wrapping paper

We finished Doubt on Sunday with a good but odd performance weekend. On Sat. night one of the audience members who sat in the front row got up during the show and exited to the lobby. When they returned they happened to pick a moment when Sister Aloysius-Renie Barger, was standing just in front of the door in a tense scene with Jody and Jennifer. The person who came back in tapped Renie on the back and asked her to move so she could get back to her seat. Fortunately Renie kept right on going and a moment later Renie moved as she normally did in the scene to the other side of the office. On Sunday Jody was doing a scene with Jennifer and when he stood up and turned his back towards the audience he had a strip of glow tape firmly attached to the back of his priest robe. I thought for sure that Jennifer would see it. I also prayed that Jennifer would wait until Jody got offstage to tell him about it. Having Sister James grab Father Flynn's backside to grab a piece of glow tape wouldn't have exactly fit into the scene! When Jody returned for the next scene it had been removed. We had a small cast party after the final performance and the entire company felt really good about the production. Some plays you can really sink your teeth into and this was one of those plays. I saw all of the actors do some of their best work during the run. It was a joy to work with all of them. Jennifer started to cry every time one of the actors had to leave from the party.

Monday brought lots of work on a fundraising letter to High School Musical audiences, the final push to get my Thanksgiving cards completed and ready to mail, and play selection. The play selection group had a nice little meeting with each member bringing some food item to share. We feasted on Denise Bristol's Cocoa Crispy treats, Diane Byrd's olive spread and crackers, Valerie Pollard's chocolate dessert squares, Mary Margaret Hoffman's fruit platter, and I provided a bottle of wine along with Valerie. We talked about some of the new plays that we were reading. One of them is by the playwright from Smoke on the Mountain called Wedding Belles. Another play that has had positive reviews this year has been Christmas Belles. Several of us like the play Escanaba in da Moonlight about deer hunters in northern Michigan written by actor and playwright Jeff Daniels. We all joked that if we did Escanaba we would have to find a way to make it Escanaba Belles in da Moonlight.

Jim worked on redoing some of the broken dry wall around the two balcony doors in the large apartment that we are trying to rent out as of Dec. 1. It is the last of the repairs before after having had the outside of the building re-tuck pointed. Marsha was in working on the database for the fundraising letter that Cindy Miller and I have been crafting. It takes at least a week and several re-writes to make the case for support without it being too wordy or too harsh. I always look at what everyone else is doing to see if there are better ways for us to make our case. As I was writing this letter it occurred to me that many people don't know that MHT gives hundreds of tickets a year to other organizations for auctions to raise money for food pantries, school projects, cancer walks, and dozens of other needs in our community. Being a member of this community doesn't just mean that we receive when it comes to donations, we must also give from the theatre to help others in need. We give of our talents and our hard work so that others may benefit.

Maybe it is just because it is Thanksgiving (which is my favorite holiday of the year) but I 've been thinking a lot about community. I think the words community theatre have gotten a bad rap. I know that we often produce plays with as much talent and production quality as professional theatres. But the real thing that makes community theatre special is the cross section of people who come together and create something. These people give of their time and talents to make this a better place for our need to tell stories that matter and create laughter and tears. I received a comment from someone who came to see Doubt that they are always so impressed by how much talent is present in our community. They wished that they had grown up in a place with the opportunities that we have here for theatre, for music, and for art. It is a very special place in which any one of any age can develop and share the talents that have inside with others. That is the real gift of community and community theatre. It is such a gift to be a part of something special like that uplifts our whole community. As I wrote my "Thanks Giving" cards I was moved by the number of people who have supported this little theatre for so many years. They have become not just supporters and patrons but friends.

On behalf of the theatre- Thank you to everyone who gives of themselves in this community to make this a better place to live. For me personally- Thank you to all of the people who have let me be present as you shared your talents with others. It has been a true blessing.

Happy Thanksgiving!