Tag Archives: Sturgeon Bay

“Ryan’s Pub: Trivia Night” World Premiere! @ Third Avenue Playworks (Sturgeon Bay, WI) | Sound Design Notes

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Written by ALEC SILBERBLATT
Directed by JACOB JANSSEN


featuring
Kelli Strickland as Marci
Doug Mancheski as Richie

SEPTEMBER 24 – OCTOBER 12, 2025

Tickets Here

A man and a woman passionately singing on stage at a pub, holding hands and celebrating, with a vintage jukebox in the background illuminated by warm red lighting.
Larry Mohr Photography

A World Premiere!

“Ryan’s Pub, Trivia Night” at Third Avenue PlayWorks in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, is a story about trivia night, cheaters in billowy khakis, bosses with big watches, and bartenders in tight t-shirts, and about coming face to face with demons. Marci and Richie are the best trivia team this side of the Monongahela River and have they got a story to tell! So, grab a seat, pop a can of Iron City, and enjoy Alec Silberblatt’s quirky, distinctive storytelling!

Trivia for Tickets! Leading up to the show, TAP partnered with Cherry Lanes Arcade Bar, Stone Harbor Resort, The Thirsty Cow Taphouse, and Buzz Social to give away tickets for Ryan’s Pub, Trivia Night. (all the events have passed)

Design Team

Director – Jacob Janssen
Set Design – Alex Polzin
Costume Design – Kotryna Hilko
Lighting Design – Colin Gawronski
Sound Design, Original Score – Brian Grimm
Production Stage Manager – Kelsey Brennan York
Properties Master – Haley Cranstoun
Guest Artist, Percussion – Nick Lang

TAP’s Community Partner for “Ryan’s Pub, Trivia Night” is JAK’s Place, Lakeshore CAP’s unique local response to the shortage of mental health facilities and practitioners in rural Northeastern Wisconsin. JAK’s Place empowers adults with diagnosed mental illness as well as anyone with a mental health concern by building support and providing the resources to move toward recovery. JAK’s Place doors are open Monday through Thursday 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Learn More or Contact: (920) 818-0525

Our Pay-What-You-Will Preview is the Wednesday prior to opening night at 7:30 p.m. Those interested in attending the preview to support this organization, may arrive as early as 6:30 p.m. on the evening of the performance for general admission seating. Space is available on a first come, first served basis. Donations may be made in cash or with checks made out to Third Avenue PlayWorks. Half of the proceeds will benefit this show’s Community Partner.

Larry Mohr Photography

Recording Session with our Guest Artist, Nick Lang

For years now, Jacob has been wanting to get his long time friend and fantastic Milwaukee based percussionist Nick Lang to be involved on a project with Third Avenue Playworks. When envisioning the music world and genre of this play, I knew it wanted to live in a rock territory. We’ve got a dive bar jukebox slinging hits from the 80’s, 90’s & today. Heck, just being set in a midwest dive bar made me think of my local dive, which always had metal playing. Plus, the story involves a deal with the devil, I mean come on – it’s gotta be rock’n roll baby. I knew that drums would really come in clutch as a centerpiece to the music sound that transitioned us between scenes. Jacob wanted short, snappy transitions infused with energy, and drums are perfect for that. So we reached out to Nick and he was down! I went over to his home studio in Milwaukee for a day and we had so much fun jamming out together on drums and bass. I really love playing this style of music, getting filthy mc nasty on the jazz bass is such a blast. Really made me want to play this music we created live!


Musically, the main concept for this show was to deconstruct Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'” into its bits & pieces and rebuild from there. The song is mentioned a number of times in the script, and is a perfect theme tune or mantra for Marci’s journey to sobriety and conquering her demons. We started with having Nick record the main drum groove from the classic 80’s hit in a number of different styles and variations. I also transformed the original Journey song material through augmented chord structures, re-constructing the bass lines to fit my Devil Tonality (more below). We would shift back and forth between the original Journey bass lines, and the modified Devil versions, resulting in new chord progressions and melodic material. Jamming on different feels, tempos changes, cadences, articulations, dynamics, and exploring variations based on the energy of the moment.

