Here it is the 18 of July and I'm just doing the first post! I can't believe it's already 1/2 way through the month. Yesterday was the Fred Paxton Fund run for Charity. The theatre raised almost $4,300 in donations and I'm sure we will be close to $4,500 by the time all the late registrations are recorded. With the matching of $4,300 from the foundation that will put the theatre endowment fund at approx. $90,000!
Several MHT volunteers won trophies for their times in the run in their age groups. April and I were very proud of our daughter Jade who won First Place Overall in the Kids run for all of the kids ages.
I found out today that long time theatre friend Sarah Roush died today after a long battle with cancer. Sarah helped revitalize several buildings downtown and was a prolific artist. Her enthusiasm in helping others and her creative spirit will be missed. Our thoughts and our prayers are with her family.
Tomorrow begins the final week of the Grammarsoris Camp. April has been rehearsing with the kids this past week. Each day the kids have learned something new about the theatre. Last Tuesday they got to run the light board, learn how we make flash pots and smoke onstage and they got to crawl under the stage in the little crawl space that is used for the trap door. That was the biggest highlight of the whole thing- so much so that they wanted to do it again on Wednesday so we let them. In addition on Wednesday they learned the difference between front and rear screen projections and saw how their set drawings will be projected on the screen for their show. Friday the kids got a tour of the costume shop, dressing rooms and prop areas while they were taking a break from the rehearsal.
Auditions were held last Monday and Tuesday for I Love You You're Perfect Now Change. The show called for 2 men and 2 women. I had a large group of talented people audition and I cast 4 men and 4 women. Cast members are Fowler Black, Audra Hall, Al Knudsen, Melanie Koch, Victoria Parrish, Scott Salchli, Chris Schnarr, and Townley Williams. Patt Lynch is the musical director. We had a rushed first rehearsal last Friday because 3 of the cast was going out of town the first part of this week. It was fun to watch the actors read the script for the first time because many of them were totally unfamiliar with the show they had just been cast in. They only knew bits and pieces from the auditions.
Cindy Miller, Melisa Mast, Kim Yocum, Kristin Williams, and I are out meeting with businesses to sponsor our upcoming season and selling program ads. We hope to have this wrapped up before the end of the month.
Several board members and staff are looking at warehouse spaces. In the past 26 years the warehouse has had to relocate 5 times. That is an average of every 5 years. We are looking at possible lease spaces and exploring possibly buying a building for storage space. The theatre currently needs about 3,000 square feet with high ceilings. We are waiting on insurance quotes and utility quotes to make the decision whether to buy or lease. We are hoping to start moving scenery out of our current space and into a new space starting August 1. Jim will be looking for lots of help when we do move so if you have some free time in August we would be very appreciative.
Marsha and Rhiannon have been hard at work on season tickets. They have processed all of the renewals and most of the new orders. They will begin printing out the tickets and putting them into envelopes along with restaurant discount cards within the next couple of weeks. Ann Counts has been helping with the renewals for the restaurant discount cards so we are just finishing up gathering the information before sending those cards off to print.
As usual we are behind in getting our Season Information brochure to the printer. Debra Harned has been working on logos for the shows and we have been refining the show descriptions. We have also been trying to work through the other fundraising events that will happen this year. It never fails we start out on track to get the brochure done in a timely manner and soon we are at least a month behind schedule. Last year the season brochure was finished just before we opened the first show of the season. Fortunately we quit using the brochure years ago as the primary season ticket sales form.
I have been working with Innovations brandinghouse on a new website design for the theatre that is smart phone friendly. Hopefully you will get to see it make its premiere in the next few weeks. April and I are currently adding information and we hope that it will allow for a more interactive site. It is designed with a Word Press blogging type of setup which means that more than one person can make changes. I've been the only person over the years who has been able to make changes and that sometimes means the site isn't always as up to date as we would like.
The Pied Piper opens Wednesday July 27 and runs through Saturday July 30 for Lunch box theatre and we hope to have a good turnout. Neil's Catering will be handling the hot dogs and hamburgers for the show.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Last Day of the year
No its not December 31 but it feels like it sometimes. June 30 is the last day of the fiscal year for the theatre. Cinderella Enchanted closed on the 20 with a cast party that followed the show. There was almost no strike except to empty the orchestra pit and put in a large fulcrum lift and then put the cover back on for Aladdin Kids.
The Picnic which was held on June 21 honored retiring board members and voted in the new board members. The Golden Screw awards were presented to those persons who distinguished themselves during the past season in ways they would like to forget. Fowler Black and Katy Miller won the costume award for the moment when Katy's dress got caught on Fowler's medals and when she stood up it pulled the left side of her dress so she had to quickly adapt and do the entire scene seated next to Fowler while they slowly unhooked themselves. Sydney Hughes won the "What's my line award" for yelling that she had to go home and block up her TV. It was supposed to be the word chimney. Eden Lance won for the grace in motion as she was so energetic trying to get off the stool after trying on the slipper that she ran into a wall and ended up crawling offstage. We moved the Picnic/annual meeting inside the theatre and sat in the air conditioned comfort while it was over 100 with the heat index outside.
