Event Briefs for week of Wednesday, April 2

Legislative Coffees planned

State Rep. Ray “Bubba” Sorensen’s office announced he will be at legislative coffees that are upcoming across the area during the 2025 legislative session.

As of now, the final legislative coffee planned for the season locally is 10 a.m. Friday, April 4 at The Dugout Cafe in Orient.

Another legislative coffee or two could be scheduled at a later time. The newspaper will do its best to print the time, date and location of those events if they are announced.

Scouting for Food

The local Boy Scouts will take part in the Scouting for America organization’s Scouting for Food campaign Saturday, April 5.

This Saturday morning, Scouts will go around collecting non-perishable food items to be donated to the local food pantry. Residents are encouraged to leave these food items on their front porch for the Scouts to pick up.

Pumpkin presentation at Orient library

Teresa Thompson of Macksburg, retired Orient-Macksburg principal, will give a presentation on beginning a pumpkin patch 9:30 a.m. Saturday, April 5 at the Orient Community Library.

Thompson and her family have Thompson’s Fall Festival. In her presentation, titled “Particulars of Pursuing a Pumpkin Patch,” Thompson will chat about starting a second business and what she learned about growing pumpkins.

Cinderella coming to WCC April 5

Area residents will have the chance to see one of Iowa’s premier performing arts organizations when OPERA Iowa, Des Moines Metro Opera’s educational troupe, arrives 7 p.m. Saturday, April 5 to present Rossini’s “Cinderella” (sung in English), at the Warren Cultural Center.

Over the past 39 years, the OPERA Iowa Educational Touring Troupe has performed in 10 states throughout the region and even in Japan and China, spreading the joy of opera to more than 1 million students and adults. OPERA Iowa is an Education Division program of Des Moines Metro Opera, which is located in Indianola.

Tickets are $20 for adults with free admission for students (high school and younger). Order tickets at warrenculturalcenter.com for this sixth show of WCC’s 2024-25 “All Iowa Series.”

ELC Salad Luncheon April 10

The Fontanelle Emmanuel Lutheran Church Men’s Group and Outreach Committee will be hosting thier annual Salad Luncheon 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday April 10 at the church in Fontanelle.

Scalloped potatoes and ham, church ladies’ salads, desserts and a drink will be served for a free will offering.

Take out orders will be available.

Cumberland Rose Players to present 10-minute theater

The Cumberland Rose Players, the community theater group of the Greenfield area, will perform two versions of “Who’s on First?” April 11-13. This is not a normal CRP weekend, however. The difference is that the Players will be sharing the stage with actors and actresses from the Corning and Shenandoah areas. The stage sites change each day.

At 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 11, the site will be Shenandoah’s Park Playhouse at 604 Sportsman Park Rd. At 7 p.m. Saturday, April 12, the Corning Opera House in Corning hosts the thespians. Finally, the Warren Cultural Center in Greenfield will be the final site at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 13.

CRP first will be performing Abbott and Costello’s famous comedy skit “Who’s on First?” Abbott is identifying the players on a baseball team for Costello, but the players’ names simultaneously serve as the basis for questions, leading to misunderstanding and growing frustration between the performers. Phil Cannon and Sam Schwartz are Abbott and Costello.

CRP’s second play will be “Abbott and Costello” by Jonathan Mayer. In this new take on “Who’s on First?,” two teenage boys try, rather unsuccessfully, to rehearse a scene for their drama class. The result is a hilarious scene full of wit and comedic miscommunication. Performers for this play are Nodaway Valley eighth graders Keland and Lyrick Schwartz, both sons of Sam Schwartz.

The Corning players will be presenting “Door Bang” by Leslie Hewitt, and The Southwest Iowa Theatre Group from the Shenandoah area will present “1-800” by Joseph Sorrentino and “Anti-Depressants” by Jeff Weisman.

All five plays will be performed at each of the three theater sites.

This sharing of stages is one result of collaboration among the theaters. The Southwest Iowa Regional Theaters group was formed in 2023. These three theaters, as well as The Wilson Performing Arts Center in Red Oak, have been meeting regularly since then to listen to each other, sharing ideas to help each other succeed.

Tickets for the Sunday performance at WCC will be available only at the door. They are $10 for adults with students (high school and younger) free. For information: warrenculturalcenter.com.