RE-CREATION 40 - 48
Re-Creation’s last decade brought with it some advances in technology and presentation…as well as some major challenges. The RC web-site, stage speakers, and video capabilities all took a giant-leap forward. Social Media took a big step into the spotlight as our Facebook, Instagram, Twitter presences all became more vibrant. And Re-Creation developed its own smartphone app! This immediate accessibility to tour schedules, information, letters from the director and a host of other information really helped us increase our exposure and awareness!
However, the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic brought touring to a screeching halt. We were on our way back from the Florida tour in RC 45 when we noticed all of our Veterans Homes and Hospital shows were cancelling, well, trying to reschedule. No one had any idea what what happening. Of course, the world took a step back in that season, but Re0-Creation took a giant step of faith to maintain its remarkable presence of gratitude to the men and women in our VA Medical Centers and State Veterans Homes. We did NOT want the Veterans to experience even more isolation, so we reinvented the wheel and started RE-CREATION LIVESTREAMS! The in-the-moment, truly live shows, were broadcast to Veterans Homes and hospitals across the nation mor almost two years!
The cast would be performing live in the choreography studio which had been revamped and restructured. The sound tech, who had been in touch with all the medical professionals nationwide to make sure facilities were prepared and ready, would keep constant contact during the show. Medical professionals would text us to say hello much the Veterans were enjoying the show and we would, in turn, get onscreen to say hello, engage and thank our Veterans. The impact of this aspect of the Re-Creation program, especially in light of the travails of the pandemic, was absolutely outstanding!
QUOTES from VETERANS:
“Makes me think of all the dancing my wife and I have done throughout our 70 years of marriage”
Jack, US Navy, WWII
“I’ve seen y’all twice in person, love the show, great new singers and dancers. Thank y’all for providing this show virtually”
Sam, US Navy, Operation Iraqi Freedom
“Best afternoon in a long time. Songs bring back so many memories. Great performance.”
Pickle, US Air Force
And in the following season, when young people failed to audition for the group, the program was reinvented again as we mounted RE-CREATION SALUTE! This program combined with some live shows for the 48th edition…a year we call a hybrid year! The service was constant, the heartfelt engagement truly appreciated by the Veterans Homes and Hospitals we served.
HIGHLIGHTS THIS DECADE
- RC 43 performed for roughly 15,000 folks at the Elks National 150th Anniversary Celebration in San Antonio, TX!
- First Re-Creation “grandchildren” served in three different RC groups! Gabrielle (RC 43), Samuel (RC 45) and Christian (RC 47) Darrin, children of Matt (RC 16, 19) and Janel (RC 19) Darrin, RC alums and one of our 25 RC marriages over the years!
- Tirus Twyne recorded his first solo CD and presented multiple tracks in RC shows and his own services.
- Elliot Muller was featured more and more in all shows, Gospel, Variety and Christmas! Elliot would eventually feature an original Christmas song called “Flame” for the alumni tour in RC 48.
- The “Muller Family Christmas” CD and “In God We Trust” Alumni CD celebrated 3 pressings each…(3000 units!)
- The Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020 halted physical touring but opened up a new avenue of service with Re-Creation Live Stream Shows. This amazing outreach to the vets, who were even more isolated during quarantine, had a fantastic life-connecting effect!
- 2022 saw the installation of Re-Creation Salute, an all access, personalized video experience, provided for every requesting VA Medical Center and State Veterans Home. Some facilities watched their uploaded videos more than 140 times! These shows were rendered from our Re-Creation archive and always featured original and personal thanks from RC alumni from every generation. These dedicated former cast members recorded over 800 personal messages!
- RC alumni returned to record new, seldom-seen sections for Re-Creation Salute and to perform in four weekends of Re-Creation live shows.
- RC 47 performed at Lazy River Community near North Port, Florida, for the 90th birthday of Hugh Brooks! This wonderful community showed up to celebrate Re-Creation’s service and the Brooks Family! We were so blessed to be able to have this time with “Mr. B” and to honor all he, Carolyn and Katie started so many years ago.