On Friday and Saturday June 25 & 26 we presented the show Aladdin Kids. Janice Peterson did a great job of adapting the costumes from the Aladdin Jr show 4 years ago to a much younger cast. As usual April did an outstanding job putting the performances together after only 8 rehearsals.
The next day on Sunday June 27 we hosted the Paducah Symphony String Quartet to the MHT stage for a chamber concert.
Monday and Tuesday were spent trying to get publicity out for the upcoming season while the box office staff worked on processing mail orders for season tickets. The final deadline to renew season tickets was June 20. Marsha and Rhiannon have been calling season ticket holders we haven't heard from to confirm they wanted to release their tickets.
The theatre so far has gotten a good response for the fund run as we work towards a 10,000 maximum match. As of yesterday we had raised over $2,500 which was the minimum to get a match. The final day to make a donation to the fund run to benefit MHT is Monday.
Yesterday I went and looked at potential warehouse space. today I went to another location and looked at warehouse space. We have to find a space that we can begin to move into by July 31. We need about 3,000 square feet. We will need lots of help in August to move the scenery from one warehouse to another. This makes about the 5 time we've move warehouse's in the past15 years. I'm hoping to find a long term lease at a reasonable price or buy a space that we know we can always keep for 5-10 years.
We have still not heard from the Kentucky Arts Council on funding for next fiscal year. With so many state budget cuts it looks grim for us to remain at the same levels we had been funded in the past.
April starts Gramasoris camp on July 12 which is the same date I have auditions for I LOVE YOU YOU'RE PERFECT- NOW CHANGE. I've been talking with the Paducah Parks Department on ways we can partner for the theatre to produce an Oak Grove walking tour this October. We confirmed walking ghost tour dates for October today and gave them to the Convention and visitors center.
The theatre will end the current year with an operating surplus. We have been trying to get all of the things that needed maintenance in before the June 30th last day so they wouldn't get charged to next season. This week we had both theatre vans in for repairs and hopefully we are ready to kick off the 47th Anniversary Season with a bang!
The Picnic which was held on June 21 honored retiring board members and voted in the new board members. The Golden Screw awards were presented to those persons who distinguished themselves during the past season in ways they would like to forget. Fowler Black and Katy Miller won the costume award for the moment when Katy's dress got caught on Fowler's medals and when she stood up it pulled the left side of her dress so she had to quickly adapt and do the entire scene seated next to Fowler while they slowly unhooked themselves. Sydney Hughes won the "What's my line award" for yelling that she had to go home and block up her TV. It was supposed to be the word chimney. Eden Lance won for the grace in motion as she was so energetic trying to get off the stool after trying on the slipper that she ran into a wall and ended up crawling offstage. We moved the Picnic/annual meeting inside the theatre and sat in the air conditioned comfort while it was over 100 with the heat index outside.
On Friday and Saturday June 25 & 26 we presented the show Aladdin Kids. Janice Peterson did a great job of adapting the costumes from the Aladdin Jr show 4 years ago to a much younger cast. As usual April did an outstanding job putting the performances together after only 8 rehearsals.
The next day on Sunday June 27 we hosted the Paducah Symphony String Quartet to the MHT stage for a chamber concert.
Monday and Tuesday were spent trying to get publicity out for the upcoming season while the box office staff worked on processing mail orders for season tickets. The final deadline to renew season tickets was June 20. Marsha and Rhiannon have been calling season ticket holders we haven't heard from to confirm they wanted to release their tickets.
The theatre so far has gotten a good response for the fund run as we work towards a 10,000 maximum match. As of yesterday we had raised over $2,500 which was the minimum to get a match. The final day to make a donation to the fund run to benefit MHT is Monday.
Yesterday I went and looked at potential warehouse space. today I went to another location and looked at warehouse space. We have to find a space that we can begin to move into by July 31. We need about 3,000 square feet. We will need lots of help in August to move the scenery from one warehouse to another. This makes about the 5 time we've move warehouse's in the past15 years. I'm hoping to find a long term lease at a reasonable price or buy a space that we know we can always keep for 5-10 years.
We have still not heard from the Kentucky Arts Council on funding for next fiscal year. With so many state budget cuts it looks grim for us to remain at the same levels we had been funded in the past.
April starts Gramasoris camp on July 12 which is the same date I have auditions for I LOVE YOU YOU'RE PERFECT- NOW CHANGE. I've been talking with the Paducah Parks Department on ways we can partner for the theatre to produce an Oak Grove walking tour this October. We confirmed walking ghost tour dates for October today and gave them to the Convention and visitors center.
