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Hello Sauk Valley and beyond! I hope you had an amazing Fourth of July and that you got to spend some time at Petunia Fest!
Debbie Bay, the president of Petunia Fest and current Dixon Historic Theatre board member, did an amazing job! Scott, our resident technical director, made sure the concerts looked and sounded great! There was even a performance by our board chairman, Mike Venier, and his daughter, Gina Venier! Even when the Dixon Theater is on hiatus, our board and staff are in the community entertaining the masses!
Speaking of the hiatus, The Dixon: Historic Theatre is getting closer to making a schedule where we can do construction and still be able to host some events. In fact, big teaser, we have a huge announcement coming up soon. The best place to get this information first is by signing up for our newsletter found on our website.
2025 is already shaping up to be rollercoaster of entertainment – with eclectic events from every genre of music and some surprise shows as well as community events, movies, children’s theater and adult theater. We will also be offering classes for playwriting, sketch writing like Saturday Night Live, acting and auditioning, and for you brave souls, stand-up comedy – all of which will have final performances at the theater! We’ll also be starting a theater company, which will include anyone in the area that has an interest in doing plays, musicals and sketch shows, which will include actors, crew, directors and all positions in-between!
We’re very lucky to have so many phenomenal restaurants in the area. We want to plan more Dinner and a Show Nights plus celebrations like Mardi Gras, Cinco de Mayo, St. Patrick’s Day, etc. and with all the different types of food fare here in Dixon, we should have some great food and show opportunities.
We’re looking for people who like to build things! Sauk Valley Community College has given us a tremendous gift by allowing us to build our sets for the upcoming children shows, “Frozen Jr.” and “Beauty and the Beast.” If you are a carpenter or a hobbyist, we are accepting help from anyone with skills that can help us put together our amazing sets. If you saw “Seussical Jr.” and “Taming of the Shrew 80s Style,” you know our sets are magnificent. Our resident designer, Scott S., has been doing an incredible job but with our show schedule starting to build and getting busier every month, we could use some skilled hands to help out. You can send us an email through our website or look for information on our Facebook page. Costumers and prop designers are also encouraged to join our squad!
A recent upgrade to The Dixon: Historic Theatre was the removal of the original boiler from our basement. We had to remove it for health reasons and space reasons. It took the removal crew a few extra days than originally planned because this was one of those giant boilers made of 3-inch steel. They went through a ton of saw blades. Each piece they had to carry up from the basement was over 100 pounds. They had to make many trips up those stairs; that’s better than any workout by a trainer! Now that that task is completed, we can focus on other upgrades to this 102-year-old Golden Era gem. All of the audience members coming to see our shows this year and supporters donating money have been an incredible boon to making the theater safe and beautiful. Thank you!
Don’t forget to see Woodlawn Arts Academy’s show “Little Women” this weekend and “Mean Girls – High School Edition” at the Centennial Auditorium in Sterling at the end of the month!
“If you’re not having fun, you’re doing something wrong.” ― Groucho Marx
As always, thank you for reading all the way through! And thank you for supporting your local arts!
Darren Mangler is The Dixon: Historic Theatre’s artistic producer.