Hello and welcome to the first episode of Backstage at the EPC. I'm Hailey Niemerg, the marketing director, and today I have Kim Jansen, our executive director, joining me. Hi! Say hi. Hello. We are starting backstage at the EPC to kind of take you behind the curtain at the Eppingham Performance Center with exclusive interviews with the upcoming artists and entertainers that are preparing to take the stage. And then we also wanted to give a behind the scenes look at like what our EPC staff does, stories, upcoming events, and everything that's happening at the theater. So part of that is our introduction to season 17. And so Kim here will kind of talk to us about what to expect for season 17, and it's all very exciting stuff.
SPEAKER_00Yes, season 17 is finally here. We announced it on July 11th, and we have so many great shows this season. As always, there is something for everybody. So we have lots of country this year. We have rock, we have oldies, we have family shows, and as you know, the list goes on and on. So let's talk about the country shows coming.
SPEAKER_01I love talking about the season's country shows. I feel like this is kind of our season of country. There's a lot.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, um, and there's a reason for that, and that is Effingham and our patrons and the region love country. As you know, on most of our country shows, this place is packed, and everybody wants more country, and we listen. So this season we have lots of country and lots of different types of country music.
SPEAKER_01So, what are the first ones? Let's talk about some of the ones that are already on sale.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and so whenever we were finishing up season 16, we always like to do some add-on shows. So this fall, there's already a few country artists that are on sale. Uh, so Shannon Doa, August 23rd, that one is on sale. And then Jamie Johnson is coming on September 19th. His show is already on sale, and that one is really popular. So there are not many seats left for that. So if you want Jamie Johnson, hop on right now.
SPEAKER_01We have our donor sales going on. So our donors get an extra perk of being able to purchase tickets ahead of time. Um, the most popular one so far has been Trace Atkins for the country.
SPEAKER_00And I don't think there's any surprise there. Um, every time we've had Trace Atkins here in the past, he sells out usually in the first week. Um, everybody around here loves Trace, and this show is even more amazing because it's his 30th anniversary tour. Um, he has announced this to be his last big national tour. He's really not sure how he's gonna tour after this. So all the fans are hopping on, wanting to come to this tour, and we're gonna have it here at the Effingham Performance Center, which is pretty cool.
SPEAKER_01I will tell you that my children will be the most excited about probably Mitchell Tenpenny and Josh Turner.
SPEAKER_00My mother is gonna be the most excited about Trace Atkins, so I'm sure that I want to put a plug-in for that. Um, so your kids though are Mitchell Tenpenny and Josh Turner. Yes. Yeah, I could see that with your kids.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. They they like, you know, some of that 90s country, and then obviously Mitchell Tenpenny. He's kind of up and coming. Um there's he's on the radio all the time.
SPEAKER_00I love Mitchell Tenpenny. Um, I do think it's a little bit different from us because in the past we've done shows where it's been kind of those 90s country artists, and this is a different, uh, like I said, different era of country. So I think it's going to attract a younger audience, like the Niemurgs boys. And I think we're gonna have uh some new patrons come and find us thanks to that Mitchell Tenpenny show.
SPEAKER_01And then we have the Bellamy brothers, yeah. And so that's for kind of the older country. The older generation.
SPEAKER_00Um it was between the Bellamy brothers and Gene Watson, and there's both that same mark, and it's like, which one do I choose this year? And the Bellamy brothers have not been here for years, and it's for the for the older country fans, the ones who want the older country. So the Bellamy brothers are great. Um, if you don't think you know who the Bellamy brothers are, hop on and listen to a few songs, and I promise you, you know who the Bellme brothers are. So let's move into the rock genre. Um, the brochure is awesome this year, it is divided into sections, so I'm I'm on rock. Let's talk rock. So we have hairball. Always.
SPEAKER_01Always. It is such a huge hit. Every year we have a lot of the same patrons come back and they bring more and more friends.
SPEAKER_00I feel like that one is tricky because you know, when you book the same show every year, you're like, is this gonna work? And it works every year, and every year our attendance number increases, which is kind of unusual for a show. Yeah, um, after most shows, though, I stand in the lobby and I greet people as they exit the building to kind of like what they thought about the show. And hairball every year, they're like, we're doing it again next year, right? We're doing it again next year, right? So it is a very popular show. Every time they bring it, it looks different. So even though you saw it last year, it might be a whole different show this year. Same concept, different songs, different artists. And what we have found too is whenever you experience something really cool, um, you want to see it again. But not only do you want to see it again, but you want to bring your friends along and experience with them. So I think hairball is one of those that someone came one year and next year they grabbed two friends, and then the year after that they grabbed four friends, and then now they're just bringing a whole party of people.
