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What's New

Shows, Events, and Productions- 2011

Includes productions not performed by Ring, but which are choreographed by Ring members.


2011

  • Michigan Tall Ships Festival, September
  • Ann Arbor Fourth of July Parade
  • World Steam Expo, Memorial Day Weekend
  • Wizard of Oz, Lenoway Christian School- done
  • Felix Graves Stunt Coordination and Audio, 5/4-6- done
  • Detroit Youth Symphony Orchestra Star Wars Tribute, 5/15- done
  • The Three Musketeers, Homeschoolers On Stage- done
  • Faust, Indiana State University Opera- done
  • The Beaux' Strategem, Novi Highschool, 1/27 - done
  • Cub Scout Gig, 3/27- done
  • Open House, 3/26- done
  • Cub Scout Gig, 2/5 - done
  • Cub Scout Gig, 1/21- done
  • U of M Admissions Photo Shoot, 1/21- done
  • Open House, 1/15- done
  • University of Michigan Winterfest, 1/11- canceled
  • KCACTF 1/4/11-1/8/11- done

2010

  • Michigan Thespian Festival 12/3-4
  • Main St. Madness, 12/3, 10, & 17
  • Wedding, 10/2- done
  • North Quad Performance, 9/15- done
  • Open House 9/16/10- done
  • University of Michigan Northfest- done
  • Michigan Schooner Festival- done
  • Open House 9/9/10- done
  • University of Michigan Festifall- done
  • The World's Strongest, stunt coordination, choreography, and performance- done
  • Au Gres Pirate Fair- done
  • Bay City Tall Ships Festival- done
  • Ann Arbor Jaycee's Independence Day Parade- done
  • Good Morning USA Independence Day Parade, Plymouth, MI- done
  • International Thespian Festival (teaching)- done
  • Michigan Opera Theater, Tosca- done
  • Michigan Opera Theater, Don Giovanni- done
  • Trail's Edge Ventilator Camp (Star Wars)- done
  • Open House, June 5th- done
  • Flushing High School, West Side Story- done
  • Rude Mechanicals, Orpheus Descending- done
  • Romeo High School, hand-to-hand intensive- done
  • Bloomfield Hills MS, Fights in Plays- Specila Topics in Theater- done
  • Léim, The King of Ireland- done

2009

  • Naked Angel, stunt coordination
  • Trivial Pursuits, stunt coordination
  • Michigan Schooner Festival, Traverse City, MI
  • AuGres Pirate Fair, AuGres, MI
  • Howell Balloon Festival, Howell, MI
  • South Lyon East HS, Peter Pan
  • Rochester Avon Players, Pirates of Penzance

  • Michigan Opera Theater, Carmen
  • Walled Lake Central HS, Lez Miserables
  • Birmingham Seaholm, West Side Story
  • Toledo Opera, Salome
  • Rudolph Steiner of Ann Arbor, Pirates of Penzance
  • Pickney High School, Moon Over Buffalo
  • Waterford High School, Robin Hood
  • Mighigan Opera Theater, Margaret Garner
  • Toledo Opera, Rigoletto

News and Updates


  • 5/21/11: Congratulations and thanks to everyone who participated in the Star Wars event with the DSO Civic Ensemble!

    Congratualtions also to Lenawee Christian School on their superb production of the Wizard of Oz.

    Updated the headlines.

  • 4/30/11: Congratulations to all of our graduating members! Best of luck in the days and years ahead.

    Star Wars dress rehearsal is TOMORROW at Detroit Symphony Hall starting at 3:30 pm.

    Puller training for the Wizard of Oz is also tomorrow during the morning. Rigging will take place next week.

    Home Schooling Connection will be having its end-of-semester Hoopla this Monday. Maestro has been teaching several stage combat and fencing classes there and some of his students will be joining us at the Star Wars event. Come see the show!

    The Ring will be appearing at the World Steam Expo in Dearborn, MI over Memorial Day weekend. Ringers will be teaching the finer points of sword cane, gun slinging, and hand-to-hand technique (for stage, naturally).

