Salado Silver
Spur Theater
Picture Show, Vaudeville Stage, Live Music & Fun for Any Age!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Silver Spur Salutes Military, Veterans & Families
With ‘Staff Car’ Show Sun., May 25 & Memorial Day
Performance reading of short stories recounts Vietnam tales of Capt. Karl Am Rhein
SALADO, TEXAS (May 13, 2008) – Decades after the Vietnam War, the military experiences – sublime, frightening, funny and insightful – of an officer and his brothers in arms find their way to the Silver Spur Theater in Salado, just in time for the long Memorial Day weekend and a tribute to men and women in uniform, past and present.
A performance reading of "Staff Car,” a collection of short stories by former Green Berets Capt. Karl Am Rhein, will be presented at 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 25, and Monday (Memorial Day), May 26, at the 156-seat theatre (108 Royal St.) in downtown Salado. The four-year-old entertainment venue only 18 scant miles from the nation’s largest military post, Fort Hood in Killeen .
Kevin C. Carr of Round Rock, a seasoned actor with stage and screen credits, will read the poignant and incisive anthology. A member of the Spur-radicals, the former Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey circus clown, has recently performed in the political spoof, “The American Way” at City Theatre Austin, and in “Luv” and “The Complete Works of Wm. Shakespeare (Abridged)” at the Silver Spur.
Admission is $15 for adults; $12 for senior citizens, military personnel – active or retired – and students with I.D. The show is not recommended for children under 15. Group rates are also available. For reservations, call 254-947-3456. For more info, visit www.saladosilverspur.com.
Am Rhein (rhymes with yam-vine), who served from 1966 to 1971, is now a computer programmer in San Antonio . He’s also the step-father of the show’s director-producer, Pam Ramirez of San Antonio. Ramirez runs Planet Earth Playground Productions with her husband Albert. Am Rhein and Ramirez will attend the shows with other family members.
“I was a toddler during his service years, but remember helping Mom bake and box cookies for Karl, always with enough to share with his men,” she recounted. “As an adult, I found his recollections incredibly moving and have always wanted to bring them to life on the stage and to have it performed on Memorial Day, since that day honors the veterans of all wars.
“Dad was drafted in 1966 at age 19,” Pam recalled. “His own father had died in the crash of his USAF plane in 1955, and his great uncle had been injured in World War I.”
Grainger Esch, Executive Director and Co-founder of the Silver Spur Theatre, is, like Carr and the Ramirezes, a Ringling Bros. clown alumnus. All have performed in Texas and California .
“I’m extremely proud that we can present such a sensitive and perceptive program this Memorial Day,” Esch said. “The stories are gritty and shocking in places, funny and inspiring in others. All in all, it's an honest, realistic compilation of Vietnam experiences. Ironically, the current Commander in Chief, President George W. Bush, was just at the Silver Spur (May 9) celebrating the marriage of his daughter Jenna and her new husband Henry Hager.
“This show was well received when presented at the 24th Street Theatre at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio,” he said. “With so many active and retired military and their families in our area, I’m hoping Central Texans will make both performances resounding sell-outs.”
“’Staff Car’ is neither pro- nor anti-war,” Pam Ramirez emphasized. “All theatregoers can relate to Karl -- a wide-eyed college kid who got drafted and served his country as a young officer in a foreign war. But the stories and those heard from his comrades resonate well with military families.”
After basic training at Fort Leonardwood , MO , described as "Fort Lost-in-Woods, Misery," he went to Fort Huachuca , AZ , for radio operator. Am Rhein attended Infantry Officers Candidate School at Fort Benning, GA, and then went to Airborne School. Following 52 weeks at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA, where he studied Chinese Mandarin, he completed a Special Forces officers’ course at Fort Bragg, NC. He served with the First Special Forces Group, Detachment A232, C Company, and earned National Defense and Good Conduct metals.
“My step-dad is an humble man,” she added. “He sees himself not as a hero, but perhaps as a chronicler of the sometimes ludicrous, sometimes unfathomable experiences of war and commanding men who are in harm’s way. We may never really know or appreciate what our service personnel have endured, but we should never cease trying.”
The Spur Theatre, which received the “2007 Business of the Year” award from the Salado Chamber of Commerce in January, was developed in the renovated and historic Guest & Sanford Granary & Feed Store. The Spur strives to revive a bygone era of family entertainment, offering a trademark blend of live vaudeville acts, live music, stage plays and classic cinema. Weddings, reunions, business conferences, concerts, field trips, dances, even customized private shows are also held at the venue, with catering available from the renowned Stagecoach Inn a block away and other area restaurants.
FOR MORE INFORMATION OR INTERVIEWS:
Pamela Ramirez, San Antonio , 210-822-7857, artistramirez@sbcglobal.net
Grainger Esch, Executive Dir., Salado Silver Spur Theatre, 254- 947-3456; Grainger@SaladoSilverSpur.com
Preston F. Kirk, APR, Kirk Public Relations, Spicewood, TX, 830-693-4447; kirk@tstar.net