SPEAKER_01Well, as far as marketing goes, hairball's not a like, I mean, there most people are like, What is that? I don't even know. Right. But yes, so it's it's not just a tribute to one band.
SPEAKER_00No, so it's an arena rock show. So if you loved hairbands back in the 80s, I mean we're talking Poison, we're talking Bon Jovi, Alice Cooper, Montley Crue, ACDC, Ozzy Osborne. Um, like I said, this is this is a show with all of those songs. And what I love about it is it's your favorite songs. It's like watching, you know, the best videos on MTV. It's one hit after another after another. You know every song, you know, every artist, everybody's up dancing, everybody's singing along. It's just this whole place is rocking whenever we do hairball.
SPEAKER_01Let's talk about Sebastian Bach coming in January.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so it's Sebastian Bach of Skid Row, but for the Gilmore Girl fans out there, it's Sebastian Bach of Gilmore Girls. So uh Sebastian Bach, again, one of those hair bands, did Skid Row, lots of great music. Uh, we're excited to have him here.
SPEAKER_01And then we have Dirty Deeds, which is an ACDC tribute in March. And I think that one's yeah, that one's gonna be popular for around here.
SPEAKER_00And we have lots of tribute acts come through here, but we're very selective on who we bring. So you'll see that.
SPEAKER_01Kim always does lots and lots of research before she brings any picture tribute.
SPEAKER_00Um, and we also listen to our patrons. A lot of them have been to other venues where they've seen some great tributes, and they'll let us know that hey, this is the one to book. So we've been very fortunate to get some really great tributes in here, and Dirty Deeds is one of the best ACDC tributes out there. Um, other rock shows, we have uh Lee Rocker of the Stray Cats coming. So that's gonna be a lot of fun. And then uh the Kentucky Headhunters and Confederate Railroad are back, and they haven't for a I mean, they've been here several times, but it's been a few years. And that one, I mean, their fans just come to all the shows. They follow them. That one, that one's a great show. That's always a good show. Now what category?
SPEAKER_01Well, you need me to flip to now. Let's go to we skipped over classics. Here we start, we start our season. Um, we kick it off with the Happy Together Tour.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and this season, same thing. Happy Together 2026 is gonna be on August the 26th. That's that Wednesday show. Um, such a great show. So that's coming back. Other classics we have coming. The one I'm really excited about is the 1964 uh Beatles tribute. And I think the reason I'm excited about this, because even growing up, I remember my parents going and watching this band and this concept. And I thought, oh, that's really cool. But I've never actually seen them. So I'm looking forward to that night, which is October 10th.
SPEAKER_01So and if you're looking for a preview um of some of these shows, we have on our website a link um to a lot of the videos, um, their promo videos. So take a look at our website.
SPEAKER_00Uh it's theepc.org. And on our website, you'll see the list of shows. So you'll be able to click on the shows, you can learn about the shows, you can see the ticket prices, and there's also, like Haley mentioned, this little button you click, and it'll take you over to watch a video. So some of the shows we are talking about you probably have never heard of, and that's okay. Um, hop on our website, watch the videos, and then hit that buy ticket button right above it, and you'll be all set.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the 1964 promo video was a neat one. It's really cool. It looks cool. Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_00Uh, other um bands we have coming in that category, Little River Band is coming. Uh Toast, which is the best of bread. Uh, it's a tribute band. It's gonna be awesome. The best tribute band name ever. It is the best tribute band name ever. But it's as you know, it's a little confusing right now, though, because we just installed a new POS system, like a point of sale system or a concession stand that is also called Toast. So I've been getting so many toast emails and I have to really pay attention. Is it the band? Yeah, which toast is it? The the register, like the concession stand POS. So, anyway, um toast is the best of bread. This toast is probably better performers than the POS system toast, but it's gonna be a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_01Hopefully, good performers.
SPEAKER_00So on February the 13th, though, is when toast is coming. And the last few years, we have done tributes in February on that Valentine's Day weekend. So last year we did ABBA, the year before that. Um I don't remember who we did. Do you remember? Um Eagle was it Eagles Tribute?
SPEAKER_01Now I don't remember.
