Flowers are blooming, grass is growing.   There is magic in the air….and at the Strand.   Tonight we welcome magician Kyle Marlett from Las Vegas.   He will be performing his magic on the Strand stage starting at 7:00.   There will be a matinee performance at 2:00pm on Saturday.  Come out and have an evening of illusion and fun.

Saturday night the cats at Shelbyville High School will be on the stage with their annual SHS Jazz Band Concert.   This group will play music from the big band era and beyond.   They play all your favorites plus newer jazz and swing charts.   Come enjoy an evening of Big Band music at the Strand.   The performance starts at 7:30pm.

Time is ticking on our Frankenstein Switch (warning, tech talk ahead).  After diligent work to arrange the pieces of the puzzle, our electrician Steve Dennis has officially announce we will upgrade our electrical service soon.    The front (east) part of the theatre runs on the original (that is 1916!) electrical box.   It looks like something in Frankenstein’s lab.    It sizzles and all that good stuff.   Not for long, it will be a part of history to which we look forward to saying goodbye.   It rates right up there with the sticky balcony floor we had to clean.   There are several things that are critical for the process to work.   One of which is the ability to have someone crawl in the rafter space above the auditorium and help guide the new conduit.   Fortunate for us, our college student board member Cody V.  is skinny and flexible.   What a treat he will have getting to places rarely seen in the Strand.     We will write about the process as it unfolds, but for now it is on the schedule for May.   That is a good thing too, since we need to get the service changed so that we have enough power to light our marquee.   Everything is connected at the Strand. (nice pun, we know).

Start thinking about Tara.   Gone With The Wind is on the horizon, May 21st – Dinner and a Movie.  Tickets are selling fast, so please get yours before they run out.  We have seating for 80 at dinner.   There are plenty of movie only tickets.

KYLE MARLETT  – MAGICIAN

FRIDAY 5/7   7:00pm

SATURDAY 5/8  2:00pm

SHS JAZZ BAND

SATURDAY 5/8  7:30pm

We look forward to seeing you at the Strand this weekend.  Thank you for all your support.  The Strand is proud to be one more piece in the quality of life puzzle.

Normally, watching Kyle Marlett’s “Confessions of a Magic Nerd” would require a trip to Nevada. Knowing that times are tough and airfare is expensive, Kyle is bringing his Las Vegas magic act to The Strand Theatre on Friday at 7 p.m. and on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Economically priced for maximum attendance, admission is only $7 per person. Tickets are available at Mickey’s T-Mart, Blue River Printing, and The Strand Theatre box office.

Since a couple of his act’s illusions are a little extreme, Kyle recommends his show for ages 14 and up.

Borrowing from his entertainment idols, Charlie Chaplin, Red Skelton and Tim Burton, Kyle has created a unique one-man show that celebrates magic, comedy and his own nerdy personality.

Although Kyle typically performs two shows a day, five days a week, in Las Vegas, he couldn’t resist an appearance in his own home town. Originally from Waverly, Indiana, he attended Shelbyville Middle School and Shelbyville High School. As a sophomore, he moved to Daytona, Florida, with his mother. Now, he lives in Las Vegas.

Unlike most of his peers, the 18-year-old has been living his dream since he was 10. Recently, he performed his own brand of illusion for other magicians at the World Championship in South Korea. During this stay in Indiana, he is performing at Indiana Magic Monthly in Indianapolis and Carnegie’s Restaurant in Greenfield, in addition to two performances at the Strand.

For more info on Kyle, visit www.kylemarlett.com. You can find him on Facebook, too.

Poets pack the Strand

It was standing room only Wednesday night at the Strand Theater as more than 20 poets shared their work, written and spoken, to and with a crowd overflowing the cabaret area of the historic venue.

Chairs ringed the podium and people sat on stairs and stood along walls like at a beatnik coffee house to hear the cadence visions featured poet, Dan Carpenter, recited from his new book “More Than I Could See.”

His crisp, well–crafted and eloquently delivered readings opened an eventful night of verbal pyrotechniques and literary gymnastics as word smiths ranging in age from grade –school girls to grandfathers shared emotions, sensations and often retrospective written musings. This inspired music of words spanning free-verse to sonnets to songs swinging from sentimental to sublime was sponsored by Three Sisters Books and Gifts.

“We hope poetry night makes poetry more accessible for people who never thought they would like or understand poetry, said Barbara Rogers.  ‘It’s refreshing to hear poetry from many perspectives and all ages.”

Carpenter, a columnist for the Indianapolis Star, opened the evening’s verbal festivity with a highly conversational, yet, alliterative poem about a painter. It was a spoken song that began as a collision of clashing words and then evolved into a word picture filled with nuance, texture, color and experience.

He followed this with several poems stolen like fire from the headlines of the past recited with a voice and cadence that reminds one of Carl Sandburg, another journalist turned poet. The thirteen poems he chose were eloquent and at times thoughtful alliterative excursions brimming with well-crafted emotion, like the one he wrote about his infant daughter.

“ I am his poem

not because he has written me

because he found me

and sings me

and would know me by heart if he could.”

Another accomplished poet of the night was J.L Cato whose “Beneath the Surface,” was also a finely sung lyrical ode based upon a real experience with a painter. This work focused on an artist residing in El Salvador and his struggles to live and create amid war, poverty and illiteracy; both literal and cultural.

