February 23 2011

This has been an incredibly active month behind the scenes at the theatre. Since The Complete Works of William Shakespeare closed on Jan. 23 we have presented Todd Duff and his performance of from Stage to Street, rented the theatre to Bawn in the Mash, started rehearsals for Phantom of the Market House Theatre Murder Mystery, auditioned Dixie Swim Club, and had lots of meetings about our big Curtain Call Fundraising event for Annie coming up March 4.

The Hundred Dresses will have it's first performance tomorrow morning with two school matinees followed by an evening show that night. Over the next 5 days the Hundred dresses will average 2-3 performances per day. That is the equivalent of an entire 2 week run for our mainstage shows into 1 weekend. There is a mix of newcomers and experienced MHT youth and adult actors in the production.

As with most youth productions we are struggling with all of the scenic changes and technical elements which are prominent in books for young audiences. Dozens of location changes, day dream sequences out of reality, and how to bring a book to life onstage. April has been working day and night in addition to her teaching schedule at the schools to create the music for the production. She uses a variety of sound effects and musical underscoring to set the tone of the play. I am always amazed at her ability to create a sound track for the youth productions and her ability to set just the right mood with just the right piece of music which only comes from hours of painstaking work. It has also been a challenge to create a set that changes locations so many times without slowing down the pace of the show with scene changes. April wanted a basic set that wasn't set in any specific location and to use certain areas of the stage for the school, a home, an abandoned house, the woods, etc... I designed a set with the idea that the walls would be representative like a small town quilt. Artist Theresa Perry has taken some quilt paintings that I found online and transferred those onto the set walls to give the feeling of a rural town in the 1930's. As with every show you take 2 steps forward each day and 1 step back. Things that you create during the day then have to be readjusted and redone after you see them onstage that night with the cast in a rehearsal. The creative process is rarely straight forward and ends up often with lots of trial and error which takes time yet that opening performance clock is counting down quickly.

The Curtain Call Committee chaired by past MHT President Valerie Pollard has been working very hard to come up with great auction items for the fundraiser a week from this Friday. Mary Hammond and Elaine Spaulding are raising money for the theatre to compete for one of the roles of the "oldest" orphan girl in the opening number "Hard Knock Life" in the show. There are so many committee members I can't even begin to name them all. Auction packages of vacation get away's, girl's night out, fishing parties, a day on boat at Kentucky lake, and many more will be auctioned off that night. In addition several cameo roles for the June 18 performance of Annie will be auctioned. There will be lots of great food along with beer and wine at the event and limited tickets are on sale at the box office.

Last night the arts and culture organization of Paducah/McCracken County went to the fiscal court budget workshop to request funding in the economic incentive funds. The commissioners asked lots of questions and got lots of information about all of the jobs and economic impact that the arts groups have in our community. We will hopefully hear more from the Fiscal Court in the next few months as to our possibilities for support. In total the 5 organizations last night will spend $5.5 million during the course of the year. That is paid for from tickets, fundraising events, individual and corporate donations, and support from local, state and federal government funding. The recent bills in the US House of Representatives have offered cuts of 25% to National Endowment for the Arts funding. NEA funding makes up about 15% of what the Kentucky Arts Council grants to local arts organizations. With budget cuts at the federal and state levels expected, arts groups are really struggling with providing services and programming at accessible prices for all in the community. It is the education programming that is the most subsidized by government grant money. Many groups like MHT have kept their student prices extremely low. Our children's ticket prices for youth shows have only gone up 50 cents per child over the past 10 years. Our story theatre shows have only gone up 25 cents per child over the past 10 years. When governments cut grant funding these are the programs that are hit the hardest.

Next Monday and Tuesday are auditions for Annie. I meeting today with Musical Director Doug Arnold and talked last week with Choreographer Katy Miller to prepare for the auditions. We've had lots of interest and expect a big turnout next week. The children audition on Monday night and the adults on Tuesday night.

The February Board of Directors meeting will be tonight at 5:30 in the box office lobby. They will be hearing from the Curtain call committee on last minute items left to do for the fundraiser next week and having an in depth discussion about MHT facilities and our current needs.

Life is never dull at MHT! We hope to see you at The Hundred Dresses and Curtain Call!