SPEAKER_00We did tribute then, and then uh so we've kind of picked up this idea of Valentine's Day doing these tributes for a few reasons. Um, first of all, tributes are fun, especially really good tributes, those are fun. And then the second thing is um with tributes, the price point for the tickets can be very affordable. So it's a great night where you can go out and have dinner, celebrate Valentine's Day, and you know, and still have money left for soda and a popcorn. So uh the other one we have coming. So we've done some different style of Broadway shows in the past. Like we did the one for hairspray last year. Um I've done different different takes on Broadway. Uh this year um we're gonna do Under the Street Lamp, which is the music of Frankie Valley and the Jersey Boys. Did you ever see Jersey Boys on Broadway, Haley? That's a no. No. That is a no. That is a no. I don't okay. I don't get to a lot of Broadway shows. I was gonna say, I didn't know if you've ever been or not. So the Jersey Boys, it's an awesome show. Um, it was really popular, you know, I don't know how many years ago. So anyway, uh the music of Frankie Valley kind of came back during that time, and Jersey Boys was traveling, you know, and touring uh throughout the nation. And uh the show that we're bringing, the under the street lamp, it has the Frankie Valley music, it has the Jersey Boy style music, but the performers in it um were also have performed in the Broadway show. So that's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_01Another one that has a great promo video. So if you're looking to kind of see what they're about, check out the video because they sound amazing. And I do, and although I haven't seen the Jersey Boys, I have heard all the music and and I do know a lot of the songs, which is fun.
SPEAKER_00Uh, another tribute, let's talk about, let's talk about, and because we're also kind of on the subject of Broadway. Let's talk about the ultimate Johnny Cash. That's on March 5th. And um the Johnny Cash that'll be coming for this show played in the million-dollar quartet. So we use Johnny Cash there. So there's another Broadway tie for you uh with kind of that country in it. So the ultimate Johnny Cash, March 5th, that's gonna be another really great tribute. Awesome.
SPEAKER_01So many tributes. Well, we also have some comedy coming. Um, we have one that's already on sale, Who's Live Anyway, right? Um, which is, you know, the spin-off of Who's Who's Line Is It Anyway?
SPEAKER_00And it's got um four of the main guys from four of the main one, but as everybody knows, Drew Carey is very busy with prices right on TV right now, so he is not with that tour. Uh, but you will recognize the other four performers who come with that tour. That's on September 13th. And like Haley said, that one is on sale now. Uh, the other comedy one we have uh coming is Vicky Lawrence and Mama, the two women's show. So for all of our mama's house fans out there, Vicki Lawrence is coming back, and I bet it's been 10 or more years since she's been at our venue. So that's gonna be a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I know um again, the donors have been very excited for that one as well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's always interesting to see how the donor sales come in and then kind of see what our seasoned ticket holders pick and then see what the public picks. Um, all different genres and we love keeping track to see like what show is winning, and we like taking bets on it, like what do we think is gonna do and who's gonna sell out first and all those things.
SPEAKER_01Uh and then we always, always, always have one that majorly surprises us. Right. Um, one being Blackhawk a few years ago.
SPEAKER_00That one was and I'm curious what it's gonna be this year.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So I'm already the numbers are already coming in different than I had expected in a in a really great way. Um, so it'll be fun to see see what finishes where. Um let's talk about Christmas.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, let's talk about Christmas because everyone it's my favorite time of the year. Everyone always talks about it. So busy around Christmas. But we we always joke um around here, Christmas just it starts super early because um we go straight from Halloween and then we flip because we have our first.
SPEAKER_00I think that's our fault. I think that's the community's fault because I think there's Christmas stuff already out of the stores. So I don't know.
SPEAKER_01That's true. You can't blame us. We're just following, we're just following the community, all the other people. Um, but we do have our first holiday show November 19th.
SPEAKER_00We used to wait until like that weekend before Thanksgiving to kick off our holiday season. But as the rest of the world has, you know, embraced Christmas right after Halloween, so have we. Um, and so have the tours going out. So we are gonna kick off our Christmas season on November 19th uh with Home Free. Um, it's that a cappella group. They have the huge following, they're amazing, always awesome. They bring really great production, it's just a fun show. Uh, Daily and Vincent is coming back for their Candy Cane and Cole tour. That's November 21st. And um, we're gonna do that one as a matinee. So we're gonna do like a two o'clock matinee uh for people. Some of our patrons have requested earlier shows and for us to try some matinee. So here's a chance for you to come to a matinee on that Saturday. The Wizards of Winter, um, they do like that holiday rock music. That's gonna be on December 5th. And then I'm really excited about our interactive movie this year. Uh, we're gonna do the Grinch. We've done Polar Express the last few years. That has been great. Um, but when people ask like why we picked the Grinch, it's simple. I mean, did you catch the following of how fast the Grinch meals sold out at McDonald's last year? I mean, obviously there's a lot of Grinch fans out there, so let's have them here.
