.
Joining me is Jocelyn Fish, Director of Marketing and Development for the Racine Theatre
Guild.
When we hear Jocelyn here, we know a new show is opening up.
The theater is here.
What is that?
The theater is here.
The legitimate theater.
Yes.
Is there illegitimate theaters going around?
I don't know.
We're the fancy one that spells it with an RE at the end, so, you know, why was spell
theater with an RE?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
There's an ER, but I don't.
I was growing theater.
And the movie theater is an RE.
Is an ER.
A movie theater is an ER.
We're an RE.
No, I don't do that though.
No.
Oh, we're going to fight already this morning.
Put them up.
You show opening up on Friday.
On April 10th.
Yeah, this Friday.
The Hobbit is opening up.
And if it sounds familiar, yeah, it's related to Lord of the Rings.
Yes.
This is actually a total.
This was before Lord of the Rings.
Yeah.
I told you this book in 1937.
And so it captured everyone's imaginations.
It set the groundwork for that trilogy of the Lord of the Rings.
We get to meet Bilbo Baggins, who is a Hobbit living in his home in the Shire and he loves
his comforts and he loves his food and he loves his home.
And Gandalf shows up and says, Hey, I want you to go on this journey, join this band
of 13 dwarves and go find a treasure and Bilbo is like, no, thank you.
I'm going to stay here except Gandalf kind of tricks him in a way, gets him to go.
And he starts this journey with this group of dwarves and he is not having a good time
at all.
The weather's miserable and there's goblins and there's trolls and there's Elven
Queens and all this stuff.
But Elven Queen.
Yes.
But he really learns a lot about himself and what he has to offer to the world and what
his skills are and all that and it's all those pieces of the story that people love so
much that has kept the Hobbit around for almost a hundred years.
Now, this isn't related to my precious.
It is actually.
Oh, really?
Gollum is a character in this and we do find the precious.
Did you find an ugly actor?
There's a lot, let me tell you, I watched rehearsal last night, a lot of ugly actors.
A lot of makeup work, the costumes and hair and makeup, you know, obviously we always
have great volunteer actors.
The theater guild, we have 25 people in this production.
The almost army of backstage crew for this one is quite incredible because we have not
only Gollum, but we also have Smolg who is the dragon and so that is a large puppet as
well.
Lots of scene changes.
There's a lot of work put in this thing.
Yeah.
And we're rehearsing like crazy and we have everyone from the age.
I think we have fifth grade to some older adults in the show so it's quite the spectrum
on stage as well and then lots of creativity and lots of hands backstage to making this
happen.
My precious.
My precious.
The, wow.
Yeah.
This April 10th through the 19th.
We'll have tickets to give away.
Yes.
We've got to pair of tickets to give away this week to pair actually to the Hobbit.
You know, if you've never been to the scene theater guild as a theater in the not round
but close to it.
Yes.
It's like a whole stage.
So we come out into the middle of the audience, which let me tell you, when Gollum comes
out and he's crawling all over the stage, he gets pretty close to you sometimes.
You're kind of like, oh my goodness.
And you know what it is too, in regular theaters where they have a stage with an audience
in front of it, he can close the curtains, quickly change, can't do that.
No.
There's no curtain to close.
But there is quite literally a small army backstage who getting ready to move the set
pieces.
We have the Hobbit door, the Hobbit hole that has to be moved on and off.
We have a cave.
We've got vines that are being lowered from the ceiling, all kinds of different pieces
of things.
And then you have, you know, 13 dorms plus Bilbo and Gandalf on stage.
So 15 people, you got to figure out how to put on stage.
So Parker Munoz, who is the drama teacher at Gilmore Fine Arts is actually directing
this.
Oh.
Yes.
And I think you bet Parker when we came in the first day.
And so he's, he's getting them all in order and getting them organized and, and they're
having such a good time.
And I think we had so many people come out to audition for the show because so many
people love these characters and love this franchise and just have such a place for
it in their heart.
And it's been really lovely to see it all come together and see them all having such
a good time.
I appreciate it.
Yeah.
When I first saw that movie, I said, what is he saying?
Yeah.
I was telling Jocelyn before that I saw all three Lord of the Ring movies in the same
day.
So number one on TV, I rented number two and I went to the theater scene number three
that night.
Yeah.
And I never never got involved in this stuff.
Yeah.
But I got interested.
I was just watching him.
I was eating breakfast.
I said, this isn't too bad.
And then I said, number two, so here they were with the video store.
That's when we had video stores.
Well, I found so old.
That's when we had video stores.
Remember that?
He told me about the video.
Grandpa, tell me about the video stores.
Yeah.
But we've always had live theater, right?
Always had live theater.
I always live theater.
I just saw a movie called A Great Awakening.
Okay.
And it's a story about the Reverend George Whitfield meeting up with Benjamin Franklin
during the days where they were getting ready for the Declaration of Independence.
And he brought Christianity to England and then he brought it to America.
And what was I going with this story here?
I don't know.
What did you say before I did this?
Theater?
Well, I did.
So George Whitfield became a preacher, but before that he became an actor.