The theatre will end the current year with an operating surplus. We have been trying to get all of the things that needed maintenance in before the June 30th last day so they wouldn't get charged to next season. This week we had both theatre vans in for repairs and hopefully we are ready to kick off the 47th Anniversary Season with a bang!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
June update
I feel like I've been running a marathon since June started and I'm getting closer to the finish line as the month is over half completed. With the opening of Cinderella and the great performances it has been trying to play catch up and prepare for the the events happening in the middle and the end of the month. I just returned yesterday from Washington D.C. where I was part of a group of business and civic leaders who met with government and agency leaders to help lobby for Paducah issues. The trip turned into a wonderful opportunity for me to make new friends with local leaders and to deepen relationships with others as we all came together for a common purpose.
I left Paducah Monday morning after getting about 3 hours of sleep on the first flight out. Check in time at the airport was 4:30-4:45 am. The plane was scheduled to leave at 6 am but we ended up sitting on the runway until almost 7 am because of weather delays and a fueling spill when the plane had to take on additional fuel to fly around the weather to get to Chicago. I ran through O'hare airport with Mark Dulley from Ingram Barge, Mayor Paxton and City Commissioner Gerald Watkins to get on board the flight that left at 9 am from Chicago to D.C. We arrived about 11:30 am Eastern Time and checked into the hotel located about a block from the main mall area by the Smithsonian and the Monuments. Mark became my tour guide and we must have walked about 3-5 miles to see the sights. We walked past the White house and the Washington Monument then back towards the capital building and our hotel. Mark was a great tour guide and we shared alot of family and business stories during our walk. I went to dinner with two others from the group and had a wonderful time there as well. On Tuesday we all gathered at Clyde's for lunch and our assignments. Some of the group had already been in meetings with the Homeland Security Department. I was in charge of a group that went to the National Endowment for the Arts for a meeting with key staff and hopefully the chairman of the NEA Rocco Landesman for a few minutes. Just before we arrived the NEA contacted the group and said our meeting had been moved to the Chairman's office. We were escorted their by NEA staff member Pepper Smith who had written the wonderful cover story article about Market House Theatre in the NEA magazine this quarter. We went into a conference room and then met with Pepper, Jaimie Bennet public relations director and Chairman Rocco Landesman for almost 30 minutes. It was a terrific meeting and we got a promise from Chairman Landesman that he would come to visit Paducah within the next fiscal year. We also talked about support for state arts councils and how that funding filters down to community organizations and about local projects in Paducah that were models for the rest of the country. We left feeling terrific about the meeting. We grabbed a cab and then headed to the capital building and met up with the rest of our group for a meeting with Senator McConnel and Representative Whitfield. We grabbed the tour bus back to the hotel and then madly changed into black tie formal attire for the Kentucky Society Dinner honoring Elaine Chao. At the cocktail party I spent time talking to the Chairman of USEC and thanked him for the local sponsorship of Cinderella. I talked with Senator Bunning, and several staff members for Congressmen and Senators at the reception and then we headed down to the dinner. At the dinner I was at a side entrance and turned around to suddenly be face to face with Senator McConnel and his wife Elaine Chao. I had a nice exchange about the theatre with the Senator and Secretary Chao and then we headed into the ballroom.
I had to fly back Wednesday morning to be here for the Dress rehearsal of the Curtain Call auction winners for Cinderella. All I can say after the Dress Rehearsal is that this is a performance you won't want to miss. The "guest stars" all did a great job and there were several times that the cast could not go on for a few moments because they were trying to maintain their character. When City Commissioner Richard Abraham appeared in a gold lame dress and boa and sang Falderall and Fiddly De Dee to Cinderella and danced he brought the house down. John Williams Jr also brought the house down in his Burgundy dress, wig and crown in his duet with Tom Miller of "Boys and Girls like you and Me".
Tonight we go back into performance mode with the regular cast of Cinderella as we move through the final weekend of performances. I'm trying to work through the annual Golden Screw Awards for the Annual Meeting next Monday and Picnic at Keiler Park. I hope to see everyone at the picnic next Monday at 5:30 pm. Bring a dish to pass and the theatre provides BBQ and Fried Chicken and Soft Drinks for the main course.
April Cochran has the Aladdin camp in full swing this week every morning and that performs the weekend after Cinderella closes. There is a lot going on behind the scenes at MHT as we wrap up June and the end of our 46th Season.
