Strand Theatre of Shelbyville, Inc. » Weekly Emails

Strand Theatre Weekly Email: February 3, 2012

David — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:43:04 +0000

The past weekend was quite a treat for everyone who came to theStrand. The Super Celebration events on Saturday were a big hit. The movies were great and the games were fun. Thank you to Shelby County Tourism for helping us celebrate the big game at theStrand! Have a SUPER Day!

The Klezmer concert on Sunday brought a truly unique style of music to our theatre. Violinist Steven Greenman and Tsimbl player Pete Rushefsky played beautifully. The two artists mentioned something during the their performance. They wanted to acknowledge that they ate at the Chaparral Café before the concert, and enjoyed “the best onion rings ever”. This is coming from people from New York City! Maybe we all need to check out the onion rings at Shirley’s.

In addition after the concert someStrand volunteers went to Cagney’s and noticed a large table in back with concert patrons from out of town. TheStrand is thrilled to bring people to downtown and especially when they stay and visit our restaurants and businesses. Thank you to the Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation and Cantor Janice Roger for bringing this concert to theStrand.

This week was warm. Our wonderful electrician Steve Dennis informed us that he intended to work on our marquee on Wednesday. During the winter months we have been working on making sure we have enough electrical capacity to light up the 300+ bulbs in the marquee. The electricity is now ready and this week saw the installation of the remaining sockets and bulbs. Steve and Darin worked all day on Friday to finish the project. At4:00pmfor the first time in over 30 years theStrandmarquee was ablaze with light from 340 individual bulbs! It was a thrilling site. We will post a picture of the test on our web site for everyone to enjoy. We aren’t done yet. We still need to relamp the fluorescent lights and install the front panels. We also have one or two special things to do too. When we are ready we will have a HUGE party for the official lighting of the marquee. It will be just a few short weeks away. We will let you know when we are ready!

Next weekend we will have a very special event. Comedian Mike Malone will be filming his DVDat our theatre. This will be very similar to other concert presentations you might have seen on TV. We hope you come and be part of the audience for this great event. We have all sorts of ticket promotions. Our guru of the tickets, that would be Gary N., has decided that we will give away tickets via a survey. Click on this link to enter: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6PKGM6Q

Check out our Facebook page as well. If you aren’t a Strand Fan, please “like” us.

OnSunday February 12, 2012the Shelby Community Band will be playing a concert at theStrand. The theme of the concert is “Space Music”. This is in conjunction with Shelby County Reads. The book for 2012 is October Sky by Homer H. Hickman. In support of this theme the movie October Sky will be presented after the concert. Both events are free.

TheStrand is a fun place. We hope to see you at an event soon. This weekend theStrand is not booked so that all our volunteers can enjoy the weekend activities surrounding the football game inIndianapolis. Next week we are back. You make it all possible. Thank you! See you at theStrand.

Strand Theatre Weekly Email: January 27, 2012

David — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:27:32 +0000

The Strand is running out of marquee letters. This week we are short the letter “E”. We know why….it is because we have so many frEE events. This weekend will be fun with something for everyone. You have heard us make this claim before, but we will certainly help define the word eclectic with this weekend’s mix.

On Friday night we have our first Friday Night Frights of 2012. This is our ongoing series of “B” horror movies that are on the 4th Friday of every month. The movies for this month are quite special.

We will be showing a double feature of “The Invisible Ghost” and “Nightmare Castle.” Movies start at 8 and the doors will open at 7:30. This month we encourage all our movie goers to experience the Strand by sitting in the dark balcony! There is nothing quite like watching a horror movie from the balcony. The admission is $5 for the double feature.

Saturday will be a full day of fun sponsored by Shelby County Tourism. The Strand is part of the Shelby County Super Celebration site. These are events that help compliment all the national attention focused on Central Indiana this month. The day starts off with a movie at 2:00pm. We will show “Horse Feathers” It is the very funny Marx Brothers football classic. It has been a few years (decades) since Groucho, Chico, Harpo and Zeppo have graced the Strand’s screen. It will be zany.

