Maxinkuckee Players to open Premiere Season  

Maxinkuckee Players to open Premiere Season on June 27

In three weeks the curtain will rise on the first production of the Maxinuckee Playhouse.

F. Paul Rutledge and D. Martin Tahse, both of the University of Cincinatir and directors of the Maxinkuckee Players, havs arrived in Culver to supervise the remodeling of the theatre and to initiate plans for the summer season

The playhouse will open its premiere season June 27 through July 2 with Noel Coward's laugh-hit, "Blythe Spirit".

The SUmmer Theater is located along the East Shore lane.

Tickets for the profuction are now on sale and may be secured by phoning the Playhouse, Culver, 203, reserving sears, or by placin orders at Oberlin's Electric Store.

Reserved sears must be called for at the theatre box office by 8:15 on the evening of performance at the latest. Ticket price for Tuesday, Wedensday and Thursday is $1.32; and for Friday, Saturday and Sunday is $1.80. Both prices include fereral tax.

Curtain time for each evening's preformance will be 8:30 and the running time for the production will be approximately two and one-half hours.

Although the building which will house the theatre will remain essentially the same, several major and minor alterations will be effected before the opening night, June 27. Work is now in progree on the stage and theatre proper, and it is expected to be finished with a week.

A special theatre curtain and special lighting for the stage effects have been ordered.

In the rear of the theatre free parking space has been provided which eliminates the necessity to use the private East Shore Lane, and a parking lot attendant will be on duty during the preformance.

On of the nicest feathures of the Playhouse will be the Green Room, the refreshment bar located onthe first floor. Several minor changes are now in progress to facilitiate the handing of the enire evening's audience. The Green ROom will be open during intermissions, seving soft drinks, sandwiches and other quick refreshments.

After the preformance the patrions are invited to relas in the Green Room, chat with members of the cast, and take part in the informal activities of the theatre.

Music from the Broadway hit musical will be supplied by means of the finest recordings, both during, intermissions and for the after-theatre crowd. - 7 June 1950 - CItizen.

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SUmmer Theatre Group to Initiate Rehearsals for Opening Performance

The Maxxinkuckee Playhouse moves into full swing this week when the resident company of actors and actresses arrives tomorrow and moves into the Playhouse located on the East Shor Lane on Lake Maxinkuckee.

In all there will be 15 people, including Mr. and Mrs. Heinz Pabst; the Pabst arrived in the United States only last October from Dresden, Germany, where the owned and operated their own theatre.

In addiiton to the reident company, interested persons usre urged to come to the Playhous and take part in the activities, acting, building scenery, or wielding a paint brush.

Two Cilver actressess have already become acquainted with the Playhouse and will appear in leading roles in the first production. "Blythe Spirit", which opens the season with a six-night run beginning Tueday, June 27th.

Dorothy Oberlin, a graduate of the Goodman School of Theater and wull known for her dramatic work in Culver and at the Academy, will pay the part of Madame Arcati. To be seen as ELvira will be Mary Bishop, who appeared in numerous Academy dramas before going to the theater school at Stephens College.

MIs Oberlin and Miss Bishop begin rehearsals with the company from the Playhouse tomorrow.

Those to be seen in the cast from the Playhouse will be: Paul Laumann as the husband, Margit Friedlander as Ruth, Nancy Todd as Edith, and Viea Messham and Herb JOhnson as Dr. and Mrs. Bradman.


Tickers for the opening play are now on sale, and all persons planning to attend the opening week are urged to get their tickets in order to get good seats.

Tickets may be secured by phoning the box office at the Playhouse, CUlver 203. In addition tickets are on sale in Culver at Oberlin's Electric Store and in Argos at Ames Drug Store. All seats are reserved. 14 Jun 1950 - Citizen.

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Next Tuesday evening, a newly organized summer theatre group will present the firs in a series of ten plays.

Known as the Maxinkuckee Playhouse, the The performaces will be staged in the dwelling formerly occupied the Maxinkuckee Vacation Club.

The building has been renovated throughout and early this week the hard work of several members of the company was beginning to show results with plenty of evidence of a colorful Summer Theatre.

Play will be presented in a small but colorful auditorium on the second floor.

Refreshement quarters are located on the first florr of the building.

A unique stage device permits removal, when necessary of stage props via an old hay lift.

Sleeping and dining quarters for he group, many of whom are from the University of Cincinnati are provided at the rear of the building.

In New England and in many parts of the nation SUmmer Theaters have proven highly successful, in fact it is a rather large business the country over.

The Maxinkuckee Playhouse group have a well organized group with ample talent and the project will afford the local public an unusal opportunity of furthering dramatic interest. - 21 Jun 1950 - Citizen.

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Opening Night of Summer Theater Hugh SUcess

If the enthusiasm of the copacity audience which thoroughly enjoyed the opening performance of the premiere session of the Maxinkuckee Playhouse here last night, can be taken as a criterion, then a highly successful season in assured for the summer theatre group.