SPEAKER_01And we definitely participated in the Grinch Meal for sure.
SPEAKER_00I've been wearing my Grinch socks on December 12th. So if you got the Grinch meal, let's all wear our Grinch socks. So everybody make a note there, get your tickets, grab your socks. And December 12th.
SPEAKER_01For those of you that aren't familiar with interactive movies, um, we will we do plan to have kind of a podcast that'll kind of talk about that a little bit more. Um, but a short overview is um each of the kids get like a goodie bag, and then they take items out of their bag as the TVs prompt them. And it's so you're you're watching a movie, yes, but they're interacting with it. Um, it's just so much fun.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so like the different items, like I said, you get cued throughout the movie, and whether it's the light stick or whether it's a noisemaker or the snack, it's so much fun to watch all the kids like pull out the items and then interact. Um, and then we always have a balloon drop, which of course is the highlight with all the balloons flying everywhere and the squealing and the cheering and stuff. So um the interactive movies are my favorite. I also love that the lobby is always decorated to go along with the movie, and then we have the different characters here as well. So it's just such a great family experience.
SPEAKER_01And I'm excited to see what you guys do with the lobby for Grinch because I mean, we so Sheila Brown, um, that's also in uh works in the office in here. Her and I just we go crazy with the balloons and the decorating and um really make try and make it as magical of a place as we can for the kids, and it's fun to see their reactions when they walk in.
SPEAKER_00You could do like a complete opposite for the Grinch and not have anything up and be like the Grinch was here. The Grinch hasn't returned the stuff yet, all the stuff has been stolen. Um that may not be great for the kids, though.
SPEAKER_01Well, you know, sometimes you have to make them appreciate the thing.
SPEAKER_00Um, so that one, like I said, it's gonna be a lot of fun. We have Chris Young coming for this Christmas season, too. So um he's coming for an acoustic show on December 18th. I think that's a good one. And that one's gonna be holidays and hits.
SPEAKER_01So for those um asking, I know um we get a lot of questions sometimes or like comments about artists coming, and and they thought it was gonna be kind of a a big concert, and and then they show up and it's acoustic, which we advertise it as acoustic, but sometimes people don't quite catch it. And um, so this one is gonna be acoustic, but it's holiday songs, and he'll be playing his hits.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and he had a holiday um album come out, I think a year or two ago, so it'll be songs off of that as well. And he did this similar tour last year. Um, and it was a I mean, it was a lot of fun. So we're glad to have that coming to our venue um and other Christmas shows. Uh Scott Waddle's we back as Elvis on December 19th. We have lots of Scott Waddle fans out there, and then we're gonna do the Jingle Bell Jam for the second year. It'll be our second time doing that show. Um, that's produced here at the FN Performance Center. Uh Marty Williamson handles that along with our technical director, Andrew Lindley. So they're putting together that show. It's gonna be December 20th, which is a Sunday. And we're gonna do that as a matinee at two o'clock too, so that it'll be more family friendly to get more kids and families out to um have some fun in the Jingle Bell Jam. Let's talk about you can go to the next section.
SPEAKER_01We're gonna go to the next section. Okay. Let's talk about the speaker series. Um, I know that I'm I'm a podcast listener. Um, hence why we're doing a podcast. This is why we're doing the podcast. Um, it took me a little bit to get Kim to uh say yes to that and green light it, but um one of my favorite podcasts is my favorite murder. Um so I'm kind of excited that we're going to have how to solve a murder as a speaker series this year.
SPEAKER_00So we started the speaker series three years ago, and um the idea was just to you know to work out bringing peop different different audiences in here. Like um the podcasts are so popular, and there's more speakers out there touring. So let's we wanna try something different here. Um Um, and it has been successful. So we're continuing that this year. Like Haley mentioned, How to Solve a Murder. That's gonna be on November 6th. Um, what I love about this is Tuscan Hills Winery is going to sponsor it, and they always host those like murder mysteries. So I feel like you should buy tickets, come here and learn how to solve a murder, and then you can go over there and win the murder mystery. Have a glass of wine and solve the murder at the murder. See if you were paying attention and learned anything while you were here at our speaker series. It's a great idea. I think it's a great idea too. Uh, other speaker series, the women's health showcase. A little lighter speaker series, yeah, maybe is the women's health showcase. Yes. Um, that's more about health and less about murdering people. Yeah. So maybe not something that you never necessarily have on your podcast. I must. I'm all for all the things. All the things. I yep. I'm all about women's health as well. I do feel like women's health uh podcasts are really popular right now, but maybe that's because I'm a woman and all my friends are talking about the podcast.