After Horse Feathers we will doing something really special and fun. We have a gaming system tied into our motion picture projector. You will be able to sit in the first row of the balcony and play from our game console. When you have a road race on the big screen it will be quite a thrill. (Warning, tech talk ahead: This isn’t the normal screen size in your living room. You might have a 55″ or even a 60″ screen. When you do the math, just like Mr. Murphy taught us, you will go back to the Pythagorean theorem. Remember that? A squared + B squared = C squared. Our screen dimensions in inches are A = 228; B = 384. Our equivalent screen size would then be 447″ screen! That is a bit bigger that those little TVs in living rooms) Motion sickness is a possibility!

The Cabaret Area will be full of games too. Shelby County Tourism will provide all sorts of board games for your enjoyment. While you visit on Saturday you will also be able to enjoy free popcorn and drinks!

At 6:00pm we will show the movie “Rudy“. This is a wonderful football story about following your dreams. As you can see, there are many things happening at our Super Celebration Site on Saturday January 28, 2012. The best part is that all events are FREE. There are those marquee letters again. Free Movie, Free Games, Free Movie, Free Food! Thank you Shelby County Tourism.

The weekend continues on Sunday. We will switch gears just a bit and present a concert featuring traditional Jewish music of Eastern Europe. The 65th Street Klezmorim will take the stage to present a concert of Klezmer music. Klezmer music is traditional celebration and dance music.

The 65th Street Klezmorim from Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation is directed by Cantor Janice Roger. In addition to the musicians in the band they will be joined by Steven Greenman on Violin and Pete Rushevsky on Tsimbl. Steven Greenman travels worldwide presenting concerts featuring Klezmer music. If you look up Klezmer in wikipedia, you will see Steven Greenman’s name. He will be in Shelbyville! That is fun.

The concert is Sunday January 29, 2011 at 3:00pm and is FREE. There go those marquee letters again… We hope you can join us for this most unusual concert in the heart of Shelby County.

This past weekend we hosted a two fun events. Last Friday night was Operation Comedy. Saturday night was Dinner and a Movie. The Strand family presented Dinner and a Movie with some sadness. One of our regular supporters, an attendee of every dinner and a movie, was not there. Genevieve Kelly always had a gracious smile and was staunch supporter of our project. As we looked across the tables it was hard to believe she was not with us. The Strand sends our condolences to her family and friends. She was a wonderful person and helped make our community a vibrant place.

Whether you are from Samos or Waldron, go to TCHS or Huxley; the Strand has something for you. Our upcoming weekend of events are truly eclectic. Along with all the programs the Strand volunteers are still working hard keeping our theatre in tip top shape. We are slowly making headway in many areas. If you ever want to help, let us know! We have all sorts of fun jobs still to do.

Thank you for all your support. We hope the Strand is a breath of fresh air in a community that needs a lift. We hope to see you at the Strand.

Strand Theatre Weekly Email: December 9, 2011

David — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 01:22:18 +0000

The Strand is thrilled that the weather is cold! It puts everyone in the Holiday Spirit. To be honest, not everyone is thrilled, but that is OK, because when you walk through the doors of the Strand, the problems of the world are left behind.

The past two weeks the Shelby County Players have performed “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever!” The performances have been well attended and the show is fun. We still have one matinee left on Sunday December 11, 2011 at 2:00pm.

Next on the schedule is the much anticipated rock & roll event of the year! Smashed Productions’ ”ROCKPHORIA ROCKS AMERICA.” The 2011 version of Rockphoria will include things that we are very excited about some additions for this year. (Warning, tech talk ahead). If you attended the Band X and Nuff Said concert, you would have experience the test of our new lighting toys. We are transitioning from our hard wired Electronic Diversified Industries control system to a DMX 512 based system. The DMX allows us to connect different equipment to the same control. We are using PC Based programs to send the signals to the appropriate lighting instruments. The Strand will have the normal stage lights, LED on stage light and spot lights as before. In addition we are installing intelligent laser equipment and some LED projection. We will project all sorts of images in and around the theatre. It will be cool. Strand Board member and DMX guru Cody V. will be putting on a show with the lights he controls. It will help get everyone juiced up for the great music on stage.

