1234.

Get my shoes in.

Out the door.

Five.

I'm lost.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Feels great.

I'm gonna shine.

After I do what I'm gonna do.

I do it again.

Yeah.

Look at the sky with the beautiful color.

But never just for me.

You gotta share it with another.

I got to show, to give.

Let I want singing show.

Take a look and say a beautiful morning that turns into a beautiful evening.

And together make beautiful art.

And if you wanna see that, come along with me.

That's right.

Welcome to Experience Michiana.

We have a great show today.

We're headed to Bristol to find out about the Elkhart Civic Theater's production of The Sound of Music.

We're also going to find out what's happening in Saint Joe as Dave talks with Danielle from Saint Joe today.

But first we head over to IU South Bend for the South Bend Lyric Opera's last concert of their ten year anniversary Well, it's been about a year since I've been with my friends here with the South Bend Lyric Opera.

But I'm excited to be back.

And we are up in IUSB on the performance stage here, which is just wonderful.

I have my friends returning with me and Emanuel and Ian.

Thank you so much for joining us.

This is a special production that you guys are doing this year, because we're wrapping up the 10th year that you have been doing this year in South Bend and bringing it back home.

Yes.

That is very true.

So ten years ago we did by Puccini, and it was a special moment for all of us because we haven't seen professional opera in a long time in the city for about 20 years.

And now we're back.

And we did a line back back then, but now we're back on this wonderful stage.

If you see, this is a beautiful stage and we have a beautiful sets and we have manuscripts of Rodolfo, who is the poet, and he's writing things.

But yes, this is a special moment for us ten years later to come back and Du Bois again.

It is.

And what are some of the differences that you're incorporating, especially with what you've learned over those ten years?

Many things have learned because when you first did it before in that smaller setting, right, this is a much bigger venue.

So you were able to be more immersive with the audience too.

How will that shift now?

It's a little bit of a shift, but we have a little bit of immersion here too, because we have the orchestra and orchestra.

The orchestra will envelop the audience in the beautiful sounds.

So back then we did it with piano.

Budgetary wise, space wise, we didn't have the space.

We didn't have the budget.

We didn't know if we will continue to do this right ten years ago.

But now we're here and sets much bigger sets.

We have the sets and we have a wonderful stage, but this is the difference.

So the orchestra is a huge difference.

And Maestro Jameson Cooper is doing a fabulous job.

We had a dress last night.

We have another dress tonight.

So yeah.

And then we'll we'll put it all together and it's going to be a fabulous show.

And I know and you have a huge part in this too, but also not just with the organization, but you are in this performance as well.

Let's talk about that experience for you.

Yeah.

So this is my first time doing both.

I'm playing Colleen, who is sort of a philosopher, one of Rodolfo friends and stuff like that.

He's very much the kind of like observer sits back and kind of like watches a lot of the action.

Is that true to your personal actually?

Actually, just kind of for a lot of ways, although he speaks in a lot more like philosophy and references.

Like Greek and Latin references and things like that, that I don't do.

But it's but it's fun, but it's fun because it will come to a very, very tender area that I have not sung before, called the Code Aria from From bone.

That's very, very delicate, very just like reflective.

Because what's because what's important about these characters that they're in poverty.

So if, you know, like the musical rent.

So that's like my favorite musical.

That's what bomb.

It's based off of bomb.

Okay.

Perfect.

So bringing that together.

Yeah.

So basically it's a similar concept except with except with rent.

It's in the 90s during the and aftermath of the Aids crisis.

Yes.

But it's all the same themes and stuff like that.

And so both this and then the character back then Collins both kind of have this coat and things like that.

And so the code aria basically just gets to the point of like really reflecting on, I'm letting go of you so that for this tragic thing that's going to happen.

But in order to prove the world like I'm going to pass this off to you.

So it's really fun to get to play into those.

How do you prepare your voice?

It's like, because I'm not an operatic, right?

Like, I don't know how that works.

I do it in the shower just fine, but like, what actually goes into it?

It's just, I mean, obviously warming up every day.

I mean, a lot of the time if you're singing each day, then it gets easier and easier.

But ultimately, like it's just warming up every day, really running through some of the stuff.