    Shooting will commence this coming Wednesday on Felix Graves. Maestro Barbeau will be stunt coordinator and Diane will be doing production audio. Anyone interested in being involved with this project please see MAestro Barbeau.

    Updated the headlines.
  • 3/31/11: Thanks to all who participated in last Saturday's Open House.

    Work party season is coming up fast! This summer we have to prepare for at least one Fourth of July Parade and the Traverse City Tall Ships Festival, so please watch out for work party announcements in your inboxes.

    There have been a whole series of Cub Scout events this year. Thanks to the crew that have been running all over Michigan to work at these events, and thanks also to the many troops who have provided us with such great feedback!

    Updated the event listing.

  • 1/22/11: The Open House last Saturday went very well thanks to the efforts of a few dedicated Ringers. Thanks to them and to our audience for their participation!

    Kudos to those who were able to attend the photo shoot on Friday. Everyone was very impressed with our work.

    Thanks also to the people who went to the Cub Scout gig this Friday. Both the kids and the parents alike were very enthusiastic about our show. Good job everyone!

  • 1/22/11: The Open House last Saturday went very well thanks to the efforts of a few dedicated Ringers. Thanks to them and to our audience for their participation!

    Kudos to those who were able to attend the photo shoot on Friday. Everyone was very impressed with our work.

    Thanks also to the people who went to the Cub Scout gig this Friday. Both the kids and the parents alike were very enthusiastic about our show. Good job everyone!

  • 1/2/11: New events are in the event list to the left.

    Anyone is welcome to join Maestro this week at the KCACTF Region 3 workshops. Please email Maestro or check your inbox for more info.

    Updated the headlines

  • 1/1/11: Happy New Year!

  • 12/17/10: Thanks to everyone, Ringers and visitors alike, for braving the weather to visit us during Main St. Madness these past several Friday's.

    The articale about Ring is out in the Michigan Daily! Link or scan coming soon.

  • 11/18/10: A reporter from the Michigan Daily is coming to observe Ring and write an article about us for The B-Side. Everyone is strongly urged to attend!

    Updated the headlines

  • 10/5/10: The wedding last weekend went off without a hitch. Congratulations to the newlyweds and a warm thank you to all the Ringers who went out in the cold, wet weather to perform!

    The Michigan Renaissance Festival is over! Thanks to all of our members and volunteers who helped run the Ring of Steel game this year, braving wind and rain and drunken patrons, and giving up their weekends to help.

    After school classes will be starting next week. Those interested in attending can email rosteel@umich.edu for information.

    Updated the headlines.

  • 9/22/10: A big thank you to our performers at North Quad last Wednesday, and a special thank you to Dave for doing his whip show on a whim.

    Naked Angel is having a preview showing this Friday at the Michigan Theater. For those of you who don't know, a large portion of the Ring of Steel was on the stunt team for this film (some of us remember working all through last Halloween on this film!). Come support a local film maker and see a great movie!

    Updated the headlines and changed the layout by about ten pixels.

  • 9/14/10: Thanks to everyone who came out for the Michigan Schooner Festival this past weekend! We were rained out along with the rest of the festival on Saturday, but Sunday's weather was bright and sunny and we had a great time at the Pancakes with Pirates breakfast.

    Thanks also to Ringers and volunteers who braved the weather and the crowds to work at the Michigan Renaissance Festival that weekend!

    Northfest is today! Thank you to the Ringers who helped man the table and hopefully attract newcomers.

    Updated the headlines; added joining info to the front page.

  • 9/10/10: Ring is currently at the Michigan Schooner Festival. Let's hope it doesn't rain too much tomorrow!

    Thanks to everyone who came and helped out at Festifall, and welcome to the new and returning classes of the U of M. If you're interested in joining, just come to any one of our practice sessions.

    Updated the headlines.

  • 8/21/10: Filming continues on The World's Strongest, now filming at Henry Ford Community College.

    Created a page for upcoming open houses.

    Updated the headlines.

  • 8/16/10: Updated the headlines.

  • 8/13/10: Welcome Honey Creek campers, we hope you enjoyed our zip line. Pictures to follow soon.