SPEAKER_01Well, I think we also, I mean, even in the office, we talk about women's health all the time and protein and how to be healthy. Um, so I'm I am excited for this one. HSHS St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital is gonna be putting this on.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so that's October 15th, and this is the event that they had held the convention center in earlier years. So this is gonna be their fifth um year of doing this, but they wanted to do a speaker series and they wanted to bring speakers in. So they're still gonna have those vendors in the lobby, um, and they're still gonna have the fun different stations. I think they're gonna do like a I don't even remember what they're talking about. They had such great ideas that they're trying to brainstorm right now and really cool ideas.
SPEAKER_01They have a a long list, yes. Yes, they have lots of ideas. So, again, if you go to our website and go to the schedule, um it has a whole description on the event. Um, and I definitely check it out.
SPEAKER_00Your line here. The inspirational evening will include socializing, which I love, laughter. I like to laugh, um, pampering, hello, uh, tasty treats, you absolutely have me there, and fabulous prizes and things who doesn't want all of those things. So definitely grab your girlfriends for that one. And then the third speaker in our series is going to be Ty Pennington. And who doesn't want to move that bus? I know, like with trading spaces and extreme makeovers, I think everybody who's watched HG TV knows who Ty Pennington is. And again, what a fun topic. Yes. So I think it's going to be a lot of fun to come and hear his stories. Um, and he also talks about um his experience of having ADHD and how he's kind of used, you know, worked through those things. So uh what okay, you had a really clever tagline for this. What did you call this?
SPEAKER_01Do you think it was something with creativity and productivity? And I don't remember. I feel like she really nailed it. You'll have to go. I'm to the lobby. I'm to the lobby. Uh it's not in the colour. Check out the poster. It is not in that graphic. Okay, next page, next section. So we talked a little bit about interactive movie The Grinch. Grinch. Um, we are also having two other ones this year.
SPEAKER_00So October 23rd, we're gonna do Hocus Pocus again. Um last year was the first year we did this, and um, it's a little different than our other interactive movies because it doesn't have that VIP experience. It's just one ticket um to get in. The lobby's decorated. We encourage, and I say that we encourage you to come dressed as your in a Halloween costume, as a witch, as one of the sisters. Um, we really want this to be a fun Halloween night. Uh, again, October 23rd, 7 o'clock. And like the other shows, there's gonna be that goodie bag where you interact with the movie. So it's it's uh it is a Halloween. It's gonna be fun, family outing, um, you know. Yeah. And then uh we always have interactive movie in January. This makes great Christmas presents for the kids, the grandkids, instead of nurses, the nephews, buying just stuff.
SPEAKER_01We always say, you know, give them an experience. So we always try and schedule an interactive movie in January for that reason, so that families can give those as gifts.
SPEAKER_00And what we have found whenever we it's like, what movie do you pick? And every year we all sit around and like, okay, what movie is it going to be? And you know, what interactive things we put in the bag and we kind of brainstorm. Um, but at the end of the day, uh, we always seem to land on Disney and we always seem to land on princesses because the who doesn't love the Disney princess the little girls love to dress up the princess. And this year's no exception. We're going to do Beauty and the Beast uh on January the 16th. And this is the animated version. So uh so come and be our guest. I had to. I had to. You had to go there. Um, so yeah, so come be our guest. Um, and we're gonna have uh the lobby decorated, the characters will be here. This is one of the shows that we also do have the VIP experience ticket. So if you buy that top-tier level ticket, um you will get the VIP experience. And that's kind of this open house where people kind of go through the backstage and do different activities, and we will have a podcast on that at a later date. So stay tuned to learn more about that. Um, we do always encourage princess dresses for all of our interactive movies. Um, we love to dress up. Yeah, for the boys coming, dress up.
SPEAKER_01There's plenty for the boys too. And there's, like we said, activities, arts and crafts um for the VIP section. So yeah, last year.
SPEAKER_00Did we do frozen last year?
SPEAKER_01We did.
