Jessica Stanley and Susan Herrick, Boone Community Theatre, August 3, 2026

Today we're going to be visiting about Boone Community Theater and joining us we've got Jessica Stanley and Susan Herrick. I promised that you two would be here so there's a good thing you showed up. We wouldn't miss a morning with you Jim. Oh okay good well Jessica was here last time and we were talking about she gets she's gonna do solo directing this time and at that time we were getting ready for auditions for the first production of the new season and again the 51st season and that's never after happily which is I got to keep looking at it. Yeah I know it's right but what a big cast. Yes. I'm good to say I did not realize it was going to be that many. You know I even saw the list but never counted them until we were casting and we had I think almost 60 people audition and we ended up it was huge. It was very popular with the youth crowd especially and then I think we have a cast of 44 people. Wow. So we have 41 named roles and then we have a few of the youth ones that we put in as ensemble and they'll serve as our stage crew but they're gonna be in costume and they're gonna be in extras and scenes and yeah so we ended up with a very large number of cast members. I'm looking at it I'm seeing names that some names I haven't seen at all before some I haven't seen for a couple of performances or maybe until middle of the 50s some even before 50. Yeah. I mean some have been off stage here for a little while but so 60 all of that auditioning that's pretty good. Yeah it was you know we thought the first night well I think we had 30 and so we thought okay usually the first night's the big night and then the next night we had I think it was 29 the next night so it was just under 60 yeah. That's good. It was it was amazing to be able to see a turnout like that it did make the cast in a little more difficult but yeah it was just amazing to see how excited people were about this show. I love it when a director has to make tough choices. That's good. Susan's hoping to have that many too. Yeah absolutely. Absolutely. So your your production again never after happily you want to give them a little synopsis about what it is because performances coming up end of September beginning of October so yeah you have summertime rehearsal schedule and calling it. Yes and we actually started last week we've already had I think five people that were on vacation but that's why we start going as soon as we can to catch them all in but what the show really is about it's kind of the idea of how fairy tales have shaped your world and dealing with the fairy tale version versus the reality and so we've got the writer comes in from the real world disenchanted with all of these fairy tales promising happily ever after and really what it is is throughout the the the play it's this discussion of really what happens in these tales after that that happily ever after ending and so they tell each other the different versions these stories we see it acted out on stage it's got a lot of fun to it a lot of there's a little chaotic energy to it but there's some really good heartwarming moments that I think the audience will connect with. I think this is another one that I notice a lot of young people and some some again that I've seen doing the summer theater camps and stuff and some that are new to it I haven't really been on stage or at least none that I've noticed here but maybe doing some middle school productions or something like that so it's one of those where right now we are seeing really again a very entertaining comedic comedy and so you get a lot of wide range of talent here. Yes yes I know some of them came in looking for character roles and well we've got a lot of those in this play. There are a bunch and then you still have like Brandon he's always gonna be here when you when you need a unique character. Absolutely. He's got that. Well you're pretty good I mean the way it's going since you've only really started now like for about a week here just putting it all in. Yeah you know it's going pretty well. Everyone's excited about it. The read through was hilarious. It was the first time I think we had the two main characters are middle-aged women. They were the only two actors who had read the script which I thought was kind of fitting but they came in they had read but no one else in the entire cast had read the script so it was so fun to go through as they reacted to the different moments and you know there's some good dad jokes going on it and then there's there's some good moments. Are there some groaners? Oh absolutely. Okay yeah there's one scene that really pushes it for those. Well and just so folks know your two main characters will be played by Melanie Jansen and Debbie Zell. Yes. It's been a while since Debbie's been on. It has and if you'll notice we've got her husband and two of her kids too. So there's you got a variety and some of these names I've recognized after because we've done some some of the recent productions that have been done the musicals and things outside of maybe Jekyll and Hyde but we had I mean we've had a lot of young people participating which we talked about that last time. We like this. Absolutely. It keeps keeps they keep coming back and keep doing more and more all the time. Well and