Nick also put impletments on his drum kit so we could record the groove from Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do” (also mentioned in the script for a very pivotal moment), but have an industrial, distorted, and literally augmented sort of feel to the drums. Here’s the instrumental version of that remake, with me layering bass, cello, piano, and pipa lute parts on top (plus the bonus demonic version of Taylor singing remix too…)

We also spent time recording new original tunes that explored the devil tonality through a couple of different rock styles: a slow Elliott Smith distorted strummer, a dusty Desert Rock style featuring reverse pipa, some Drum’n Bass industrial glitches, in your face Punk 16th notes, and an open descending bass line with augmented swirlies into hell, you get the picture. Here are a few examples to check out:

Pipa Desert Rock mega mix in 4 parts

Elliott Smith Style, Slow Strum Distorted Version

Long Descending Augmented Devil Line Rock

16th Note Nasty Bass Chuggalug

Moody Dark Tom Exploration

Huge Thanks to Nick Lang for his amazing contributions to this show!!

Set by Alex Polzin, Larry Mohr Photography

Devil Tonality concept (augmented vs diminished)

I started diving into Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ for note combos & chord progressions we could use. But I knew it would take some work to shift it towards a devilish soundscape or tonality. After some exploration I ended up playing Augmented chords for each chord of the song’s progression – and that is when it started to click for me. Traditionally, in western tonalities, the Devil is represented by the tri-tone. This is a diminished (lowered) 5th. For example, if your perfect 5th is from C to G, and you lowered that G to a Gb (or F#), you would then have a tri-tone, aka a diminished 5th. But as we all know, the Beast is also represented by the number 666. Well… when you stack augmented 5ths (raising the 5th instead of lowering it) on a cello, it sounds enharmonically as a grouping of minor 6ths… meaning that the chord structure is a stack of three minor 6ths, aka 666!! So this augmented chord ended up signifying the Devil for our show, 666 🤘.

Then it came down to which scale would I pair with the augmented chords. You can play a whole tone scale over any augmented chord and it will work. The whole tone scale is 6 notes comprising of all whole steps, or major seconds: 1 2 3 #4 #5/b6 b7 1′ (key of C = C D E F# G#/Ab Bb C). However, this scale tonality did not feel rock enough; sometimes it can sound too ethereal, or mysterious but in a lifted up to the sky sort of way. We needed something dirty and coming down from below. So I focused on a different type of augmented scale, still with 6 notes, but comprising of alternating 1/2 steps and minor 3rds: 1 b3 3 5 b6 7 1′ (key of C = C Eb E G Ab B C) . This version of a 6 note scale (666 🤘😛) unlocked everything I needed to Rock. All half steps and minor thirds just keeps lending itself to nasty patterns. So I spent some time recording ideas and parts on pipa and bass guitar in this scale; using rhythm, tempo, and rock feel inspirations from the Journey song, before coming to jam with Nick. Once we were together for the recording session, everything fell into place and it was a blast to jam out in this world. You can see from my notes here some of the tonal ideas and chord progressions that I was exploring (in the key of E)

The Jukebox!

A vintage Wurlitzer jukebox with a green glow, featuring a selection of song buttons and a decorative panel, located in a rustic setting.

In the script there is mention of a Jukebox in the bar. Hayley, our Props Master, was able to track down this fantastic vintage Wurlitzer jukebox for our show! (It’s got full stereo music y’all!) When we originally opened up the back panel to look at the insides, it reminded me of the original atomic bombs. A little brother to fat boy, the next machinery in line at the Manhattan project. After assessing the electronics on board (which did conveniently have an RCA input!) we decided to just gut all of the innards and hot-rod the wiring directly to the speakers. Better to pump in signal from a head amp and control that rather than try to rely on this old technology for the run of the show… if we could even get it working in the first place! And guess what, it sounds fantastic! I had a 9 speaker surround design going, but we specifically used the Jukebox on it’s own for 2 specific transition cues in the play. One of those transitions was a big highlight for me, I love how it played. Doug’s character goes over to the jukebox, punches a chunky button and Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” starts playing. The Jukebox it also is utilized as part of the speaker mix in the unsettling devil soundscape, specifically for all of the reverse pipa undulating in unsettling queasy dissonance, whenever the demon is present.

