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.
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