A similarly serious approach to words and the emotions they can generate was explored by Omer Brewer, a grandfather who shared a heart-felt trauma involving his daughter’s life. The near-death event inspired him to write and his voice still cracked and broke 14-years later as he recalled his sensations.

In an unintended, yet rather poetic irony, Brewer was followed by an equally poignant work by a writer not yet born when tragedy inspired his voice.

With a rather brave face and clear voice, Danielle Eberhart, a 5^th grader, with promise who shared a sentimental lament about grief and loss: “I was once a dog.”

This tiny troubadour was followed in quick fashion by an eloquent exploration by local poet Gaye McKenney, who spoke of random friendliness and how it affects her daily existence.

Another of evening’s gems was a Shakespearean sonnet, written in iambic pentameters, “The Birth of Poseidon” by  Lee Sakellarides and read in a forthright resonant voice that flowed with poetic diction.

One rather exciting feature of the night was a group of budding student- poets taught by Jon Stevens of Shelbyville High School, who also shared some of their works.  Two of the more thought- provoking pieces were composed and forcefully intoned by Arthur Garcia and Larry Brown. Garcia explored the macabre world of the lonely, twisted vision of the serial killer who inspired “The Silence of the Lambs.” Brown’s poem delved rather poignantly into identity, stereotypes and judgments: both perceived and pre-conceived.

A final poet worth mentioning in the lengthy, yet inspiring night of word pictures and soulscapes was the rather sublime personal narrative poems of Sara Chappella, who wrapped her crafted vocabulary around several big philosophical conundrums evolving about the ultimate meaning of existence. Her verbalized songs were emotions inspired by physical landscapes that magically coaxed her into a deep questioning and pondering about her soul and its terrain.

All in all, and throughout the night a plethora of people, local and regional, waxed poetic across the emotional, philosophical, sentimental and even the comic-maudlin in an entertaining spectacle that repeatedly reproved an old-point: poetry is indeed a window on the soul and that songs exists in the minds of all.

Shelby County Players Announces Summer 2010 Show

Shelbyville, IN, April 30, 2010 – Now in its 22^nd year, Shelby County Players is pleased to announce the addition of And Then There Were None to its 2009-2010 season.  Tiffany D. Wilson will direct, and Cindy Leahy will produce, this exciting Agatha Christie murder-mystery, formerly titled Ten Little Indians. Performances are scheduled for August 5-7, 2010, at 7:30pm and August 8, 2010, at 2:00pm at the historic Strand Theatre in Shelbyville, IN. Auditions for the show will be held at the Strand Theatre on June 6 & 7, 2010, from 6:30-8:30pm.

On a private island off the coast of Devon, England, small soldier figurines inexplicably fall from the mantle and break, as each of those present in the house dies one by one at the hands of an unknown assailant.  Above the mantle, a nursery rhyme describes how each of the ten “soldiers” dies until there were none.  Eight guests, who have never met each other, and two house servants, are trapped on the island during a storm, while their host and hostess are mysteriously absent. A strange voice accuses each of the ten of having committed and gotten away with murder, and suddenly, one of the guests collapses, having been poisoned. One down and nine to go!

A veteran Shelby County Players actor and director, Tiffany D. Wilson most recently appeared on stage as Audrey in the hilarious cross-dressing farce, Leading Ladies.  Last fall, Tiffany directed another Agatha Christie murder-mystery, The Unexpected Guest, to sell-out crowds.

Casting needs for this production of And Then There Were None include 8 adult males and 3 adult females. Auditions are open to the public and no prior experience is required.  In addition to actors, Shelby County Players is always looking for volunteers to help behind the scenes in various positions, including stage managers, costume coordinators, light & sound technicians, etc.  Anyone interested in participating is encouraged to attend auditions.

For additional information on And Then There Were None and Shelby County Players, please visit www.shelbycountyplayers.com.

About Shelby County Players:

Shelby County Players, Inc., is a non-profit organization of volunteers dedicated to providing quality live theater experiences to Shelby and surrounding counties.

Contact:

Lindy Meyer, President

Shelby County Players, Inc.

317-392-6844

www.shelbycountyplayers.com

May 7th Performance

Adults $7.00 Age 14 and Under $5.00

May 8th Performance

Adults $7.00 Age 14 and Under $5.00

Tickets purchased online will be held at will call.

Recommended for ages 14 and up.

Tickets

Adults $7.00 15 and under $5.00 50 and over $5.00

Tickets purchased online will be held at will call.

Jonathan Roberts & Second Chance

  Jonathan Roberts. Second Chance is Dustin Oakes, Danny Sheetz and Miriam Solomon. They are a Christian rock band affiliated with Christ Fellowship Church in Knightstown, Ind. They’ll be performing music from their debut CD, “Finally Me.”

Gone Fishin’ is Jeff Owens, Greg Martin, Brian Martin, Linda Martin, Tony Sadler, Jeb Bass and Rhonda Trebley. They are a contemporary praise and worship band affiliated with Shelbyville Community Church, Shelbyville, Ind.

• Saturday, May 1, 2010, at the Strand in Shelbyville, Ind.

• Showtimes: Gone Fishin’ at 6 p.m., Jonathan Roberts & Second Chance after an intermission.

• Tickets: $7 adults, $5 for ages 15 & under and ages 50 and over.

• Jonathan Roberts “Finally Me” CDs will be available for purchase after the performance.

Tickets available at Blue River Printing, Mickey’s T Mart, band members and on this website.