So like my aria, some of that, I don't know if it's something for you just running through the aria, because that's probably the biggest thing and it's you, you have to sing.

So just try and make sure you sing through it first before you go out on a stage.

And then.

And then.

Yeah.

And then just kind of just keeping going, noticing, trying to notice when, if things are feeling off in the voice and how do you make adjustments and things like that.

Yeah.

And Arias are interesting things because there are like songs, but they're not songs.

They're intense, very deep thought pieces composed in the opera.

And there are the thoughts of the characters.

Sometimes they're the, the, the dialog, but then there's no body there.

It's just with your thoughts.

So that's an amazing thing that singers have to prepare for because they're solo, they're on stage, and then the orchestra is going and then you're you're alone doing all of this, and you have to actually express your thoughts, the concepts, anything that, that, that you and I, what I'm doing now, I'm doing this now, this is an aria.

But but this is a little bit of, you know, with music, with the orchestra and you have to gel and collaborate with the orchestra.

And a lot of times opera is in another language to is this one as well.

This one is Italian.

We do have super titles.

If you see the little thing there.

We have super titles in English.

So you see every line what we're saying, but that goes into the performance as well.

I mean, because music is translated in so many different ways and so feeling that emotion, when you are up here doing that, it comes across whether we understand the language precisely or not.

For sure.

And no microphones and no, no microphones.

No, my singers don't have the microphones.

They're trained.

That's the way we do these things, because opera started in a time that there were no microphones, so we had to develop a vocal technique so you can actually go all the way to the back back row there too, so everybody can hear you.

So interesting.

And another thing, because we're talking about rent, the dreadful disease that they dealt with in the 19 1900s, 1800s was tuberculosis.

So this is the situation that we're dealing with here, this, this, this bad thing that is happening.

And it's all around.

And that's why they wrote opera.

This is not the only opera that deals with tuberculosis.

La traviata is the same.

So a lot of operas dealt with the reality of everyday, exactly everyday life in Italy at this time.

So yeah.

And you have a long history of opera performance as well?

Yes.

And it goes back generationally to.

That is true.

My dad is an opera singer, so.

Okay, so maybe I'm not meant to be an opera.

No, that's not true.

That's not true.

But yes.

So my father is an opera singer.

So he performed.

And I grew up technically in the wings, if you see the wings of it.

And I would watch him was a little kid, and I saw the artist coming in and out.

And then I also hear the orchestra.

So I was I was taken by that throughout my, throughout my childhood.

And this is really This is your baby here without the Lyric Opera, you know, coming together with wrapping up your ten years here.

Yes.

Talk to us about that in itself, because that is such a wonderful accomplishment, especially bringing it opera here to the Michiana area.

Yes.

You know, this is a special moment because ten years ago we didn't know what's going to happen.

Are we going to do this past this first boy or not?

We had such a great response.

The community was, oh, this is awesome, let's keep doing it.

And we kept doing it.

And here we are ten years.

I never thought that we will be here ten years later because I didn't know where we will go.

But here we are.

And then the community is amazing, embracing us and then being here and and supporting us.

This is so, so important, but a special to me because I never thought I would go this direction in my life.

I thought, I'll just be a singer and that's that.

And then I started this with a couple of people with Rami and Coley and Stephanie.

So.

And then here we are ten years later and it's growing and it's taking.

And now we have this is his baby too.

And we want to fill.

Yes here.

Right.

We want to feel this.

Tell us where the performances are happening and how people can get their tickets.

Yes.

So the performances are happening this Friday and Saturday, the 29th and 30th, as well as next weekend on the fifth and sixth, right here at Iowa City Auditorium.

And so you can just go to South Bend Lyric Opera's website and just purchase tickets right there.

That's wonderful.

Such a great way to experience opera right here in our community.

You guys have to come out and see this and celebrate with you guys and doing so.

Thank you so much for having us.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

So we are once again on the stage at the Bristol Opera House in Bristol, Indiana, for the Elkhart Civic Theater's latest production, which is The Sound of Music.

It's a wonderful classic.

And guys, thank you so much for taking the time.

You are all three in the cast.

So we have Liam, Maddie and of course Brock.