I left Paducah Monday morning after getting about 3 hours of sleep on the first flight out. Check in time at the airport was 4:30-4:45 am. The plane was scheduled to leave at 6 am but we ended up sitting on the runway until almost 7 am because of weather delays and a fueling spill when the plane had to take on additional fuel to fly around the weather to get to Chicago. I ran through O'hare airport with Mark Dulley from Ingram Barge, Mayor Paxton and City Commissioner Gerald Watkins to get on board the flight that left at 9 am from Chicago to D.C. We arrived about 11:30 am Eastern Time and checked into the hotel located about a block from the main mall area by the Smithsonian and the Monuments. Mark became my tour guide and we must have walked about 3-5 miles to see the sights. We walked past the White house and the Washington Monument then back towards the capital building and our hotel. Mark was a great tour guide and we shared alot of family and business stories during our walk. I went to dinner with two others from the group and had a wonderful time there as well. On Tuesday we all gathered at Clyde's for lunch and our assignments. Some of the group had already been in meetings with the Homeland Security Department. I was in charge of a group that went to the National Endowment for the Arts for a meeting with key staff and hopefully the chairman of the NEA Rocco Landesman for a few minutes. Just before we arrived the NEA contacted the group and said our meeting had been moved to the Chairman's office. We were escorted their by NEA staff member Pepper Smith who had written the wonderful cover story article about Market House Theatre in the NEA magazine this quarter. We went into a conference room and then met with Pepper, Jaimie Bennet public relations director and Chairman Rocco Landesman for almost 30 minutes. It was a terrific meeting and we got a promise from Chairman Landesman that he would come to visit Paducah within the next fiscal year. We also talked about support for state arts councils and how that funding filters down to community organizations and about local projects in Paducah that were models for the rest of the country. We left feeling terrific about the meeting. We grabbed a cab and then headed to the capital building and met up with the rest of our group for a meeting with Senator McConnel and Representative Whitfield. We grabbed the tour bus back to the hotel and then madly changed into black tie formal attire for the Kentucky Society Dinner honoring Elaine Chao. At the cocktail party I spent time talking to the Chairman of USEC and thanked him for the local sponsorship of Cinderella. I talked with Senator Bunning, and several staff members for Congressmen and Senators at the reception and then we headed down to the dinner. At the dinner I was at a side entrance and turned around to suddenly be face to face with Senator McConnel and his wife Elaine Chao. I had a nice exchange about the theatre with the Senator and Secretary Chao and then we headed into the ballroom.
I had to fly back Wednesday morning to be here for the Dress rehearsal of the Curtain Call auction winners for Cinderella. All I can say after the Dress Rehearsal is that this is a performance you won't want to miss. The "guest stars" all did a great job and there were several times that the cast could not go on for a few moments because they were trying to maintain their character. When City Commissioner Richard Abraham appeared in a gold lame dress and boa and sang Falderall and Fiddly De Dee to Cinderella and danced he brought the house down. John Williams Jr also brought the house down in his Burgundy dress, wig and crown in his duet with Tom Miller of "Boys and Girls like you and Me".
Tonight we go back into performance mode with the regular cast of Cinderella as we move through the final weekend of performances. I'm trying to work through the annual Golden Screw Awards for the Annual Meeting next Monday and Picnic at Keiler Park. I hope to see everyone at the picnic next Monday at 5:30 pm. Bring a dish to pass and the theatre provides BBQ and Fried Chicken and Soft Drinks for the main course.
April Cochran has the Aladdin camp in full swing this week every morning and that performs the weekend after Cinderella closes. There is a lot going on behind the scenes at MHT as we wrap up June and the end of our 46th Season.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Cinderella Opening
Tonight is the opening of Cinderella Enchanted by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Theatre is a collaborative art form where many people work together to make something that is greater than the individual could do on their own. Director Bonnie Daniels has done a terrific job of bringing this updated classic to life along with very talented leads and a strong chorus. The show has some more modern costumes, props, and lines that may at first puzzle a few audience members comparing it to the Disney version of the show but the classic story comes through loud and strong.
The concept for the show was to give the costumes a little bit of fun modern touch to a few of the characters. Audience will see the Fairy Godmother who arrives in the pumpkin patch in a 1920's style costume to go along with her lines about having done the traditional fairy godmother thing with the wand but now prefers to standout from the crowd. At one moment the prince and his steward does a fist bump and in the following scene the prince is practicing his baseball pitching with a modern ball and glove. These are just a few of the changes that were made conceptually to go along with some of the more modern language in the play. We hope that audiences will enjoy this elements that keeps this story fresh after hundreds of years. Jack and Natalia Cody who own Creatures of Habit have created beautiful costumes based on Bonnies suggestions for the show.
Kelly Salchli has done an outstanding job with the scenic painting. As the scenic and lighting designer I've given Kelly a broad outline of what I wanted painted as wall textures on the scenery and she has taken those ideas and created a beautiful look. Kelly is a much better painter than I am and she has added lots of depth and design to my original ideas. Cast members have popped in during the past week and helped paint. Denise Bohle helped out yesterday and is back again today working on the fireplace and the large pumpkin carriage.
Part of the design was to go very minimal and theatrical with the furniture for the show. I gave Jim Keeney some illustrations of what I wanted built for furniture and he has done a wonderful job of creating the framework and ornamental wood pieces along with the upholstery.
Cindy Miller who is the musical director has worked tirelessly with the cast and musicians to create a very strong musical production. She has worked hard to bring out the voices and to work with a 6 piece orchestra to create a rich sound without over powering the actors. We have area choral microphones but not wireless individual microphones for the cast so balance is critical to being able to hear the performance. Bonnie and Cindy have worked very hard on diction and enunciation for the actors to be heard by the audience.
