Charles Brown's Mid-Life Christmas
Coming Again this Fall!

Weekends starting November 27th through December 18th!

Charles Brown been nominated for THREE Portland Area Musical Theatre Awards!

*Outstanding Original Musical
*Outstanding Score
*Outstanding Original Song for "It's Hard To Be the Bitch"

About Stages of Life

Stages of Life has been a non-profit organization since August 22nd, 2007. Our mission is to create original and personal musical productions- pertaining to different life stages - that will educate, entertain and inspire people in our community of all ages. Our objectives are to produce original musical theatre works featuring older (45+ years) actors and musicians, and to work with young songwriters and musicians (10-20 years) in schools and extra-curricular settings.

In September, 2008 we premiered our first original musical production, "Mama's Got a Brand New Bag" by Kate Finn and Rick Weiss. We produced two additional runs of this show in the winter and fall of 2009, and toured the production in Salem, Newport, Vancouver, WA and Redding CA. The show has reached a total audience of over 7500 people and each run has been successful both financially and, we feel, artistically. We also collected over 2500 pounds of donated canned food at the shows, which was distributed by NW Portland Ministries and St. Vincent de Paul.

Our primary staff includes Rick Weiss (Executive Director), and Kate Finn (Artisitc Director), who have produced over 30 successful runs of musical theatre in Portland in the last 20 years, including The Fallen Angel Choir, Summer Angels, Some Are Not, and, more recently, the hit musicals Hot Flashes and Flahsbacks. Stages of Life was founded so that we can make more original musical theatre programs related to aging available for our community, and to help sustain these programs for many years.

Rick and Kate also conduct songwriting/CD production workshops in Portland public schools.

Calendar of Upcoming Events

Ticket Ordering!
Charles Brown's Mid-Life Christmas

Opening Weekend Special
Ticket: $20

Select a Date Opening Weekend Special November 27

Student/Senior (60+) Advance Ticket: $22	Standard Advance Ticket: $24
Select a Date Student/Senior November 27 Student/Senior December 4 Student/Senior December 5 Student/Senior December 11 Student/Senior December 12 Student/Senior December 18 Student/Senior December 19	Select a Date Standard November 27 Standard December 4 Standard December 5 Standard December 11 Standard December 12 Standard December 18 Standard December 19
Bulk Tickets (6 or more) Ticket: $22
Select a Date Bulk November 27 Bulk December 4 Bulk December 5 Bulk December 11 Bulk December 12 Bulk December 18 Bulk December 19

Donations

Donations of any amount are greatly appreciated. As a non-profit organization, it is the help of community members that keeps us able to produce more shows. In the box below please type the desired amount of tax-deductible contribution you would like to make, then click on the Donate button. You will then be re-directed to paypal where you can continue the transaction.

(and thank you so much!)

If you DON'T have a paypal account we are still very grateful for donations sent by mail. Please mail any donations to:

Stages of Life
P.O. Box 86068
Portland, OR 97286

If you want more information on what your donations go toward, or if you would like to help in another way, please call:

(503)775-8017

Benefits of Donation

All donations to Stages of Life are tax-deductible as we are a non-profit organization. For larger donations we also have a scale of benefits you would receive for donating.

Sizzling Hot! - For a donation of $2,000 or more we’ll run a full-page ad for your business in our program, and list you as a major sponsor for as long as the show runs.

Piping Hot - For a donation of $1000-1999, we’ll run a half-page ad for your business in our program.

Toasty - For a donation of $50-1000, we will thank you with a business card sized ad in our program.

How Did You Like Charles Brown?

Great cast, dynamic songs, you guys are great!

Dan M

Love your shows! Can't wait to come again - will advertise for you if I get the chance.

Ellen R

Very excellent show.

Jeff S

I've been to the show many times. So much fun, this is my favorite show!

Elizabeth B

Under Construction

Hot Flashes CD $15 Info and Preview	Hot Flashes T-Shirt $20
	Select a Size Medium Short Sleeved T-Shirt Large Short Sleeved T-Shirt Extra Large Short Sleeved T-Shirt

Some National Theatres that have produced Hot Flashes

• Change of Pace Productions, Duluth, Minn
• Sheridan County Players, Rushville, Nebraska
• Bell Tower Theater, Dubuque, Iowa
• Pentacle Theatre, Salem, Or.
• Le Theatre des Bon Temps, Marksville, La
• Seventh Stage Productions, Broken Bow, Nebraska.
• Chase City Community Players, Buffalo Junction, Va
• Ice House Theatre, Visalia, CA
• Minden Community Players, Minden, Nebraska
• Winthrop Playmakers, Winthrop, Mass.
• Newton Community Theatre, Newton, Iowa

What We Do Off Stage

Rick Weiss and Kate Finn have written, taught, and performed music in Portland for 25 years. From 1998-2006, Weiss and Finn taught songwriting and CD Production workshops in over 80 Portland public schools (3rd grade through high school) through the Community of Writers program. During that time, it has been hard to watch school after school severly cut or eliminate musica education.

Currently Weiss and Finn conduct week-long songwriting/CD production workshops in Portland public schools. For three days in each classroom, Weiss and Finn collaborate with the students and their teacher on choosing an idea for a song, writing to the topic, forming coherent lyrics, setting them to music, and editing their work. On Thursday, they rehearse the song with singers and musicians from the class. On Friday, they bring in microphones and digital recording gear and record the song (usually the students' favorite part).

They record in small groups in a "studio" set up outside the classroom. When kids are not recording, they are working on cover art and graphics fo their CD. Each song is their professionally mixed and mastered by Rick Weiss and Andrew Kent at Almost Cosmic Studios, and two weeks after the workshop each student in the class gets CD of their original song with their artwork, graphics and their names in the credits.

Students can perform the songs produced on the CD at talent shows. And at the end of the year, participating students will receive a mass-produced compilation CD of all the songs written by each class. The school can also sell additional copies of the CD as a fundraiser.

Weiss and Finn feel this program accomplishes three main goals. First, it helps students achieve in several areas of the state standards for writing, including pre-writing, working cooperatively, using sensory images, developing a draft, revising and editing. Second, Weiss and Finn offer students creative outlets - vocals , instrumental, graphics arts- that many schools can only offer on a limited extra-curricular basis. And, most importantly, by involving several different grade levels to produce a polished, finished product the whole school can appreciate, the project helps foster community within the school and enable the students involved to leave behind a personal legacy.

Contact Information

By Email:

weissfinn@gmail.com

By Snail Mail:

Stages of Life
P.O. Box 86068
Portland, OR 97286

By Phone:

(503)775-8017

Board of Directors

• Larry Colton, author, founder of Community of Writers and Wordstock
  (Board Chairman)
• Maureen Fisher, Vice-President, Comcast Spotlight
  (Treasurer)
• Candace Laska, former Assoc. Administrator Portland Oregon Visitors Association,
  Alzheimer’s Association of Oregon
• Kate Finn, theatrical producer, President Rose City Records
  (Secretary)
• Rick Weiss, theatrical producer/music teacher,
  Exec. Director Stages of Life

Advisory Board

Sharon Maroney, Founder, Artistic Director Broadway Rose Theatre
Kohel Haver, attorney, partner Swider Medeiros Haver, LLP
Nancy Yeamans, Executive Director, Portland Metro Performing Arts

Hot Flashes CD

Hot Flashes is an original, hit musical about a 5-woman band that ages from 40 to 70. The show has been delighting audiences in Portland, OR and the Pacific NW since May 2002.

Song Samples

I Will Not Age

M-E-N-O-P-A-U-Z

You're Never Too Old To Rock