Last Day of the year

No its not December 31 but it feels like it sometimes. June 30 is the last day of the fiscal year for the theatre. Cinderella Enchanted closed on the 20 with a cast party that followed the show. There was almost no strike except to empty the orchestra pit and put in a large fulcrum lift and then put the cover back on for Aladdin Kids.

The Picnic which was held on June 21 honored retiring board members and voted in the new board members. The Golden Screw awards were presented to those persons who distinguished themselves during the past season in ways they would like to forget. Fowler Black and Katy Miller won the costume award for the moment when Katy's dress got caught on Fowler's medals and when she stood up it pulled the left side of her dress so she had to quickly adapt and do the entire scene seated next to Fowler while they slowly unhooked themselves. Sydney Hughes won the "What's my line award" for yelling that she had to go home and block up her TV. It was supposed to be the word chimney. Eden Lance won for the grace in motion as she was so energetic trying to get off the stool after trying on the slipper that she ran into a wall and ended up crawling offstage. We moved the Picnic/annual meeting inside the theatre and sat in the air conditioned comfort while it was over 100 with the heat index outside.

On Friday and Saturday June 25 & 26 we presented the show Aladdin Kids. Janice Peterson did a great job of adapting the costumes from the Aladdin Jr show 4 years ago to a much younger cast. As usual April did an outstanding job putting the performances together after only 8 rehearsals.

The next day on Sunday June 27 we hosted the Paducah Symphony String Quartet to the MHT stage for a chamber concert.

Monday and Tuesday were spent trying to get publicity out for the upcoming season while the box office staff worked on processing mail orders for season tickets. The final deadline to renew season tickets was June 20. Marsha and Rhiannon have been calling season ticket holders we haven't heard from to confirm they wanted to release their tickets.

The theatre so far has gotten a good response for the fund run as we work towards a 10,000 maximum match. As of yesterday we had raised over $2,500 which was the minimum to get a match. The final day to make a donation to the fund run to benefit MHT is Monday.

Yesterday I went and looked at potential warehouse space. today I went to another location and looked at warehouse space. We have to find a space that we can begin to move into by July 31. We need about 3,000 square feet. We will need lots of help in August to move the scenery from one warehouse to another. This makes about the 5 time we've move warehouse's in the past15 years. I'm hoping to find a long term lease at a reasonable price or buy a space that we know we can always keep for 5-10 years.

We have still not heard from the Kentucky Arts Council on funding for next fiscal year. With so many state budget cuts it looks grim for us to remain at the same levels we had been funded in the past.

April starts Gramasoris camp on July 12 which is the same date I have auditions for I LOVE YOU YOU'RE PERFECT- NOW CHANGE. I've been talking with the Paducah Parks Department on ways we can partner for the theatre to produce an Oak Grove walking tour this October. We confirmed walking ghost tour dates for October today and gave them to the Convention and visitors center.

The theatre will end the current year with an operating surplus. We have been trying to get all of the things that needed maintenance in before the June 30th last day so they wouldn't get charged to next season. This week we had both theatre vans in for repairs and hopefully we are ready to kick off the 47th Anniversary Season with a bang!