CLC Theatre director to be guest at Cuyuna Range Women's Club luncheon

DEERWOOD -- The annual Cuyuna Range Women's Club spring luncheon, open to both men and women, will be 1 p.m. Saturday, May 4, at Cascade United Methodist Church in Deerwood.

Ladies of the church, directed by Stell Waby, will cater the meal. Sally Mann is event chair.

Tickets are available from club members at $6 each and must be purchased no later than Thursday, May 2.

Guest speaker will be Patrick Spradlin, an instructor and theater director at Central Lakes College in Brainerd. Spradlin joined the faculty in the fall of 1991. He has directed more than 40 productions. His most memorable include:

"Love Letters" with Coral Stein and Joe Plut, Crosby native and former CLC instructor; "The Who's Tommy," the first amateur production of the rock opera, and for which Spradlin and his cast received a handwritten note of congratulations from Pete Townshend, front man of The Who and composer of the opera "Dracula," which played to a packed house of costumed patrons at a midnight performance on Halloween of 1999.

"Mosquitoes Tore at My Flesh, or How I Spent My Brainerd Summer Vacation," an improvisational comedy revue with all original material; and "Driving Miss Daisy," which featured a cast of area talent and professional actor Warren Bowles of Minneapolis.

Spradlin holds a bachelor of arts degree in speech and theater from West Virginia Wesleyan College, a master of arts degree in rhetorical studies and an M.F.A. in acting, both from Northern Illinois University. He taught at a small college in Michigan and worked in professional and community theaters in the Chicago area for several years.

Spradlin is currently at work on "The Dairy of Anne Frank," which runs May 2-12 at CLC.

Spradlin's talk is titled, "From Casting Call to Curtain Call: Behind the Scenes at How Plays Get Done." He will talk about the process of finding a script, auditioning a cast, rehearsing the performance, arriving at a design idea and nursing the project through the opening night of the show and beyond.

Part of his presentation will include audience participation.

Kris Hasskamp will provide musical selections at the program.