A talented cast fully lived up to the theatre tradition of "opening night" amd the audience gave tier hearty approval in rounds of applause at the final curtain of Noel Coward's comedy "Blithe Spirit"

To all local patrons of the opening night the excellent performance of Dorothy Oberlin and Mary Bishop was outstanding. Miss Oberlin, who pportrayed Madame Arcati, gave one of her finiset performance her and her efforts contributed much to the success of the opening play as did those of Miss Bishop.

Paul Laumann was superb in the lead role oand uspporting the three were Margit Friedlander, Viea Messham, Herb Johnson and Nancy Todd.

The plot of the opening play is concerned with a crazy spiritualist who calls back a mischievous ghost from the other world. In One of the funniest scenes of the play, Madame Arcati holds a seance and goes off into a trance to recall Elveria; but a problem arises once ELvira does return, Madam Arcati forgets how to make her go back again. Seen and heard only by her husband, the spirit flits about the stage playing pranks on the other people in the play. A surprise ending brings the curtain down on the play.

Tickets for the gala premiere play are being sold rapidly, but there are still seats available for all remaining nights. I Culver tickets can be bought through Oberlin's Electric Store or by Phonoing Culver 203. ANd all patrons reminded that comfort and enjoyment is the theme of the Playhouse, so dress to ohave fun. Curtain time - 8:30. - 28 Jun 1950 - Citizen

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PLayhouse Opening Enlivens Vacation Spirit Here, says Indianapolis Writer

Editor's Note: "The Maxinkuckee PLayhouse opening enlivens Culver Vacation Spirit is the title of an interesting feature article in an issue of the INdianaopolis Times last week.

An illustration pictureing three of the cast (Margit Friedlander, Paul Lauman and Dorothy Oberlin) of the opening play "Blithe Spirit", is featured with the aricle aurthored by Times staff writer Henry Butler.

Culver, The opening of the Maxinkuckee Playhouse brought an exciting new venture in live entertainment to this vaction community.

First of 11 plays, which will run weekly thorugh Sept. 10, the opener was Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit"

Even in Monday's dress rehearsal, the company of student actors and actrsses, directed by F. Paul Rutledge and D. Martin Tahse of the University of Cincinnati, gave a rousing preformance of Mr. Coward's deft satire on spiritualism.

These young people, who live and work in odd-shapped building, formerly a gir's vaction club and still earlier a barn that was dragged across the lake ices from the west to east shore many winters ago, know how to create theater.

On thieir pint-sized stage in a cleverly improvised upstairs theater, a former haylofy which now seats 130, the vounteer group can do things that might make professionals envious.

I think none of them will object to my saying that Dorothy Oberling, of Culver, stole the show Monday night in the role of Mme. Arcati, the medium. Miss Oberlin, a graduate of the Goodman Theater, has an onstage-to-off-stage split of personality that might alarm doctors.

Off statge, she's shyly surprised at the antics she's just done onstage. Onstage, laden with baubles and trinkets, she gives a large -eyed , eloguent - handed, dumpily cute-athletic version of Mme. Arcati which is a masterpiece of living caricature.

Being a trouper, she doesn't just steal the show. SHe holds it together. And so the others in the cast get the best possible break.

Messrs. Ruthledge and Tahse are running the playhouse on a completely co-operative basis. Having raises money by subscription to purchase the large property on East Shore Drive, they're hoping box office receipts will cover living expenses for the company during the 11-week season.

NObody get paid except Mrs. Pauline Smith, the cook, who capably and economically turns out three meals a day or the fifteen residents of the playhouse. Besides the two directors, there are 11 students - five girls and six boys average age 19 or 20, with Mr. and Mrs. Heinz Pabst of Cincinnati as chaeron-advisers.

Mr. Pebst, currently assistant in the University of CIncinnati's German department formerly operated the only independent theater in Dresden, Germany. Mrs. Pabst, native New Yorker, had a distinguished theatrical career in England before meeting and marrying her husband.

The resident students take turns being stars, scene-painters, KP's, table-servers, electricians and general utility personel. Their busy schedule allows them time for recreation, including rowing in what they call their "navy", a skiff that periodically gets swamped by spanking waves at the playhouse docks.

In this atmosphere, nicely -airconditioned by Maxinkuckee to a degree sweltering Indianapolis can only dream of, the youngsters are building something of real importance.

Deside those I've mentioned the resident players include: Ardyth Lahrman, Southgate, Ky.; Mary Francis Rank, Cincinnati; Ralph HIlt, Los Angles, Calif an Indianpolis native and Tech graduate, incidentally' James Hoeffler, Cincinnati; Burt Lane, Planfield, N.J. and Tom Brubaker, ELkhart.

"Blithe SPirit" closed Sunday night, with "Ah Wilderness scheduled for the Jul 4 to 9 week.