The music this year will include only songs by band from the U.S.A. There will be no doubt that you will hear some Grand Funk Railroad. If you don’t know which song that will be, then Rockphoria will be quite the learning experience as well. Dave Rasche, the venerate keyboard player in the band was hoping for some Lovin’ Spoonful, but regretfully they didn’t make the list (must have been an oversight). He will be providing the thumping rhythm and keyboard styling to:

Rockphoria Rocks America featuring the music of:

John Mellencamp
Bob Seger
Alice Cooper
Billy Joel
CCR
Aerosmith
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Guns N Roses
Lynyrd Skynyrd
& many more!

Mr. Rasche will be joined on stage with veteran Strand performers Laura Harmon, Gary Schrader, Jim Whitacre, Jim Wisker and Rick Mitchell providing the instrumental backbone to this fantastic show. ROCKPHORIA will feature the vocal talents of Nick Fischer, Alanna Toon, Larry Brandt, Bobby Toon, Willandra Macklin, Tre Dillman, Scott Shrader, Aimee Yarwood and Glenn Yarwood. They will be joined by this year’s Shelby Idol winners Rob Springer and Erica Marcum. The band and singers will be supported by the Rockphoria Children’s Choir singing Alice Cooper.

This show will ROCK! The really great part about Rockphoria is that 100% of the proceeds help support the Strand. We could not survive if it wasn’t for the generosity of these performers. Please show your support for Rockphoria and the Strand and come to this wonderful evening of Rock & Roll.

Performances for Rockphoria Rocks America are December 16th & 17th at 8:00pm. Tickets are $10 and are available at Mickey’s T-Mart.

As soon as Rockphoria is finished, the Strand will turn back into a movie theatre for the showing of two holiday classics.

Habit for Humanity is bringing “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “White Christmas” to the Strand on December 18th. These holiday films are great for the whole family.

It’s A Wonderful Life – 3:30pm $5 Adults, $3 Children under 12

White Christmas – 7:00pm $5 Adults, $3 Children under 12

We hope to see you at one or both of these movies. They help support a great cause with Habitat for Humanity.

Thank you for the support. We look forward to seeing you at the Strand!

Rockphoria Rocks America

Friday December 16th 8:00 pm

Saturday December 17th 8:00 pm

It’s A Wonderful Life

Sunday December 18th 3:30 pm

White Christmas

Sunday December 18th 7:00 pm

Strand Theatre Weekly Email: December 2, 2011

David — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 01:29:59 +0000

‘Tis the season of great entertainment at the Strand.

We continue the Holiday Season with the Shelby County Players’ production of “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever!” This is a delightful children’s show and is appropriate for all ages. They will be performing this weekend and next on Friday, Saturday and a Sunday matinee. The cast and crew are ready to get you in the Holiday spirit. Please come and support the Shelby County Players and enjoy a play at theStrand.

Before we go any further we must admit a mistake. As you know we talk about everything, the good, the not so good and even the embarrassing. This problem is the latter. It seems as though the spell check in our marquee is on the fritz again. We had PAGEANT spelled wrong for 2 weeks. Does anyone notice it ends in “EANT”, neither did we. It is now spelled correctly. There is a solution to the problem. If anyone would be gracious and donate $85,000 to the Strand, we could retrofit our marquee with full color LED reader boards. They come with spell check!

The past weekend we passed the 10,000 patron for 2011 during Shelby County Bank’s presentation of ELF. This is quite the milestone for our theatre. Our total attendance is over 35,000 since we started. Thank you to everyone who has attended a performance at the Strand.

The Strand is looking forward to all our December performances. Below is our schedule from now until the end of the year. Thank you for all your support. We hope to see you at theStrand!

THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER

Shelby County Players

Friday December 2, 2011 7:30pm

Saturday December 3, 2011 7:30pm

Sunday December 4, 2011 2:00pm

Friday December 9, 2011 7:30pm

Saturday December 10, 2011 7:30pm

Sunday December 11, 2011 2:00pm

ROCKPHORIA ROCKS AMERICA

Friday December 16, 2011 8:00pm

Saturday December 17, 2011 8:00pm

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE

Sponsored by Habitat for Humanity

Sunday December 18, 2011 3:30pm

WHITE CHRISTMAS

Sponsored by Habitat for Humanity

Sunday December 18, 2011 7:00pm

HOLIDAY FAMILY MAGIC SHOW

Daniel Lusk – Magician

Tuesday December 20, 2011 7:00pm

Strand Theatre Weekly Email: November 16, 2011

David — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 02:33:05 +0000

The Strand continues to enjoy a very busy schedule from now until the end of the year. Our theatre will be cleaned, swept and made ready many times yet this month. Our volunteer ensure that the Strand is ready and clean for each and every performance. We understand that our 95 year old theatre wouldn’t take to kindly to being neglected!

On Thursday night November 17th Freeman Family Funeral Homes will present their annual Community Rememberance Service. This program has occured every year since we re-opened as a performing arts center. This year Mike Freeman is changing things a bit. The program will include entertainment by Robin Hopkins and Kathleen Miller. This dynamic musical duo has graced the Strand’s stage several times in the past. The audience will be in for a treat with their upbeat Dixieland flare they will bring to the evening’s program. The event starts at 7:00pm and is free of charge.

On Friday night the Strand will be participating in the Annual Downtown Shelbyville Holiday Parade. This year we will be walking with the Maurice Finkel’s calliope. We will have free tickets to the November 25th presentation of the holiday movie “ELF” presented by Shelby County Bank. Look for the Elf costume and make sure you comment to the volunteer wearing it how dapper and distinguished they look. The straws have not been drawn, so the idenity of the the wearer is still a mystery. To be honest, and we know this is hard to believe, but some of us just don’t look that great in tights.

On Saturday night comedy returns to the Strand.

Comedy Off The Circle presents an All-Star Comedy Lineup featuring three nationally touring headliners. Chris Bowers is the winner

of The Midwest Funny Championship, he was featured on Comcast’s Who’sLaughing Now, and he performed at the prestigious Laughing Skull Comedy Festival in Atlanta, GA. Cleveland Jackson has opened for Dave Chapelle, he is the star of his own Rockstar on a Budget Show, and he has appeared on Fox Television. Rich Ragains was the host of Speed Channel’s Busted Knuckles, he has appeared on CMT and NBC’s Last Comic Standing.

The cost is $15 with a portion of the proceeds going to the Triton Central Alumni Scholarship Fund. This is sure to be a funny event. We hope you come and “get happy” at the Strand on Saturday night.

Next week is holiday decoration week at the theatre. Out comes all the goodies that have been donated to the Strand the past several years. When finished the theatre will be transformed into a holiday destination. We have a great time decorating the theatre. If you would like to help, we will be sending an email with the date and time we begin. We would love to have you join us. As always we expect more popcorn to be eaten that strung… but that is OK. We can make enough popcorn in 14 minutes for 200 people!

To do list: Thursday, eat too much turkey. Friday, come to the Strand to see ELF. Again this year we will be showing ELF the day after thanksgiving. This FREE event is made possible by our friends and supporters at Shelby County Bank. Thank you to Larry Lux and all the SCB crew for bringing the joy of ELF to the Strand again this year. There are two showings 12:30pm and 6:00pm. Bring the gang and have fun at the Strand!

As we approach Thanksgiving the Strand is truely honored to be a part of this wonderful community. Your support is greatly appreciated and you make everything we do a pleasure! Thank you for being a part of the Strand. See you at the theatre!