You're back in the show.

I'm back in the show.

I'm excited to be back on stage.

Very good.

And this is a classic of course.

And so I'm going to start with the younger guys.

And what is your first recollection of this.

Are you were you excited to be in The Sound of Music.

And you know what really got you to audition for it and that.

So let's start with you, Liam.

Well, my mom has been a part of this theater for a long time, and she also is friends with Brock and got to know that this song was going on.

My girlfriend and I wanted to try an audition for it, and so I auditioned for Rolfe just to see what I could go for, because that's the only part that I could really comfortably fit in and I ended up here.

But you've got the better story.

I have been wanting to be in the side of music forever, and I'd been talking about wanting to be Liesel for months, since before I found out that Elkhart Civic was doing it.

And then when I found out they were doing it, I submitted my audition form as fast as I could because I was so excited to audition for it.

And now I'm Liesl.

So, so have you guys.

I think I overheard you saying that you've been in shows before here.

Not here.

This is my first show here.

First show here.

Awesome.

How about, you know, I've done a couple of shows here.

I've done awesome three.

So, Brock, what's it like having young people excited to be a part of a show?

Oh.

It's great.

Liam and I have known each other for a very long time.

The last time that Liam was on stage here, I think you played my son in A Christmas Story.

Yeah, that was right.

And he was like, ten, maybe.

So it's great working with Liam again.

It's great to work with Maddie for the first time here at Elkhart Civic.

It.

They bring such a great youthful energy to the building.

And it's always really cool to see how a cast becomes kind of a family.

And what has it been like working with your cast mates and getting to know all of them, and kind of tell the story from your guys's perspective?

Well, I mean, I could say for certain we've just been we do a ton of character talks and trying to make sure that we understand what we're playing, but then who the character is underneath.

Like, I'm trying to become everybody's friends so that I can interact better with them on stage.

But a lot of character analysis and understanding who we're playing and why we want to play them the way that we do.

Sure.

And Maddie, do you how have you enjoyed this process?

I've loved getting to know everyone in the cast.

I love spending time with everyone at rehearsals, and my character is the oldest of seven children, so being around all my little siblings is so much fun because we've become like siblings.

Me and him.

We're always just messing around backstage, laughing and making jokes, and I love just being around all the adults in the show as well, because it's fun working with like professionals and like doing professional work with actual people that know what they're doing.

So this this is a classic.

This is a classic.

So is that more of a challenge because you you also want to kind of put your spin on things right.

Yeah.

You definitely feel like there is.

Everybody has seen the Julie Andrews for Plummer movie from I think 63.

Every knows the Sound of Music, every loves The Sound of Music.

But it was really important when we when we do the classics, we like to put our own spin on them.

It's I think it's a very intimate production of The Sound of Music and Dimmer.

Who's the director?

This is her first musical.

She primarily directs a lot of dramas, and so she's really I asked her to direct this because I knew she would really bring a lot of nuance and depth to the material, and she has.

It's just like, we've really had a lot of great discussions about character development that I don't think you always get to have with The Sound of Music, which is kind of.

I think some people think, oh, it's just a classic.

And, you know, the kids come on and they sing and it's nice and but we've, we've had some really, really good discussions and I think, I hope it will show on stage for the audiences.

Yeah.

So it's more than just, oh, do what you saw on TV.

It's really defining the character yourselves.

So what has either been the challenge or the fun of getting in the character that you have and bringing that to life on stage?

Well, so I guess I just have never had such a role where I start out good and end out bad, quite like Rolf, and wanting to understand why he does it and how he feels throughout the whole time.

Because I am not really a good person the entire time, but I do have a fun little musical number, and trying to balance those two things out is a little complicated, and I don't know how to handle that most of the time, but I'm trying to.

He's doing a very good job.

Yeah.

And how about for you?

What has it been like becoming this character that is so well known, but making it your character?

I've had a lot of fun with it.

I feel like in a lot of ways I'm very similar to Liesel.

I mean, I'm the same age as her and she's just very youthful and has a lot of energy and is very joyful.

And I've had a lot of fun bringing my side of, like, my personality into that character.

