At St. Croix Festival Theatre

Inspiration envelopes the arts and Festival Theatre is no exception

The New Doors program, with its debut in 2005, was created to include an eclectic variety of high quality performing arts events that don’t fit neatly into our Theatre or Music series.

This program was conceptualized as a way to present new works, new artists, established artists with new works, and established artists who are new to our audience, all the while prioritizing the presentation of artists who live or hail from the St. Croix Valley.

Artists from Wisconsin and Minnesota counties bordering the St. Croix River hold priority, but the invitation extends to those beyond the Valley when the opportunity seems right.

If you are such an artist, or know of someone who is and you have interest in a presentation at Festival Theatre, we’d like to hear from you. Inspirations for New Doors programming can be sent to info@festivaltheatre.org or simply pick up the phone and call 715-483-3387

A “New Doors” initiative launching in March 2012 will feature individual artists reading the works of literary figures for an evening’s performance of that author or poet’s work. Ideally, the artist will be presenting the works in the character and dress of the author/poet and threading the works together with the words of the author/poet collected from lectures, essays and correspondence. If you have an author or poet whom you would like to portray, please send a submission to the New Doors program using the New Doors application.

For more information and/or an application to be considered for a New Doors performance, download this form:
Application and Guidelines

New! Play Writing Contest

New Doors is sponsoring a one-act play writing contest with entries to be submitted by March 31, 2012. Plays are to be from 15 to 30 minutes in length with no more than six characters. Plays will be selected from entries received for reading before an audience at the theatre. At the reading, plays will be judged by a Festival reading committee and the audience for first, second and third place prizes.

Click here for the complete guidelines for the contest.

Hopelessly Romantic
An Evening of Comedy, Poetry, and Music
Saturday, February 11, 2012
7:30 pm

The third annual “Hopelessly Romantic” Valentine’s program will be held on Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 7:30 PM in the Elbow Room of St. Croix Festival Theatre. The show will be hosted by Ed Moersfelder and feature local music, improvisation by “Sew Good Improv,” a poetry contest and seriously decadent desserts interwoven through the evening.

The focus of the evening will once again be on the humorous, jaded, sardonic and/or satiric look at romance--and maybe just a little tugging at the heart strings. Enter the poetry contest early and often click here for entry form and hope to win Hopelessly Romantic) prizes. And wear red when you come to the show. It is so festive and you could win a prize for the most hopelessly romantic outfit!

Tickets $15

2011 Past Performances

The Little Prince
February 24 - March 6
6:30 Shows: Feb 24, Mar 4
4:00 Show: Mar 6

Josh Busick has created his own telling of the famous story of “The Little Prince” by French aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupery. It is a one-man show told in one act and Josh has created it with children and families in mind. Clearly, Josh has become extremely connected to this famous piece of literature which was written in 1943 and has since been translated into 190 languages, selling over 200 million copies, making it one of the bestselling books of all time.

Busick’s adaptation for the stage is charming, honest, and deeply rooted in the Saint-Exupery’s message that “one sees clearly only with the heart; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” His staging is simple and direct, funny and touching, and overall, it is just right for adults and children who want a theatre outing that is positive and fun. Festival Theatre will host “The Little Prince” in the Elbow Room (the street level space formerly occupied by the St. Croix Falls Public Library).

Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for youth; seating is limited in the Elbow Room.

I Love the Way You Talk to Chickens
Hosted by Lori Gordon
February 19 & 27, March 19, April 9

Festival Theatre will host four performances of “I Love The Way You Talk To Chickens: Mostly True Stories and Songs About Love”, a humorous and heartwarming look at love from kindergarten to middle age.

The show will be performed on:

• February 19th (7:30 p.m.)
• February 27th (3:00 p.m.)
• March 19th (7:30 p.m.)
• April 9th (7:30 p.m.)

Produced by writer and columnist Lori Powell Gordon and pianist Mary Duncan, the show includes Gordon’s original stories, with Duncan on piano, with musicians and vocalists Nita Gilbert, Randy Gildersleeve, Nanc MacLeslie, Curt Moe, Dick Rogers and Kelli Rae Tubbs. The show debuted in February 2010 in Marine on St. Croix to enthusiastic reviews.

