Archive from the Director's Desk November 2013

Gratitude

November is my favorite month. The leaves have turned brilliant colors and the nights are chilly, but not cold. The craziness of October jam-packed with fundraiser events, shows, and Halloween is now over, and we’ve put all the scary decorations back in the closet until next year. We haven’t gotten out the Christmas decorations (at least at my house--that happens the day after Thanksgiving) or moved into the December holiday parties, shows, choir concerts, and pageants to celebrate Christmas. In addition, high school football has moved into the playoffs and basketball season is just starting.

I think November is my favorite month because it reminds me to step back from the frantic daily rush of life and give thanks for all the gifts we receive in life that can’t be bought in a store. The talents that we hold inside each of us. Talents that are just waiting for a chance to shine like a light when we turn down all the noise around us and focus on each other without smartphones and tablets, or advertising and marketing trying to make us believe we are incomplete unless we buy certain products.

This year I have a long list of things to be thankful for. 

I am grateful for the small group of civic leaders who gave up their time and their own resources to meet weekly to create a community organization that celebrates the talents inside of each of us. 

I am grateful for the talents of so many volunteers over 50 years that put in thousands of hours of their time to rehearse plays, stuff envelopes for mailing, sell tickets, build and paint sets, sew costumes, hang lights, locate props, get auction items for fundraising events, decorate tables and spaces for events, put up posters, and secure sponsors to cover costs for events.

I am grateful for the talents of a dedicated staff that works long hours beyond what their pay covers to help others showcase their talents.

I am grateful for the people of this community who volunteer their talents as board members, working behind the scenes to give time, advice, and their own funds to support Market House Theatre.

I am grateful for our Trustee advisory group of longtime supporters who have given so much of themselves to MHT over the years as volunteers, donors, and advisors.

I am grateful for my wife April, who is so filled with talent and passion for working with youth and works tirelessly to get kids to realize and develop the amazing amount of talent inside them.

I am grateful to my daughter, who puts up with a father and mother that work nights and weekends to spend time with other kids and adults to develop their talents.

I am grateful to ticket buyers who believe in the theatre programming, buying tickets to see the talents of family and friends in the community.

Finally, it is hard not to become emotional when we open the mail during the year and get donations from young people just starting out in life, from people with families to support, from seniors who are retired living on limited means, and from those who are asked to support so many worthy causes and organizations.  Having people believe in what you do and to be so kind as to support you with a donation is overwhelming, and we are thankful for each of you.  We don’t battle diseases, feed the hungry, or shelter the homeless. What we do is to help people of all ages stand up in front of the people of their community and let their lights shine. I can’t help but think of the old children’s song that goes, “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.” 

I give thanks for your talent and your precious resources that you share with us to make a place for that light inside of each of us to shine in our community.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Archive from the Director's Desk October 2013

Reprint from the October 2013 Directors Desk

Success... 

We have a total of 8 events going on in the month of October.    In addition to all that, we have the annual campaign fund drive that begins this month.  At the time we scheduled the events for October, there was nothing competing with our events for the month.  Nine months later, there are multiple events going during each of those weekends.  No matter how much work and planning we do for an event, something inevitably comes along and we have to adapt.

I had a local historian ask me the other day the secret to MHT’s success. My answer was, “Keep moving.”  The ability to keep moving, adapting from adversity, and creating something better has served the theatre well from the very beginning.  The City was set to tear down the Market House building when a group adapted the old space and created something amazing. They preserved the building by adapting it to a changing environment.

There is a cardinal rule in theatre that says no matter what happens in a scene on stage, you go with it.  If you fight “what you are handed” and don’t adapt when a door gets stuck on stage, a character doesn’t make an entrance, or a person forgets their lines, the scene comes to a grinding halt and the show fails. April and I teach both kids and adults to adapt to the unexpected and find a creative way to move beyond that moment in order to keep the life of the play going. The main character in a war movie I just watched the other night had a line that said, “In life and death situations, your best chance for survival is to keep moving.” That phrase resonated with me.  We talk about changing lives at MHT.  The ability to keep adapting, keep creating, and keep moving no matter what we are given makes us successful on the stage and even more so in life. 