But there's also the parts where I have to be serious towards the end of the show and actually experience like sadness and like a loss of losing my home.

And that has been a good experience of learning how to like, act in that way, because I've never really had a serious role like this before.

So I've had a lot of fun, like learning how to really act with it and bring out the emotion within the character.

And that's what I was wondering based on.

That answer was like, what is it like?

Like trying to get into the emotional perspective of that character because it is a lot of ups and downs through this movie.

Anybody who knows the story, I mean, there are a lot of ups and downs and you guys have to go on that roller coaster yourself.

What has it been like trying to get into an emotional space that you need to be to play the character?

I feel like for me.

I've just I've just kind of brought myself into the scene and I'm like, okay.

How would how would Liesel react in this?

Like, how would she feel if she was losing her home, if she had to leave everything that she knew for this new life that she has to have?

So I've just had I've just been kind of going with the flow with it and just bringing myself within the scene.

And I think you and Liam especially like if you've seen Sound of Music a lot, Liesel and Ralph are often played by people in their early 20s who are like in college and having.

Liam, you're I'm 17, 17, I'm 17, you're 17.

But but they're playing their teenagers, playing teenagers, and they really bring a lot of honesty to the show.

Because of that, they're able to bring true real life teenage experiences to the stage.

And yeah, there's 16 going on 17 is like one of my favorite moments of the whole show.

It's delightful.

We're looking forward to seeing it.

It's it's going to be great.

It's always nice to see a classic, especially somebody's interpretation of it.

So we're excited to see you guys on the stage and look forward to it.

Brock.

We also have the kickoff of a new season, right?

Yes.

So real quickly run through what this coming year is going to look.

The Sound of Music is closing out our season, and we're jumping right into the next season in July with the regional community theater premiere of Dear Evan Hansen.

So that's our first show we're really excited about it.

Just got cast right after that.

We have it's a TBA spot.

We have a couple of TBA spots on our season.

We've really tried to get some new shows that we're having to hold off on announcing for licensing reasons, but we've got a great comedy for September that we're excited to put on, and we'll tell you about that soon.

Then in November, we're doing another classic, Man of La mancha.

It'll be our spin on that classic musical.

Then we've got in February another TBA musical.

It's a brand new show, just Off-Broadway will be one of the first in the area to produce it.

Then we're doing a comedy called For Old Broads, which is about a group of women in a retirement home solving a mystery.

And then we're closing the season out with Peter and the Star Catcher, which is a Tony Award winning origin story of Peter Pan.

Great variety.

Looking forward to it.

How can people get tickets?

People can get tickets by visiting Elkhart Civic Theater.

For Sound of music.

You can get tickets for the show at Civic Theater, or you can call our box office weekday afternoons.

It's (574) 848-4116.

Well, Liam, Maddie and Brock, thank you so much for taking the time to tell us about the upcoming show.

Best of luck and we look forward to seeing you on stage.

Thanks, Kelsey.

I'm joined now by Danielle, who's the director of events and operations of Saint Joe today.

Danielle, how are you?

I'm good.

How are you doing this morning?

I'm good.

You must feel like coming out of hibernation in Saint Joe right now, into this beautiful weather.

I bet it's getting really busy.

There it is.

Yeah.

We're fortunate enough at our office to host an event every month except April, so we're always on the go.

But it definitely feels nice to be outside and not a little chilly.

So, yeah, there's there's no, like, ice sculptors or, you know, not right now.

Give it maybe a week, you know.

Yeah.

It's nice to get back out in the sunshine again.

And I know that even though you have events all throughout the winter as well, and this is the time of the year where it gets, like, super busy, where even a parking spot is kind of hard to find.

Yeah, it definitely is a lot different than yeah, this, this January.

Yeah.

So tell me about some of the things coming up.

I know that throughout the the whole summer just started recently.

You have the Saint Joe Lighthouse tours.

We do.

We're so excited for the lighthouse tours.

This is our second season hosting those lighthouse tours.

They run Saturdays now through September 5th, so you can join us anytime through Labor Day on Saturdays.

They run 10 to 7.

And so the way that works is you can explore the first floor for free, and you can just come in any time during that time of day.

You know, our docents will be happy to share that information.