Two days ago I had a moment that I had been dreading would happen. Tony Vancil with Action Audio has been extremely gracious in loaning his large rear projection screen to the theatre over the past several years when ever we needed it. I knew that one day we would be depending on the screen and he would have it rented some place else. Tony stopped by Tuesday to tell me he needed his screen for next weekend. My heart stopped as we are very dependent on that screen for Cinderella. Tony sells equipment and was able to get me a great price on a new screen and get it here between opening and second week of the run. Sunday we will strike his screen and return it to him and Wednesday our new screen will come in and we will install it for the Thursday night show. That was an unanticipated $1,700 expense that we didn't see coming. We've done over a dozen shows with his screen and this was the first time he needed it during our run.
Today we are still doing lots of painting on the set. I'm still hanging several lights to try to fix "dark spots" that are created in the space between one light area on the stage and an adjacent area.
Tonight's opening should be outstanding and audiences will walk away with the beautiful love songs ringing in their ears and a renewed love for the story of Cinderella. Rodger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella Enchanted will rate up there with their other musicals like Oklahoma, The King and I, South Pacific, and so many others as a love story for all ages. There are over 40 people who have collaborated to make the production tonight come together and each of them have contributed something to make the show much better than we could have ever envisioned when we started. Call and get your tickets today for what will surely be a big hit!
The concept for the show was to give the costumes a little bit of fun modern touch to a few of the characters. Audience will see the Fairy Godmother who arrives in the pumpkin patch in a 1920's style costume to go along with her lines about having done the traditional fairy godmother thing with the wand but now prefers to standout from the crowd. At one moment the prince and his steward does a fist bump and in the following scene the prince is practicing his baseball pitching with a modern ball and glove. These are just a few of the changes that were made conceptually to go along with some of the more modern language in the play. We hope that audiences will enjoy this elements that keeps this story fresh after hundreds of years. Jack and Natalia Cody who own Creatures of Habit have created beautiful costumes based on Bonnies suggestions for the show.
Kelly Salchli has done an outstanding job with the scenic painting. As the scenic and lighting designer I've given Kelly a broad outline of what I wanted painted as wall textures on the scenery and she has taken those ideas and created a beautiful look. Kelly is a much better painter than I am and she has added lots of depth and design to my original ideas. Cast members have popped in during the past week and helped paint. Denise Bohle helped out yesterday and is back again today working on the fireplace and the large pumpkin carriage.
Part of the design was to go very minimal and theatrical with the furniture for the show. I gave Jim Keeney some illustrations of what I wanted built for furniture and he has done a wonderful job of creating the framework and ornamental wood pieces along with the upholstery.
Cindy Miller who is the musical director has worked tirelessly with the cast and musicians to create a very strong musical production. She has worked hard to bring out the voices and to work with a 6 piece orchestra to create a rich sound without over powering the actors. We have area choral microphones but not wireless individual microphones for the cast so balance is critical to being able to hear the performance. Bonnie and Cindy have worked very hard on diction and enunciation for the actors to be heard by the audience.
Two days ago I had a moment that I had been dreading would happen. Tony Vancil with Action Audio has been extremely gracious in loaning his large rear projection screen to the theatre over the past several years when ever we needed it. I knew that one day we would be depending on the screen and he would have it rented some place else. Tony stopped by Tuesday to tell me he needed his screen for next weekend. My heart stopped as we are very dependent on that screen for Cinderella. Tony sells equipment and was able to get me a great price on a new screen and get it here between opening and second week of the run. Sunday we will strike his screen and return it to him and Wednesday our new screen will come in and we will install it for the Thursday night show. That was an unanticipated $1,700 expense that we didn't see coming. We've done over a dozen shows with his screen and this was the first time he needed it during our run.
Today we are still doing lots of painting on the set. I'm still hanging several lights to try to fix "dark spots" that are created in the space between one light area on the stage and an adjacent area.
Tonight's opening should be outstanding and audiences will walk away with the beautiful love songs ringing in their ears and a renewed love for the story of Cinderella. Rodger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella Enchanted will rate up there with their other musicals like Oklahoma, The King and I, South Pacific, and so many others as a love story for all ages. There are over 40 people who have collaborated to make the production tonight come together and each of them have contributed something to make the show much better than we could have ever envisioned when we started. Call and get your tickets today for what will surely be a big hit!
Monday, May 24, 2010
Studio theatre and Lowertown
This weekend were jumping between events as usual. Friday afternoon Jim Keeney and Aaron Spoden set up the Market House informational tent at the Lowertown Art and Music Festival. That all happened while I was at Lone Oak Elementary performing Pied Pipers final shows. Saturday morning April had her dress rehearsal of the Footlights Elementary Troupe musical in the Studio Theatre. Joey Judd was having a run through of the Footlights Troupe High School Improv show in the Studio Theatre. We checked in on the Lowertown Festival during the day and prepared for The Way Home performance on Saturday night in the Studio Theatre.
Saturday evenings performance of The Way Home was terrific. The studio theatre was about 80% capacity for the benefit performance and a nice reception was held afterwards next door at Two Street Studio. About $1,000 was raised to help local artist Sarah Roush with her medical bills as she battles cancer.