A couple stands together in a dimly lit bar, celebrating or performing in front of a glowing jukebox. The setting features neon beer signs and a wall decorated with photos of past trivia night champions, creating a lively and colorful atmosphere.
Larry Mohr Photography

“Stones In His Pockets” by Marie Jones at Third Avenue Playworks (Sturgeon Bay, WI) | Music notes feat FEARN Irish music trio

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BY MARIE JONES
DIRECTED BY MICHAEL WRIGHT

JUNE 12 – 30, 2024

Wednesday, June 12: Pay-What-You-Will Preview
Thursday, June 13: Final Preview
Friday, June 14: Opening Night

Wednesday – Saturday evenings at 7:30pm
Friday matinee June 21st at 2:00pm
Sunday matinees at 2:00pm

Rural Ireland goes Hollywood glam!

Charlie and Jake are a couple of resourceful Irish lads working as extras on a Hollywood flick being shot in their homeland. Directors, divas, local legends, and pub crawlers come and go at breakneck speed as Big-Time Pictures and small-town Ireland battle it out for top billing. Two intrepid actors portray fifteen characters in this hilarious and heartbreaking tale of Hollywood corruption, hometown mischief, and universal pathos.

Stones in His Pockets

Directed by Michael Wright, this comedic two hander play features the dynamic duo Neil Brookshire & Dan Klarer – two of the funniest fellows in Door County! They play a staggering 20 or so characters between the two of them over the course of two hours. It’s super impressive and a daring feat I could never brave doing!

Cast
Jake – Neil Brookshire
Charlie – Dan Klarer

Production
Director – Michael Wright
Choreographer – Andria Nikoupolis-Weliky
Scenic Designer – Steve Barns
Costume Designer – Kärin Kopischke
Lighting Designer – Colin Gawronski
Sound Designer & Score – Brian Grimm
Production Stage Manager – Kelsey Brennan York
Dialect Coach – Greg Pragel
Production Manager – Jenevieve Lee
Props Master – Jenevieve Lee
Production Assistant – Haley Cranstoun
Technical Director/Scenic Charge Artist – Alex Polzin
Production Photos – Cody LeSage of LeSage Media
Production

Featured Guest Musicians
Fearn – Irish music trio from Milwaukee, WI
Fearn is Asher Gray on flute, Erin Brooker-Miller on harp, Andy Miller on bodhrán drum
Brian Grimm on cello, 12 string guitar, orchestration

TAP Community Partner – Sunshine Resources of Door County

For every show, Third Avenue Playworks picks a different local Door County organization to be their community partner. The Wednesday night preview is always a pay-what-you-will performance fundraising for this show’s community partner, Sunshine Resources of Door County. Sunshine Resources helps folks with special needs and disabilities, here’s some info about the organization’s mission from their website:

Sunshine Resources of Door County (known as Sunshine House) is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization. Sunshine House Inc. was started in Door County by a handful of parents in 1971. These parents wanted more for their children to experience and be a part of and with their determination Sunshine House Inc. evolved into the great organization it is today. We are still operating this non-for-profit organization 40 some years later with the same Mission – of achieving full participation in society of people with special needs.

Over the years, changes have been made to adjust to the growing needs of our clients. As we have grown in scope and size, many of our wonderful services have been masked behind what Sunshine House once was. And we are much more than what we were in 1971. In order to educate the community and provide the information needed to those that can benefit from opportunity through our services, we have decided to rebrand our company and will look forward to serving Door County into the future under the name Sunshine Resources of Door County. This speaks to who we are, a resource. We offer many opportunities for those with special needs in our community, and finding the right fit for the individual is important in their lives.