“Amazing, awesome, fantastic, sensational, and wow are just a few of the words that you will be saying after you see the show ‘I Love the Way You Talk To Chickens’”, wrote former Press Publications columnist Georgeann Cheney.

Tickets are $18.50 and are Flex Pass eligible.
PLUS the option of a Gourmet Tasting Event (Wine & Chocolate & Beer & Cheese) for an additional $30 per person.

“I tried to describe to friends what the show was all about, and I couldn't do it. It's impossible to describe Lori's show without breaking down and cackling.... What great fun!” Tom Triplett

Fizz Kizer’s Honky Tonk Café
March 11th, May 21st, July 14th, November 25th
7:30 pm

A superb tribute to the art of singer/songwriters! Join us as Fizz turns the Elbow Room into a Honky Tonk dream. Each show includes a set by Fizz and a set by a special guest.

May 21st Scottie Miller
Southern soul, blues, gospel, and Latin/Carribean jazz blend together when Scottie Miller plays. Miller studied in Boston at the Berklee College of Music and has played in a series of R&B bands including Big John Dickerson and Blue Chamber.

In 2006, Miller toured for two months with the late rock and roll pioneer, Bo Diddley, and Alvin Youngblood Hart and Ruthie Foster.

July 14th Alison Scott & Kevin Bowe
Alison Scott has been studying and playing music her whole life. She started with the piano and then studied opera, musical theatre, and jazz. She and her band are happy to call the twin cities their home, and regularly sell out some of the Minneapolis Music Scene's best known venues, including the Dakota Jazz Club, The Varsity and The Fine Line.

November 25th Molly Dean
Music has taken Molly Dean across the globe to London, England, and Amsterdam, Holland for both academic study & performance.

It was upon returning to Minneapolis in 2001 when she began to seriously develop her musical career as a solo artist. Now, a Minneapolis-based singer/songwriter, Molly Dean has been gracing stages across the Twin Cities and surrounding areas for almost four years.

Tickets are just $15.00

Sew Good Improv

Friday Nights at 9 pm
June 17th - August 19th

Sew Good Improv is back and better than ever! Led by Jaclyn Johnson and featuring returning member Kathryn Cesarz, Friday night improv comedy returns to the St. Croix Valley.

Sew Good Improv is Festival's weekly installment of unwritten, unrehearsed comedy, made up on the spot by some of the funniest comic actors Festival has ever seen.

Join us Friday nights at 9pm, June 17th through August 19th. Each show is sure to be Sew Good, it will leave you in stitches.

Tickets are just $5!

Devised Theatre

Sunday and Wednesday Nights
7:30pm - July 31st - August 17th

A Theatre Art making think tank, Devised Theatre is the unnamed, undeveloped, unimaginable production that can only begin once Festival's summer theatre artists meet and collaborate.

Beginning in early June, company members will build a show from scratch, utilizing their variety of talents to create an organic performance. Last year six performance artists brought you puppetry, song and legend with "The Elbow Cabaret," featuring the vagabond, musical, story-telling troop, Sticks and Bones.

This year, theatre artists have been creating and refining stories about community and the sense of self. Join these ten artists as they weave together a cross-section of current cultural community with classic American drama devises including storytelling, music and movement.

Don't miss this original work of art, playing Sunday and Wednesday nights at 7:30pm in the Festival Theatre Elbow Room, July 31st through August 17th.

Tickets are $10.

Festival Arts
Arts learning through arts making.

We believe learning through the arts develops individuals that are team players, innovative thinkers, multi-versed interpreters, and compassionate, tolerant members of society.

Socially, intellectually, creatively, and emotionally, individuals who experience the arts on a regular basis are better equipped to meet the challenges of our changing world…

And it’s also a whole bunch of FUN!

We use process-based activities and focused, quality arts instruction to teach new skills and build on established ones.