    Ring of Steel Stunt Academy 2010 is officially over. DVD's will be coming soon for all three camps. We'll be letting participants know via email when things are ready, so hang tight- we promise they'll come faster than last year's!

  • 8/8/10: Thanks to everyone for your effort at Au Gres, especially to our volunteers! If anyone has any pictures, please let us know so that we can share them.

  • 8/6/10: Posted a few pictures from yesterday's stunt demo at Mt. Zion. No pictures of glass breaking, but there are some cool pictures of Dave on fire.

  • 8/5/10: Ring is performing stunt demos at Mt. Zion including burns and crashing through glass! Pictures and video will be posted ASAP, so stay posted!

  • 7/30/10: Uploaded a video of Maestro Barbeau giving an interview about his role as fight director for "Cyrano," located here.

  • 7/24/10: Updated the photo page for "The World's Strongest," which can be found here. Now featuring more pictures in Flickr slideshows rather than a heaping load of thumbnails!

  • 7/23/10: Ring performed at the Ypsilanti Township Recreation Summer Camp Today as part of their Medieval theme. Thanks for having us, we hope to be back again some time!

    Updated the headlines.

  • 7/18/10: We have officially survived the Bay City Tall Ships Festival! Thanks to the crew of the Pathfinder for inviting us to come aboard. Thanks also to our audiences for coming out to watch under the baking sun. We're all hoping that Bay City is chosen to host this event again in 2013.

  • 7/10/10: More updates have been made to the media index, including posting picture slideshows here, here, here, and here. We're now using Flickr slideshows for ease of sharing.

    Updated the headlines on the homepage.

    MLive.com has posted a story about the Bay City Tall Ships Festival, and we're in it! To check out our page on the official website, click here.

  • 7/9/10: Ring would like to thank the Baldwin Public Library in Birmingham for having us perform there. We're looking forward to coming back next year!
    Today Ring is going to be at Independence Lake playing pirates with the campers of Honey Creek! See you there!
    Updated the headliners on the home page.

    SECOND UPDATE: Thanks to Honey Creek for having us join you! We had a great time!

  • 7/6/10: The What's New page has been updated into the new web design. The information contained therein has also been updated, including gigs from this year and last year.

  • 7/4/10: Thanks to everyone who joined us or supported us from the sidelines at the Plymouth and Ann Arbor Independence Day Parades

  • 6/24/10: Photos from "The World's Strongest" are now up and can be found here. Eventually there will be more photos, including pictures from the three nights of shooting, and the thumbnails will link to larger versions for download.

  • 6/21/10: Updated the headlines. Photos from "The World's Strongest" are coming soon!

  • 6/9/10: The "Photos and Media" link now leads to the new Media Index! However, there's not so much as a single photo to be found there. Worry not, they will come!

    Second update: Added content to the "Price Structure" link. It leads back to old-format content, but hey, it leads somewhere now!

    THIRD update: The Club Calendar is now up and running, so not only can you see everything that's going on at the Ring, but all of the links are now active! If not, email rosteel@umich.edu and let us know where the dead links are. Thanks!

  • 6/8/10: Updated the headlines

  • 6/2/10: Continued updates to the site, including the "Contacts" link.

  • 5/30/10: Corrected the name of the film to "The World's Strongest"

  • 5/29/10: More updates have been made to the website- all of the links on the left-hand side have been updated to match the new layout.

  • 5/25/10: The new webpage is up!

Classes Forming

Updated 10/5/10

Younglings now welcome during Sunday rehearsals from 10am to 12pm. Any Ring members designated "Younglings" may optionally elect to attend Ring's rehearsals on Sunday mornings. No RSVP or commitment necessary.

Afterschool Program now open for Fall classes
Class times are:
Monday
3:15-4:15- Intro Swordplay and Stunt Work
4:15-5:15- Intro Swordplay and Stunt Work
5:15-6:15- Continuing Stunt Work

Tuesday
3:30-4:30- Intro Swordplay and Stunt Work
4:30-5:30- Intro Swordplay and Stunt Work
5:30-6:130- Continuing Stunt Work

Fencing Classes coming Fall 2010
Please email rosteel@umich.edu to inquire about/request a place in a fencing class.