MARCH 2013
EVENTS CALENDAR
Mar. 5
Mar. 8
MAC Meeting
Almost Maine Opening
Night & After Glow
Mar. 10
Daylight Savings Begins
Mar. 10-11 Spamalot Auditions
Mar. 12
Board Meeting
Mar. 17
St. Patrick's Day
Mar. 23
Almost Maine Closes
Mar. 24
Palm Sunday
Mar. 31
Easter
Apr. 7
Final MAC Meeting
ALMOST, MAINE Opens
Friday, March 8!
A Van
Can
Make a
Difference
Our theatre is fabulous, but it does
have its challenges—including for
patrons! Without an elevator or a
restroom on the theatre level, any
patron with physical issues must plan
ahead when coming to one of our
shows. Wrangling up and down the
boulevard in winter weather may just
be more than some are willing to do—
that’s where having transportation
from Christ Church Cranbrook
parking lot is invaluable! When we
have a van that operates (sometimes
that is a challenge, too!) it certainly
would be nice to have a choice of
drivers to spread the wealth and the
warm St. D’s welcome to patrons
from the moment they step out of
their cars to head to the theatre.
One night! Just one night of your
life is all we are asking. Think about
volunteering? St. D’s certainly could
use your help and your personality.
The Cast of "Almost, Maine"
Top Row: Pam Richards, Chris Stepnitz, Janie Minchella, Kathleen Lietz, Peggy Lee
Bottom Row: Mark Drum, Ana Gomez, Chris Peterson, Jon Huegli
Have you ever seen the northern
lights? If so, you will enjoy the reprise,
and if not, you are in for a treat, as
the wild, colorful light designs by
Obie Burch play the backdrop for the
nine love vignettes of this endearing
show. Bob Yazejian has done his
-1-
usual outstanding job finding outof-the ordinary props necessary to
complement the set, built by Tom
Edson and his crew. It’s all about
love—kissing, fighting, making up,
falling in and out of love and being
afraid of love. You will love it, too!
SPAMALOT AUDITIONS
"A CATERED AFFAIR"
IS CROWD PLEASER
March 10 & 11 @ 7 pm
Check-in at 6:30 p.m., auditions begin at 7 p.m.
Callbacks on Mar. 11 at 8 p.m.
To receive music and audition cuts and information
on the audition process, contact Duncan Mein at
[email protected] or 248-971-3035.
For more information about the dance audition
or tap dance classes, contact Valerie Mould at
[email protected] or (248) 709-4566.
For more information about the music audition,
contact Debbie Tedrick at [email protected]
or 248-388-2700.
Visit the auditions
page on the St. D's
website for details
IT JUST DOESN’T MAKE SENSE!
Monty Python's Spamalot is a musical
comedy "lovingly ripped off from"
the 1975 film Monty Python and the
Holy Grail. Like the film, it is a highly
irreverent parody of the Arthurian
legend.
TRY AND MAKE SENSE OF ACT I
After a brief, narrative overview of
medieval England, a Scandinavian
village appears, with Finnish villagers
along with the Mayor of the country
on his fort singing the "Fish Slapping
Song." The men grab tiny fish and
LIGHTLY slap the women in the face
with them. After a couple of slaps,
the women pull out ENORMOUS
fish and slap the men in return with
great force. The narrator tells the
frolicking Finns that he was talking
about England, not Finland, so the
scene shifts to a dreary, dark village
with penitent monks in hooded robes
chanting in Latin. King Arthur travels
the land with his servant Patsy, who
follows him around banging two
coconut shells together to make the
sound of a horse's hooves as Arthur
"rides" before him, trying to recruit
Knights of the Round Table to join
him in Camelot. Sir Robin, a collector
of plague victims, and Lance, a large,
handsome and incredibly violent man,
meet as Lance attempts to dispose of
the sickly Not Dead Fred. They agree
to become Knights of the Round Table
together, Lance for the fighting, and
Robin for the singing and the dancing.
Well, that is just the first 30 minutes
of the show. Eventually, five knights
gather in Camelot—which looks
like the Excalibur resort from Las
Vegas—complete with showgirls,
oversized dice and the Lady of the
Lake headlining the Castle in full Cher
get-up. God contacts them and tells
them to locate the Holy Grail. During
their travels, the Knights are taunted
by lewd French soldiers who send
cancan dancers after them. Yes, it is
zany, completely nonsensical and you
will laugh til you CRY!
A completely silly synopsis of Act II will
be in the April Guilder.