RE-CREATION 40 (2014 – 2015)
Hannah Swanson, Madison Reed, Lydia Miller, Katie Conner, Schyler Cordova, Jon Hepler, Jordan Marolf, Austin Keretzman, Tirus Twyne (Road Manager), Taylor Krall
“I grew up watching Andy and Mary (then Jacobs) Reich perform in Re-Creation, and as a young performer I knew I wanted to be a part of it someday! I remember going to shows and seeing Emma Muller on stage as the “junior performer” and thinking “Why can’t I be the junior performer!” In 2014, I got to fulfill my goal of being in Re-Creation, and man, am I glad I did! I learned so much during my time with the group, as a performer and as a young woman! I also met my husband, Jordan! Re-Creation truly has made a huge impact in my life and I wouldn’t trade my experience for anything!” HANNAH SWANSON MAROLF | RC 40, 42 | NYFA
RE-CREATION 41 (2015 – 2016):
Caitlin Beckett, Katie Conner, Jon Hepler, Austin Keretzman, TJ Martin, Nick Marolf, Greg Murphy, Madison Reed, Tirus Twyne (Road Manager), Tara Wands
RE-CREATION 42 (2016 – 2017):
Alyssa Benton, Camden Choplick, Devon Donahue, Jonathan Gagnon, Jon Hepler, Austin Keretzman, Alexander Leitzel, Jordan Marolf (Road Manager), Nick Marolf, Kyla Rager, Hannah Swanson
RE-CREATION 43 (2017 – 2018):
Gabby Darrin, Devon Donahue, Stephen Downey, Austin Eisner, Jonathan Gagnon, Jon Hepler, Julie Horan, Alexis Long, Jordan Marolf (Road Manager), Nick Marolf, Tyler West
“My experience in Re-Creation paved the way for my current success in professional shows and concerts. I’ve been asked by industry directors to learn shows on-the-fly, adapt quickly to new casts, new staging, new repertoire, and, with very little notice, take the lead in a brand new productions. I would NEVER have been so ready for the demands of this business had it not been for my time in Re-Creation. I recently made sure to tell the director of Re-Creation just how much my training meant to me and how grateful I am for the leg-up in this competitive business!” AUSTIN EISNER | RC 43 | Carowinds
RE-CREATION 44 (2018 – 2019):
Lydia Boonie, Stephen Downey (Road Manager), Jonathan Gagnon, Julie Horan, Ashley Krochta, Nick Marolf, Aaron Pottenger, Carol Simmons, Tyler West
“Hi Mr. Muller! I got the chance to see RC 44 at the Washington DC VAMC on Tuesday, and I just wanted to tell you again how much I love this year’s show, and how well the group did at their last show of the tour. I remember it can be tough to keep the momentum up when you’ve reached the final show of tour, but what really impressed me was how engaged all the performers were with the vets, especially after the show. It’s clear they take their work seriously!
RE-CREATION 45 (2019 – 2020):
Lydia Boonie, Samuel Darrin, Jonathan Gagnon (Road Manager), Reynaldo Garcia, Danny Heinz, Julie Horan, Ashley Krochta, Autumn Martin, Carol Simmons, Tyler West
“Before the show, I talked to a gentleman who was sitting with his family. He mentioned that I looked like his granddaughter. We would get that a lot with the veterans, their saying we reminded them of someone or just making connections to us while we were in their facility. During our show, we had a section of 40’s music we performed everyday for the veterans. We’d go out in the audience and sing and dance with them. I decided to go back to this gentleman and ask him to dance with me! I didn’t think much of it through the rest of the show, but afterwards we went out to say our goodbyes and I noticed that same man in tears, I mean just sobbing! When I asked him what was wrong, he told me “I told you that you look like my granddaughter, but what I didn’t tell you was that my granddaughter was born without the use of her legs, and dancing with you was like I finally got to dance with her.” That story makes me emotional every time I tell it. I’m so thankful to have been apart of this amazing mission!” JULIE HORAN | RC 43, 44, 45, 47
RE-CREATION 45B (SUMMER 2020):
Samuel Darrin, Hailey Fafel, Jonathan Gagnon (Road Manager), Reynaldo Garcia, Danny Heinz, Julie Horan, Ashley Krochta, Nick Marolf, Cora Sandrick, Carol Simmons
“The onset of the pandemic necessitated our recruiting a new group for the summer of 2020. Hailey Fafel and Nick Marolf joined the returning members of 45, including newer member, Cora Sandrick, and learned an all-new show to live stream to Veterans Homes and Hospitals. Dance Captain, Sam Darrin, was instrumental in our preparedness to take on a brand new extension of the RC service. And Jon Gagnon, well, let’s just say we could not have survived the livestream process without this amazing young man’s Tour Manager leadership! These “kids” did a GREAT job and this summer remains one of my favorite. Don’t get me wrong, the summer was stressful to the extreme and we would have rather toured live, of course. But, to have God so readily and with alacrity, provide a new, heartfelt, dynamic, impactful manner for us to reach the Veterans was absolutely miraculous! This was our first livestream of over 300 we would eventually perform for Veterans Homes and Hospitals across the nation!”
