Five Events in Eight Days

It is only the 8th of March but it feels like a month has already gone by. We closed The Hundred Dresses on Feb. 28 with school matinees and no sooner did we get the set taken down that day then the theatre filled up that night with over 75 youth auditioning for ANNIE. The following night we had almost 30 teens and adults audition for ANNIE. The show calls for 8 children and over 25 adults. I worked hard to cut the 100 plus auditionees down to 25 children and 25 teens and adults for call backs. It was a very difficult decision on who to cast in many of the roles. I narrowed it down to the 7-8 strongest singers for the kids roles and then selected my choice for Annie from among the top 5 singers. Chanyng Floyd was selected for the role of Annie. This was the first time I've ever met Chanyng and was impressed by her strong dance, singing and acting abilities. I think she'll do a great job. I added three more kids as orphans from the most expressive kids who auditioned. I chose 10 orphans total because that was 5 bunk beds on the stage for the first scene and I felt that was all I could fit for the big Hard Knock Life dance number and keep everyone visible. I wish I could have cast 10 more! For the adults I only had 8 men audition for over a dozen parts. I will be trying to double and triple cast some of those men. I was fortunate that we had lots of talented men who auditioned and I could have cast the lead roles in a couple of different ways. For the women's roles two of the leads also went to first time auditionees- Kelly Ann Rathunde and Amy Perdue will play Miss Hannigan and Grace. Both gave very strong auditions and I feel they will do a great job.

We had an unusually large number of families with two or more auditioning for the show. With the limited stage space for the orphans I had to make some tough choices and not cast some family members while casting others. This was something that I felt really bad about. We have 6 families with two people in the cast. Kelly Ann Rathunde and her daughter Aubrianne, Amy Perdue and her daughter Ally, Scott Salchli and his daughter Belle, Chuck Wilkins and his wife Lisa, Chip Bohle and his wife Denise, and Roy Hensel and his daughter Emily. Each of these family members were cast independent of each other and it was quite a surprise when I discoverd that we had so many families represented. We had a couple of other first time auditionees that really impressed me- Heather Tomko and Adrianne Gleeson. Market House Theatre is blessed with a great deal of talent. We have cast members from Carbondale, Murray, and Benton. MHT is truly a regional theatre.

No sooner did I have call backs and we were taking out the chairs and putting in tables and individual chairs for the Curtain Call fundraiser Friday night. The theatre raised over $13,400 from the live and silent auction without ticket revenue from the event. Several cameo roles were auctioned off in live and silent auctions along with vacation packages and lake get away packages. A huge thank you goes to every who supported the theatre by buying a ticket and bidding on the auction packages. Several restaurants graciously donated the food and a truly hard working committee of volunteers put together auction packages and decorated the theatre for the event. Paducah Bank held a competition for an orphan girl role along with Elaine Spaulding and Mary Hammond. Elaine won a role along with Paducah Bank. Elaine and Mary graciously gave their role to a little girl who auditioned for Annie but didn't get into the final cast. Some of the large roles that were auctioned off for the one night only performance of Annie. Surprise winners were WPSD Vice President of Sales, David Jernigan, who will don a red wig and a dress as Annie to sing Tomorrow, April and Michael Cochran who the crowd all chipped in to buy the role of Miss Hanigan for April and Daddy Warbuck for me. April and I were both honored and extremely flattered by the generosity of the auction bidders in purchasing those parts for us. Don and Renie Barger purchased the role of Sandy the dog. Renie says she has a Dalmatian costume and can't wait to be Sandy for the special performance!

At the Curtain Call event we presented Todd Duff with a plaque honoring his $7,000 fund raising events of Magic shows and the finale performance of Stage to Street. After presenting the plaque to Todd it was time to announce the 48th Season lineup.

In September 2011, MHT will kick off the season with the Tony award winning musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. This is a very funny show about kids (played by adults) at a spelling bee. The audience in addition gets to be contestants in the spelling bee as well! October 2011, MHT's Theatre for Youth presents Charlotte's Web about Wilbur, Charlotte and Templeton. November 2011, MHT is thrilled to be one of the first community theatres in our area to produce The 39 Steps. This Hitchcock thriller combines Monty Pythonesque humor with a tingling spy thriller. Four performers play all 150 parts in the play with lots of special effects including plane crashes on stage! January 2012, during a break in hunting season MHT will produce the hysterical hunting comedy Escanaba in da Moonlight. A tale of the Soady family father and his adult sons who are out to overcome the shame of the oldest son never having bagged a buck. This is the hunting story that beats all other hunting stories and a riotous comedy. February 2012, brings MHT's Theatre for Youth The Adventures of Nate the Great. A young boy dons a fedora and takes on all the neighborhood mysteries. In April 2012 the romantic comedy Getting Sara Married takes the stage with a very funny comedy about a young woman who's Aunt kidnaps a young man has him bopped on the head and delivered to her niece's door. The Aunt thinks that he would make the perfect groom for her niece. After several concussions and lots of comedy the Aunt may be right. Wrapping up the season in June 2012 will be the hit musical Hairspray! Can Tracy find true love and integrate the Corny Collins show!

The Curtain Call Event was a big success and before the last audience members left from the event a group of staff and volunteers tore down the tables and chairs and reset the seats for the show that happens on Thursday of this week. But that didn't wrap up the week. On Saturday night a group of 10 in the Murder for Hire troupe left in two vehicles with a sound system and a set and drove to Caldwell County HS in Princeton and presented The Phantom of Princeton. A murder mystery play with a clue hunt that will be presented at the Market House as a dinner theatre on March 18 & 19.

Monday and Tuesday of this week April held auditions for EAT (It's Not About Food). Also on Monday the first rehearsal of Dixie Swim Club was held. Five separate events in 8 days!

Tomorrow McCracken County Gifted and Talented student will do their final rehearsal at the theatre for their performance on Thursday night. March is certainly coming in like a Lion as far as MHT is concerned.