-2-
Sue Mancuso
with Jackie
Gubow in
"A Catered
Affair" at
Stagecrafters
The St. Dunstan’s family has so
much talent that it often spills
off our stage and is celebrated by
our brethren community theater
groups. Appearing in a Stage Two
production of A Catered Affair
at Stagecrafters in Royal Oak,
(running through Sunday, Mar.
10) are Sue Mancuso, Gary Jones,
Marc Myers, and former member,
John Nowaczyk. Musical direction
is by Matt Horn. You still have time
to see it Mar. 7, 9 or 10, because
we all know you will be coming to
Opening Night for Almost, Maine,
at St. D’s!
SYNOPSIS:
A couple must
decide whether to spend their life
savings on a family business or to
celebrate their only daughter's
marriage with a lavish catered
affair, providing her with the
joyful wedding they never had
for themselves. This bittersweet
reflection on the complexities of
relationships between husbands
and wives and parents and children
will tug at your heartstrings and
make you laugh. A beautiful
exploration of love and the true
meaning of family, A Catered Affair
features a melodious score.
Cross-pollination is a beautiful
thing. Perhaps you noticed that
Village Players’ 90th season slate
took up the whole inside back
page of the Chicago program?
With our slate in their program
and theirs in ours, it helps
both groups to reach out to an
audience already interested in
community theater.
50/50 MAKES MONEY
AND FRIENDS
TINHORNS AND DOLLS, GET READY:
UPDATE ON 2013-2014 SEASON
GUYS AND DOLLS REPLACES
JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR
THE MORNING LINE ON GUYS
AND DOLLS
We’ve received the rights from
the publishers to present “BoeingBoeing”, “Spelling Bee”, “God
of Carnage”, but unfortunately,
we did not receive the rights for
“Jesus Christ Superstar.” In its
place, however, we are pleased to
announce that we will be presenting
the classic, “Guys and Dolls” for our
June show in the Greek.
New York and Damon Runyon’s best
characters meet in this delightful
musical by Frank Loesser. Gangsters,
gamblers and other characters from
the New York underworld mix it up
with saintly Salvation Army band
members from the Save-A-Soul
Mission and nightclub dancers from
the Hot Box. Horse races, the oldest
established permanent floating
crap game in New York, a gambler
gone good because of a woman,
and a well-known fiancée of 14
years are just a few of the highlights
of this beloved show. The music is
some of the best-known in musical
theater, and the Greek is the perfect
setting for the revival meeting and
the revival of this spectacularly
entertaining show. Guaranteed, it
will be going Nicely, Nicely!
We are still searching for directors,
music directors and choreographers
for next season and we’d love to
hear from you. If interested, contact
Anthony Marsalese at tonyjeff@
comcast.net and prepare a brief
director submission before April 1.
Looking forward to another
successful St. Dunstan season.
Jake & Jeff +1
NEW DADS EVEN THRILLED
WITH DIAPER CHANGES
Jake Zinke, Jeff Foust and baby
make a family. We have some delightful baby pictures of Christian
which we will share with you as
soon as we get the legal go-ahead
from Jake and Jeff. He already
weighs over 9 lbs.!
OOPS! Correction to the
February Guilder
When the February Guilder was
published we forgot to include the
name of Duffy Wineman's fiancé.
Duffy Wineman and Jack Marwel
will be saying their "I Do's" on May
25, 2013. Congratulations you two!
-3-
One of the fun ways of getting people
to chat about the show and St. Dunstan’s is the 50/50 raffle. The giggles
were abounding as one VERY tall gentleman (6’7”, he said) decided that the
nose to toes was definitely in his best
interest in the purchase of raffle tickets. It turned out that he is Kendall
Doman’s uncle and everyone within
three rows began chatting and laughing and even asking him if he would be
THEIR nose to toes surrogate. While
selling the tickets, Pam Richards heard
so many say, “This is our first time at
this theatre! It is so friendly and nice—
we’ll be back!” The money made for
the theatre is nice. The good will and
community outreach of engaging people so that they will want to return—
that is priceless—as well as being a big
part of the future of St. D’s! As the ’70s
song says, “You don’t have to be a star,
baby, to be in my show.” In each and
every show, you can drive the van, usher or sell raffle tickets and be the center of attention in the pre-show bustle! You know you want to. Call Ruth
Bennett to volunteer or email her at
[email protected].
2 CENTS WORTH OF GOLD
from Ruth Bennett
Ya just gotta love people who love St.