Sunday saw the Lower Town Festival for its final day. The temperature was sizzling in the mid 90's on the blacktop streets but lots of people came by the MHT booth over the weekend and got information on classes and shows. Sunday afternoon Cinderella had a run through and I took some rehearsal Flip Video which I'll post on the face book pages and the MHT website.
Wednesday evening is the MHT board meeting. We are in the last two months of our fiscal year and are working on board nominations for next year and budgeting. This week will have lots of long days as we are in the final push for Cinderella. We bring in the costumes on Thursday evening and have the full tech rehearsal on Sunday.
I was disappointed to read in the Paducah Sun yesterday that the County government has decided not to fund the arts request. It takes time to show that the benefits of arts funding is just as important as recreational sports funding. While soccer and baseball got some limited funding the arts did not. Hopefully next year we can make our case again. The arts in Paducah returns $6 in local tax revenue for every $1 local government invests in the arts. In tough economic times people tend to view the arts as a luxury and not as an economic growth engine. We are making some headway but we obviously still have a long way to go to get that message out.
Saturday evenings performance of The Way Home was terrific. The studio theatre was about 80% capacity for the benefit performance and a nice reception was held afterwards next door at Two Street Studio. About $1,000 was raised to help local artist Sarah Roush with her medical bills as she battles cancer.
Sunday saw the Lower Town Festival for its final day. The temperature was sizzling in the mid 90's on the blacktop streets but lots of people came by the MHT booth over the weekend and got information on classes and shows. Sunday afternoon Cinderella had a run through and I took some rehearsal Flip Video which I'll post on the face book pages and the MHT website.
Wednesday evening is the MHT board meeting. We are in the last two months of our fiscal year and are working on board nominations for next year and budgeting. This week will have lots of long days as we are in the final push for Cinderella. We bring in the costumes on Thursday evening and have the full tech rehearsal on Sunday.
I was disappointed to read in the Paducah Sun yesterday that the County government has decided not to fund the arts request. It takes time to show that the benefits of arts funding is just as important as recreational sports funding. While soccer and baseball got some limited funding the arts did not. Hopefully next year we can make our case again. The arts in Paducah returns $6 in local tax revenue for every $1 local government invests in the arts. In tough economic times people tend to view the arts as a luxury and not as an economic growth engine. We are making some headway but we obviously still have a long way to go to get that message out.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Printer, Piper, Pieces of Cinderella and Couches
I met with Cinderella director Bonnie Daniels on Wednesday and we further refined some of the furniture that we are building for Cinderella.
On Thursday morning we finished up the newsletter and got it off to the printer. Cindy Miller and Sarah Bynum combined to write the newsletter and I put in the photos and did the final layout to send it to the printer. Newspaper ad reps came by and tried to get me to commit to various size contracts for the year. Our new budget doesn't begin until July 1 so I can't commit to anything right now without that being finalized. We pay the "benevolent rate" of $19 per column inch. For those that don't know that means we pay over $400 per color ad in local papers. That really starts adding up.
During the day yesterday we met with a prospective board member nominee. President Cindy Miller and I along with members of the nominating committee meet with various candidates to give them an in depth briefing on the condition of the theater and on what is required for board service. So far the committee has met with 2 of the 4 potential nominees. The nominating committee must present the slate at the May 26 meeting to be voted on so it can be presented at the Family Reunion Picnic for approval. The budget committee set up a meeting for next week as we try to hammer out a budget for next season. Like all groups there is never enough money to do all the things that we would like to do.
Cindy Miller, Heather Overby and Pam Benzing have been trying to find simple items that MHT could sell as a fundraiser in conjunction with the performance of Cinderella. They've settled on a couple of fun items that won't cost much to sell.
Thursday night I attended the rehearsal of The Way Home which is the spoken opera by Constance Alexander. The show will perform Saturday May 22 at 7:30 pm and all proceeds will go the Sarah Roush fund at Paducah Bank to help in her battle against cancer. They were missing one of the actors last night so April read in the part. I was there to watch for lighting design and help April with some ideas for the projections. It is an interesting script because you have three women and a chorus of three women. The chorus at times comments on the action and at other times fills in as additional characters. I found the script very moving at moments with humorous moments in several spots. We are trying to get the word out and hopefully we will have a good turnout for the event.
This morning began with a meeting at Etcetera coffee shop with some of the directors of arts groups meeting with the new conductor of the Paducah Symphony Orchestra. Maestro Ponti (hope I spelled that right) is a very enthusiastic gentleman who is looking for lots of different ways for all of the arts to work together. I came in late but was still impressed with his desire for collaboration. As the meeting ended I spent some time with Jim Keeney looking at the couch he was building for Cinderella. We cut down the size a little to help it move easily on and off the stage. JIm asked me to pick out fabric for the upholstery as soon as possible so he could finish up the build.
