TICKETS NOW ON SALE! Wednesday, December 28 - 4:00pm
Thursday, December 29 - 4:00pm 
Friday, December 30 - 7:00pm
Saturday, December 31 -
4:00 & 7:00pm
ADULTS: $20,
CHILD (16 and under): $12
Old Gibraltar Town Hall,

Fish Creek 

 

The holidays are a time for reunions. This winter, reunite with Katie Dahl, Karen Mal, and James Valcq to celebrate the holiday season. In the historic Gibraltar Town hall, this trio of AFT favorites will present an evening of songs and stories gathered from their own diverse holiday scrapbooks. Songs will range from the very old to the very new and will come from faraway lands to the streets of Fish Creek.

Home for the Holidays with AFT will return to Old Gibraltar Town Hall in Fish Creek for five performances from December 28^th through December 31st.

Katie Dahl is a professional singer-songwriter whose reputation is quickly gaining the folk-world's attention. She has performed her original songs everywhere from the dusty cliff country of Mali, West Africa, to the winding canals of southern France, to the cedar forests of the American northwoods. This past summer, Katie showcased her talents at Big Top Chautauqua opening for the celebrated folk artist, Dar Williams. An AFT fan for as long as she can remember, Katie made her first appearance on the AFT stage in the 2009 production Sunsets and S'mores.

Karen Mal is also no stranger to the AFT stage. She performed in the original casts of Lumberjacks in Love, Belgians in Heaven, and Fishing for the Moon, and appeared in the very first AFT show to perform at the Gibraltar Town Hall, And If Elected.Ranging from charming to seductive, impressionistic to philosophical, her songs have brought her nationwide acclaim. Based in Austin, TX, Karen has created a name for herself as a captivating singer, instrumentalist and songwriter. Karen Mal and Will Taylor have also just released their newest CD, A Mandolin Christmas. Take a listen here: Karen Mal.  

James Valcq is probably best known in this neck of the woods as the composer for the Off-Broadway musical The Spitfire Grill, which won the Richard Rodgers Production Award and received Best Musical nominations from the Outer Critics Circle and Drama League. James began his professional career as a singer and, as an actor, has added his memorable brand of humor to such roles as Ernie the Moocher in Guys on Ice at AFT & The Milwaukee Rep and numerous comedic roles with Door Shakespeare.

Though their talents have taken them around the globe, the three performers have been like family for years and are pleased to reunite on the Home for the Holidays stage. James Valcq, with Fred Alley, wrote a role for Karen Mal in AFT's 1994 production of The Passage. James and Karen also toured together in a production of Maurice Sendak's Really Rosie, and even performed Christmas music together in shopping malls in the greater New York City area. Karen and Katie have worked together on mandolin lessons in the early days and, in recent days, at the Door County Bluegrass Camp and many Door Shakespeare productions. Katie and James are currently collaborating on a book musical for AFT's 2012 Summer Season called, Victory Farm, which they are writing with Emilie Coulson.

Advance tickets are available by calling (920) 854-6117, online at www.FolkloreTheatre.com, or by stopping in the AFT office, which is located at the Green Gables Shops in North Ephraim.  All seats are General Admission.  Any remaining tickets will be sold at Gibraltar Town Hall beginning 45 minutes before each performance. As a special holiday treat, each show will also feature a drawing for gift certificates from local businesses.  

What a considerably crazy year it's been at AFT. We had wonderful success with our world premiere of Bing! The Cherry Musical. Thousands of you attended this lovely valentine to Door County and we couldn't be more grateful to you for helping us to set a couple of records this summer:

We had our biggest two-show day in the history of the company on July 27, with 1,154 attending. We also saw our most successful week ever - 4,180 patrons strong!

The summer was good to us, especially the weather. Normally, getting through the gauntlet that is "theatre under the stars" unscathed would have us breathing easy. But who knew that the devastating rainstorm portrayed in Bing would be a portent of things to come? That's the crazy part. Fickle Mother Nature dealt out a thunderous dose of irony on the opening weekend of The Spitfire Grill. You might have heard about it or been here to experience the freak tornadic wind storm that knocked power out throughout the county and totally derailed our final dress rehearsal and opening night, which had to be canceled.

We won't sugar coat it: taking this hit and the subsequent days of no power at our office left us scrambling to play catch up, like scores of other businesses in the county. As a result, we know that many people who might have otherwise attended the stellar production of Spitfire just simply didn't have the opportunity. The gains of the summer were quickly devoured by this unexpected turn of events.

We need your help to make up the difference.

Even with these extraordinary obstacles, we managed to pull off the rescheduled Limitless Legacy of Fred Alley Gala event and with your generous support were able to add enough to the Fred Alley New Musical Fund to commission another new show.

We know that's what you love about AFT and our unique mission. We create our shows for you. Who else does that year in and year out?

Next season, in the true spirit of AFT, we'll offer the world premiere of Victory Farm by Emilie Coulson, Katie Dahl, and James Valcq. Those are most likely some very familiar names to you. Emilie and Katie started attending AFT shows when they were little girls, became friends through AFT, and went on to become part of the AFT family as dedicated employees throughout the years. James wrote his first AFT show, The Passage, with Fred Alley in 1994 and, as you know, went on to write Spitfire with Fred.

Victory Farm is a lovely, heartwarming, and funny show with terrific songs.

Muellers' Bay View Orchard, in Ellison Bay, Wisconsin, has been in the family for generations. Now, in 1944, with a war raging overseas and a labor shortage on the homefront, Edna and her daughter Dottie aren't sure how their farm will make it through - until help arrives in the most unexpected way. A story of home, heart and harvest, Victory Farm promises to be another wonderful addition to the forty-seven original works that AFT has generated in the past twenty-one years.  

It's a remarkable achievement only made possible by your continued support.

Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help keep the new works coming.

The lights might have gone out for a short spell this fall but, rest assured, the ever-glowing spirit of AFT burns bright.