If you’ve been attending theater in the Miami Valley over the past 40 years, chances are you’ve spoken to Marilyn Knox. Without her you’d never have obtained a ticket to hundreds of local events.

Knox, who passed away last Sunday at age 82, was Dayton’s best-known box-office manager and had an impressive career that began in the John Kenley era and ended with the Dayton Playhouse. She also worked at Memorial Hall, Fantasy Express Children’s Theater, Trotwood Circle Theater, the Victoria and the Dayton Ballet.

I had the pleasure of knowing Marilyn over the years and interviewed her for a Dayton Daily News feature article (“She’s the Ticket!”) when she retired in 2008.

Her critical responsibilities ranged from selling and printing tickets to keeping records and balancing books, managing volunteers, supervising the “front of the house” and reporting to the board.

Knox got a kick out of telling stories about her unwritten responsibilities in the ’70s when she was working for John Kenley and stars of Hollywood and TV came to town to appear in his popular Broadway musicals. She took care of Zsa Zsa Gabor’s crying little white dog while the actress was on stage and baby-sat for Ben Stiller when his folks — Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara — appeared in Neil Simon’s “The Prisoner of Second Avenue.”

When Dolly Parton was scheduled to play Dayton, she told me, a friend called to urge Knox to “go backstage and see if they’re real!”

She was a real sweetheart and will be missed.

New Year’s Eve surprise

Those who attended the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra’s New Year’s Eve concert “Viennafest,” were in for a surprise just before the finale when music director Neal Gittleman asked the audience to indulge in hearing a little piece of music written by Orchestra Production Manager Quentin Marsh. After singing his song to his girlfriend Liz Crombie, who was seated in the front row of the Mead Theater, Marsh jumped off the stage, got down on one knee and pulled an engagement ring from his suit jacket.

“You could hear the audience respond with gasps as people began to realize this little song was actually a marriage proposal,” reports Chuck Duritsch, communications and media manager for the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance. “There couldn’t have been a dry eye in the house as the audience erupted with applause and the sobbing Liz got out of her seat and embraced Quentin.”

Duritsch says the proposal was actually months in the planning: Marsh came up with the idea in May and got the green light this summer from Gittleman and Paul Helfrich, DPAA President and CEO.

“He’s the kind of guy who is just hard to say no to,” Gittleman said when introducing Marsh and his song.

VTA presents Mid-Day Arts Café!

The next edition of the popular Mid-Day Arts Cafe series is slated for Tuesday, Jan. 15 and will highlight Film Dayton.

The luncheon will be the fifth in the series of eight programs sponsored by the Victoria Theatre Association that focuses on arts organizations in the Miami Valley.

The hour of entertainment and food is held in the Mathile Theatre located in the Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center. Film Dayton executive director Megan Cooper says she’ll talk about the state of the film industry statewide and in our region.

Speakers — in addition to Cooper — will be Alexandra Grizinski, co-creator of the “Freak Club” web series, and Patrick Steele, director/writer/producer of the psychological thriller “True Nature.”

Tickets are $12 each and include a box lunch provided by Citilites Restaurant & Bar. Doors open at 11:30 a.m., and the program starts promptly at noon in order to conclude by 1 p.m. Tickets must be purchased in advance. Order online at www.ticketcenterestage.com or call Ticket Center Stage at (937) 228-3630.

Short shows from DVAC

The Dayton Visual Arts Center has come up with a creative way to showcase fresh ideas from member artists. Short Shows are small installations presented in DVAC’s front window between regularly scheduled exhibitions.

At the moment, for example, if you stop at 118 N. Jefferson St. in downtown Dayton, you’ll see “Short Show: Circus,” a collaboration between DVAC member artist Leesa Haapapuro and the K12 Gallery for Young People’s Homeschoolers. Their version of an interactive circus sideshow includes papier-mache animals and games of chance.

A Family Art Workshop on the topic will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan 8 and from 11:30-2:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 10. All materials are free of charge and you can just drop in.

Short Show proposals are accepted anytime and are selected by DVAC’s Exhibitions and Programs Committee. For submission guidelines and available dates, check out the DVAC web site:www.daytonvisualarts.org

Ohio artists being recruited for Swan Day

For the past six years, 23 countries around the world have held a Swan Day on the last Saturday in March during Women’s History Month. Last year, for the first time, the Miami Valley had its first such event — thanks to Miamisburg playwright Stacey Lane.

“Swan Day is a grassroots international celebration of women artists in everything they are creating regardless of genre,” explains Lane, who had entered her plays in other Swan Day events across the country and decided Dayton should have one also. SWAN stands for Support Women Artists Now.

She’s in the process of recruiting Ohio artists for this year’s event, which will take place at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 30.

Last year’s two-hour sold-out event included short films, plays, excerpts from novels and poetry readings and was held at the main downtown branch of the Dayton Metro Library. The afternoon also included visual art displays and booths for local women’s arts organizations. This year the library is the official co-sponsor of the event.

Lane is looking for writers, poets, playwrights, filmmakers, musicians, dancers, actors and visual artists. If you’re interested, you’ll find complete submission guidelines at http://swandaydayton.blogspot.com or contact SwanDayDayton@yahoo.com. Proposal deadline is Feb. 15.

DPO offers free concert at Trinity Church

The Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra Principal String Quartet will perform at a free concert hosted by Trinity Presbyterian Church at 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 13.

The program will include Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Quartet No. 15 in D Minor (K. 421) and Claude Debussy’s Quartet in G Minor (Op.10). A reception will follow the performance.

The group consists of Concertmaster/principal violinist Jessica Hung, Principal Second Violinist Kirstin Greenlaw, Principal Violist Sheridan Currie and Principal Cellist Andra Lunde Padrichelli.

Trinity Presbyterian Church is located at 3211 Lakeview Ave., Dayton. For more information, call Trinity at (937) 268-4111 or the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance at (937) 224-3521.

The Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra Principal Quartet Halo Series Concert is part of the DPO’s Norma Ross Memorial Community Concert series in honor of the late Norma Ross, an advocate for music and minority youth.

Troy-Hayner hosts Curves & Corners opening

An opening reception for the exhibit, “Curves & Corners” will be held at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 11 at the Troy-Hayner Cultural Center and is open to the public.

The new show features contemporary thrown and hand-built pottery by Columbus potter Abbe G. Cheek; realism to abstract oil and watercolors paintings by Troy artist Micheline Daemen; and landscape, floral and scenic photographs by Columbus photographer Ray Wilson. The exhibit will run through March 3.

Immediately following the public opening on Jan. 11, the Hayner will present its Friday night film series’ “Let’s Go To The Movies At Hayner!” The featured film is “The Seven Year Itch” with Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell.

Both the exhibit and movie are free and open to the public. The Center is located at 301 W. Main St., in Troy. For more information, see www.troyhayner.org or call at (937) 339-0457.