The Shelby County Players present “Picnic” this weekend at the Strand. You will want to see this production. The Strand is a theatre with a very tall ceiling. The scenery for this production takes full advantage of the height that the Strand has to offer. The director, stage manager, designers, technicians and actors have worked very hard to have this play ready to go. It is a fantastic script and is sure to be well executed. We hope to see you at one of the three performances.
The first lecture of the 2011 Lecture Series takes place on Wednesday April 20, 2011. AUTISM is the subject and it will be presented by Dana Renay from the Autism Society of America / Indiana. This FREE lecture will be interesting and relevant.
This past week the Strand has been effected by far away places such as Phuket, Thailand; Penang, Malaysia and Anuradhapura Sri Lanka. In Malaysia the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA) has made statements that go the the heart of the matter effecting the Strand. FAMA is revaluating their import quotes on coconuts. Coconuts to the Malaysian people are like soy beans to us. FAMA is increasing the quotes do to a severe shortage. Could you ever imagine our Indiana department of agriculture talking about importing soy beans from a foreign country for our consumption? The problem is not just in Malaysia. The drought in that area of the world has effected coconut crops in other countries too. In Thailand, they are also fighting the Brontispa Longissima which is known as a coconut hispine beetle. This little bug is ravaging their coconut crop. We thought we had problems with our ash trees. We will have to ask Scott Gabbard about that.
So how do these events half a world away effect the Strand? The Strand popcorn is known for being outstanding. We use Indiana grown popcorn and the best of ingredients. This includes using 100% Coconut Oil. We receive this in a 5 gallon pale. Below 72° it is solid, above that temperature it becomes liquid. We had to buy more oil this week. We have paid around $60 for a pail of oil. When we received our new supply this week, the price had jumped to over $90. This was in just a few weeks. We had sticker shock. It turns out that the world wide decrease in the availability of coconuts has hit the Strand in the pocketbook. The forces of supply and demand are at work. So now you know. We were told by our excellent supplier to brace ourselves because they expect the price to increase to over $100. The best solution for the Strand is to sell more popcorn! Next time you visit, buy a $3 bucket of fresh popped popcorn.
The Strand had a first this week, unfortunately it is not a very good first. After doing our trash talk last week, our volunteers noticed that someone took one of our 95 gallon trash bins provided by CGS. This is the first theft against the Strand. We called the Shelbyville Police Department. Officer (and Strand Fan) Mike Shaw came over in the pouring rain and took the report. The trash bin is green with the CGS logo. The serial number is 0001993. If you see it, please give our friends at the Shelbyville Police Department a call. We are very sad that this happened.
Public safety was a frequent guest at the Strand this week. Every year the Strand receives an inspection from the Shelbyville Fire Department. Robbie S. came and gave us this year’s inspection. This is always a good thing for the Strand. We see what has gone right, and what needs improvement. The inspection was on Monday, and by the time you are in the theatre on Friday all the items we needed to fix will be accomplished. Among the punch list was adding a fire strobe and horn in the dressing room under the stage. That used to be an old dingy mechanical room. This is one of those things we just never thought about. The new unit is in place. It is shiny, new, bright and LOUD. We test our fire system once a month. Any time we have a group of actors in, we always give training and pull the fire alarm. The Shelby County Players received the training this week. They will tell you when the fire alarm is sounding, there is no doubt.
As you know, we talk about everything. We have no secrets. We tell the good, the not so good and the unusual. We don’t know where this falls, but we made a discovery this week. While this might not seem important, to those volunteers who clean the theatre over 125 times per year, it is a big deal. Our faithful vacuum cleaner had a problem. (warning, tech talk ahead) We checked out the vacuum cleaner. The belt was fine – it wasn’t the problem. However, the motor brushes were hanging up and not making good contact, which lead to the motor acting erratically. We were able to fix that problem, and the motor works just fine now. The cleaner is usable, and is back at the theatre.
Now, we’ve always had a problem with dirt collecting in the outer bag, and assumed that it was due to improper installation of the paper bags. However, that was not the problem. We discovered that the tube, which leads into the cloth bag, where the paper bags attach, had been damaged – holes burned in it!! Possibly from picking up hot butts or ashes which probably happened before we ever had custody of the cleaner. Consequently, we need to replace the cloth bag & assembly. It’s a commercial grade cleaner, and is worth fixing. We will fix it. It was one of the many donations we received when we re-opened.
The best part about the Strand is you. We enjoy seeing everyone in the audience and around town. Thank you for the support. Each and every volunteer at the Strand does it for the love of the project and the dedication to our mission. See you at the Strand.
Picnic
Shelby County Players
April 15, 2011 7:30pm
April 16, 2011 7:30pm
April 17, 2011 2:00pm
$10 Advance, $12 at the Door
Autism Lecture
Strand Theatre Lecture Series
Dana Renay – Autism Society of America / Indiana
April 20, 2011
7:00pm
FREE
The Last Man On Earth (1964)
The Devil Bat (1940)
Friday Night Frights
April 22,2011
8:00pm
$5
The Strand presented the first lecture of the 2011 series on April 20, 2011. The topic for this lecture was Autism. We were fortunate to be able to present Dana Renay, Executive Director of the Autism Society of America / Indiana. 
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