I think that actually helped bring them in for this audition is that it was just the week after I saw him for camp. So we had a lot of these kids who'd heard about it and so they came and I was the director at camp and so they came on in they were comfortable as they knew me and it was a huge turnout of youth for sure. So your first solo time as director though. Yes. Although I have John Hoffman. You've been. She is my production support person so he is keeping me on task to make sure we keep things going. That's not that hard. I mean you were gonna because you've been through a couple of different. Yes. You've been involved. Yeah you know as we talked about last time the summer camps are kind of theater and overdrive. You have a week. So now I'm learning how to slow down and go in depth and some of the things that we had to just kind of skate over for camp. So back to the summer theater thing too because the production you got you did was back in June. Yes. So and then Michelle did the last one here in July and again I saw a lot of people showing up. Absolutely. A lot of have been waiting to get tickets for it. Yeah. I think we sold out all of the Alice in Wonderland if I remember correctly. So that's good. Yeah. Yeah. That's amazing for a summer camp show that we have such a strong following. We have so many people in the community that want to come and see these shows that even though they're things that we have put together in a week they still want to come see it. It's wonderful to live in a community where we have so so much support. And we'll have support for this. Right. We got all of that going. Susan. Sir. You said 30 years. 30 years ago. She directed Man of La Mancha and it's back. It's back. Yeah. We thought that people are not going to remember that old and we performed that out of the DMX stage with a big huge drawbridge that came down from the back. And so now we're on our own home. Yeah. A little bit different. But still. But great. You've got your own home. Yeah. Yeah. You can do things. Absolutely. I'm not sure if we're going to get any big windmills in there or anything like that. But. Well you can do a lot of things with special effects. Is it musical? Is it. It is a musical. Okay. Very much so. A lot of music in it. And I've got Dave Howell by my side again to do the music playing for me and Chris Terrell is going to be the music director. So I've got a great staff of people who are coming in to work with me and already. Yeah. Oh well. It takes a lot of preparation because we're going to have a lot to do. So let's talk a little bit about your auditions are coming up for this. They are. Towards the end of August 31 September 1 will be the two days of Monday Tuesday. And this is even before your production. Even before your performance. Yeah. She's going to scoot out for a couple of days so we can come in and people come in because folks auditioning will have to do two things. They'll have to prepare a musical number have to have something to sing and then then do some readings of parts. So. Okay. Our recent musicals have been like phenomenal. Well this will be phenomenal. I promise you. This is a pressure on to keep that level. Oh sure. And we've been very fortunate. We've had a lot of people very talented people that have wanted to do musicals. Yeah. Yeah. And Michael Howlin comes in to us from Indianola. Yeah. Drives all the way in front and it amazes me that he does that. But he's already been in touch with me when an audition is going to be. What are you looking for? Yeah. Well and again for those that were at Annie Daddy Jekyll and Hyde was Jekyll and Hyde. Yeah. Yeah. So he keeps an eye on our theater and and we're glad he does. And he draws people with him. He does. From all over Central Iowa. Well and I mean you know we're we're starting part of that is then once somebody comes and sees it starts doing a production then they come back for you know again. Absolutely. Yeah we become a destination theater now. Yeah. So that's good. That's good. Well we like that. So your your performances are the production itself not until November. November the 12th to the 14th and the 19th to the 21st. So two different weekends in November. Second third weekends of November is when we go into production but you got ways to go. We've got things to do before we get there. Now for yours. I mean I gotta think that some of these folks that are already in Jessica's play will be auditioning as well. Would hope so. Yeah. There will be probably some crossover. Yes. There usually is. Yeah. And it I think at a lot of times. But we don't need that many people. I'm in awe of the size cast she's putting together. But still you do have a size. It is a sizable cast. Yeah it'll be 17 players in La Mancha. It will take in you know it's going to be all those that are into the singing and musicals and getting. Oh I'm sure there's a few of ours that will will try out there as well. Well just like we have the youth that will try out for the high school musical. So we kind of have we have a variety of different ways in which people end up being stretched during plays and that's that's perfectly fine. We figure out ways to make it work. And so and all 17 that I've got coming in they don't all have solos to sing. I mean everybody will sing along. But if you don't have a great voice