|
The Opening Season
Auntie Mame - Jun 29 - Jul 4
Mousetrap - Jul 6 - 10 Born Yesterday - Jul 13 - 17 Charley's Aunt - Jul 27 - 31 Bell, Book and Candle - Aug 3 - 7 Our Town - Aug 10 - 14 |
Arena Fair Home Page 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
It was a day like many in Wooster - Ann Kopf and Barb Cernik were sitting in The Shack (the local off-campus hangout) drinking coffee - reading copies of Theater Arts. On one particular day they saw this advertisment about the availability of a summer theater on Cape Cod - - send $4,500 and it was yours for the summer. They pooled their resources and found they had enough money for their next cups of coffee. But before anyone could muster enough sense to bring reality to the situation preparations were well underway - not for Cape Cod - but for the first wonderful season of ARENA FAIR right in Wooster.
Ann Kopf told it best in her 1961 Chapel Speech when Arena Fair's first season was a magnificent memory.
We truly received great support from the Wooster College Speech Department on this whole venture - among other things we were able to rent lighting equipment from them which was a godsend to us; but, there was one thing they did which irritated us no end. It was the note to our parents. In retrospect it was understandable - but boy were we miffed.
Looking back on it, Livermore wondered what the State of Ohio was thinking when they approved of the plans he had drawn up. It's worth noting that the approval date was June 26th - 3 days before opening. We were all a bit nervous.
And of course there was a duties list.
Auntie Mame
Mousetrap
Born Yesterday
Charley's Aunt
Book cover for "Bell, Book and Candle".
Our Town
If you have any information regarding Arena Fair please send it to Charles Livermore at the following address: e-mail: charleslivermore@hotmail.com
We don't remember the exact date of the first time we saw the Grange Hall on the fair grounds but we do remember the cavernous space defined by sixteen solid wooden poles circling what we saw as our stage.
Opening Show
2nd Show
3rd Show
4th Show
(Wooster Daily Record? Summer, 1961)
5th Show
(Wooster Daily Record? Summer, 1961 (adv))