In MHT’s history, there has been no shortage of adversity. When a fire in the Market House wiped out an entire season of plays in the 1970s, they did a shortened season and took advantage of the extra time to renovate the theatre better than it was before.  When the lighting system self-destructed 2 days before Les Mis opened, the new system we purchased holds more cues than the old system and is more portable, allowing us more flexibility.  When an ice storm closed everything in Paducah the opening weekend of a show, we had to combine some performances on the second weekend, working to seat everyone who had tickets from the first weekend.  We ended up with packed houses for what was usually a less-attended show during the winter. When the Carson Center opened, the number of competing entertainment events in Paducah increased dramatically. MHT regrouped by moving into a new educational programming niche, and we now serve more youth than any other group in our region. Success comes from embracing challenges, adapting to the new environment, and moving forward.

Adapting, creating, and moving forward requires people to believe in you.  You can be a voice calling for change, but if no one believes in you then nothing happens.  You as donors have played a huge role in our success over the 50 years of MHT’s history.  Your loyalty, generosity, and belief in the power of community have transformed “a little theatre group” into a vibrant organization that touches the lives of thousands of people every year.  

This Monday, October 14th at 5:30 pm (on the anniversary date and time of the first meeting of the group who faced the challenges of starting MHT), we are inviting every donor, audience member, performer, or volunteer at MHT to come to the front of the theatre for a group photo and a piece of birthday cake. This will only last about 30 minutes, because we need to “keep moving.”  We have auditions for Fox on the Fairway, a rehearsal for To Kill a Mockingbird, and a play selection committee meeting to discuss plays they are reading for next season.  MHT’s success is achieved by moving forward to embrace the unexpected challenges and create something better. 

Behind the curtain:  MHT Board Member Denise Bristol

Denise Bristol wears a t-shirt when she works as stage manager that says, “If you can see me, something is wrong!”  It is a tech crew shirt that embraces the idea that theatre technical crews are shadowy figures like Ninjas that move the scenery and operate the controls without the audience ever seeing them.  Theatre is supposed to look effortless and magical.  Like the Wizard in Oz, we say to pay no attention to the person behind the curtain.  In our case, that Wizard is Denise Bristol, who was named Volunteer of the Year a few years ago for all of her hard work behind the scenes.  

Elected in 2009 as a Director on the MHT Board, Denise was elected as the Theatre Secretary in 2011.  She also chairs the Play Selection Committee.  A legal assistant for the Housman Law Firm, Denise has traveled the world.  She taught English in a South Korean University and is an avid reader and recumbent bicyclist.  Her favorite plays are mysteries and farce comedies.  Denise shares her home with her feline children adopted when they were lost or unwanted. When at the theatre, you can usually find her back stage in her black clothing, wearing the tiara that cast members gave her, as she calls the lights, sound, and technical cues for a show.  

Denise tells me every year that if she wins the lottery, MHT is in her plans!  I have witnessed that Denise doesn’t depend on winning the lottery to enhance her life. She plans out each year how much she needs to pay her bills, then puts money aside for her travels.  Denise also makes a generous donation to MHT each year.  Denise once commented that until she joined the board, she had no idea how much we depended on donations and grants to supplement our programming and productions.  Last year, the theatre operations cost over $500,000 and MHT had to raise $166,000 in contributions to break even. 

An incredibly funny and giving person, Denise Bristol has played and continues to play a big part in the success of MHT.  She will be walking with several different casts during the Fund Run this month on October 19th to benefit Market House Theatre and our endowment.  For Denise, it will be a change from being behind the scenes making things happen.  Her toughest decision will be which cast and crew show t-shirt to wear! I think she should wear her tiara with whatever shirt she selects.

Archive from the Directors Desk September 2013

Reprint from the September 2013 Directors Desk

As I write this, we are about to go into dress rehearsals for Godspell, the first production of Market House Theatre’s 50th Anniversary Season.  On August 24th, we celebrated the beginning of our 50th year of operations with a family-friendly Community Street Fair.  We thought this was fitting, as MHT is a community theatre that has, since its founding, relied on a community of people to keep its doors open, the lights on, and the stage filled with talent. 

