Festival Fall Arts Education Classes
Festival theatre is pleased to offer a variety of classes for all ages starting this November.  After requests from patrons, Festival is expanding Arts Education programming into individual classes.  Fall offerings include Acting for film, poetry, improv and crocheting.  
Actors Workshop on Acting for the Camera will be taught by Ron Larson and takes place Sundays November 1, 8, 15, and 22 from 6-8 PM.  A 4-week intensive workshop for actors who want to work in film or a refresher for those who have been. Following Uta Hagen’s Method for Camera, the course will focus on script analysis, psychological realism, understanding the arc of a character, subtext, as well as taking direction and understanding the director’s perspective.  The goal is to help build and create a solid character and performance utilizing all of these tools. Actors will work in pairs on a small (2-3 page) scene during the course of the class, culminating in a filmed performance at the end of the class.
Monday mornings in November from 10-11 AM, Abi Leveille and Elizabeth Albers will host a yarn circle to teach people of all ages how to knit or crochet.  Whether you’re brand new to yarn crafting or want to learn some new stitches, Abi and Elizabeth will guide you through a new adventure every week.  Bring in your own projects to work on or come prepared to try something new.  Abi will help teach basic crochet stitches and amigurumi techniques (crochet stuffed animals) and Elizabeth can help with knitting basics.
Improv Playground will take place Wednesdays December 2, 9 and 16 from 7 PM with Abi Leveille.  A member of Festival’s Sew Good Improv troupe, Abi taught workshops with the Improv for YOUth summer conservatory, Northwest Passage and performs with Black Dirt Improv in Hastings, MN.  Focused on the basics of improv, this course will help students step out of the box and have some creative fun!  Throughout the course, students will become familiar with the rules of yes…and, relationship, and full agreement through scene work and exercises. The class is built for anyone 13 and older with all levels of improvisers, especially beginners!

Tuesdays December 1 and 8 from 6:30-8 PM Poetry Forms and Robert Frost will be taught by Ed Moersfelder, the poet laurite of Amery and actor with Festival Theatre.  The course will explore the music, rhyme, and meter of poetry by looking at poems of Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, William Shakespeare, W.B. Yeats and others.  Class participants will read and recite poetry focusing on classic forms such as limericks (great for rhyme and meter), sonnets, and variations found in poets' work.  Participants will also be encouraged (but not required) to memorize a poem or poems and write poems using techniques discussed in class,  including various rhyme schemes, use of consonant and vowel sounds, and different meter. 
Register for one (or all) of these classes through FestivalTheatre.org or by calling the box office at 715-483-3387. All courses are pay-what-you-can.

Chris Hawkey kicked off Festival's 2015 season with the first concert of the year, our audience asked that he come back soon.  And Festival did just that, with another Chris Hawkey concert on Saturday, November 7 at 7:30 pm. Hawkey, a well known Twin Cities radio personality and former lead singer and founding member of Rocket Club, released his first Nashville solo album in March of 2014. “My Kind of Crazy” and “Favorite Song” have both made it to #1. As lead singer of Rocket Club, Chris has shared the stage with artists like Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Sugarland, Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert and Eric Church, opening in front of thousands of country music fans.  Hawkey loves entertaining folks using both his radio and his music talents.  “When you’re performing original music, you have to find a way to keep your audience entertained, and I think that’s what I do best,” he says. “I want to change people’s lives, even if only for a chorus, a song, or an entire show. I want my audiences to be as happy and in love with the music as I am.”

After a very successful run, Festival Theatre will be closing Noises Off this coming weekend.  A comedy written by Michael Frayn, it promises to be an evening of surprises and laughter.
Audiences have been raving about this show, “it’s funny”, “fun to watch”, “be prepared to laugh” and “It’s a three ring circus of comedy,” says Bob Fedderly.  Another facebook reviewer wrote "Noises Off was so enjoyable; it's fun to forget about the trials of daily living and just LAUGH. The characters were amazing, every one of them, I just adore the girl in the jammies....she cracked me up!”
There are five shows left before Festival closes the show on Sunday, October 25 at 2:00.  Festival is preparing to move out of its home by the end of this year so the city can renovate the building, now is your time to stop in, take a tour and see a show in the Civic Auditorium before it closes.  Festival Theatre will continue to produce theatre while the building is under construction.  The Box Office will move to the Franklin Square building on Main St in St. Croix Falls, along with some of its performances.  Andrew Benson, 2016 Interim Artistic Director will be announcing the season soon.  ​

Festival Theatre kicked off October with a successful opening of Noises Off which will run every week through October.  Add Spirits of the St. Croix and Howlin’ Halloween and it makes for a whole month of fun for everyone!
 
Check out the schedule and make your way to see the hilarious comedy by Michael Frayn.  Here’s what people are saying about Noises Off,’ it’s a three ring circus of comedy’, ‘be prepared to laugh’, ‘it’s a farce that makes fun of farces’, and ‘I’m exhausted watching the characters.’ This show is sure to make the audience laugh and want to see it over and over again.  Tickets are $26 for adults and $13.50 for youth up to age 25.
 
On Thursday, October 29th at 6:30 PM, prepare yourself to hear from the St. Croix Paranormal Group as they present their findings of unexplained activity from their investigations across the valley and beyond in Festival’s Spirits of The St. Croix .  Based out of Stillwater, MN, the St. Croix Paranormal is the leading paranormal investigating team in the St. Croix Valley and have been featured on the Biography Channel’s My Ghost Stories.   Following the St. Croix Paranormal Group, attendees can purchase tickets and travel across the river to Taylor’s Falls and experience a Lantern Tour of Angel Hill and The Folsom House, tours start at 8:30 pm and will run every half hour, the last tour will start at 10 pm. This event is appropriate for anyone over the age of 18 and tickets are $10 for the show and $10 for the tour; both can be purchased at Festival Theatre.
 
More fun ensues as families are welcome to Festival Theatre’s Third Annual Howlin’ Halloween Fundraising Party on Friday, October 30th, beginning at 6:00 pm. Come and enjoy ghostly entertainment for the whole family, including Ghastly Games, a Costume Contest, Haunting Tales and Halloweeny Hi-jinks. You will be entertained by the Spooky Songs and enjoy Terrifying Treats! Visits from Festival's Undead will shiver your spine and tickle your funny bone. The Halloween hi-jinx will start at 6:00 pm in the Elbow Room and will continue in the upstairs theatre at 7:30, where you will be visited by ghosts of Festival’s 2015 Season and Halloween hilarity featuring faces from past and present. This event is sponsored by the Falls Chamber and a free will donation is appreciated.
 
For more information please call the box office at 715.483.3387, email the Box Office atfestivaltheatreboxtheatre@gmail.com or check out the website at festivaltheatre.org for more details.