Our goal is to provide “Best in Class” day service programming, prevocational employment, community employment and educational opportunities to build confidence and foster independence. Families and clients are fully involved in the path chosen for success, ensuring our clients live their best life and reach their dreams and goals.

source: sunshineresources.org

Notes on the Irish Music, featuring Fearn!

The score for this show is a collaboration between myself and the Irish music trio from Milwaukee, FEARN. Fearn is Asher Gray on Irish wood flute, Erin Brooker-Miller on harp, and Andy Miller on bodhrán drum! In April, I traveled over to Milwaukee to record with Erin and Andy in the UW-Milwaukee dance studio. It was a transportive and delightful recording session. They played delightfully well and gave me a lot to work with, as a duo and soloists. Later on, I caught up with Asher virtually and we were able to layer flute parts over the tunes that the director Michael and I thought had the most potential for certain scenes. There was definitely a level of trust needed from Michael on a few cues where I thought, “this is the right fit”, but it didn’t have the full orchestration yet. It can be hard to pitch something as a big film cue sound when you just have the first two starting layers! Honestly it was such a huge reminder of how big a part Orchestration plays into music choices as a composer. For this first example above, it was in the right ballpark of exuberant energy with the drum and harp duo version, but it didn’t start to cook until the flute was layered on top. Holy cow! The flute in the mix just added and incredible amount of energy and brightness. Then the strings were able to fill things out and build a big backdrop for the trio to shine.

After those two sessions, we had a ton of material including solo instrument tunes, duo tunes, and trio performances. I then started recording my own string parts on cello, with a bit of 12 string guitar, and orchestrated layers of brass, winds, and the sounds of real Uilleann Irish bagpipes and a real gaelic women’s choir.

I had such a blast recording with Fearn, and then mixing & layering in orchestra parts with the music they performed. It’s just so beautiful, and I’ve been very excited to start sharing this music! In the video above, we hear the “Hollywood-ized” version of the traditional tune “George White’s Reel”. In this show, there is a dichotomy between the locals and the outsider film crew. We use the raw acoustic sound of Fearn’s trio for moments with the local Irish townsfolk and the beefed up, fully orchestrated score version of the tunes for the Hollywood film set moments.

This show has incredible set and lighting eye candy to check out as well! With lights by Colin Gawronski, set design by Steve Barnes, and build by Alex Polzin. With the lighting on the back painted landscape, it looks like its changing between different oil paintings right before your eyes! And the green and gold of the travel postcard infant of it is such a cool visual contrast, it really pops.

Though it’s a comedy, the play deals with some serious topics. It centers around the sorts of things we hide from others under facades. Only true friends can cut through those walls we erect to get at what’s underneath. The sorts of things we should talk more freely to others about. There is a great story of true friendship and helping others here. It’s a reminder that if you need help, please reach out to your friends and loved ones.

This is the 2nd “Hollywood” cue, the “Dispossessed” film cue. For this cue, I asked Erin to play some common minor progressions on harp, both as chords and arpeggios. Then Asher recorded some flute layers in a number of different styles. I also asked Andy to record some special effects on the bodhrán drum to sound like wind blowing over the surface of a lake, which turned out really cool! After that I recorded all the string parts and added in the sounds of a Gaelic women’s choir and created a distant Uilleann Irish bagpipe melody to tug on the heart strings. Of all the Hollywood cues in the show, I think it has the most unique mix of instruments between the bagpipes, choir, strings, fx drum, flute, and harp.

With the solemn and contemplative theme of the music, I’d like to highlight the show’s darker looks. The interplay of lighting and set design creates captivating effects throughout the show. When different colored lights illuminate the painted landscape backdrop, it transforms before your eyes, resembling a series of ever-changing oil paintings. The sky and cloud textures paired with travelling sunset effects were my favorite backdrop visuals.

