The last couple of Stenger Brewery Documentary Reenactments are done bringing the total number of Stenger Documentary Reenactments to six!

That is more than the total number of reenactments for the NCTV17 documentary, A Role of Their Own, that showcased 4 reenactments and the documentary, One in a Million, that started it all with two reenactments showing what it was like to work for Prince Castles in its heyday.

One of the last last reenactments we taped was a lawyer reenactment last week with Tom Cowan (the narrator of One in a Million) in the historical Scott House which currently houses the law offices of Brooks, Adams, and Tarulis. We needed an interesting way of representing the reading of a will.

The second to last reenactment location was found by Carl, NCTV17’s Operations Supervisor, who revealed about a month ago that his parents had an antique bed dating back to the mid-1800s, around the unfortunate time that Nick Stenger (one of the Stenger Brewery’s brewing brothers) passed away. The bed at Carl’s parents’ house proved to be the perfect location for staging Nick’s last days. NCTV17 Production Associate, Jennie Barger, offered to play the role of Nick's wife, while Nick was reenacted by Rick Love and John Stenger was played once again by Chris Chenoweth who has already played in several other Stenger documentary reenactments.

Carl’s dad, Peter, was incredibly supportive and got into the whole production by offering sage advice from behind the camera such as, I am not sure if window blinds were around in the mid-1800s to which Carl replied, This is our movie, Dad. The blinds stay in the picture. (Actually this is not an exact representation of what Carl said. Carl really does appreciate his dad’s advice.)

Carl’s parents apparently have more than just the antique bed that has been passed down through their families. The most interesting antique, they have (and one of the most interesting antiques I’ve ever seen except for the stuffed turtle light with light bulbs extruding from it’s four legs) is what they call their toilet chair.

The toilet chair had previously served as Peter’s Great Aunt’s commode. Since her commode was an ornately detailed and grand looking wooden chair, Carl’s father could not stand to part with it, and so both of Carl’s parents had it turned into a sitting chair by placing a beautifully covered cushion into the hole in the seat. Voila! A chair was born! (Thank you Peter and Lois Schultz for letting us tape in your home.)

The very last reenactment was taped this past Monday at the Naper Settlement. It was a general beer garden scene that we hoped would encompass and express how much beer was embraced by German-Americans and what a large part of their life and leisure involved moderate and healthy amounts of beer drinking.

Once again, the Naper Settlement was extremely kind in letting us tape on their premises and the always helpful, Bryan Ogg, added two long benches and a wooden table to our scene.

Our cast of reenactors were pulled from many different pools of actors. Lindsey Theis, an NCTV17 Associate Producers volunteered her boyfriend, Shawn, and friend, Brian. Liz Andrews, an NCTV17 college interns and her mother volunteered as well, and we finally rounded out the cast with Kevin Dolan, an NCTV17 Community Producer, and three members of the fantastic Kids Kabaret: Jesse Coleman, Sarah Stephens, and McKenna Freund.

After costuming everyone (thanks to Kandiss Hernandez of Kids Kabaret and All Dressed Up in Batavia), and after comments by Lindsey’s boyfriend, Shawn, and friend, Brian, that they were swimming in a sea of pants, we were ready to start taping.

One might think that acting in a beer garden reenactment would be easy, but that is not the case! Carl made the children run around in 4 or 5 different takes, while we specifically asked the reenactors to act like they are drinking now then act like they are talking and having a good time then walk up some stairs, and then walk down some stairs. Lindsey Theis probably had the most work to do having been designated to be the beer maid and told that she had to carry 4 mugs full, two in each hand, negotiate with the old fashioned dress she was wearing while walking down the gazebo stairs, and then slam the mugs down on the table with all the gusto she could muster without spilling all of the prop beer out of the mugs. She managed to do this all several times and only spilled one beer once, and not while she was doing a scene, but rather when she was telling someone a story in between takes.

All in all, the Stenger Brewery Documentary has been the most intensive in terms of taping and costuming and staging reenactments. The reenactments in this documentary are by far the best ones we have ever taped, and has brought our production quality to a whole new high. We are extremely pleased with how they have all turned out and look in the documentary and can’t wait for the August premiere to share it with more people.