Printer, Piper, Pieces of Cinderella and Couches

I met with Cinderella director Bonnie Daniels on Wednesday and we further refined some of the furniture that we are building for Cinderella.

On Thursday morning we finished up the newsletter and got it off to the printer. Cindy Miller and Sarah Bynum combined to write the newsletter and I put in the photos and did the final layout to send it to the printer. Newspaper ad reps came by and tried to get me to commit to various size contracts for the year. Our new budget doesn't begin until July 1 so I can't commit to anything right now without that being finalized. We pay the "benevolent rate" of $19 per column inch. For those that don't know that means we pay over $400 per color ad in local papers. That really starts adding up.

During the day yesterday we met with a prospective board member nominee. President Cindy Miller and I along with members of the nominating committee meet with various candidates to give them an in depth briefing on the condition of the theater and on what is required for board service. So far the committee has met with 2 of the 4 potential nominees. The nominating committee must present the slate at the May 26 meeting to be voted on so it can be presented at the Family Reunion Picnic for approval. The budget committee set up a meeting for next week as we try to hammer out a budget for next season. Like all groups there is never enough money to do all the things that we would like to do.

Cindy Miller, Heather Overby and Pam Benzing have been trying to find simple items that MHT could sell as a fundraiser in conjunction with the performance of Cinderella. They've settled on a couple of fun items that won't cost much to sell.

Thursday night I attended the rehearsal of The Way Home which is the spoken opera by Constance Alexander. The show will perform Saturday May 22 at 7:30 pm and all proceeds will go the Sarah Roush fund at Paducah Bank to help in her battle against cancer. They were missing one of the actors last night so April read in the part. I was there to watch for lighting design and help April with some ideas for the projections. It is an interesting script because you have three women and a chorus of three women. The chorus at times comments on the action and at other times fills in as additional characters. I found the script very moving at moments with humorous moments in several spots. We are trying to get the word out and hopefully we will have a good turnout for the event.

This morning began with a meeting at Etcetera coffee shop with some of the directors of arts groups meeting with the new conductor of the Paducah Symphony Orchestra. Maestro Ponti (hope I spelled that right) is a very enthusiastic gentleman who is looking for lots of different ways for all of the arts to work together. I came in late but was still impressed with his desire for collaboration. As the meeting ended I spent some time with Jim Keeney looking at the couch he was building for Cinderella. We cut down the size a little to help it move easily on and off the stage. JIm asked me to pick out fabric for the upholstery as soon as possible so he could finish up the build.

Then it was off to Murray Kentucky and two performances of the Pied Piper with cast members Julie Price, Miki Abraham, and Sydney Hughes. We stopped off at Culvers which is Julie's absolute favorite to grab some lunch before the shows. Our directions to the school were a little off but we managed to find it without too much trouble. As we unloaded the set one of the wheels which had been falling off of the table on a regular basis decided to split out the wood that it was barely sitting in. We got the set onstage and propped the table up with the wheel so it looked normal. Unfortunately Miki decided to punctuate one of her lines with a bang on the table and the wheel fell off the table causing it to tilt back off its' front wheels. We made it through the first show without any more serious damage and were able to remove all the wheels from the table before the second show. As we started to pack up the rain began to fall and we pulled the van as close as we could to the gym door and loaded the set back in for the drive back to Paducah.

We went through the drive through at Culvers on the way out of Murray and picked up ice cream and coffee for the cast. Then it was back to Paducah.

We are still finishing up the program for Cinderella. That will be the next big printing task to be completed for the show. Marsha Cash is going through he current list of donors trying to put them in order for the donations listing. Wile the cast has assembled their photos and bios we are still collecting photos and bios from the orchestra and the crew. Cindy Miller has been working on a new business brochure listing all of the options for support. That has to get approved by the board before we can go to press with it since we have some changes that are recommended. Jennifer Hughes has assembled a group of people to man the MHT booth at the Lower Town Festival on May 21-23.

Several of the auction winners from the Curtain Call auction have come in this week to be measured for their costume. Next Wednesday the Heath High School coach will put on a dress and perform for the Heath high school student body in a scene from the show that we are taking to Heath High. The Heath students were the winners of our school competition to raise funds to get their coach as a "Lady in Waiting

The pressure is building as we are now less than 3 weeks from opening Cinderella.