I love Irish music and I love harp, so I was super excited to get to record with Erin on this project! Here is one of my favorite Harp features from the show, it’s the classic “meet cute” Hollywood film cue. The extras are watching as the stars of the Rom-com exchange glances for the first time… and some shenanigans ensue.

This lovely traditional tune is called “Inisheer”. First Erin laid down the tune on solo harp, then I filled out the string parts on cello, and lastly Asher doubled the melody on flute. I could listen to this one all day. I hope you enjoy it too ❤️

I’d like to highlight the beautiful friendship and collaboration of Neil Brookshire and Dan Klarer. I’ve had so so so much fun working with these two jokesters at TAP for the Christmas Radio play productions we’ve done together. They always keep me laughing on their quest for the next punchline. The genuine friendship these two have off stage translates and shines so well on stage too. I couldn’t imagine a better pairing for this comedy show. Much love to both of you Neil and Dan! 😊

Here’s to some wide shots, mid shots, and close ups!

This traditional harp tune “Loftus Jones” or “Planxty Loftus Jones” was written by blind Celtic harpist Turlough O’Carolan (1670 – 1738). You can really hear the Baroque flavor of this composition, and it fit perfectly for the Hollywood Wedding Marquee scene setting. This is the A-section of the piece, performed first by Erin, then layered on with flute and strings by Asher and myself. This composition has so many fun little sections to play with; it’s a jovial little tune & we hope you enjoy!

I’ll probably post one or two more videos and add them here. As you can imagine, there are more tunes that were recorded and used as top-of-show music, curtain call, and intermission music. Some fantastic pieces weren’t used at all in the show. I’d really love to release this as a collaborative album with Fearn, it’s something that still needs to be worked out. Hopefully this year, you’ll have an album version of this music available to stream and buy. More updates on that if it comes to fruition, but it’s lovely music and I’d really love to share more with y’all!

5/12 – 5/28 | “I Carry Your Heart With Me” Opens at Third Avenue Playworks (Sturgeon Bay, WI) as part of the World Premiere Wisconsin Festival!

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I CARRY YOUR HEART WITH ME
a new one woman show
at Third Avenue Playworks (Sturgeon Bay, WI)

BY JENNIFER BLACKMER
feat. Karen Estrada as ‘Esther’
directed by Jacob Janssen

MAY 10 – 28, 2023

Wednesday, May 10: Pay-What-You-Will Preview
Thursday, May 11: Final Preview
Friday, May 12: Opening Night

Wednesday – Saturday evenings at 7:30pm
Friday matinee May 19th at 2:00pm
Sunday matinees at 2:00pm

A world premiere!

Esther Shannon (*Karen Estrada) is a government stenographer working for the US Air Force during the tempestuous Vietnam War. Lonely, conflicted, and haunted by voices from her past, Esther finds herself smack dab in the middle of a troubling investigation.

With plenty of twists and turns along the way, Jennifer Blackmer’s taut, suspenseful mystery packs a real emotional wallop at the end. This new play will be presented as part of World Premiere Wisconsin, an inaugural and ambitious statewide festival celebrating original works.

I CARRY YOUR HEART WITH ME is part of World Premiere Wisconsin, a statewide festival celebrating new plays and musicals from March 1 – June 30, 2023, presented by the Ten Chimneys Foundation. To learn more visit www.worldpremierewisconsin.com.

For More info on Jennifer Blackmer and Karen Estrada, please visit TAP’s website: https://thirdavenueplayworks.org/i-carry-your-heart-with-me/

ARTIST TEAM

Director: Jacob Janssen
Production Stage Manager: Kelsey York*
Set Design: Alex Polzin
Costume Design: Kärin Kopischke**
Lighting Design: Colin Gawronski
Sound Design: Brian Grimm

** denotes union members

Community Partner Program – Door County Farm for Vets

TAP has founded a wonderful tradition of partnering with local community organizations on each show of their season. All of the ticket sales from the pay-what-you-will preview show goes directly to the community partner. In this case it is Door County Farm for Vets, and truly needed and amazing organization whose mission is to eradicate veteran suicides through farming. I love this so much. What a needed cause and what a fantastic approach.