SPEAKER_00So we did frozen last year, and I do know that Buzz Lightyear was at Frozen.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And I do know there was a dinosaur at Frozen, um, and some different characters. So don't feel like you have to. Don't feel like you have to be a princess. I mean, dress in dress in whatever for the day. So uh other family shows. So Artrageous is coming back on March the 12th. And this is a lot of fun because they uh they'll play live music on stage, but they also do paintings as they go, so it's more also like a kind of visual experience. Will be pretty long.
SPEAKER_01And and we've had we had them a few years ago.
SPEAKER_00We had them in 2019. So you know seven years. Yeah, yeah, it's been uh and then the cat in the hat live on stage is coming March 14th, and then Puppy Pals Live is coming April 18th. I feel like we have like this dog and cat theme going. We do, but I'm here for it.
SPEAKER_01It is we're it's great. Who doesn't love a whole bunch of puppies and the best part, they're rescues.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I don't I'm I'm really impressed that they get all these rescue dogs and teach them tricks because I have a dog and um I didn't rescue the dog, I got it as a puppy, and it doesn't do anything that I wanted to do.
SPEAKER_01So I think you have to train them. Oh, yeah, gotcha. But that's okay.
SPEAKER_00Maybe you can learn a few things, come to puppy pals. Yeah, these dogs they walk on balance beams, they jump through hoops, they climb up ladders, they do all those things. So puppy pals for all those puppy lovers out there. Um, okay. And there's more.
SPEAKER_01There's more.
SPEAKER_00There's even a section in our book called More because there's so many shows, and we're not always sure what genre they are. So let's talk about the more. Um, Taylorville, October 3rd, a child.
SPEAKER_01I want to talk about Taylor Swift. Taylorville for sure. Because again, we had this same girl come a couple years ago, and it was a party. Yes, it was such a party. Um, the girl, little girls loved it. And I shouldn't say little girls, because it it was all ages. Um, and so guys, buy the tickets. This this show is coming up quickly, October 3rd.
SPEAKER_00And this is another opportunity to get your Eras outfits out. Yes. And you know, we just had the nuptials, yeah. You know, like Taylor Swift is let's continue again. Celebration here. And um, she will have songs from her new album in this tour. So she's gonna play, of course, all some of the other hits, but there will be songs from the channel.
SPEAKER_01I was impressed with her outfit changes when she was here last. Like that was neat. Like the um backdrops, like she goes all out for this show.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so this one's fun, and we are doing it in an a seven o'clock show to this, so it's gonna be kind of that different feel. So um, other girls' nights out. Um, foot the switch, no pun intended, menopause the musical, October 29th. Uh, okay, so we have done menopause the musical here, part one. There is a part two of menopause the musical that we've done here. So people keep saying, is this part one or is this part two? Well, we are going back to part one. So this is the first installment of the menopause the musical series.
SPEAKER_01And and they are celebrating their 20th anniversary. So it'll it'll be.
SPEAKER_00I have seen this show um twice, and it's it's really funny. It is funny. Like the first time I saw it, um, I was just visiting another venue, and that happened to be what they're showing. And they're like, Do you want to stay and watch the show? And I'm like, menopause the musical, like, okay. Um, and it was really funny. I was embarrassed how much I laughed and how loud I laughed. Um, and so I would encourage, like, try this out. Try it out. It's so funny. It's such a good show. Um, another show coming that's always popular, the Prices Right Live is coming back on October 16th. Um, this is the one where our audience members get called down to play Prices Right, and they have really cool prizes. I mean, we've had our patrons win trips, they win Amazon gift cards, they've won appliances. Um, one of our patrons even won a car one time. So you could win the prizes. Yes.
SPEAKER_01And we have people come from St. Louis, um, all over the place to come to this show. Um, Drew Carey will not be here for this show.
SPEAKER_00No, not for that one. I feel like we have a lot of Drew Carey references in this book, but no Drew Carey coming here. If you're listening. But I love the prices, right? Um, when it comes here because it has all the fun games. Like it has Plinko, it has the little cliffhanger thing, it has um, they bring out the big wheel that they spin. Yes. And just like what you see on TV, like when our contestants and our patrons are standing up there, all the patrons are like yelling out their guesses, you know, to go along with it.
SPEAKER_01Not only that, like the patrons show up in all matching shirts. Like it is, they go all out. And um, we've had the Prices Right Live quite a few times over the years, and the same I feel like a lot of the same patrons, like they have a group of people they uh come with each time. Um, and they have to get the shirts, they have to do all the things.
