Saturday July 26

Today was the final performance of The Tortoise and the Hare Lunch Box theatre. The cast did a great job and the theatre sold 547 tickets out of a possible 600 available for the show or 91% capacity. On Friday evening the 2nd Annual Paducah Poetry Jam took place in the main theatre. MHT provided the theatre so that poets could perform their work. About 100 people were in attendance. Last year most of the poets read their work for the audience. This year most of the poets had their pieces memorized and it created a much better show. The poetry jam is styled more towards spoken word poetry than a poetry recital. MHT provides a space as part of our mission to encourage lots of different performers and voices in the community to create an artistic experience on the MHT stage. A committee of people outside MHT worked hard to put the show together. Since the first poetry jam, four groups have formed and now hold open mic nights and performances have developed in Paducah and Murray. People interested can look on myspace for links to the Paducah Writers Group and the other groups in the area.

Tonight the theatre is rented for the Colgate Country showdown. This is a national competition for country music performing artists. Withers Broadcasting has contracted MHT to provide a space for the competition.

We are working on getting several fundraising events up and running. MHT will be offering a My Way After Hours party the first and second Friday evenings of the run after the performance. A martini tasting party and light munchies along with the cast of My Way will get together with party attendees. The tickets cost $15 a piece and can be purchased from the MHT box office starting Aug. 7.

April attended the wedding tonight of former MHT actress and stage manager Meghan Ryan who was married to Tyler Holland at Grace Episcopal Church. Several members of the bridal party were former MHT performers including Rachel Gutfreund, Hillary Ford, Jacob York and Brent Morrison. Many of the group met while performing at MHT before going off to college. April said Meghan looked beautiful in her wedding dress and it was a wonderful wedding and reception.

Next weekend another wedding involving MHT take place. Travis Hensel who grew up performing on the MHT stage and Emily Chapman who started performing in high school at MHT and just recently played the comic girlfriend, Erma, in Anything Goes, will be married. Both have performed in numerous MHT shows and both are attending college in Mississippi this fall. We will miss both of them and wish them all the best. The following weekend Kacey Reynolds will be married. Kacey performed in several MHT productions along with the Story Theatre tour. It is a wonderful joy for both April and I to watch as the kids we knew have become accomplished adults and start families of their own. They have certainly been a big part of the MHT family as they grew up!