I must admit that before I came to MHT, I wasn’t sure about working in community theatre.  April and I came from Kansas City where we had been working in “professional” theatre.  We both had received our Actors Equity Card and been accepted in the Professional Actors union.  When I first came to Paducah for an interview with the Board of Directors, the theatre was just starting the second show of its 20th Anniversary Season.  I looked at the Market House building and wondered where they put a theatre in that little space.  I walked in the backstage door that Saturday and found the cast of The Rainmaker doing a technical rehearsal.   The entire cast was standing in place on the stage while the lighting designer aimed and focused the lights, then set the light cues on a little board with sliding controls that had to be reset for every scene in the play.  The actors stood in their places and slowly walked through the scenes for several hours that day.  I remember thinking, “Paid professional actors would never do that!”  You couldn’t afford it, and the actors would revolt if told to stand around for hours, even if they were paid.  (The first thing I did after MHT hired me was to stop that practice.  We set light cues while the stage manager walks the stage instead of the actors, because a volunteer’s time is extremely valuable.)  I learned something from that first day, though, that has stuck with me over the years.  The people who create community theatre have a deep well of dedication, passion, and commitment far beyond what the theatre could pay them for.   That passion is present not only in the arts in our community, but in business and education, too.  There is a sense of community pride in the people who attend MHT.  That community pride and that ownership by the people of Paducah made this theatre something very special since its founding in 1963, and it made me a firm believer in the power of community theatre to change lives.  

As we went through the old minutes of the first three meetings in preparation for the Street Fair, I learned that it wasn’t until the second meeting that the theatre group officially took on the name, “Market House Theatre.”  In the third meeting, the bank balance stood at $250, and the group got a report from the architectural firm that had done a cost analysis for turning the old Market House building into a theatre.  

The cost estimate was $125,000.  They decided to go forward with the project and raise the funds from donations of money, labor, and materials.  The sense of optimism and determination that began the theatre is still present in today’s Board of Directors.  It wasn’t an easy task to raise the funds, and the theatre did it over time while utilizing the space to create theatre productions before it was “finished.”   (It wasn’t until some 15 years later that actual dressing rooms were built backstage to replace the pieces of canvas hanging from ropes that created “dressing” spaces.)  As I read the minutes from those early meetings, I learned that thank-you cards were sent out after each production to all the businesses and individuals who donated items so that the play could move forward.  To this day at each board meeting, donors’ names are shared and thank-you cards are written to the generous community of people who support Market House Theatre.  MHT has grown from those first days, but it still has that community spirit of hard work and gratitude.  

The Street Fair is another example of a community of people coming together to do something incredible.  MHT Public Relations and Marketing staff member Kathy McHaney, Past President Melisa Mast, and a committee including Rachael Jaenichen, Kathryn Joyner, Maurie McGarvey, Susan Ybarzabal, and April Cochran helped to create a wonderful celebration of our 50th anniversary.  What made it even more incredible was that several groups came out to partner with us that day, with each group providing interactive arts experiences as well.  The event was a huge success, with throngs of children and adults coming to tie-dye tee shirts, do theatre activities, draw, craft, dance, dress up, and listen to music--to mention but a few of the wide variety of activities.

At the Street Fair, I chatted with Wally and Gerry Montgomery.  They have been long-time donors to Market House Theatre, and Wally came up and talked to me about how strongly they feel about their support of Market House Theatre. The Montgomerys serve on the MHT Trustee Advisory Committee, and they were both instrumental in helping the theatre become one of the first organizations to create an endowment with the Community Foundation of Western Kentucky.  They are long-time season ticket holders, and it is always a delight when they make it a point to find me after a production to tell me how much they enjoy the theatre. They both loved Les Misérables, but Gerry told me that Annie still ranks up there pretty high on their list of favorite shows MHT has done.  Gerry’s leadership in the community as Mayor helped begin the transformation of downtown Paducah into the beautiful streets and sidewalks that we take for granted today.  That happened at the same time that MHT undertook a $1.1 million expansion, restoring and repurposing three dilapidated buildings donated by Petter Supply in the mid ‘90s.  The Montgomerys were integral supporters of that project, and they continue to be a source of inspiration for Market House Theatre and for many other civic organizations, lending their valuable time and passion for making Paducah a better place to live and work.