Since 9/11 we’ve lost roughly 5 times as many veterans to suicide than we have in combat. It is massive problem that needs to be tackled and supported!

From DC Farm for Vets website:

DC Farm for Vets is a rehabilitation farm that provides education and services to Veterans entering into agriculture. This service includes several different programs.  We have an available community gardening program along with scheduled training tailored to the specific time of the growing season. Our training program entails regenerative agriculture, sustainable chemical free produce production, livestock, and cherry and apple orchards.  We believe in Growing while Healing. 

The specific objectives and purpose of this organization is to work towards the elimination of veteran suicide.  We accomplish this through teaching skills of sustainability and consumption of nutrient dense produce and livestock.  Being able to grow your own food gives you a sense of control over your life and it is incredibly rewarding. Every dollar that gets donated to DC farm for Vets we donate back to our veterans or the community giving our veterans the opportunity to serve something bigger than themselves once again.  

Here’s how you can support:
→ https://www.dcfarmforvets.org/visit
→ https://www.dcfarmforvets.org/get-involved

Notes on the Sound Design and Score

“I Carry Your Heart With Me” Poem Cue (Curtain Bow) by Brian Grimm (feat. Emma Cifrino)

As always, there is the potential for some spoilers when talking about my design for the show, so reader beware! I’ll be honest, this was maybe the most difficult play and stressful Tech process that I’ve been through. Most of the time I show up to Tech with all of my cues composed, recorded and mixed – already arranged in my Qlab session with best guesses at timings and fades. But this show was a tough nut to crack. I spent 3 weeks working on melodic themes for the different characters and emotional moments. I would compose a theme and develop it into a cue, only to listen back to the recording while reading the script and thinking… hmmm – that’s not quite right. I think this is the most material I’ve ever developed and then immediately scrapped during the rehearsal and design process for a show.

It took me 3 weeks to realize that the reason all of my melodic material did not feel right, is that the character Esther is the melody! Because it is a one woman show, I needed to sink further into the background; purely be the accompaniment support and let Esther drive the show, let her be the melody. It was soooo different than doing even a two actor show. That is something I did not anticipate.

So the weekend before Tech, I made a HUGE design pivot and developed the idea of recording many variations of long tones. It was a tricky assignment – the director Jacob made it clear that we’d probably want sound under most of the show, but it couldn’t be melodic, and it couldn’t be rhythmic… hence the tones. But it made sense because we had the concept of there being fluorescent light tones for half of the play’s design – and these musical tones could be the color of the storytelling world outside of those fluorescent and cold deposition spaces.

On that Sunday, Monday and Tuesday before Tech (starting Wednesday) – I recorded Emma Cifrino on viola, Greg Smith on clarinet and bass clarinet, and myself on cello and guqin zither (individually) running through “the gauntlet” of tones. I’ve done this before on my own, it’s intense, so I definitely understood the process and what I was asking of these fine instrumentalists. I’m so glad Emma and Greg were down to complete this process. It wasn’t random notes, I created a scale built out of all of the notes needed for each chord progression and melody that I had developed throughout the whole process (even if I thought we were scrapping it). We went one note at a time, recording 5 styles of that note. Long straight tone, no vibrato. Long tone with vibrato. Crescendo to a sting. Sforzando to diminuendo. And my favorite, wobbly oscillating pressure dynamic pulsing long tones! Greg was a total champ, because we ran through the whole process on Clarinet, and then picked up the Bass Clarinet and said… ok here we go again. And then he went on to perform Carmina Burana with the Madison Symphony Orchestra later that evening … WOW!!

