Tag Archives: USP

by

Bye Bye Birdie Auditions Set

Bye Bye Birdie LogoUnion Street Players, Pella’s award winning community theatre, is proud to announce auditions for our summer musical Bye Bye Birdie. Director Denise Gregory has set auditions for:

  • Tuesday, May 14 7:00-9:00 p.m.
  • Thursday, May 16 7:00-9:00 p.m.
  • Saturday, May 18 9:00 a.m. to noon

No roles are pre-cast. Auditions will be held in the Joan Kuyper Farver Auditorium in the Pella Community Center. Perusal scripts are available for check-out at the Pella Public Library. If you have questions or would like more information, please contact Denise Gregory at denise2352004@yahoo.com.

by

Pat Van Zante Brings Home ICTA Award for USP

Pat Van Zante won the ICTA award for Costuming for USP's "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat."

Pat Van Zante won the ICTA award for Costuming for USP’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”

Union Street Players, Pella’s award-winning community theatre, is proud to announce that Pat Van Zante won the Iowa Community Theater Association’s (ICTA) award for costuming for her outstanding costuming work in USP’s production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Van Zante is a veteran of Pella’s community theatre. She directed USP’s first musical (Music Man in 1997) and has been credited in many different production roles over the years. She costumed two of USP’s three shows last year (Night of January 16th and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat). The award was presented this past Saturday night at ICTA’s annual festival in Newton.

Congratulations to Pat who surely deserved the award for her incredible costumes! She is representative the incredible work of every USP cast and crew member in one of USP’s most successful productions!

by

USP’s “Joseph” Earns Five ICTA Nominations

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Union Street Players, Pella’s award-winning community theatre, is proud to announce that the December 2012 production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat has been nominated for five awards from the Iowa Association of Community Theatres (IACT). Each year IACT awards shows from around the state for outstanding achievement during their annual festival. This year, the festival is scheduled for April 4-6 in Newton. Awards will be presented on Saturday night of the festival.

2013 IACT Festival Information (click link to download IACT Festival information)

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was USP’s holiday musical and completed the community theatre’s 25th Anniversary season. Not only was the show popular with audiences, virtually selling out three of the six performances, but it also become the highest grossing show in USP history.

Nominated for ICTA awards this year:

  • Director: Pat Moriarity
  • Costumes: Pati Van Zante
  • Choreography: Brystal Hopkins
  • Ensemble: The Joseph Brothers (Karl Deakyne, Doug DeWolf, Dayrel Gates, Gifford Graham, Gary Kopsa, Greg May, Larry Peterson, James Punke, Mark Schaefer, Drew Senn, Mike Wignall)
  • Supporting Male Actor: Tom Vander Well (Pharaoh)

Congratulations to the nominees and to the entire production team, cast and crew who made Joseph a huge success. Everyone at USP recognizes that a successful production is an ensemble effort of every person involved. The nominations are a recognition of the hard work, dedication and outstanding efforts of every person involved in the show!

by

USP Opens New Curtains on Pella’s JKF Auditorium

New curtains were installed on the stage of the Joan Kuyper Farver Auditorium this week.

New curtains were installed on the stage of the Joan Kuyper Farver Auditorium this week.

Union Street Players, Pella’s award winning community theatre, celebrated our 25th Anniversary season this past year. In celebration of the silver anniversary, the Board of Directors and members of USP launched an initiative to raise over $10,000 to replace the curtains on the stage of the Joan Kuyper Farver Auditorium in the Pella Community Center. The auditorium has been the stage home of USP since we officially incorporated in 1989 and the old curtains had been in use since the old high school and middle school building was renovated into the Pella Community Center just a few years before that. The existing curtains were showing significant wear. Some curtains were threadbare and patched with duct tape. The grand drape across the front of the stage no longer closed completely.

Union Street Players approached the City of Pella last year with a proposal to replace the curtains and the City gratefully partnered with us in the endeavor. Both USP and the City contributed funds to the project while seeking local financial support. The Marion County Foundation and Pella Community Foundation each contributed significantly to the initiative. At last December’s performances of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, USP President Tom Vander Well made a plea to audiences to help with the project and a small army of USP patrons answered the call with their generous support.

This week, Central Lighting and Equipment out of Des Moines installed the new curtains on the existing hardware tracks. All of the curtains on the stage were replaced. The grand drape, which had originally been beige was replaced with plum colored curtains to present one solid color across the stage that compliments the existing color scheme. USP wishes to express our heartfelt gratitude to the City of Pella (with special thanks to Jenny Hesseltine and Brenda Ross), the Marion County Foundation, the Pella Community Foundation, the Kuyper family, and all of our patrons who contributed to the project. Individual patrons who donated to the project will be recognized in 2013 USP programs. We are excited to open these new curtains on another quarter century of quality stage productions for Pella and our surrounding communities!

USP Facebook Page is Now Alive & Kicking!

USP Facebook Page is Now Alive & Kicking!

For the past few years members of Union Street Players have been part of the USP “group” on Facebook. If you join the USP Facebook group you’ll find posts, pictures and information posted to the Facebook site by fellow group members. The USP group on Facebook is not, however, and official Facebook “Page” so we’ve now added an official USP Facebook Page. You can find the page at http://www.facebook.com/UnionStreetPlayers and we encourage everyone to visit the page and click the “Like” button which will ensure you get the most recent USP news and info posted to Facebook!