You can kind of do a self-guided tour, whatever you prefer.

We do host 1:10 a.m.

walking tours, so it's about 45 minutes long.

If you're interested in a little bit more history of the of Saint Joe and the Lighthouse Lighthouses themselves, and you can start at the top of the North Pier for that.

But all that fun information you can find at Saint Com Lighthouse, or you can, of course, stop in our welcome center.

And so when it comes to our website, Saint Joe today, what was the reasoning behind.

I know we've more things to talk about, but what was the reasoning behind calling it Saint Joe today?

Like, is it really just a place where people can find out what's literally happening today?

Was that the thought process behind the web?

Yeah.

So our organization has been around for over 45 years, and that's technically our full name is the Saint Joseph Today Association.

So just as kind of a play off of our name.

Yeah, but a kind of fun, fun way into.

Yeah.

What am I doing in Saint Joe today?

And I know as well that you have the Lake Bluff Artisan Fair.

So can you tell me a little bit about that?

Because that happens on different dates throughout the summer.

Absolutely.

That's coming up this weekend actually.

So we host that four times throughout the summer.

Those are all on Saturdays.

We've got May 30th, July 18th, August 15th and September 5th.

So we host over 50 regional and local artisans.

And they set up along Lake Bluff Park with that beautiful Lake Michigan backdrop.

And they sell their handcrafted, one of a kind goods.

So it's a lot of fun that those Saturdays you can join them from 10 to 5.

And it also coincides with our farmers market.

So there's over between farmers and artisans.

There's over 90 vendors, usually to shop in Lake Wolf Park, so you'll never get bored.

You can pop down down for some food or to cool off in a store.

And it's just a really great way to spend your Saturday.

And so you set a coincides with the farmer's market.

But of course, the farmer's market is every week.

It's not just those selected dates.

So because that's really popular in Saint Joe.

Absolutely.

We love our farmers market that runs Saturdays.

We just kicked it off last weekend.

So on Memorial Day weekend and that runs every Saturday, 9 to 2 in Lakewood Park, from 9 to 2 all the way through October 10th.

And you can join us for over 25 vendors.

We've got meats, cheeses, coffee, baked goods, produce.

So much is going on at the market.

You can buy flowers, you can buy, you know, by cherry tomato plants and start your own garden.

So it's a lot of fun to chat with our farmers, get some recipes from them, get some gardening tips from them.

And yeah, that is a really cool season that runs all the way through October 10th.

So there's plenty of time and it's really fun to watch the produce change.

We're always on pumpkin watch as we get closer into the fall, and always excited to see those return.

Don't talk about pumpkins yet, okay I know not.

Yeah, it's too early.

Yeah, yeah, we're just getting started.

What are you going to talk about next Christmas?

You know, the Christmas lights?

I know what farmers markets.

You know, I didn't realize this was such an issue in some areas where they have to, like, really dig deep to make sure that it is farmers and it is local, fresh produce.

Like, how do you really make sure that the caliber of the farmers market is really high for people?

Yeah.

So we have three very unique events.

We've got the farmer's market, our antiques on the Bluff, and Lake Bluff Artisan Fair.

So they all have very different merchandise requirements.

There's a lot of farmer's markets in the area that kind of mix antiques and farmers, which is really fun.

It's just something different that we don't do.

But we do have like, you know, our rules and regulations for regarding farmers.

It's got to be 75% of their own goods.

And if they do, you know, if their peach crop didn't come in and they need to supplement it from someone else, they just need to make sure that it's marked and it's from somebody, you know, regionally.

So we try not to sell anything that's out of season.

Of course, we do have some farmers that use greenhouses, so you can get some things a little bit earlier than, than you would normally.

But yeah, we try to stick to, you know, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, those kind of growing seasons to kind of keep up with the what we're going going on in real time.

Nice.

And you did mention antiques and I know as well I know for people watching we're talking about a lot of things.

And of course, thank Joe TODAY.com is the website where you can find all of these things.

But we are also going to talk about antiques.

I love antiques, I don't know what it is about it.

Maybe that's a sign where you're truly know you're getting old, where you start having an interest in antiques.

But you do also have antiques on the bluff.