SPEAKER_00And even if you do not have a shirt, yeah, even if you didn't get together with a group and you're just in your normal shirt, um, you still get the giant guy tame name tag. And um, whenever you come to that show, you'll show up early and you register. That's how you get in the hat to get picked to come on stage. Um, but we have volunteers who will like check people in, and there's a whole lesson on how to write names on those tags. Like you have to use the the marker, and it has to be like all capital and has to almost be like a certain rules. It's it's serious business, it's lots of pressure to write those names. Uh but no, I I love that everybody goes around with the big name tags on. I actually still have all my name tags in my office on my bulletin board. Yeah. Because my letting them, and then I have some that I practice on that I had to throw away because they were not acceptable. So that's a lot of fun. Uh Six Train Summit is coming back. That's Marty Williamson's show on February 27th. Um, Haley, can you read the names? Because I don't have my glasses on. Okay, let's see here. Can you like a really small font? I don't need to do it.
SPEAKER_01Pronounce all of them. So um Andy King, and then of course Marty Williamson, Jared Chestnut, Mark White, Mike McDevitt, and Miles Baker. And then special guests include Melissa Orndorf, Jay Hinky, um, Doug Evans, Gary Wise, George King, and Moore. So um, this is their 10th annual sixth thing. Yes.
SPEAKER_00I guess I didn't realize that. Cool. Yep. Um, and then the Glenn Miller Orchestra is coming back March 19th. It's been a while since we've had an orchestra here, and it's definitely time to have an orchestra back. So March 19th for all of our Glenn Miller fans.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Did we do it? Is that all of them? That's I think we're watched on all of them.
SPEAKER_00I think we did too.
SPEAKER_01Um, I think we're sitting at just over 40 shows for this season.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we're gonna be busy.
SPEAKER_01Yes, we are gonna be very busy.
SPEAKER_00I am working on a couple add-ons. I have I know at least three that I'm gonna add on, so stay tuned for that announcement as well. Okay, let's talk about how to buy tickets. Yes. Yes, and when. And when. And when. So, right now, as we mentioned, donor sales going on. Um, season ticket holders sale opens up on Tuesday, but which is the 28th. Yeah. So this is, you know, while this airs, I'm guessing that season ticket holders are already gonna be in sale. Uh so let's talk about public sale. Public sale is going to be August the 8th. It's a Saturday. Uh, our box office opens up at 10 o'clock, and then online sales are gonna open up on Ticketmaster at noon. So we have this two-hour box office sale window followed by the noon online sale window. And um, you know why we do that, right?
SPEAKER_01So that the people that come and wait in line outside our doors early, early in the morning, get a chance to buy tickets before people that are sitting in their pajamas and they're just buying the tickets, which is also great, but we want to reward the people that um.
SPEAKER_00I love that you said it just like that, because that's exactly how I feel like. Like you've listened to me uh before. It's like they listen. Um, and that is true. Like we have so many patrons that have their lawn chairs. Like when I pull up, they're already gonna be lined up when I get here to open the building for the day before we're even opening up the box office. And um, I love seeing the big line out there. I love and talk going out and talking to everybody because these are the patrons that are really excited about what they're purchasing because they're they're there early. Um, and they are always telling stories about like what they've already seen here and experiences they've had at the venue, and then they're also sharing with each other, you know, what they're purchasing and talking each other into different shows and telling them why they were picking this show over that show and so on and so forth. So I just love going out there and being part of those conversations. And um, and like Haley said, if people are getting up and coming here and gonna be old school and sit in line in the lawn chairs, yeah, we want to make sure that they get the best shot at tickets before online opens up. So if you want to stay in your pajamas, I get that too. And it is nice and cozy to stay home and be in your pajamas. But if you want to be part of the seat in the house, there is not. But if you want to be part of the fun and the buzz, come and hop in that line. I mean, it's it is a good time talking to the people. Yeah, we are. You'll meet all sorts of characters out there in line and such great people to talk to.
SPEAKER_01Um, speaking of buying tickets online, um, we're gonna give our little spiel because um inevitably we will have a lot of scam tickets um that show up or people calling worried that they um bought tickets incorrectly or or whatever. So we always say um, one, you can always go to our website, theepc.org, um, go to our schedule. Each of those event pages has a link directly to our Ticketmaster.
SPEAKER_00Um you also have a button at top that just says get tickets, and you click on that, and it's gonna take you over to our page on Ticketmaster, and the whole list of shows is gonna be listed out there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so we want to make sure that it's Ticketmaster or yeah, Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster.com. Um, not Ticket Center, not um what are some of the ones you've heard?