People are constantly amazed when they come to Paducah and experience what a dedicated and passionate community we are.

Archive from the Directors Desk August 2013

A reprint from the August 2013 Directors Desk

MHT Begins 50th Season!! 

Although we are in the last month of summer, it truly is time to turn our thoughts to school, arts education, and the kickoff of our 50th Season.  We have so many things going on at MHT that I can barely keep up.  We are in rehearsal for Godspell, and we have finished up The Fatal Fifties Affair murder mystery dinner theatre, the last of the summer camps for children, and performances of The Little Red Hen at the library.  The staff has been finalizing programming, organizing a special event (more on this later), creating materials for the 2013-14 year, gathering ads for the playbill, working with the accountants on our annual audit, and cleaning/organizing for the coming year. The Board of Directors voted in July to create a full-time Educational Assistant position, and we are excited that Katie Hamilton will start work in that position on August 13.  Katie will work with Education Director April Cochran to create several exciting new offerings starting this fall, including pre-school and home-school classes during the day at the theatre, a teen improv troupe, and some youth and teen events in the Studio Theatre.  The start-up funding for the Educational Assistant position was made possible by a grant from the Carson-Myre Charitable Foundation.  Last year, MHT educational programming served over 28,000 kids in a 4-state area, and April sure could use the help!

Continued Growth

Because of MHT’s continued growth in programming, the Board of Directors has spent the last four years completing a careful study of our facility needs and developing future plans based on community needs and MHT objectives.  We have a concept for renovating and adding to our current facilities to create an arts education center where youth could get training in theatre, dance, and music.  A cross section of our donors has received a test case statement about the project to help us get feedback on this possible expansion.  The feedback we receive will give us the final information we need to make a decision about the size and scope of such an expansion.  We hope to have that information in place by Spring 2014.  

Market House Theatre has partnered with community arts organizations from all over the city for a fabulous, fun-filled celebration of our 50th Anniversary!  We will close off the Kirchhoff’s side of the Market House Square on August 24 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for a great “hands on” event featuring a multitude of creative crafts, activities, and entertainment, which will also spill over into Maiden Alley and the Carson Center lawn.  With a nod to the 1960’s when it all began, the theatre will have a tie-dye T-shirt booth and an exhibit set up in the theatre with pictures and memorabilia from the last 50 years.  We will also have improv and audition workshops, and there will be games for kids and adults, inflatables, hot dogs by Kirchhoff’s, ice cream from Paducah Bank, and a whole lot more!  Come for a great time!

Foundation Support

Foundations do so much to help Market House Theatre grow and succeed.  The Carson-Myre Charitable Foundation mentioned before has helped us reach more and more youth in our region, telling stories that teach the values of friendship, hard work, teamwork, honesty, and integrity.  The Kentucky Colonels Foundation granted us almost $10,000 last year to purchase a large digital projector that creates backgrounds and video, allowing us to change locations easily during a show.  You saw it in action during Willy Wonka and Les Misérables last season, and we used it in Annie Kids this summer.  A few years before that, the Kentucky Colonels granted about $20,000 to purchase a block of new seats for the theatre.  The Community Foundation of Western Kentucky also helped with the seat purchase, as the interest from our endowment fund over the years funded that & several other projects.  Finally, the US Bank Foundation has been supporting our programming for many years now with an annual donation.  We wouldn’t be where we are today without the wonderful support of these foundations.

Archive from the Directors Desk this past July 2013

Over the course of the past 6 months I have been writing a monthly letter to donors.  I was asked to share some of those letters with others on our site.  So here is the July letter.

JULY 2013

Reflections on Les Misérables 

The theatre has received so many donations and cards of appreciation in honor of Les Misérables.  People stop me on the street to tell me how proud they are of Market House Theatre and this production.  One of the cast members told me just last week that he was the most proud of being involved in Les Misérables at the Market House Theatre out of anything else he has done in his life.