Then it was off to Murray Kentucky and two performances of the Pied Piper with cast members Julie Price, Miki Abraham, and Sydney Hughes. We stopped off at Culvers which is Julie's absolute favorite to grab some lunch before the shows. Our directions to the school were a little off but we managed to find it without too much trouble. As we unloaded the set one of the wheels which had been falling off of the table on a regular basis decided to split out the wood that it was barely sitting in. We got the set onstage and propped the table up with the wheel so it looked normal. Unfortunately Miki decided to punctuate one of her lines with a bang on the table and the wheel fell off the table causing it to tilt back off its' front wheels. We made it through the first show without any more serious damage and were able to remove all the wheels from the table before the second show. As we started to pack up the rain began to fall and we pulled the van as close as we could to the gym door and loaded the set back in for the drive back to Paducah.
We went through the drive through at Culvers on the way out of Murray and picked up ice cream and coffee for the cast. Then it was back to Paducah.
We are still finishing up the program for Cinderella. That will be the next big printing task to be completed for the show. Marsha Cash is going through he current list of donors trying to put them in order for the donations listing. Wile the cast has assembled their photos and bios we are still collecting photos and bios from the orchestra and the crew. Cindy Miller has been working on a new business brochure listing all of the options for support. That has to get approved by the board before we can go to press with it since we have some changes that are recommended. Jennifer Hughes has assembled a group of people to man the MHT booth at the Lower Town Festival on May 21-23.
Several of the auction winners from the Curtain Call auction have come in this week to be measured for their costume. Next Wednesday the Heath High School coach will put on a dress and perform for the Heath high school student body in a scene from the show that we are taking to Heath High. The Heath students were the winners of our school competition to raise funds to get their coach as a "Lady in Waiting
The pressure is building as we are now less than 3 weeks from opening Cinderella.
On Thursday morning we finished up the newsletter and got it off to the printer. Cindy Miller and Sarah Bynum combined to write the newsletter and I put in the photos and did the final layout to send it to the printer. Newspaper ad reps came by and tried to get me to commit to various size contracts for the year. Our new budget doesn't begin until July 1 so I can't commit to anything right now without that being finalized. We pay the "benevolent rate" of $19 per column inch. For those that don't know that means we pay over $400 per color ad in local papers. That really starts adding up.
During the day yesterday we met with a prospective board member nominee. President Cindy Miller and I along with members of the nominating committee meet with various candidates to give them an in depth briefing on the condition of the theater and on what is required for board service. So far the committee has met with 2 of the 4 potential nominees. The nominating committee must present the slate at the May 26 meeting to be voted on so it can be presented at the Family Reunion Picnic for approval. The budget committee set up a meeting for next week as we try to hammer out a budget for next season. Like all groups there is never enough money to do all the things that we would like to do.
Cindy Miller, Heather Overby and Pam Benzing have been trying to find simple items that MHT could sell as a fundraiser in conjunction with the performance of Cinderella. They've settled on a couple of fun items that won't cost much to sell.
Thursday night I attended the rehearsal of The Way Home which is the spoken opera by Constance Alexander. The show will perform Saturday May 22 at 7:30 pm and all proceeds will go the Sarah Roush fund at Paducah Bank to help in her battle against cancer. They were missing one of the actors last night so April read in the part. I was there to watch for lighting design and help April with some ideas for the projections. It is an interesting script because you have three women and a chorus of three women. The chorus at times comments on the action and at other times fills in as additional characters. I found the script very moving at moments with humorous moments in several spots. We are trying to get the word out and hopefully we will have a good turnout for the event.
This morning began with a meeting at Etcetera coffee shop with some of the directors of arts groups meeting with the new conductor of the Paducah Symphony Orchestra. Maestro Ponti (hope I spelled that right) is a very enthusiastic gentleman who is looking for lots of different ways for all of the arts to work together. I came in late but was still impressed with his desire for collaboration. As the meeting ended I spent some time with Jim Keeney looking at the couch he was building for Cinderella. We cut down the size a little to help it move easily on and off the stage. JIm asked me to pick out fabric for the upholstery as soon as possible so he could finish up the build.
Then it was off to Murray Kentucky and two performances of the Pied Piper with cast members Julie Price, Miki Abraham, and Sydney Hughes. We stopped off at Culvers which is Julie's absolute favorite to grab some lunch before the shows. Our directions to the school were a little off but we managed to find it without too much trouble. As we unloaded the set one of the wheels which had been falling off of the table on a regular basis decided to split out the wood that it was barely sitting in. We got the set onstage and propped the table up with the wheel so it looked normal. Unfortunately Miki decided to punctuate one of her lines with a bang on the table and the wheel fell off the table causing it to tilt back off its' front wheels. We made it through the first show without any more serious damage and were able to remove all the wheels from the table before the second show. As we started to pack up the rain began to fall and we pulled the van as close as we could to the gym door and loaded the set back in for the drive back to Paducah.
We went through the drive through at Culvers on the way out of Murray and picked up ice cream and coffee for the cast. Then it was back to Paducah.
We are still finishing up the program for Cinderella. That will be the next big printing task to be completed for the show. Marsha Cash is going through he current list of donors trying to put them in order for the donations listing. Wile the cast has assembled their photos and bios we are still collecting photos and bios from the orchestra and the crew. Cindy Miller has been working on a new business brochure listing all of the options for support. That has to get approved by the board before we can go to press with it since we have some changes that are recommended. Jennifer Hughes has assembled a group of people to man the MHT booth at the Lower Town Festival on May 21-23.
