshops to take you from the basics of how the lights work
and where to put them, to programming sequences and special
See you on March 14 & May 2
effects with our new automated controller. On March 14 from 1
to 3 pm, the mysteries of our new lighting setup will be revealed.
9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Come
Come back on May 2 from 1-3 pm to learn how to program the when you can. Stay and work as
new system. If you’ve yearned for an artistic “behind the long as you can (or wish). Bring
scenes” role at the Quam, these workshops are for you! a pal. Bring someone new to
TITW to share the fun!
 Vol. XIV Curtain Call March, 2009

Shakspeare terrific set of interchanges between each character is a strong contribu-

Revisited: Beatrice and Benidick. There are tor to the whole. Additionally, we
several interesting female charac- expect, intend, and will plan for as
Choosing the play ters and we could envision creating much fun as we can possibly fit
more. We could set it in any time into both the rehearsal process and
by Karen Kaufman & Carolyn Burnett
period. The main characters could the final product.
Ever wonder how a director be in the general age range of most
chooses a particular play? In the of our actors. Whereas neither of We are looking forward to getting
case of Theatre in the Woods revis- us had been overly enthusiastic as many people involved in this
iting William Shakespeare the di- about Dream initially (it seems to production as possible. We will be
rectors had a rough go of it. We be The One done by amateur holding a reading of the play on
(Carolyn Burnett and Karen Kauf- groups) we found ourselves com- Saturday April 4th at the Erika
man) had decided, as we did when ing up with a good list of pros and Quam Memorial Theatre from 9
choosing 12th Night several a.m. to noon. We welcome
years ago, to limit our Announcing: any and all to participate by
choice to one of the come- In the spring of 2010, reading or just listening.
dies. We narrowed the se-
lection to four, eliminating TiTW will be producing Watch for future articles as
those comedies with multi- Much Ado the process of bringing
ple twin characters, too few Shakespeare back to TITW
good female roles, and prob- About Nothing develops. We anticipate trips
lematic (to us) plot lines. by William Shakespeare. to other productions, work-
This left Much Ado About shops, movies, and whatever
Nothing, Taming of the Shrew, As no really major cons. With Much else we can Dream of to make
You Like It, and Midsummer Ado we knocked off the cons one Much Ado about Shakespeare at
Night's Dream. by one. We went round and the Erika Quam Theater.
round. At one point we considered
We both reread each of the four (for about 15 seconds) doing them Anyone interested in more informa-
and evaluated them based on a both in repertory format or switch- tion about this project or wanting to
number of criteria. Eventually we ing to a darker choice such as become a part of the general pro-
eliminated Shrew and As You Like Macbeth, King Lear, or Merchant duction crew, please contact Caro-
It. Then the two of us met and dis- of Venice. Eventually we flipped a lyn at 354-3803 or shii-
cussed the pros and cons of the re- coin. Then we went for two flips take@chibardun.net or Karen at
maining two plays. Dream is a out of three. 635-7641 or
strong ensemble production. The karen@kaufmancoaching.com.
humor is light. We could envision a We expect to carry some of what
dream-like setting. We could we liked about Dream into Much
imagine having children, teens, and Ado. Notably, we will be striving
adults in the cast. Much Ado has a for an ensemble production where

