December 19, 2012

The Board of Directors met tonight for the last meeting of 2012 to reflect on the first half of the 49th Season.  It seems hard to believe its already been 6 months since we kicked off the season.  The theatre is in solid financial conditions with strong box office performances for 9 to 5, Willy Wonka Jr, and A Christmas Story.  The annual fund drive is still getting donations in on a daily basis.  The Masquerade Ball was a big success again this year.  The Board of Directors has done a great job of raising money and working extremely hard to help MHt plan for the future! Story Theatre Tour and the Downtown and Oak Grove Cemetery walking Ghost tours were also successful.   Overall we ended the first half of the year in the black.

The Play selection committee has been reading lots of plays for the 50th Anniversary Season and has a deadline of the last week of Jan. to make selections and have the board vote on the slate of plays.  We apply for rights and if everything goes okay we announce our new season on March 1.  They've been given the task of finding a balance between new plays and favorites from the past.  Denise Bristol is the chair of the committee.

April produced several school plays and finished this final week of school before break by having auditions today for Clark Elementary's school play.  You can look on the website on the newsletter page.  Click on the January 2012 Newsletter and see photos of the Lone Oak Elementary show Pirates of Grammar Island.

The cast for Duck Hunter Shoots Angel has been hard at work for months and they finally moved onstage Tues night.  Jim Keeney has built a large tree that for the actors to climb during the show.  We have just a couple of days left before the cast goes on Christmas break along with the theatre staff.  When we come back we have about 4 days before dress rehearsals begin and then opening night on Jan. 10.

Last night at the City Commission the City of Paducah agreed to partner with Market House Theatre to apply for an Our Town Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for a $100,000 matching grant for planning that MHT has been conducting for an expansion project.

It feels like the story The Night Before Christmas.  The stockings were hung by the chimney with care in the hopes that St. Nicholas would soon be there.  The theatre has worked very hard for the first half of the year and now we're getting ready to close for a well deserved winter night's sleep (break) to celebrate the holidays with family and friends.  When we come back we will open up the second half of the the season like opening presents.  Excited to see what new challenges lie ahead as we finish up the 49th season and get ready for the 50th Anniversary season.

A huge thank you goes to all the actors, technical crews, ushers, volunteers, and board members who help keep MHT running, to all the donors who helped provide the funds to do our programming, and our audiences who support the stage productions that we do!        

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!