Several of the auction winners from the Curtain Call auction have come in this week to be measured for their costume. Next Wednesday the Heath High School coach will put on a dress and perform for the Heath high school student body in a scene from the show that we are taking to Heath High. The Heath students were the winners of our school competition to raise funds to get their coach as a "Lady in Waiting
The pressure is building as we are now less than 3 weeks from opening Cinderella.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Fiscal Court and Cinderella
I have been working hard this past week culminating today with a meeting at 11:30 am with Basil Drossos and Brian Laczko, Darlene Dryer, May Louise Zumwalt, Landee Bryant, Julie Harris, and Michael Crouse where we worked out a formula for a unified ask of the McCracken County Fiscal Court for funding. This was a difficult task because each group had individually asked the City of Paducah for funding. The McCracken County Court asked us to present it as one unified voice for funding. We looked at the local tax return on the arts and culture organizations investment and found out that it was 17%. We took half of that return, 8.5%, and rounded that down to 7%. Then we asked the County to fund half of that or 3.5% of the organizations total operating expenses. Last year organizations received on the average about 7% of our operating expenses in funding from the city of Paducah. some organizations received a much larger percentage of budget and others a much smaller percentage. Hopefully this formula will work out the inequities in that request format. Basil Drossos did a great job tonight at the fiscal court meeting as a neutral presenter of our proposal. The Fiscal court asked lots of good questions and we discussed how the economy has impacted all of the organizations. Hopefully the fiscal court will be able to find some money for funding our request and hopefully the city will be able to do the same. The funding we might receive will make the difference between operating at a loss and breaking even. This year MHT eliminated a staff position because of a reduced funding from the Kentucky Arts Council and a drop in corporate sponsors. Many of our long time sponsors had to drop to lower levels of support due to the loss of income in their corporate spending. Hopefully 2010 will see a little better economy. We have seen small signs of growth in our ticket sales for this current year.
Cinderella is onstage (finally) We had a murder mystery and the McCracken County Gifted Talented show in the theatre after Wedding Belles closed. The Cinderella company had been rehearsing across the street in the classroom waiting to move onstage.
April had a rehearsal tonight of The Way Home which is a spoken opera written by Constance Alexander. She has a group of terrific actresses line up to do the benefit performance of the show on Saturday May 22 at 7:30 pm. All proceeds will go to help Sarah Roush with her medical costs.
I got in a couple of scripts from various publishing houses. I had great hopes for the 80's Prom show which was styled on the lines of Tony N Tina's Wedding. Unfortunately the majority of the cast is in their 20's play teenagers. It's fun to do a show like that which goes back in time and you get to relive your Prom. We had a large group of actors in their 20's and 30's when we did Tony N Tina's Wedding. Now most of our actors are under 20 and older than 40. We need more performers in their 20's in order to do a show like 80's Prom Night.
Story Theatre's The Pied Piper kicks off again tomorrow with a performance at Morgan Elementary at 9 am tomorrow morning. You can tell it's getting close to the end of the school year.
MHT will participate again this year in the Fred Paxton Fund Run for Charities. Our goal is to raise $10,000 and get matched that amount. If we can do that we should be close to $100,000 in our endowment. We are also working to kick off a planned giving society. This would be a society that features the names of those in our community which have named Market House Theatre in their will. Look for more details about the fund run and the society in the next newsletter coming out soon.
Cinderella is onstage (finally) We had a murder mystery and the McCracken County Gifted Talented show in the theatre after Wedding Belles closed. The Cinderella company had been rehearsing across the street in the classroom waiting to move onstage.
April had a rehearsal tonight of The Way Home which is a spoken opera written by Constance Alexander. She has a group of terrific actresses line up to do the benefit performance of the show on Saturday May 22 at 7:30 pm. All proceeds will go to help Sarah Roush with her medical costs.
I got in a couple of scripts from various publishing houses. I had great hopes for the 80's Prom show which was styled on the lines of Tony N Tina's Wedding. Unfortunately the majority of the cast is in their 20's play teenagers. It's fun to do a show like that which goes back in time and you get to relive your Prom. We had a large group of actors in their 20's and 30's when we did Tony N Tina's Wedding. Now most of our actors are under 20 and older than 40. We need more performers in their 20's in order to do a show like 80's Prom Night.
Story Theatre's The Pied Piper kicks off again tomorrow with a performance at Morgan Elementary at 9 am tomorrow morning. You can tell it's getting close to the end of the school year.
MHT will participate again this year in the Fred Paxton Fund Run for Charities. Our goal is to raise $10,000 and get matched that amount. If we can do that we should be close to $100,000 in our endowment. We are also working to kick off a planned giving society. This would be a society that features the names of those in our community which have named Market House Theatre in their will. Look for more details about the fund run and the society in the next newsletter coming out soon.
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