I made sure to have every player record every melodic theme as well, just so I had my bases covered for Tech. Even just my melodic and tones libraries were quite extensive for this show – because I knew I’d just have to build most of the cues on the spot. Jacob and I really couldn’t judge what would feel right until we were in the room and tried things out. So it was a slow, brutal process to build cues on the spot, and not at all my ideal scenario. Let’s just say there were a number of all nighters that needed to happen. This is something I try to avoid at all costs these days (by being over prepared), but that just shows you how different this show was and how much needed to be built, created or refined even outside of tech hours.

Besides the melodic and chord tone libraries, I had built up an even deeper library of Military Sounds from the Vietnam war including AK-47s, Air Bombers, Rocket Launchers, and very importantly the Huey Combat Helicopter. I also recorded the forced air heat sound from my vents at home, and the intensely loud buzzing of each fluorescent light in my basement. From these fluorescents and vent sounds I created many variations of tone clusters and chords that created a framework for the sonic tonal texture of the show (which I then replicated with the acoustic instruments).

Throughout the show, you’ll hear the Huey Helicopter as an intense heartbeat. You’ll hear Air Bomb drops and Rocket Launchers as a forced air vent rattling in the corner. You’ll hear Bass Clarinet as the persistent buzzing of the deposition room fluorescent lights. You’ll hear musical themes for the Military, and each individual character in the show. You’ll hear the USA’s actual Military Jazz Band playing dance party music. You’ll even hear clapping from a 1960’s video of people applauding for the IBM Selectric II World Champion Typist who could type 180 words per minute (deep cut!)!! You’ll also hear the iconic music sounds of the 1960’s! My absolute favorite era for popular music! This was one of the huge discoveries that Jacob and I made late at night trying to crack the code of this play. It’s been so much fun to revisit the music of that era, the music I grew up on. If you like this music of the late 60’s, you’ll enjoy the preshow!

Honestly, I felt like I came prepared for 4 different versions of this play, and none of those versions was the show we ended up doing!! So this one was a big learning process for me and I’m glad I had everyone record those melodic themes, because we ended up using most of them! Thank you to the whole production team, Karen, and Jacob for your patience with me on this tech. I know it was stressful for you too, and I appreciate your grace to let me figure out each cue on the spot.

The final two music cues in the show are two of the best cues I think I’ve ever composed and produced. I’m really happy with how those turned out (you can hear the “Poem Cue” above).

Special Shout Outs

In the end, the true star of this show is Karen Estrada who is absolutely fabulous in this piece of 1,000 transitions and micro-moments. I think audiences will love the performance she gives in this show. What a feat to memorize and perform and hour long show alone, all by yourself. So many lines!!! I could never, ever, ever do that. This performance really highlights Karen’s wide range as an actress. Not only that but she kept us all laughing deep belly laughs throughout tech, which I absolutely needed to keep me going! I hope you can come see the amazing work that Karen has put into this show!!

The other star of this show is Colin Gawronski‘s light design and how it interplays with the beautiful scrim paint job by Alex Polzin. The combo of those two elements is GORGEOUS. It’s like a watercolor painting and I love it. It’s worth coming to this show just to see the different worlds that Colin and Alex have created together with their designs.

Congratulation on the World Premiere to playwright Jennifer Blackmer and for building such a dynamic world for us to play in. It is a whirlwind of a play, and there is just so much contrast and emotion to dive into. I want to know more about her mother, who is the inspiration for the stenographer character Esther who is transcribing all of the Vietnam non-com depositions. I’m glad I could be a part of your premiere!

Thank you Thank you Thank you to Emma Cifrino (viola) and Greg Smith (clarinets) for performing and recording on this score!!! I love how both of your instruments support the story and add color to this world. The recordings turned out great and you both killed it in the studio sessions!