He went to be an actor.
And the theater, you got to see this.
The theaters in England back in the early 1700s were a tiny little state with one person
on stage reciting something for an audience.
And that's what the theater was, one person.
And he became one of those people and then realized his calling and that's what I can't
believe I forgot where it was going.
But that's what theater was back in the early 1700s.
Yeah.
And now you get 25 people on stage all, you know, creating a little magic.
Sound effects.
Sound effects.
There's some great fight choreography in the show.
There's some lovely, just lovely heartfelt moments.
There's actually some very funny, funny moments as well.
And they're just a great group of people putting together a wonderful show.
And that's always, you know, that's one of the great things about the recene theater
guild is all these people come together and now, how do you get tickets?
How do you get tickets?
You can call us at the box office 2626334218.
You can visit us at the box office.
Do you think people were going to remember that number the way you just shot that?
You can visit us at the box office Monday through Friday 12 to 6 p.m. and 90 minutes before
each performance or, of course, we're on the worldwide web, recene theater dot org.
That's the only way to get tickets online, correct, recene theater dot org.
There's no other way.
If you have, find it.
It's going to scam you.
And so we don't want to get in scammed.
Just recene theater dot org, call the phone number, which you can look up online.
And what's the, what's the website?
Recene theater dot org.
Recene theater dot org.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The guild is not mentioned in the address.
Okay.
Because people are not a spell it.
Right?
Just kept it simple.
Is it theater with an ER or are you?
Are you?
Are you?
Yes.
We have a whole bunch of other shows coming up.
We've got the big season finale.
Pippin.
We'll talk about that in just a moment.
Talking to Jocelyn Fisher's the director of marketing development at the recene theater
guild.
So do you ever get the inkling they want to perform in one of these shows?
I mean, I did when I was like in middle school in high school.
I don't know.
I have such a fun time being a part of the whole process and watching that all come
together.
And then like one of my favorite parts of my job is I quite literally say my job is
very easy because all of these people are putting in all of this work and all of this
love and all of this time.
And I just get to like promote them and talk about how great they are.
And so you know what the problem is, I would never remember the lines.
Yeah.
I couldn't.
There's no way I can remember a square.
Yeah.
I can't remember this stuff.
Right?
Local loose and timeless hits.
I got to have something in front of it.
Yeah.
My version is a big thing.
It's a big thing.
Yeah.
You're going to have a brain for that stuff.
And I just don't have it.
By the way, Paul, we talk about the new shows growing with the train.
Yeah.
It was good.
It was great show.
And unfortunately we had to cancel that show, dude.
Yeah.
Power out.
It was such a shame, but it was such a different kind of mystery for us.
Better than the movie.
I completely agree.
I think there was a lot of energy and a lot of that cast really clicked.
Yeah.
It was just great.
And the movie wasn't that good because we rented the movie right after that.
And we rented it.
It went to library.
Yeah.
And it wasn't.
I didn't like it that much.
We talked about the Hobbit.
That opens up Friday April 10th, runs through the 19th, short run.
Yeah, short run.
To get your tickets.
But after that, the big finale closer, Pippin the musical.
Pippin.
One of Stephen Schwartz's first musicals, people may be familiar with Stephen from Wicked,
which of course has gotten really popular as of late.
And so that will be running May 15th through the 31st.
They are well into music and dance rehearsals.
And they're going to be moving on over to the theater guild to work on acting and blocking
and all those things and where do they rehearse?
We get to use a few different spaces.
This one we've been at Kathy and Greg Berg's house.
They're a very nice host.
Holy Communion Lutheran Church has always been a kind host to us as well.
And then actually a sweatshop movement, the hip hop dance group here in town.
A lot of us use their space for a couple of rehearsals for this one too.
And then he can't use the theater guild because we've got so much going on.
So now that the Hobbits moved on to stage, they'll move moving into the theater.
Now Pippin has a strange plot line to it.
It does.
And some people kind of know Charlemagne from the state.
I guess he's technically middle ages, maybe the dark ages.
But it is about Pippin, who is the son of Charlemagne.
And he is really on a journey of self-discovery.
And he thinks he wants power and fame and goes to war and all this kind of stuff.
He's trying all these different things and the lead player and all the people
are trying to kind of manipulate him as to how they think he should live his life.
And he kind of finds that maybe all he needs is some love and happiness.
Ben Varene played him on Broadway.
Well, probably the lead player, yeah.
And so we've got it's a good mix of new people and people who have seen it.
The theater guild before.
So it's going to be a wonderful way to end the season.
And so Irene Ryan, who was grinding the Beverly Hill,
but yes, it's a show too.
All right, we also have some other things coming up.
Yes, we do.
So still in April, we have our last James Jazz concert of the year,
which is going to be Eric Jacobson, the music of Clifford Brown, Joyce Spring.
So Eric Jacobson has joined us many times for James Jazz, wonderful trumpeter.
And this time he's going to be featuring Clifford Brown,
who I got to learn a lot about.
He was a very talented young artist and died very, very young,
but wrote this score in honor of his wife.
And so lovely, lovely piece.