Dunstan’s! When Ruth Bennett was
asked for information she thought should
be shared this month in the Guilder, she
suggested information about Spamalot
for all of us, so that we can talk it up
with patrons in the lobby during Almost,
Maine. Although Ruth has never seen
Spamalot, she put the entire soundtrack
on her iPod a few years back, she said,
and listened to it so much that she felt
like she knew the show. “It's so funny,”
Ruth said in her sweet Pennsylvania lilt,
“and it's going to be up against Sound
of Music and Camelot, two old saws,
and to me it's a relief to have something
fresh and crazy. So the word has to get
out about what this great show is. Oh
well, that's my 2 cents, for whatever it's
worth.” Gold, Ruth. Pure gold.
PRESIDENT'S NOTES
by Paul Dorset
Paul and Molly Dorset at the
"Chicago" After Glow
Another openin’, another show! In just
a few days we’ll be opening our fourth
show of the season Almost, Maine
with auditions for Spamalot shortly
afterwards. It’s amazing that our 81st
season is more than halfway over.
Spring is one of my favorite times to
be around the theatre. Our gorgeous
setting starts to bloom. We also begin
to mount what’s usually our most
ambitious production of the year.
It’s fun to see lots of members come
out, roll up their sleeves, and help us
put on a great June show.
I have one bit of exciting news to
announce. We’re partnering with
the LK Bennett store at Somerset to
do a fundraiser for the theatre. On
Thursday, April 25th, they’re going to
host a shopping event where they’ll
donate 10% of the night’s proceeds
to the theatre. The last shopping
event they threw raised $1000 for the
charity. The management team is very
excited to partner with us; they’ve
already contacted Hour Detroit and
other publications in the area to make
it a well-publicized event. I think this
will be a great publicity tool for the
theatre while raising some money for
us as well.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t put in a
plug for our Strategic Planning
Committee as well. Tom Edson and I
have received some responses from
interested members, but we’re still
looking for help. Do not be shy —
we’re looking for all sorts of members
to help us in some capacity. If you
have any sort of interest, please let
Tom ([email protected]) or myself
([email protected]) know.
I look forward to seeing everyone at
Almost, Maine!
ROSTER UPDATES
Reinstatement :
Liz Schultz
Lights Committee
902 E. Windemere, Royal Oak, MI 48073
248-840-2049 • [email protected]
New Members:
Jessica Danley
Make-up Committee • Sponsor: Paul Dorset
36552 Dowling Ct., Livonia, MI 48150
734-634-7708 • [email protected]
Nancy Knutson
Tickets Committee • Sponsor: Pam Richards
1704 Witherbee Dr., Troy, MI 48084
248-694-4644 • [email protected]
Updates:
Barb Gowans has moved to:
Oxford Place Tower
2345 Oxford, # 726, Berkley, MI 48072
248-677-3392
Mary Sue Meyer 's home phone: 248-673-3449
Margie Brooks' Cell Phone # is 248-515-9458
MAIRO’S KNEE HEALS
It was love at first feel, on
Valentine’s Day, as Mairo Towle
said goodbye to her old hurty
knee and hello to a new one that
can keep up with the pace she
sets! The operation went without
a hitch and Mairo is ambulatory
and ready to go if the healing will
only hurry up! She feels great and
thanks all her
St. D’s friends
for their wellwishes. From the
pictures of her
knee and face,
you see that
both are happy
and smiling!
MERMACORN SPARKLES IN FIRST PLACE
Growing up around creativity can
be contagious! Maryse Richards,
daughter of oh-so long-time
member Pam, has proved to be a
hot commodity in the local world of
ice sculpture. Maryse decided to win
every ice-carving competition she
entered this year, and that is what she
did: In Michigan: Holland, Plymouth
and Frankenmuth; and in Ohio,
Medina and Perrysburg. Covering
the Plymouth Ice Festival, Channel
4 newscaster, Chuck Gaidica, said
that Maryse was probably the only
woman with a chainsaw he would
turn his back on. Maryse often sends
beautifully decorated cakes and
cookies to cast parties—and you may
remember her Ziegfield-like Bavarian
pretzel, beer stein on a table and
bratwurst headpiece creations for
St. D’s production of The Producers.
-4-
Maryse Richards and Lindsey
Wood in front of their “Mermacorn”
Contributors:
Molly Dorset
Paul Dorset
Susan Holmes
Duncan Mein
Pam Richards