Charlotte's Web had a terrific run. The cast was outstanding and Ella as Wilbur, Martha as Fern, Maria as Charlotte were especially superb in their performances. The run ended with a standing room only crowd on the final Sunday performance and exceeded our budget goals for ticket sales. The cast did 6 school matinees and 6 public performances all told. April once again did a great job directing the production.
The Downtown Walking Ghost tours ran 3 weekends during the same time Charlotte's Web was performing. The opening night there was a mystery bus tour group from Missouri that found themselves with tickets to Charlotte's Web and then filed out of the theatre to find me in full ghost tour guide costume where we boarded their bus and did a downtown and lowertown tour of haunted locations. Cat Tilker gets a special thank you as she led tours along with me all three weekends. Fowler Black and Marsha Cash also get a big thank you for taking tours one weekend each with Cat and I as we did up to 6 tours a night. This weekend with the Oak Grove tours Cat, Fowler, Marsha, Kim Yocum and I will spend about 5 hours in the cemetery telling its history and the stories of its more colorful and sometimes ghostly apparitions. Special thanks to goes to all of the guides for spending time learning the stories and making the event very successful for the theatre. With all the tours together we hope to make about $7,000 in tour ticket income. This income helps to pay for additional items that come up during the year not covered by our regular shows and fundraisers.
Kristin Williams and Melisa Mast poured their heart and soul into MHT's first ever Masquerade Ball. Along with Kathryn Joyner, Cindy Miller, Susan Gafnee Evans, Susan Ybarzabal, and Sarah Bynum this group of very talented individuals created an event that had all of Paducah buzzing! Incredible food from Laura Duff of Pampered Palette and one of the best bands I've heard in a long time -The Nash Vegas All Stars created an evening that attendees will remember for a long time. Special thanks goes to Karson Kelly and his band of stilt walkers who entertained everyone as they entered for the evening. The theatre raised approx. $25,000 after expenses in income from tickets for the event, sponsorships, and the live and silent auctions and costume rentals. We would like to thank all those businesses and individuals that donated items and services to help MHT raise money for our programming. A huge thank you goes to Darlene Mazzone of Paducah Life for her support of the event and to Natalya and Jack Cody of Creatures of Habit for their support and donation of part of the proceeds of the costume rentals. Thanks also to MHT staff Marsha Cash for manning the registration desk with help from Kristy Waddie. Jim Keeney spent the evening taking great photos of the event for us to publish online. The committee is still talking about how to make next year even better. If you have suggestions we would love to hear them. Please send comments and suggestions to info@mhtplay.com. Next years event will be Saturday Oct. 20, 2012! Start planning your costume now!!
Cindy Miller has been hard at work for weeks now preparing and creating MHT's annual fund drive. Over a thousand letters went out recently to past donors and other who support MHT in a variety of ways. A general support letter is currently at the printer in process to go out this next week. MHT is needs to raise $70,000 this year in annual tax deductible contributions that support our youth and adult programming.
The 39 Steps starring Fowler Black, Heather Tomko, Roy Hensel and Landon Baker is in high gear getting ready for Tech next Sunday and opening night on Nov. 10! There are so many scenes and characters in the show the actors have been working for two weeks now on characters and timing. The show is very theatrical with actors using all kinds of individual objects to create the locations called for in the play. One of the props is a rolling door unit that the performers moves across the stage and then walks through it to create a new scene separate from the scene they just ended. If you like fast paced action and comedy this is the perfect show for you.
The auditions for Escanaba in da Moonlight were held last Monday and Tuesday. We are still needing additional men to audition. The first part of this season has called for lots of men to perform and we did not have enough men audition to cast the show. We have several very talented male actors audition for this hysterical deer hunting comedy but can't complete the casting until we find one more male actor ages 20-50 to complete the company. If you are interested please contact Michael Cochran at 270-444-6828 ext. 214 to set up an audition.
The Murder for Hire troupe is in the process of receiving their scripts for the show Murder at the Company Christmas Party. Troupe members Renie Barger, Fowler Black, Marsha Cash, Tom Dolan, Audra Hall, Roy and Travis Hensel, are preparing once again to challenge and audience to witness a murder right in front of their eyes and solve the clues to who-dunnit! The dinner theatre shows on Dec. 8 & 9 will be catered by Neil's Catering. The menu will be Roast Beef, Poppyseed Chicken, 3 vegetables, rolls and tea. Beer and wine bar will also be available for purchase at a cash bar. Tickets are $35 each for the event. A special nod goes to Fowler Black for learning lines for 39 Steps, Ghost Tours and Murder at the Company Christmas Party! Fowler's memory is going to need a rest over the Christmas Holidays!!
The theatre has finally completed most of the maintenance repairs on our historic properties. This year we had unexpected repairs of over $20,000 to our roofs, masonry, and back lot due to water damage from last spring. In addition the main Air conditioning unit in the Market House building had to be repaired at a cost of over $11,000. The City of Paducah is picking up a sizable portion of the at cost as owners of the Market House building. Last week when it got cold out we turned the boiler on backstage and discovered a major leak in the heating cools for the stage unit. That we expect to also be a major expense to repair. These maintenance repairs have really been a burden on this years budget. Events like Charlotte's Web exceeding its budget by $2,000 and making our budget goals for the Masquerade Ball and the annual fund drive become even more critical to keeping the theatre up and running.
As October comes to a close the thousands of people who have volunteered, purchased tickets and supported MHT in fundraising and annual fund drive events continue to show why Market House Theatre is one of Kentucky's leading community theatres.
Happy Halloween!
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