It is difficult not to reflect back on all of the efforts that make a show like Les Misérables possible, and I realize that this show is not something that just happened this year, but has really been years in the making.  Twenty years ago someone asked me if we would ever do Les Misérables, and I remember laughing and saying “not a chance!”  Yet a year ago, we agreed to do it. (Not without hesitation, though!)

We build on each production every year, creating the possibility to become more than we currently are.  Many of the cast members of Les Mis have grown up in April’s Footlights classes and been involved in Youth and Adult productions.  The theatre has taken on major challenges in the past years by putting on Beauty and the Beast, The Wizard of Oz, Willy Wonka Jr., Hairspray, and more.  Each of these productions required us to reach beyond our current abilities and capacity.  Hairspray last year required a large African-American youth cast of singers and dancers.  Willy Wonka Jr. presented design and technical challenges so as to allow the action to flow through many locations.  Beauty and the Beast presented major costuming challenges.  We constantly have to open ourselves up to reach out to new performers and new audience members. We also have to challenge ourselves each year to earn the trust donors have placed in us.  Their support makes truly amazing things happen.  

Les Misérables required us to use all the tools that we have built on over the years and to add additional ones to the mix as well.  We have again “exceeded” our capacity for what we should have been able to accomplish, pushing our facilities, performers and staff beyond their limits.  (Our 25-year-old lighting system died less than 48 hours before the show opened, so we had to create a temporary one, finishing the light cues 30 minutes before the house opened on opening night!)

Doing this show is a reaffirmation of the years of work that led up to it and of what we continue to do each time a new audition is announced.  For so many years, people have asked me how we were going to top the show we had just done.   We just keep doing what we believe in and keep challenging ourselves to grow.  We keep opening ourselves to invite in new people with every audition, and we strive to make sure that every child gets the chance to discover and grow the talent inside of them to share with others.  We keep investing in more opportunities for all ages to grow.  That’s how we top the show we have just done.  Godspell, which auditions July 8 & 9, will be the next show onstage to follow Les Mis.  Godspell is about a group of strangers who band together to form a community.  A community that tells stories with the power to change lives.  I can’t think of a better show to follow our current production.

Board Member Spotlight:  Chip Bohle

Board Member Chip Bohle is rotating off after 6 years of service, the last few as Treasurer of the theatre.  Chip has been instrumental in guiding the financial planning these past few years as the theatre has grown, experiencing facility issues and budget challenges.  Chip’s history with the theatre goes back many years.  All of the members of the Bohle family have appeared on the Market House stage at some point.  Chip’s debut on the MHT stage was in Oklahoma!, and he has appeared in numerous productions since then.  In 2009, Chip’s wife Denise was the Wicked Witch in Wizard of Oz, while Chip and their daughter Leah played Munchkins and other roles in the ensemble.  (Yes Chip was a 6’+ munchkin!)  Most recently, audiences were treated to Chip’s performances in Escanaba in da Moonlight and Duck Hunter Shoots Angel.  Chip served several years on the board before his most recent term, including serving as Board President in 1999.  After taking a few years off, Chip’s return to the board in 2007 provided us with a historical perspective to the many challenges the theatre faces.  

From the very beginning, the Bohle family has invested their time and personal resources into the theatre.  For several years, regardless of whether or not he was personally involved in the show, Chip would come to me before the end of the year and ask what the theatre needed for the big musical that it couldn’t afford.  Did we need more musicians, a set piece, or a costume that we really wanted but were just out of our reach?  Chip would give the theatre a check to make those things happen.  Chip provided the leadership on the fundraising committee for several years, overseeing the Casablanca events in his early board terms, and most recently, being the first to step up to sponsor the Masquerade Ball, helping to make this fundraiser a success.  

Many years ago, Chip helped to put in place the term limits for board members that require the theatre to seek out new individuals to take on board duties and bring in fresh ideas.  Chip is not afraid to be a “no” vote in a meeting when he believes the theatre needs to reconsider an action, but he  never hesitates to support the decisions of the board and work tirelessly to make the theatre a success.  Chip has made clear that while he may be leaving the board, his passion for and his commitment to the theatre will continue.  Market House Theatre and Paducah are so fortunate to have Chip and his family as a part of this and many other community organizations.