Winterset boasts a pretty awesome selection of arts, culture and entertainment options—especially in comparison to other communities our size. On most weekends (pre-COVID and again post-COVID), Winterset Citizens can choose from live music, cinema, live theater, or a trip to one of several museums or historical sites.
In 2011, The Winterset Stage formed as an organization dedicated to bringing live theater to the heart of rural Iowa. Ten years later, the organization has gone through some changes to fit the needs and desires of the community and, in the past year, adapted their delivery methods in order to keep providing live theater even though ‘live’ became a lot harder.
At the end of this post, I’ll let you know how you can win a FREE ticket to the Winterset Stage’s Virtual Dinner Theater taking place this Friday!
Today’s Feature: The Winterset Stage
For those of you who know me personally, you probably already know that I wear several hats in my professional life. I work half-time as the director of the Iowa Quilt Museum, I write this weekly blog, and I am the Managing Director for The Winterset Stage. So, I’m doing my split-personality thing in this post!
Background & History
The history of live theater in Winterset starts long before the creation of The Winterset Stage.
In 1970, Pat Nelson & Beverly Tish Sanderson, with the help of a representative from the Des Moines Civic Center, created guidelines for a community theater group in Winterset. A board of directors was created and began reading scripts for possible productions. The group was named The Apple Tree Players to honor Winterset as the birthplace of the Delicious Apple. (The covered bridges had received a great deal of publicity so the group thought it nice to honor the Delicious Apple instead.) The first productions were offered at the ‘old’ High School (most recently the Winterset Administration Building) and the community warmly welcomed this group of amateur thespians. Later in the organization’s history, productions were held on the stage at The Iowa Theater. One actress has shared a memory of being on the stage at The Iowa and running out the back door, through the alley to the ISU extension office and back for a costume change.
With each successful show, the group’s confidence grew and before long the Apple Tree Players’ board of directors made the decision to offer performances on the Saturday evening of the Covered Bridge Festival. Those performances were comprised of large-scale musicals; The King and I, Oklahoma, Music Man and Nunsense were some of the featured titles during the festival. Many performances of the Apple Tree Players’ productions occurred on the stage at The Iowa Theater before the organization slowed its pace and eventually retired.
Compiled with help from Pat Nelson and JoAnn Collins
In 2010, Cindy & Jason Stanbro moved to Winterset with the idea of developing a professional theater company and began creating the organization now known as The Winterset Stage. Prior to having their own home, The Winterset Stage produced shows and education programs at various locations in Winterset including the ‘old’ High School and the ‘new’ High School. One of the inaugural performances included The Quiet Man, a stage adaption of the famous movie starring John Wayne. With the acquisition of a building north of Winterset, the organization began a five-year period of producing four to five shows and several education programs annually.
Renovations on The Iowa Theater began in 2016, at the same time the Stanbros decided to relocate, and The Winterset Stage board jumped at the opportunity to create an exciting new partnership and return to its community theater roots. Rebecca and Marianne Fons’ desire was to create not only a movie theater, but to also renovate the stage to create a space for theatrical productions and community events. Their enthusiasm, and a little ‘matchmaking’ by some interested community members, provided the impetus for our current collaboration.
Community Involvement
Some of the earliest projects of the Winterset Stage took place in conjunction with the Covered Bridge Festival and the John Wayne Birthday Celebration. Right away, community members were recruited as board members, actors, and for backstage help.
Education has also been a central tenet of the organization from the very beginning. Workshops were offered for younger actors in the form of “Play in a Day” and “Summer Stage Workshop.” When Winterset Schools held an after-school program (PAWS), the Winterset Stage was also an active partner in providing programming for those children. Even this past summer, education programs were still offered in an outdoor setting.
Change & Adapt
The Winterset Stage has faced many circumstances that called for change and adaptation. When the organization moved from their own building on East Madison to their new home in the Iowa Theater in 2016, they had to reimagine how they would produce shows on a much smaller space with very limited backstage space for sets (and actors). However, it’s said that adversity inspires creativity the creative team at the Winterset Stage has embrace that ethos. Scott Smith, who is currently the board president, is a former educator and also studied theater at ISU, often designs the sets for productions.
The past twelve months have posed a monster challenge for The Winterset Stage. Without the ability for live audiences to meet in person, all of their current plans were put on hold. In collaboration with the Winterset Lions Club, the group was set to take over the management of the spring variety show that had been known as the Lions Show for 70 years. That was the first event put on hold and eventually cancelled. Plans for the first large scale musical in the group’s history, Oklahoma!, were also postponed from June 2020 with hopes to reschedule it for this year. The final production of 2020 to ‘bite the dust’ was The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, a perennial holiday favorite that was.
In place of these cancelled productions, the board of directors brainstormed some new ways to bring live theater to our community. In October, actors prepared staged readings of three spooky stories and performed them outdoors at the Madison County Historical Complex to audiences that sat fireside in socially distanced family groups. December’s new adventure was a holiday radio show. Two short stories were adapted as plays and pre-recorded to air on KSOI 91.9 FM.
And this week, the Winterset Stage is diving head-first into digital theater hosting a Virtual Dinner Theater. The actors for this production have never meet in-person; the whole process has happened via Zoom. On Friday night, the show will be broadcast and the audience will attend via Zoom as well. Dinner is being provided by Winterset’s newest taproom, The Drift, and can be delivered or picked up, then taken home and enjoyed in the comfort of your own living room as you enjoy the zany courtroom comedy titled, “Objection! Disorder in the Court!”
How to Support
This part is easy…attend shows! Okay, there’s a little more to it than that. The Winterset Stage is always ready to welcome new actors to their productions. In the past five years, the board of directors has been thoroughly encouraged by the number of community members who have participated in their productions and education programs. If you’ve ever thought about giving it a try, or maybe you were active in theater ‘way back when,’ and wonder if you’d still enjoy it, you should go for it! The group is welcoming to those with any level of experience include complete novices!
The organization also relies financially on the support of their annual members, both businesses and individuals. In fact, the generosity shown through a membership drive in April of last year played a big part in seeing the Winterset Stage through his challenging season.
The best way that you can support The Winterset Stage in the next 7 days is by purchasing a ticket to their Virtual Dinner Theater. If you’re reading this prior to 9:00am on Tuesday, February 9th, it’s still possible to get dinner tickets ($25 each). After that time, you can still get a ‘show only’ ticket but you’ll have to arrange for your own takeout (or cook!).
You can use the same button (which takes you to their online store) to purchase an annual membership or even make a donation.
And now, the PRIZE offer!
I would LOVE for you to take 60 seconds right now, think of 6 people in your contact list and forward this email to them! Copy me on the email (TheWintersetCitizen@gmail.com) and you’ll be entered into a drawing to win TWO FREE TICKETS (show only) to the Winterset Stage’s Virtual Dinner Theater on Friday, February 12th.
You can even copy and paste this text into the message, “Hey! I subscribe to this blog called The Winterset Citizen and I thought you might like it as well. It’s all about the people, places, and events in our groovy town. Read this post and, if you think it’s great, subscribe!” All you have to do is send the email to be entered, whether or not your friends decide to join our online community.
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