Theater

East Leach Park to host Shakespeare event (03/11/10)
Shakespeare, or at least one of the renowned playwright's works, is set to premiere in East Leach Park this summer. ...

Mark Lancaster (02/18/10)
Mark Lancaster of Ann Arbor, Mich., formerly of Spencer, died Feb. 16, 2010, at his parents home in Ann Arbor. He was born in Louisville, Kent., on Dec. 2, 1956, and had resided for the last 15 years in Spencer, where he was employed by Graham Retread...

SCT takes audiences "Over the River and Through the Woods" (02/11/10)
SCT's third show of its 50th anniversary season will feature a special Valentine's dinner theater performance on Saturday, Feb. 13. Joe DiPietro's "Over the River and Through the Woods," will be performed in the ballroom of the Clay County Regional Events Center, starting at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Feb. 11-12, and will conclude with a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday, Feb. 14...

Three girls seek role of Flagfest Ambassador (01/07/10)
Three area students will compete to serve as the first Flagfest Youth Ambassador of the new decade on Sunday, Jan. 17, at Spencer High School. Hannah Brockshus, Carrie Cunningham and Emily Jones will undergo several steps in the competition, including a public self expression presentation at the Spencer Community High School Little Theater beginning at 2:30 p.m. Admission is free to the public...

Busy construction site (12/17/09)
Like the distinguished Hollywood starlet who wants to prolong her career, the Spencer Community Theatre building has gone in for a nip here and a tuck there. The region's theater fans can expect to see better performances from the ol' girl as a result...

Spencer's Schooley among 'Great Places' winners (10/27/09)
Jim Schooley volunteers his time promoting the arts for a variety of reasons. Winning an award at a banquet in Des Moines isn't one of them, but it happened nonetheless. He was one of 19 groups or individuals from around the state to receive a merit award for volunteer work at the inaugural Iowa Great Places Awards and Recognition Banquet...

Campbell presented 2009 Wedel award (10/13/09)
Longtime broadcaster and current Iowa Great Lakes Red Cross Director Bill Campbell was announced the Jack Wedel Community Service Award winner for 2009 at Monday evening's Spencer Chamber of Commerce annual meeting. "Since the age of 18 this person has been very vocal -- in more ways than one," teased last year's winners Sam and Suzi Harper prior to naming Campbell...

Spencer among 'Great Place' grant recipients (08/08/09)
Gov. Chet Culver and Lt. Gov. Patty Judge recently announced funding for a pair of local projects as part of the five-year-old Iowa Great Places program. The city will receive $85,000 for a Spencer Community Theatre remodeling and expansion effort. Another $80,000 grant will go toward boulevard and bridge enhancements along the Grand Avenue corridor...

SCT joins with Events Center for 50th year anniversary (07/24/09)
Spencer Community Theatre's productions will look a little different in the upcoming season. That's because they'll be performed on stage at the Clay County Regional Events Center. Both organizations are excited about the prospect of cooperating to produce SCT's 50th season of theater...

'World's Longest Running Phantom' returns to 'World's Greatest County Fair' (05/12/09)
Franc D'Ambrosio, known for the longest-running portrayal of the Phantom from Andrew Lloyd Weber's The Phantom of the Opera, will be making a return appearance at the 2009 Clay County Fair. D'Ambrosio will perform two shows in the Events Center Grand Ballroom on Saturday, September 19, at 2:30 p.m. and 6 p.m., with a meet and greet from 3:30 p.m. to 4 p.m...

Dr. Bill and Kathy Follows named 2009 Citizens of the Year (04/02/09)
At the core of any medical professional's life is a desire to help others. It's what guides them through years of study, long, sleepless nights, and the rigors of the work. For this year's recipients of the Citizen of the Year honor, that desire to help others has shaped their entire lives, both personal and professional. Often, that helping hand they reached out was accompanied by no notice, no fanfare, and certainly no desire to draw attention to their good deeds...

Patrick: The woman behind the productions (03/14/09)
Nancy Patrick is what you'd call a true artist. She's not only trained vocally, she's taken piano, organ, saxophone and dance lessons. Even so, she comes by her artistic, creative ways naturally. Patrick, the eighth of 13 children born to the late Sylvester Joseph "S.J." and NaDyne Patrick, was raised to value family, church and education. The native of Mapleton still holds those priorities near and dear today...

Comin' at ya (02/27/09)
When Spencer's Southpark 7 Theatre General Manager Jarrad Black said the new Jonas Brothers concert event is going to be a real "in your face" experience, he wasn't kidding. The local theatre location is one of 10 in the Fridley Theatre chain to install the new Barco Digital Projection system featuring Real D technology. Friday's release of The Jonas Brothers Concert movie will be the first in a series of 3D films to hit the market this year using Real D...

Singing the praises of George Washington Carver (02/21/09)
Opera Iowa performed before for third through sixth grade students attending Spencer schools Friday morning at the old high school auditorium. The collective performers told the story: "A Dream Fulfilled - The Saga of George Washington Carver," detailing the rise, in Iowa, of one of the first men to break the color barrier. ...