12/11 – 12/31 | A CHRISTMAS CAROL: A LIVE RADIO PLAY @ Third Avenue PlayWorks

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BY JOE LANDRY; Dir. Mikael burke

DECEMBER 11 – 31, 2022

Third Avenue PlayWorks
Sturgeon Bay, WI
Buy Tickets

Sunday, Dec 11: Pay-What-You-Will Preview
Wednesday, Dec 14: Final Preview (ticketed)
Thursday, Dec 15: Opening Night

Wednesday – Saturday evenings at 7:30pm
Sunday matinees at 2:00pm
Special Friday matinee, Dec 23 at 2pm
Special Tuesday performance, Dec 27 at 7:30pm
No performance on Dec 24 or 25

A New Holiday Tradition for Door County!

You’ve never experienced Charles Dickens holiday classic quite like this. The five WFBR Radio Players bring to life scores of characters, live sound effects and musical underscore to create an authentic 1940’s radio experience all in front of a live studio audience.  In A CHRISTMAS CAROL: THE LIVE RADIO PLAY hear and see how Scrooge learns the true meaning of Christmas in this charming, family friendly production.

Photos of the foley setup in the rehearsal room

CAST

ELYSE EDELMAN as Sally Applewhite
CASSANDRA BISSELL as Lana Sherwood
RAY JIVOFF as Freddie Filmore
DAN KLARER as Harry Jazzbo
NEIL BROOKSHIRE as Jake Laurents
BRIAN GRIMM as “Chet” the Foley Artist & Musician

ARTIST TEAM

Director: Mikael Burke
Production Stage Manager: Kelsey York*
Set Design: Alex Polzin
Costume Design: Kärin Kopischke**
Lighting Design: Eric Watkins**
Sound Design: Brian Grimm

Live Foley!

For this 1940’s radio play adaptation of the Charles Dickens holiday classic, I’ll be performing music underscore written by Kevin Connors as well as my own arrangements of traditional Christmas tunes on cello, tenor viola da gamba, glockenspiel, bell set and chime tree. One of the most exciting parts of this play for the audience is that the cast will assist me in performing live sound design aka “foley” on small doors, bells, pans, skeleton keys, chains, boots, books, coins, sheets, plates, silverware, a wind machine and more (see photos above)! The cast is super goofy – this is the most I’ve ever laughed during a rehearsal process! We’ve had such a blast putting this production together and can’t wait to share the fun with you!

Feed and Clothe My People, the Community Partner for this year’s A Christmas Carol

For every show of the season, Third Avenue PlayWorks collaborates with a Community Partner. I believe this is a wonderful practice and for A Christmas Carol, they couldn’t have found a better match. At the December 11th “pay-what-you-will” preview, all ticket proceeds went to an organization called Feed and Clothe My People:

Feed and Clothe My People (FMP) is a charitable organization formed in 1982 by Bev Hogan, Bev Knutson and Reverend Burke Johnson for the purpose of providing sustenance to local residents in need.

The program was initially designed to meet emergency needs only. As the number of residents in need of food and clothing increased, so had the scope of required services. As a result, it was decided that having a single location for the operation was necessary to coordinate activities between the various programs. In addition, the Board of Directors was expanded and the search for a new location commenced to increase operational efficiency and bring all facets of the program under one roof. After an exhaustive search, the Board purchased the old skating rink on 14th Avenue. With a few bequests and donations specifically designated for permanent relocation as down payment, the FMP organization was able to secure a mortgage and the new building opened for business in July of 2000. In summer of 2004, FMP of Door County joined Second Harvest, now known as Feeding America, which is a national food distribution center that sells food to pantries like ours at far below market prices. On August 31, 2004, due to a generous donation, the mortgage debt was officially retired. The building now belongs to Feed and Clothe My People.

Our mission is as strong as ever! A great share of our success depends on donations from those who can assist us financially, as well as through various food and clothing contributions. We wish to thank all those who have supported FMP in the past and we look forward to meeting and exceeding expectations and keep our founder’s dreams alive and well.

Here are some video teasers of music cues from the show! I’ll be updating this section each week, enjoy!