December 9, 2009
TiTW Xmas Party

2
 Vol. XIV
Burnett & Fox
Attend Arts Board
Seminars
by Patti Fox
This past December 2nnd and 3rd,
TitW officers Carolyn Burnett and
Patti Fox attended a series of Wiscon-
sin Arts Board seminars at the Eau
Claire Regional Arts Center. The
training was made possible by a grant
from the National Endowment for the
Arts. Our community was also repre-
sented at the workshops by Shell Lake
Arts Center directors.
Curtain Call is published quar-
terly 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, unfor-
matted e-mail or attached Word docu-
ment. Photos or other artwork should
be sent as an attached file, preferably
JPEG. Send to:
molsgard@centurytel.net
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.
(715) 822-3222
Curtain Call
The first day’s Grant Proposal Writ-
ing workshop was all new informa-
tion for Fox but mostly review for
Burnett, who has been the primary
grant writer for TitW since our first
application. TitW has been a recipi-
ent of WAB grants in the past, in-
cluding most recently a $2500
‘Creation & Presentation Grant’ in
2008. The deadline for our 2009
grant application was February 20th,
and Burnett (with minor assistance
from Fox) put in dozens of hours on
the WAB eGrant website completing
the on-line application for funding.
Burnett has stated that she would
like this to be her last year on this
effort, and Fox has volunteered to be
her ‘under-study’.
Burnett, who has been a key leader
with TitW since its first play in
1989, has also expressed an intention
to retire from key TITW responsi-
bilities within the next few years.
For this reason the second workshop
of the day “Succession Planning”,
was a timely offering. When asked
at the workshop about ‘term limits’
Bill Taubman, SLAC board member,
stated it was his understanding re-
tirement was accepted only with
presentation of a death certificate.
Many recommendations were put
forth as means of managing leader-
ship succession, most important of
which was the pronouncement
“don’t wait until it’s too late”.
WISH LIST
1. TiTW is seeking the donation of an electric
kitchen range with working oven for such events as
Pizza and Play, Quam Days, and strike pot lucks.
2.TiTW is also seeking a volunteer to produce a good
quality DVD work sample to use in future grant ap-
plications.
3
March, 2009
The December 3 workshop was on
Program Evaluation. The WAB has
found that section on most grant ap-
plications to be a weak area. Using
recommendations and examples pro-
vided in this workshop, TitW will be
doing more to develop methodologies
to measure whether or not we are
meeting our short and long term
goals. Your anecdotal input would be
very welcome, and we will likely be
working to systematically collect
feedback in the form of surveys, ques-
tionnaires and letters of support.
According to a follow-up email from
Karen Goeschko of the Wisconsin
Arts Board, everyone who partici-
pated in all 3 workshops in the series
essentially received the equivalent of
a $1,500 technical assistance WI Arts
Board grant .
Wisconsin Arts Board is the state
agency that nurtures creativity, culti-
vates expression, promotes the arts,
supports the arts in education, stimu-
lates community and economic devel-
opment and serves as a resource for
people of every culture and heritage.
All the handouts provided during the
workshops can be found on the fol-
lowing website:
http:/
www.artsextensionservice.org/
index.php/training-consulting/
evaluation
 Vol. XIV Curtain Call March, 2009

Small Potatoes Munch Ado…

ERNEST in LOVE
APRIL 2, 3 & 4
LYRICS BY ANNE CROSWELL
MUSIC BY LEE POCKNESS
Join us at Erika Quam Memorial
Theater for a delightful trip back in
time to Victorian England. This
musical theatre event of the season
is based on Oscar Wilde’s classic
comedy of manners, The Impor-
tance of Being Ernest.
Showtimes are Thursday, Friday &
Saturday April 2,3 and 4 at 7:30
p..m. with a New – Never Been
Tried Before by TiTW - Saturday
Matinee on April 4th at 4:00 p.m.
Admission $10.00, with a special
$7.00 Senior Matinee Admission.
Jacquie Manning & Rich Prezioso
are no small potatoes! Hear this
entertaining and sought-after
musical duo at their April 25 con-
cert at the Quam Theater 7:30 pm.
April 4
by Carolyn Burnett
No, that’s not a typo. Maybe we
should say “Much Ado about
Brunch”. Here’s why: “Pizza and
a Play”- that social event where
we sit around a table and read
aloud for enjoyment the words of
some playwright - is scheduled
for Saturday, April 4, from 9 am
to 12 noon - or until the end of
Act V. As pizza for “elevenses”
doesn’t quite appeal, it will be
“Brunch and a Play” for that day.
Much Ado about Nothing is, as
you may have just read (see page
2), the selection for TITW’s sec-
ond ever Shakespeare production.

Upcoming Events at Erika Quam Theater We’re getting an early start on the
Call 468-4387 to Reserve exploration, understanding, and
enjoyment of this comedy, fa-
March 6 Kevin Kling/Claudia Schmidt 7:30 p.m. mous for the Beatrice and Bene-
March 9 TitW Monthly Meeting 7 p.m. dick exchange of barbs. Please
March 14 Quam Day & Lighting workshop 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. join us.
April 2 & 3 Ernest in Love 7:30 p.m.
April 4 Brunch & a Play: Much Ado reading 9:00 a.m.
April 4 Ernest in Love 4 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.
Unleash your inner Elizabethan or
April 14 TitW Monthly Meeting 7 p.m. just munch and listen. Come to
April 25 Small Potatoes in concert 7:30 p.m. the basement of the Quam where
May 2 Quam Day & Lighting workshop 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. the table will be spread, the
May 12 TitW Monthly Meeting 7 p.m. scripts will be available, and the
June Youth Theater Production TBA company select.
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