don't worry about it because we've got a lot of great parts in the show. So for yours for your auditions go go to the audition page on the on the website. Right. It's the best way to do it. It explains everything. What you're going to need to do. What you're going to need to prepare. So yeah that's John does a nice job of taking care of that piece for us. We'll get that all taken care of too. For Never After Happily again the end of September the beginning of October. So working on that. So far what do you need stage wise. Because it sounds like this is you know with a variety of fairy tales and what you're going to do. Are there some challenges there. You know there you would think there would be but this was actually designed to be in what we call a black box theater. Okay. So very minimal. We're actually going to add more than the the script calls for. Okay. I've got a great set designer Wesley Tenor. Tenor. Yeah. Again one of those who got drawn in. Yeah great guy. He's amazing and he came in with some really amazing ideas. One of them we weren't able to do but we've sized it down to something we can do. But it's going to be that perfect mix of kind of it's supposed to be the characters and the props and the costumes that bring the set in. But we figured out a good balance of a way to do that. But still have a little bit going on in the background. And I'm really excited for people to see that when we get to the show opening. We go forward. We keep going forward too. Yes. And again these are just the first productions of the new season. And then we've got again Charlotte's Web's coming up and then imagine Mary Poppins. Yeah. You've got Community Theater's got some big productions this year. Yeah. And again muscle involving quite a variety of people. Everything from you know what we're looking at for singers. When you get to Charlotte's Web a lot of you know there's a lot of things. Yep. We have a lot to offer this season which is amazing. And Mary Poppins at the end. Already I'm guessing there's a few people wondering about that. That's singing and dancing. I know Janae's already been contacted by a few about it. It'd be like Annie wouldn't it. It's just a lot of singing and dancing. So you've got a lot of things to pay attention to. Are there some other things that are coming up for Community Theater. Well I mean your guys are focusing on your productions. But do we have any other things that will be going on as we go forward. I can't try to think about what might be on the schedule. Let me pull this up quick. I know that we have an open mic night. And actually we're going to be combining it with karaoke this time. We thought that would be just a really fun experience. But that is on August 28th at 7 p.m. Which I believe is a Friday night. It'll be it'll be a lot of fun. We're going to have it'll be the option to be able to do the open mic. But then also for people that maybe aren't quite ready to go up and do something. We're going to have a karaoke set up. Help let people warm up that way. So and that'll be the kickoff for our special events for the year. We've got them all planned out. We've got some trivia nights planned. And those trivia nights are fun. Oh yes. And we're going to we're going to have a lot of fun with those. And they are talking about scheduling more D&D nights as well. Okay. But those will be in addition to everything else we have. So but the one to really start kicking off. And for those folks who don't know D&D stands for. Dungeons and Dragons. I remember seeing it and seeing D&D for the longest time and thinking what in the heck is that. Yeah. And the last one was an amazing success with just the amount of interest that they're ready now to go for you know quite a few more of them. Well you know and it's one of those things too. It never really went away. There was always that hardcore group was there. And now you've got new people coming into it. Yeah. It's becoming a little bit. It's a little bit more mainstream. Yeah. So and we have you know there's a big pretty big cross section between theater people and D&D people. So it was a natural inclusion into our special events. So it's just another fun thing that we can offer. We really want to connect with the community. Sure. And that's what these are about. That's what their plays are about. And so you know it's just another way to do that. Getting people to come into your facilities and see here's what we've got. And here's what we're doing. And here's where you can help support us. Absolutely. So I know one of the things last year you were picking up sponsors for some of your productions. Are those sponsorships still available? They are. Yes. We have I know we have a few sponsors already but we're looking for more as well. And I believe the website or the website does have the information. Yep. So if you're interested in learning more about how the sponsorship works all of that kind of stuff go ahead and reach out either through the website the email or through Facebook and we'll get you in contact with the fundraising committee. So and somebody they can explain everything and how it works out too. And you can still sponsor a brick. Anybody can do that. Absolutely. Yes. Anybody can do that. There's an application right on the website I think if you want to do that too. And each time