That same weekend on the 26th, we have Royal Melodies enchanted again,
signature spotlight concert.
That's great for kids.
It's $7 a piece, 12, 2 and 4 p.m.
We've got princes and princesses and villains and all those people
that have some great iconic fairy tale songs to sing as part of that concert.
So that's super fun.
And so that's James Jazz got and the spotlight series.
Yep, in April.
And then we have one more spotlight concert in June,
which is the music of the learner and low.
My pair of ladies.
And those auditions, if people in audition,
are April 25th and the 26th.
So that same weekend, we got a lot of dance, don't that?
I could have been stolen.
So information about that is on the theater guild website,
but Greg and Kathy Berger will be heading that up.
So that'll be great.
That was my audition, by the way.
I could have done that.
I don't know the words of the song.
I just know that.
All right, let's talk about the new season coming up.
It starts July 17th with dad's season tickets.
Yes.
So that is a Packers comedy musical.
So that premiered in Door County a few years ago.
And that's going to be coming on down to the theater guild.
So we're getting ready for that.
So play that goes wrong September 11th.
Yes.
Theater troupe is trying to put together their murder mystery
and everything falls apart in the most spectacular way
in very, very funny ways.
Sounds like this morning show.
Angel Street, Gaslight.
Now this is based on the movie or the movie Gaslight is based on this.
They are together that will as a kind of psychological thriller of a woman
whose husband keeps disappearing.
And she's like, every time you're gone,
I hear strange sounds in the Gaslight's flicker.
And he's like, don't worry, honey.
Nothing is wrong.
Back by popular demand.
I know Charles Boyet and Ingrid Bergman and Joseph County started
in the original December 11th is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang returns.
It's going to be great time.
We've got the car.
We've got the costumes already.
We've got to sing dance and bring joy to everyone yet again.
God of carnage.
God of carnage is a very dark, biting comedy about two parents.
That's parents whose sons have an argument on the playground
and they get together to resolve it.
And then they just start finger pointing and all decorum goes out the window
and they, yes, a little chaotic, a little feral, a little less than me.
It's like cottage.
The cottage is a great new romantic comedy meets sex
first, mistaken identities.
People haven't affairs with other people.
Pregnancy who's the baby kind of idea of things.
Very, very funny, very slamming doors.
Good romp on stage.
OK, we got Hannah's suitcase on April 9th.
Yes, Hannah's suitcase will be our outreach show next year.
And so that is about a group of students who find a suitcase
from the Holocaust and they want to learn about what happened
to Hannah Braini and their teacher does a worldwide search
to find out Hannah's story.
And the big musical, the big closer for next season
come from a way.
Yes, come from a way is coming.
And we're so excited about it is based off of the true story
of on September 11th when all the air traffic in the United States
was closed down and planes got diverted to Gander, Newfoundland
and this town of 9,000 people welcomed 7,000 passengers
from all over the world with such kindness and grace and love
in a very, very dark time.
What a day that was, huh?
Yeah.
OK, yeah.
What do you give away a pair of tickets now?
Sure.
OK, the Hobbit.
Now we leave them for Saturday night.
These are for Saturday at 7 p.m.
7 p.m.
Saturday at 7 p.m.
If you haven't won anything in the past 60 days, give us a call.
Someone's excited.
I see those lines.
262, 634, 975, 6.
We'll plunk down on this caller.
Hi, what's your first name?
Hello.
Yeah, what's your first name?
Scott.
Say it again?
Scott, a C-O-T-T.
S-C-H-E.
Scott, a C-O-T-T.
Oh, Scott!
Yeah.
It's a slow morning for me, Scott.
All right, hold on.
We've got a pair of tickets waiting for you for the Hobbit.
How's that sound?
Oh, great.
Yeah.
How tall are you, Scott?
I'm 5'11.
5'11?
Could be a do-a-fun station.
You could make it.
Yeah.
We're looking for them a little shorter.
But that's OK.
All right, Scott.
Hold on.
I'll give you those tickets to the Hobbit, OK?
Oh, that's funny.
Hold on, don't go anywhere.
All right.
There you go.
It's weird tickets.
I can't wait to see mine.
Mine is the last weekend of the show.
Yeah, we're super excited.
And we're very grateful, of course,
to have SE Johnson as our sponsor for the show,
because this will also be an outreach production
for local schools.
When do we start signing up for season tickets?
Season tickets for next season for our 89 season
are available now.
Are they getting in the lobby?
Yes, we'll have tables in the lobby if people want to sign up.
And the great thing is it starts at $70.
You can get five shows for $70.
Yeah, I get the whole kit in the room.
Yeah.
But you can get all I encourage all of you.
Just give me every seat for every show I don't know.
Yeah.
And then I should get something in the mail this week.
Yes.
For your, if you're a current subscriber,
you'll get your renewal notice likely this week, actually.
The Hobbit opens Friday.
Yes, all right.
We're going to have a good time.
We're going to Middle-earth together.
Thank you, Johnson.
Thanks.
OK, Johnson Fish, Director of Marketing and Development
at the Receiving Theater Guild.