A multi-disciplinary program brings a unique meshing of environmental themes and character education through group arts making activities.

Visual art, theatre, literary arts, music, and movement activities heightens awareness to the creativity all people are naturally capable of.

Youth & Family Theatre Series
Youth and adults from surrounding communities experience the professional stage by participating in an educational, 6 week rehearsal process. Casts are joined by professional actors who mentor in workshops and in the production. The result is a high quality theatrical celebration of human spirit.

Beatrix Potter Tales

Show Times:
February 23 – March 4
2:00 Shows: Feb 26, Mar 1, 4
7:30 Shows: Feb 23, 24, Mar 1, 2, 3

With the help of the Governess Annie Moore, we look back on the life and times of perhaps the most famous children’s author of all time, Beatrix Potter, with five tales to charm and delight audiences of all ages.

Audiences will experience a romp into the world of a special group of animals which have captivated readers for over a century.

Alice in Wonderland

Show Times:
April 19 - 29
2:00 Shows: Apr 22, 26, 29
7:30 Shows: Apr 19, 20, 21, 26, 27, 28

Lewis Carroll’s great classic story is brought to life with all the charm you can imagine as Alice tries to get home from Wonderland with no help at all from Tweedledee and Tweedledum who get in a fight, the Mad Hatter who is fixated on the tea party, and a wily Cheshire Cat.

Alice finally has to turn to the Red Queen for help and who knows how THAT will go!

Honk!

Show Times:
July 21 – August 5
2:00 Shows: Jul 21, 22, 26, Aug 2, 5
7:30 Shows: Jul 26, Aug 2, 4

Based on the Hans Christian Andersen classic fable, "The Ugly Duckling", this delightful musical will warm your heart and set your toe-tapping. “Honk!” tells the story of an odd looking baby duck named Ugly, and his quest to find his mother after being separated from his flock. Full of musical morals, the most important and resonate of which is; it’s okay to be different.

The Trial of Tom Sawyer

Show Times:
September 8 -16
2:00 Shows: Sep 9, 13, 16
7:30 Shows: Sep 8, 13, 14, 15

Witness the inner conflict of Tom Sawyer one long summer ago when the boy Tom proves his manhood and the man (Mark Twain as narrator) relives his boyhood.

Tom moves through the whitewash work and the school whipping, showing his bravery in the young world. He experiences the graveyard murder, the happiest funeral in all literatures as the “drowned” listen to their eulogies and the climactic trial which tests his courage in the old world of life and death.

Theatre Resource Guides
Festival Theatre invites students to get the most out of their theatre visit by understanding the world beyond the play. Theatre Resource Guides introduce the playwright, characters, themes and issues raised in the play via classroom activities, discussion questions, and scenes to read aloud. The guides are designed to be classroom-ready, allowing educators to duplicate materials for easy distribution to students.

• Charlotte’s Web Resource Guide
• A Laura Ingalls Wilder Christmas Resource Guide
• Ama & The White Crane Resource Guide
• A Christmas Story Resource Guide
• The Wind in the Willows Resource Guide
• The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
• A Christmas Carol

Summer Creativity Camp
Our 5 day, all day, multi-disciplinary camp for ages 5-12 emphasizes environmental themes and the joy of imagination. Locations throughout the St. Croix Valley.

Five full days fresh air and sunshine,
brushes, paint, paper, glue,
a pile of great stories,
frogs, bugs, silliness,
a bag of props,
friends, laughing,
and a whole lot of ideas!

Arts Classes and Workshops in visual art fundamentals, movement, improv, literary arts, inter-generational experiences and more! Tailor-made opportunities for home school families are available.

Artist in Residency programs custom-built for classrooms or youth groups.
The performing and visual arts enrich virtually any curricular subject and set of educational standards. Collaborate with one of our Festival Arts faculty artists to create a program that makes math, language arts, environmental science, social studies or science class a stage for arts making. Bolster academic achievement for all learners! Planning is part of the package!

Festival Theatre wishes to thank the following for their support of Festival Arts programming:

See Flyer for details.

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