SHS students qualify for All-State festival for 34th consecutive year (02/11/09)
Drama students from Spencer High School competed against 92 other schools and an estimated 2,000 students at the Northwest Iowa State Large Group Speech Contest at Spencer High School on Saturday, Feb. 7. Spencer entered 15 different groups in the areas of one-act play, choral reading, readers' theatre, musical theatre, ensemble acting, group mime, solo mime, and group improvisation. ...

SCT reprises hit show 'Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story' (01/10/09)
Spencer Community Theatre has been invited to reprise the hit musical "Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story," as part of the Winter Dance Party festivities celebrating the life and music of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper. "Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story" premiered at SCT in February 2008 to sold-out houses and an extended run. ...

Artslive People Project returns Jan. 24 (12/18/08)
Filmmaker Chad Branham will design this year's Artslive's People Project on Saturday, Jan. 24 on the ice in Miller's Bay at Iowa Lakeside Laboratory. This ephemeral art project will line people up on the ice in the shape of a giant 100 foot dragonfly. This design will take over 225 people to complete. Once everyone is in place the dragonfly will be photographed from an airplane by Judy Hemphill...

2008 Spencer High School Drama Department Fall Production Up the Down Staircase (11/01/08)
Up The Down Staircase describes from the inside what goes on in a large metropolitan high school. With genuine warmth and shrewd comic touches, it shows what happens when a teacher's ideals run smack against the inadequate facilities, the lack of communication, the gobbledygook and pedagese, the trivia in triplicate - all that stands in the way of good teaching...

Prairie Fire Children's Theatre, LCT present "The Wizard of Oz" (09/25/08)
Join our Dickinson county children in a wonderful journey through the Magical Land of Oz, as they take the stage this weekend along with two professional actor/directors, Ben Ratkowski and ErinRose Sincevich, in Prairie Fire Children's Theatre's original musical production of "The Wizard of Oz"...

SHS Drama Department recognized for set design (09/18/08)
Spencer's Drama Department is the recipient of a fourth place honorable mention award in the National Set Builders Contest, sponsored by Sceno-Graphics Set Design Co. of New Wilmington, Pa. From the hundreds of entries in the contest, Spencer's entry was among the top 16 schools in the nation...

SMS auditorium talks underway (08/14/08)
As Spencer school board members, Friends of the Auditorium representatives and a Sioux City architect met Wednesday morning to broach the topic of what will be done with the auditorium area of the old Spencer Middle School at 104 E. Fourth St., they negotiated costs and responsibilities, and, in the end, reconnected as potential partners in restoring the "gem" to its original historic state and making it a better-functioning facility...

Chicago theater unites four Spencer grads (08/12/08)
In what seem to have been several "fated" coincidences, four Spencer High School graduates, all of whom were bitten locally by the theater bug, have connected in Chicago. Known for its intimate "storefront" theaters that seat between 30 and 100 people, Josh Odor, Ben Fuchsen, Aaron DeYoung and Eric Van Tassell can all testify to the inner workings of the "The Windy City's" theaters...

'Footloose' opens tonight at Spencer Community Theatre (08/07/08)
Spencer Community Theatre presents the northwest Iowa premiere of "Footloose," opening tonight and running through August 10. One of the most energetic musicals to hit the silver screen will rock the live stage when the Spencer Community Children's Theatre presents their Summer Teen production of "Footloose." Featuring a talented group of teens and adults in and around the Spencer area, "Footloose" tells the story of a young man who, after his father leaves him, moves to a small town with a ban on dancing.. ...

SCT ready to debut 'The AristoCats' (07/10/08)
The Spencer Community Children's Theater is jumpin' with jazz in this exciting Disney classic, "The AristoCats." SCT's "The AristoCats" features a cast and crew of more than 50 children between the ages of 6 and 14 from Spencer and the surrounding communities. Directed by Leah Marshall, with Jeremy Devine as music director, "The AristoCats" is a treat for the whole family. Performances begin tonight and continue Friday, and Saturday July 10-12 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, July 13 at 2 p.m...

SCT seeks community support on major renovation plan (06/07/08)
As part of opening night for "Anne of Green Gables" at Spencer Community Theatre Friday evening, members of the SCT staff and administration announced plans for a $1 million-plus effort to renovate the existing facility which has housed a wide variety of entertainment and events over the years...

Stretching boundaries with Rubberbandance Group (06/06/08)
The acclaimed Rubber-bandance Group's hybrid style of dance -- which combines hip hop, break and ballet -- will grace various Spencer stages, as well as be highlighted during interactive workshops scheduled through Monday. The Montreal-based dance troupe's "Elastic Perspective" show, which will be performed Monday night in the old Spencer Middle School auditorium, will also mark the "final hurrah" of the four-year SPOT project's collaborative effort in Spencer...

SHS speech and drama students honored (05/08/08)
The Spencer Middle School Commons was the setting, and Spencer High School's speech and drama students were the cast of characters for the 2007-08 Annual Speech and Drama Awards Banquet held on Sunday, May 4. The evening began with the awarding of Spencer Community Theatre's annual scholarships, which were presented by SCT Executive Director, Connie Goeken. ...

A meal to go? (04/02/08)
-Dinner guest takes over home in Broadway play from 1939- What happens when a dinner guest shows up and winds up staying for six weeks? That's the premise behind the Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman comedy, "The Man Who Came to Dinner" which will be presented by the Spencer High School Drama Department in the Spencer Auditorium...

Related subjects