And this is actually on a Sunday.

This is a really cool event for us.

Yeah, it runs the first Sunday of the month, May through October.

So we've got five more coming up this season.

You can catch us in just two weeks on June 7th, but that runs from 10 to 5 again in Lake Bluff Park.

We host a lot of our events in downtown Saint Joe and Lake Park, and this hosts over 50 antiques vendors.

So this is a Sunday event, so there's no other markets going on that day in downtown.

But it's a lot of fun.

There's a lot of cool things.

You know, if you're looking for vinyls, I've seen, you know, like my grandma's China on the block.

And it's really cool to reminisce with mom.

And when that happens or, you know, just finding different pieces, we do try to stick to antiques or vintage antique is going to be anything over 100 years old, which is really hard to just do.

So vintage is going to be anything 50 and older.

We do accept things from the 1980s, which is really weird to say that that is, you know, vintage now and we do collectibles as well.

So it is a little bit of a market, but we do try to stick to that vintage and antique mainly and know handcrafted goods because that's for our artisan fair.

But it's a lot of fun.

It's a great way to spend a Sunday on the bluff, and we've been doing this since the early 2000.

So it's been, I think, over I think we're celebrating our 26th year or 25th year this year.

So hang on.

If I was born in 1983, that mean I'm technically vintage, I think.

Yes, I'm also a late 80s, so I think we're starting to get vintage.

It's a little frightening to say that out loud.

Wow, that it is like when you listen to the radio and you hear classic hits now it's like the Backstreet Boys.

You're like, what?

What's going on?

Like what?

That's right.

I think we're technically retro right now until we hit.

Yeah.

Is that what it is?

We'll get we'll get to vintage.

Yeah.

Retro sounds cool, I like that.

So yeah.

And I know as well that you have Chalk the Block.

Now, as somebody who has an almost three year old, chalk has become a very prominent part of our life, which I never realized it would.

Is that what it's about?

Is it about actually chalking the block?

It is.

It is.

Artists take chalk and they chalk the block.

It is quite literally that.

So we work with professional artists and amateurs here locally, and some of them are traveling throughout the country.

And it's just a really fun weekend that celebrates art here in downtown Saint Joe.

They take over Broad Street.

They get the choice of doing like a six by six, eight by 8 or 10 by ten.

And then some of our professionals do even these much larger 3D pieces that you'll see, but it's a lot of fun to see what they create, you know, in the moment or what they've been working on that week leading up to it.

But we have this professional and amateur chalk zone that we sign up artists for, so you can watch them create and then come back and see those final pieces.

We also do have a kid Zone that's over by Silver Harbor Brewing.

So that's a really fun way for the community to get involved.

And we want to be respectful and not have kids or adults.

We've had adults chalking by the professional artists or the amateurs on Broad Street.

So we do have a separate section for that.

But it's a lot of fun because these kids are creative and it's kids.

I say kids of all ages.

So whether you're two, whether you're 80, you can you can join us in for the fun.

It's a lot of a lot of great fun.

And then that weekend to we've got yeah.

Farmers market artists are not artisan fair farmers market antiques on the block.

So there's all these different, you know, unique Saint Joe events happening all into this chocolate block weekend.

And last year we introduced these vertical pieces.

There are these eight by eight plywood panels that artists paint.

We did have somebody chalk, but they use like a exterior paint.

And we were able to auction off some of those pieces.

And it's just a really fun way to build the event and again, celebrate a different medium of art.

Nice.

That is cool.

Well, you know, every time the rain comes that washes away my daughter's masterpiece on the driveway.

So, you know, to blank canvas every time.

But so Saint Joe TODAY.com is where you can find all the information.

And I know it's a great website with lots of resources on there.

So it really sounds like a great summer ahead in Saint Joe.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Like you said, you can also stop in our welcome center.

We're located right in the middle of downtown 301 State Street, right on the corner of State and Pleasant, across from the Chocolate Cafe.

Start your adventure here and we'll give you all the things to do in Southwest Michigan.

Well, that's it for today's show.

Thank you so much for being with us.

Remember, if you have ideas for the show, hit us up on Facebook and till next week, have a great weekend everybody.

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