10 Real Star Acts, 100 Years of Vaudeville to Celebrate Stonington Opera House Centennial | Events

Step right up! “10 Real Star Acts, 100 Years of Vaudeville,” July 5-8, is an all original vaudeville production, and is this summer’s only bet for the highest quality entertainment and moral edification this side of the Mississippi River! Celebrate the 100th birthday of the Stonington Opera House, on the National Register of Historic Places, with this new show inspired by the vaudeville acts that toured the coast by steamboat at the turn of the 20th century. Dance back through time with our comic cast, laugh and cheer the spectacular and strange talents of a variety of performers, weep alongside the heroine of our harrowing story of near-ruin and renewal, and acquaint yourself with the historic stories and details of Deer Isle-Stonington and our beloved Opera House.

“10 Real Star Acts” is directed by Jeffrey Frace and has been conceived and created by its cast. It shares professional cast with Shakespeare in Stonington’s “Antony & Cleopatra” (July 12-22) and also features local talent including Esther Adams, Jeff Brink, Larry Estey, Cherie Mason, Morgan Witham, and Carol Collins’ amazing trick dog, Chance! Maine’s own “new vaudevillian,” juggler and comedian Mike Miclon with son and juggler extraordinaire Shane, will also return to the Opera House stage in featured roles in this performance. And prominent island residents from the past, including Dr. B. Lake Noyes and Dr. Lewis Garland Tewksbury, will make guest appearances.

Director JEFFREY FRACE is a theatre director, actor, and Assistant Professor of Acting at the University of Washington in Seattle whose current research and focus is on melodrama and the history of vaudeville. Best known at Opera House Arts for his portrayal of Hamlet, Jeffrey also directed “Romeo & Juliet,” “Macbeth,” and “Measure for Measure” for Shakespeare in Stonington. He has appeared in over 60 professional productions at venues including the Kennedy Center, New York Shakespeare Festival/Delacorte Theatre, American Repertory Theatre/Club Oberon, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Bogota International Theatre Festival, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, and La MaMa ETC. He has toured extensively with Anne Bogart's SITI Company, appearing in A Midsummer Night's Dream, War of the Worlds Radio Play, Hay Fever and Culture of Desire. He is a founding member of Conni’s Avant Garde Restaurant, launched in Stonington in 2006 and performed in New York City and on national tour.

Show times and ticket prices vary, please consult www.operahousearts.org for details. Island Students Free to every live Opera House Arts performance. “10 Real Star Acts” and Opera House Arts’ Centennial Season Celebrations are made possible in part by a generous challenge grant from an anonymous donor and by the business sponsorship of The Seasons of Stonington.

For further information or to purchase tickets online, please go to www.operahousearts.org or call the Opera House box office, 367-2788.