Week wrap up

We took down the set for Wedding Belles last Sunday after the final performance and had a wonderful cast party at Sue and Frank Fletcher's home. Monday Jim Keeney spent the day moving the continuing the strike and moving the Wedding Belles scenery back to the warehouse and clearing the stage. On Tuesday Jim and I removed the chairs from the auditorium. Wednesday Jim got the rental tables from the Carson Center and put those up. He and I measured on Thursday to space them evenly in the theatre. Wednesday evening was the board of directors meeting where the theatre reviewed our financials as of the end of March and looked ahead with a list of names to meet with for nominating for board of director positions next year. We are doing very well for the year so far after taking steps to cut our expenses at the beginning of the season. For the 3 quarters we have completed so far this fiscal year we spent over $50,000 less than last year at this time. On the income side we have taken in $37,000 more than last year. We ended last year with a budget deficit and this year we are looking good so far to end with a small surplus. The board of directors has been working hard on fundraising and annual fund drive while the staff has worked hard to cut costs. The performers and crews for the shows this year have been terrific and all the shows have met or exceeded budget so far this year and we have only 2 months left in the fiscal year. Our biggest show of the year is the final show Cinderella Enchanted. With a production budget of over $25,000 it always is our biggest expense show of the year. We are seeing a steady stream of donations to the theatre with our season ticket forms and we are within $10,000 of meeting our annual goal for contributions. We still have about $53,000 left to raise in income this year to meet budget but we are feeling very positive about our prospects. We also moved the date for our annual Curtain Call auction next year to March 4. We have moved the date a couple of times already and the announcement of Wizard of Oz at the Carson Center next year on March 11 forced us to move the date to the 4th.

The Youth Season will produce two plays next year. The Disney Musical Alice in Wonderland October 14-17, 22-24, and the powerful play based on a book 100 Dresses to be performed February 24-28. The theatre is also planning to produce the play EAT which was written by Linda Daughtery, the playwright who wrote The Secret Life of Girls. EAT is about teenage girls and boys with eating disorders and tools for coping with these pressures.

Thursday the Murder for Hire Troupe went back into rehearsal for an event this Saturday for the Paducah Remediation Services group. They are doing a benefit performance of our murder mystery to raise funds for The American Cancer Society.Two weeks ago the murder for hire troupe had a great time performing for Community Christian Academy and their spring formal.

The studio theatre tonight is rented for a group to do a performance. All week Cinderella has also been in rehearsal. Story Theatre's Pied Piper performed today at Unity School outside of Brookport IL for grades K-8.

This past Tuesday we had a meeting of arts organizations in Paducah and held a follow up meeting this morning. Several of the arts groups are going together to make a presentation to the McCracken County Fiscal Court on May 10. We all shared our schedules and issues. We do this quarterly and it is a time for all of us to work together as a group.

This afternoon we are working on brochures, newsletters, and fundraising campaign mailings. There is never a dull moment at MHT.