SPEAKER_00My favorite, this isn't really my favorite story, but one of my stories. My favorite story ever. One of my stories. Um, I was in a hurry and I was typing in real quick to get to our Ticketmaster page. And I typed in like Ticket Faster, apparently on accident, but when I went to it, it looks almost exactly like Ticketmaster, like enough to where I didn't even recognize I was in the wrong spot. And I'm I'm very familiar with our Ticketmaster page, and um the prices were all weird. I'm like, what is happening? And then I realized that I had done what patrons do, and I'm just not in the right spot. But it was so easy for me to land on the wrong page, which is kind of scary.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. And I think I think a lot of our patrons um kind of get in that bind, and and and once you get to that point, we will try and help you as much as we can, but sometimes there's not a whole lot that we can do on our end. So our our end is now telling you by them through Ticketmaster.
SPEAKER_00This is like our public service announcement. So the safest way, the safest way to purchase tickets always is through our box office by coming into the doors, by talking to our ticket agents, or by calling our box office. And when you call our box office, you're not going to a fancy calling center, you are going to a fancy box office because we recently remodeled, but you're going to talk to your neighbors, you're talking to people who live in this community and they're in this building, and that's who's answering our phone, and that's who's selling you those tickets. So when you call that 217-540-2788, you are calling this building, you are talking to people in this building to buy tickets. So that is the safest way. Um, okay, but I like to buy tickets online, so I also understand that. And it is tricky buying tickets online. So the only place that we sell tickets is on Ticketmaster. That's it. We sell through the box office and we sell through Ticketmaster. So there's more to that though, because there is a resale market. Um, you can go to StubHub and get verified tickets. Uh, you can go to SeatGeek and get verified tickets. There definitely are reputable places and reputable websites out there where you can buy legitimitimate tickets. They're resale tickets. They are resale tickets. And whenever you buy resale tickets, that value is no longer controlled by us. That value is controlled by the person who is selling it. So oftentimes, and by and I say oftentimes, I mean almost always, you're gonna pay way more than you would have if you would have came here. Um, so I have seen the highest ticket I've ever seen on the resale market for a venue was for Aaron Lewis, and it was like $3,000. And we sold that same ticket for $46. Um, I've seen tickets for Scott Waddles out there for $150. Again, that ticket's $30 in this building. So you have to really be careful when you're shopping. So when you get this handy brochure, on the back is the price list. So whenever you're shopping, these are the prices you should be seeing. If you are not seeing these prices, you are in the wrong spot. So please be careful. And then Haley also mentioned there are scamming sites out there, and there are. Like if you're buying a seat in the balcony at the FN Performance Center, we don't have a balcony. We don't have a balcony, it doesn't even exist. If you are buying like weird letters and weird numbers, you know, make sure it makes sense what you're purchasing. Right now, there are tickets on sale on websites that we have not sold yet. So people we haven't put them on sale yet.
SPEAKER_01They're not available to the public.
SPEAKER_00Right. So it's it's a scam. So please be careful when you're shopping. Yes. So that's there's our that's the end of our public service announcements. Yes. So that's it.
SPEAKER_01But please be careful. Uh in summary, buy through our box office, go to our website to get the safest links. Um, so like Kim said, those tickets um will be public sale Saturday, August 8th. Um and we appreciate you guys sticking around with us today. Um, thank you, Kim, for joining me. And we look forward to kind of seeing where this podcast goes.
SPEAKER_00I will say, hop on our website. We went through a lot of shows and a lot of dates and a lot of information. And I always feel that way. Like whenever I'm talking to people, there's so many wonderful, great things that I want to say that um they kind of like it's so much information in such a short amount of time. So grab that brochure, check out our online brochure, check out our website. And we all like a certain kind of music. Like we all have our favorite, we all have our favorite bands, and we all have a favorite type of music, but everything that we booked this year is awesome. So try something new, kind of get out of your comfort zone a little bit, and um, and kind of see what else we have, and you might find your new favorites.
SPEAKER_01So And like Kim said, um, you don't always have to come with someone, even if you come by yourself. Our patrons are always super friendly. Um, you'll probably make some friends sitting next to you.
SPEAKER_00I agree. Like, even um, like a lot of the shows that sell quickly, there always is like a single ticket here or there that has kind of got left behind. Buy those single tickets, and um, you'll come and you'll have fun, and it's so much fun to be in a room and experience something together. And like Haley said, our patrons are really nice and friendly. I promise you'll leave here making friends.
SPEAKER_01So um we appreciate you guys, like I said, listening, and we hope to see you at a show soon.
unknownYeah.