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Are You Coming to Dinner?

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Get out of hibernation!  Come on over to the First Street Community Center’s Uptown Theatre and enjoy a hilarious comedy put on by the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Community Theatre.

The stage is set. The actors, producers, directors, stage crew and everyone else is working feverishly to make this challenging production one of the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Community Theatre’s best.

The Man Who Came to Dinner, is a comedy in three acts by Moss Hart & George S. Kaufman.   Performances start this Thursday, March 5th at 7:30pm. The show has additional performances Friday, March 6th and Saturday, March 7th also at 7:30pm with a Sunday, March 8th 2pm matinee.

Set in the 1930’s in a small Ohio town during the Christmas holiday season. Our wealthy host has invited a more than slightly “full of himself” radio personality Sheridan Whiteside (aka: ‘Sherry’) over for dinner…

This show has it all! There are penguins, an octopus, convicts, an old friend tries to break up a new romance, someone gets stuffed into a mummy case and flown out of town to be a part of an exhibit going on a tour of the world, there’s even blackmail centered around a certain murderer hiding in plain site. All of this, because Sheridan Whiteside came to dinner, fell on the ice and injured his hip.


Moral of this story, be careful who you invite over to dinner.

Tickets are $12 for Adults, $10 for Students and Seniors. Tickets are on sale at CarePro Pharmacy in Mount Vernon and the Lisbon Public Library.

Call (319) 535-2030 to reserve your tickets today!

To learn more about this production see our earlier post: Coming Soon: The Man Who Came to Dinner.


“Haeckel Octopus” – Photo by CircaSassy
“King Penguins” – Photo by D-Stanley
“The Golden Face of Panehsy” – Photo by j. kunst

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Coming Soon: “The Man Who Came to Dinner”

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The Uptown Theatre in the First Street Community Center in Mount Vernon, Iowa is pleased to host the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Community Theatre’s production of: The Man Who Came to Dinner, a comedy by Moss Hart & George S. Kaufman.

Performances are March 5-7 at 7:30pm, and March 8th at 2pm.

Tickets are $12 for Adults, $10 for Students and Seniors. Tickets are on sale at CarePro Pharmacy and the Lisbon Public Library.

Call (319) 535-2030 to reserve your tickets today!


The following description is adapted from Wikipedia’s article:

The play is set in the small town of Mesalia, Ohio in the weeks leading up to Christmas in the 1930s. An outlandish radio personality Sheridan Whiteside (aka: ‘Sherry’) is having dinner at the home of Ernest W. Stanley and his family.
 
Before Sherry enters the house, he slips on a patch of ice and breaks his hip. He is confined to the Stanley house for a month to recover. During this time he insults his hosts, takes over their house and staff, runs up huge phone bills, and receives many unusual guests & presents (convicts, penguins and an octopus). In addition, Sherry manages to befriend the Stanleys’ children and Mr. Stanley’s eccentric older sister Harriet.
 
He also becomes friends with the local newspaper man, an aspiring playwright, Bert Jefferson. Sherry’s secretary, Maggie, falls in love with Bert. Unwilling to lose his secretary to something so trivial as marriage; Sherry invites an actress friend, Lorraine Sheldon, to Messalia to look at Bert’s play. Sherry hopes Lorraine can break up the marriage.
 
As Christmas nears, Sherry encourages the Stanley’s daughter, June Stanley, to elope, and their son, Richard to run away to become a photographer. Meanwhile the tangled web surrounding Sherry, Maggie, Bert and Lorraine becomes even more complicated and hilarious.
 
Christmas Day arrives, Bert is now in love with Lorraine. Maggie, hurt by Sherry’s betrayal, tells him she is quitting anyhow. Sherry showing a sliver of humanity now schemes to get Lorraine out of Messalia. His host, Mr. Stanley, furious at Sherry’s interference with his family, orders Sherry’s eviction from the house and gives him fifteen minutes to leave.
 
All looks hopeless until an Egyptian mummy case is delivered to Sherry (a Christmas gift from the Khedive of Egypt). Sherry manages to trick Lorraine into the mummy case and shuts her inside. He blackmails Mr. Stanley into helping them get the mummy case with Lorraine inside onto a plane to go on a world-tour.
 
Sherry later “miraculously” stands, telling Maggie she is free to marry Bert, and goes to return to New York. Unfortunately, as he is leaving the house, he slips on another patch of ice, injuring himself again. He is carried back inside the house screaming as the curtain falls.


“Haeckel Octopus” – Photo by CircaSassy
“King Penguins” – Photo by D-Stanley
“The Golden Face of Panehsy” – Photo by j. kunst

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Save the Tapes!

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Save the tapes with the A-Go-Go girls and Dean Traver

The First Street Community Center is proud to play host to a really great 24-hour telethon starting 8pm on Friday, February 20th until 8pm on Saturday, February 21st, 2015.

* NEWSFLASH:  You can watch the Telethon as it happens.  Click HERE.  *

Help Us Save Our History!

More than 2000 VHS tapes are disintegrating…  Dean Traver, previous owner of the local public access broadcast channel KMVL, has been recording Mount Vernon and Lisbon history since the early 1980’s.  Over 2,000 events, lectures, concerts, sports events, festivals and parades are stored on VHS tapes.

These tapes are falling apart and need to be digitized and properly stored for future generations to view. Dozens of the groups and performers who believe that the Traver tapes are important are coming together for the second Frank Benesh Memorial Telethon A-Go-Go! And it’s the FIRST one to SAVE THE TAPES!

Stop in and party at the Uptown Theatre, join local artists, performers and eccentrics as they attempt to stay up all night to raise every dollar possible to save this priceless history embodied in these Traver VHS tapes.

As if this wasn’t enough excitement, a Silent Auction will take place throughout the event held in the Uptown Theatre to help raise money as well.  You are welcome to stop in, enjoy the performances, be a performer, and donate or even bid on items.

The organizers of the event state that your donation will be tax deductable and they will provide you with a form for you to fill out.

Questions?  Call:  (319) 210-9935.


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Winter-Blues Gathering & Potluck

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Saturday, February 7th, 2015, the First Street Community Center in Mount Vernon, Iowa is proud to play host to the Mount Vernon Area Arts Council’s kick-off of its 2015 music schedule!

This event is a fundraiser for the Arts Council and features a live musical performance by the Mississippi String Band!

Here’s a link to a YouTube Video posted by YouTube user: spazk27, reportedly from a performance February 6, 2010 at South Main Events in Monticello, IA:

At 5pm the evening activities start with a Potluck dinner held upstairs in the Library.  This is a great, small-town-friendly way to warm you up and get you visiting with friends and neighbors during an otherwise cold and grey February evening.

Bring a dish to share and the beverage of your choice! The Potluck will feature pulled-pork sandwiches, utensils will be provided.

At 7pm music performed by The Mississippi String Band (& Friends) will begin on the first floor inside the Uptown Theatre.  The Mississippi String Band is comprised of Dale Beeks, Bill “Cricket” Davis and Dave Hummel.  Bill “Cricket” Davis and Dave Hummel are members of the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Beverages may be taken into the Uptown Theatre if they are contained in an Uptown Theatre mug.  These mugs are re-usable and will be available for sale for $5 each if you forgot to bring your own from home.  If you remembered to bring your own you are good.

The MVAAC suggests a $10 free will donation per person to help pay for the performance, the food, the utensils, the space, with whatever proceeds are left going to support the Arts Council in its mission to promote and support the Arts in the Mount Vernon Area.


Mississippi Band – Five Thirty in the Morning – YouTube video by spazk27

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