JAY MULLER | Re-Creation Director
RE-CREATION 46 (2020 – 2021):
Thomas Bausch, Bailley Caldwell, Hailey Fafel, Liam Finnerty, Jonathan Gagnon (Road Manager), Reynaldo Garcia, Danny Heinz, Nick Marolf, Cora Sandrick, Carol Simmons
“The VA Sierra Nevada Healthcare (VASNHCS) Community Living Center Veterans wanted me to make sure you are aware of the joy you bring them by putting on the Re-Creation Live Stream Shows. The music, costumes, talent, and personable performers who demonstrate how much they care are beyond reproach. The Veterans in the CLC are still on lockdown and this one of the only ways they get live interaction with the outside world in real time. The smiles during the show were contagious. Most heartwarming was observing a Veteran stand and put his hand on his heart during the Marine Corp hymn. We are so grateful to have had 3 shows this year. Thank you all for your hard work and dedication.”
“What a wonderful LIVE broadcast show! You are ALL appreciated so very much!!! It’s hard not being in our auditorium together in the Miami VAMC and seeing the joy on our Veteran’s faces but so grateful that you were able to offer it this way!! I’m sure all those affiliated with Miami were honored to know it was meant for us! Thank you so very much.”
RE-CREATION 47 (2021 – 2022):
Thomas Bausch, Bailley Caldwell, Christian Darrin, Hailey Fafel, Reynaldo Garcia, Danny Heinz, Julie Horan, Nick Marolf (Road Manager), Cora Sandrick, Alex Leitzel
“I’ve watched Re-Creation since I started working at the VA Gainesville, FL in 2000. With the variety of song genres, the costume changes, and the choreography, you can certainly tell these young performers not just enjoy it, but put a lot of hard work into their craft and we can see their performance is a sincere heart-felt gesture of Thanks. Every performance is exhilarating and quite simply refreshes our pride of being Veterans, and appreciation for our fellow Veteran. Thank you so much to the performers, and behind the scenes folks that keep the IT/audio-visual aspects ready to go, and the many sponsors keeping Re-Creation afloat. We all appreciate YOU!
Watching your performance today on a live YouTube feed, my patients were tapping there feet, bobbing their heads to the songs they loved, and saluted you as you sang their military branch song. Even virtually, the show and performances were spot on!”
RE-CREATION 48 (2022 – 2023):
Re-Creation’s 48th Edition was a hybrid year of new recordings, rendered Salute Shows and live tours. RC Alumni from every generation gave of their time to create new video footage of rarely recorded sections, to submit almost 1000 videos of personal expression to the Veterans Homes and Hospitals nationwide and to mount two live tours, one Gospel, one Christmas, to engage the community. All aspects of the program had dynamic impact! Below are links to the live shows and the Salute programs. Enjoy! And a very special thank you to all the wonderful alumni who returned to volunteer their time to preserve and promote the legacy of re-Creation.
“I first heard about Re-Creation through previous alumni members, Jenny and Lee Shaffer. The idea of getting to travel the country, performing and serving our heroes intrigued me and remained in the back of my mind for two years. By the time I was a senior in high school, I realized it was the perfect opportunity and decided to audition! Little did I know just how much this experience would impact my life, not only as a performer but as a person. Learning the ropes of RC as a new member was challenging and a little intimidating…( moving away from home, living with nine new people, and learning two shows!), and having a pandemic on top of that made my years here even crazier! I quickly became familiar with using cameras and live-streaming to the veterans. Because everything was new, it didn’t really phase me that we weren’t traveling or leaving the studio, and that had just become normal to me. After a year of performing that way, it was so different getting to perform live, and after our first tour in New England this year, I realized what I had been missing all along. I understood the impact of the livestreams, and just how vital and important they were to the vets…but seeing them in person and getting to thank them for their service face to face instilled a greater heart of service in me and made my job even more meaningful.
It has been a difficult couple of years in many ways, and keeping up stamina mentally and physically has been a challenge! But I never once regretted what I signed up for. If anything, it has taught me true endurance, strength, and resilience. No matter the situation, how busy we were, or how tired I felt, I was constantly encouraged by the mission, the vets, and the community that God placed around me. Singing for the vets and seeing their reactions has been priceless. I have learned to be more selfless because of their sacrifice, and I’m so grateful to give back in such a unique way. I owe so much to Mr. Muller and Mary! Mary transformed my voice, and I remember feeling a significant change after just a few months and it was incredible. I thought, “Where has she been all my life!?” They have both made continuous efforts to maintain a safe, loving environment to learn and grow in, and they have shown immense generosity and consideration to me and my cast mates. I’m forever grateful for their wisdom, teachings, and spiritual guidance that they have offered me personally. That is hard to find! God new I needed them in my life during such a time as this and I’m glad it wasn’t anyone else! It has been a rewarding journey. Thank you for trusting me, and for giving me the best opportunity I could ever ask for.”
BAILLEY CALDWELL | RC 46, 47