we get a few more in there too. And again that's all helping to do everything that needs to be done. You know putting on a production musical in particular not inexpensive. First of all you're talking a lot of costumes. Yes. And we've collected quite a few of them but there are still certain things that you have to maybe spend a little bit on. Yeah. That'll probably be the part of our bigger budget for our show is costuming. And musicals always cost more. You got royalties. Yeah the royalties on top are always stiffer to watch over. But yeah we don't have a lot of costuming because the whole thing takes place down in a dungeon. So people are kind of raggedy and down there. But when they go into their imagination stuff happening when two horses show up you know that you have to have something to do with that. So again these are just yeah well we've got that. I mean these are just some of the things that people that don't really realize to it. So we don't really do memberships anymore. Most of it is sponsorship things things like that to help out that way. Or if you would like to sponsor or be a partial sponsor on a production there are ways to do that. And just make contact again. You got the website. You've got an email address. You got phone number. You've got Facebook. Yeah. We've got a lot of great ways to get in contact. And yeah if anyone's interested in helping us help support the theater and keep us going. So when school gets started like that's not far away. No it's not. So what does that do? That probably sets your schedule a little better for your rehearsals and things like that. Yeah it more ensures that people are around. We will have to start contending with sport schedules and all. And then the high school musical just to make sure that we don't limit what the youth actors can do outside of the play. Sure. But really we're already practicing in the evening. So there's only a little bit that'll change. And like I said it'll be mostly that they're able to come more frequently. And again with again the high school the one they do again that's a big production for them in the fall. So have you heard what it is yet? No. Frozen the musical. Oh maybe I did hear this. Yes it'll be and so it's a huge it'll be a big one for. Big undertaking. Yes. There's gonna be a lot going on there. Can't wait for Jed to talk about that. Anyway but they always and that's part of it too. The work that community theater has been doing you get a lot of young people involved early and they just stay with it. Absolutely. High school has always had huge. Yeah there's such a big connection between what they do and what we do. And I you know both sides understand that. So we we work together collectively. I'm actually gonna reach out to Jed later this week just to make sure like how does it work for people that are cast in mind. To make sure we're not limiting their potential there and practice wise and all. So yeah. Keep everything straight. Yes someone's got to do it. Lots of collaboration. Susan's just waiting just to get auditions.

So when you get your auditions done. Yes. And of course end of beginning of September. Do you start going with scripts right away? I mean what's your time frame look like? The first probably couple of weeks is going to be music. Okay. And we can do that downstairs while they're working upstairs and we've got a great piano downstairs so. And if you have some that are sharing positions I don't know if you will or not. Yeah we won't know until auditions are held. I could see a few of these trying out. Yeah. So we'll see. Yeah. I get contacts from people wanting to know stuff and wanting to get hedged on things and I keep saying you know I don't precast anything. I don't have in my mind who's going to do what yet. Yeah. And then they come back with but but I need to know what I need to show you. Yeah. Well I understand it. You had the same thing with Jekyll and Hyde. Absolutely. You had people that I heard this was being done and I was interested. I mean you know they just. Yeah. The word gets out. Come to auditions. Come to auditions. We'll do it. 30 years afterwards. And I'm excited to do it. Outside of you directing and David Hall playing the music. Not too many others are going to be involved again. No. I actually I don't know where John Whitehouse is. I tried to find him. I heard he was in Seattle but I have not found him. So anyway some of that cast is all gone. So anyway looking forward to that again the first one up never after happily and the next time we visit we'll have a better handle on how everything's going production wise. I hope to bring some visitors as well. Okay. On the cast. And we will have cast by then. So yeah. And you will have cast and we'll have an idea of what we're going on. Never after happily not with performances coming up end of September the beginning of October. So well well away from that yet but yeah a lot of work yet to do to get there. Yeah. There very much is. It's such an interactive show that we need to make sure they've got what they need down to be able to improve more. All right. Hey thanks for coming in getting us updated. What's going on with Moon Community Theater August 28th open mic night with karaoke. Yes. Give it a try folks if you want to be a part of it. Pretty easy to do. Thanks for coming in. Thank you.