It is only the 8th of March but it feels like a month has already gone by. We closed The Hundred Dresses on Feb. 28 with school matinees and no sooner did we get the set taken down that day then the theatre filled up that night with over 75 youth auditioning for ANNIE. The following night we had almost 30 teens and adults audition for ANNIE. The show calls for 8 children and over 25 adults. I worked hard to cut the 100 plus auditionees down to 25 children and 25 teens and adults for call backs. It was a very difficult decision on who to cast in many of the roles. I narrowed it down to the 7-8 strongest singers for the kids roles and then selected my choice for Annie from among the top 5 singers. Chanyng Floyd was selected for the role of Annie. This was the first time I've ever met Chanyng and was impressed by her strong dance, singing and acting abilities. I think she'll do a great job. I added three more kids as orphans from the most expressive kids who auditioned. I chose 10 orphans total because that was 5 bunk beds on the stage for the first scene and I felt that was all I could fit for the big Hard Knock Life dance number and keep everyone visible. I wish I could have cast 10 more! For the adults I only had 8 men audition for over a dozen parts. I will be trying to double and triple cast some of those men. I was fortunate that we had lots of talented men who auditioned and I could have cast the lead roles in a couple of different ways. For the women's roles two of the leads also went to first time auditionees- Kelly Ann Rathunde and Amy Perdue will play Miss Hannigan and Grace. Both gave very strong auditions and I feel they will do a great job.
We had an unusually large number of families with two or more auditioning for the show. With the limited stage space for the orphans I had to make some tough choices and not cast some family members while casting others. This was something that I felt really bad about. We have 6 families with two people in the cast. Kelly Ann Rathunde and her daughter Aubrianne, Amy Perdue and her daughter Ally, Scott Salchli and his daughter Belle, Chuck Wilkins and his wife Lisa, Chip Bohle and his wife Denise, and Roy Hensel and his daughter Emily. Each of these family members were cast independent of each other and it was quite a surprise when I discoverd that we had so many families represented. We had a couple of other first time auditionees that really impressed me- Heather Tomko and Adrianne Gleeson. Market House Theatre is blessed with a great deal of talent. We have cast members from Carbondale, Murray, and Benton. MHT is truly a regional theatre.
No sooner did I have call backs and we were taking out the chairs and putting in tables and individual chairs for the Curtain Call fundraiser Friday night. The theatre raised over $13,400 from the live and silent auction without ticket revenue from the event. Several cameo roles were auctioned off in live and silent auctions along with vacation packages and lake get away packages. A huge thank you goes to every who supported the theatre by buying a ticket and bidding on the auction packages. Several restaurants graciously donated the food and a truly hard working committee of volunteers put together auction packages and decorated the theatre for the event. Paducah Bank held a competition for an orphan girl role along with Elaine Spaulding and Mary Hammond. Elaine won a role along with Paducah Bank. Elaine and Mary graciously gave their role to a little girl who auditioned for Annie but didn't get into the final cast. Some of the large roles that were auctioned off for the one night only performance of Annie. Surprise winners were WPSD Vice President of Sales, David Jernigan, who will don a red wig and a dress as Annie to sing Tomorrow, April and Michael Cochran who the crowd all chipped in to buy the role of Miss Hanigan for April and Daddy Warbuck for me. April and I were both honored and extremely flattered by the generosity of the auction bidders in purchasing those parts for us. Don and Renie Barger purchased the role of Sandy the dog. Renie says she has a Dalmatian costume and can't wait to be Sandy for the special performance!
At the Curtain Call event we presented Todd Duff with a plaque honoring his $7,000 fund raising events of Magic shows and the finale performance of Stage to Street. After presenting the plaque to Todd it was time to announce the 48th Season lineup.
In September 2011, MHT will kick off the season with the Tony award winning musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. This is a very funny show about kids (played by adults) at a spelling bee. The audience in addition gets to be contestants in the spelling bee as well! October 2011, MHT's Theatre for Youth presents Charlotte's Web about Wilbur, Charlotte and Templeton. November 2011, MHT is thrilled to be one of the first community theatres in our area to produce The 39 Steps. This Hitchcock thriller combines Monty Pythonesque humor with a tingling spy thriller. Four performers play all 150 parts in the play with lots of special effects including plane crashes on stage! January 2012, during a break in hunting season MHT will produce the hysterical hunting comedy Escanaba in da Moonlight. A tale of the Soady family father and his adult sons who are out to overcome the shame of the oldest son never having bagged a buck. This is the hunting story that beats all other hunting stories and a riotous comedy. February 2012, brings MHT's Theatre for Youth The Adventures of Nate the Great. A young boy dons a fedora and takes on all the neighborhood mysteries. In April 2012 the romantic comedy Getting Sara Married takes the stage with a very funny comedy about a young woman who's Aunt kidnaps a young man has him bopped on the head and delivered to her niece's door. The Aunt thinks that he would make the perfect groom for her niece. After several concussions and lots of comedy the Aunt may be right. Wrapping up the season in June 2012 will be the hit musical Hairspray! Can Tracy find true love and integrate the Corny Collins show!
The Curtain Call Event was a big success and before the last audience members left from the event a group of staff and volunteers tore down the tables and chairs and reset the seats for the show that happens on Thursday of this week. But that didn't wrap up the week. On Saturday night a group of 10 in the Murder for Hire troupe left in two vehicles with a sound system and a set and drove to Caldwell County HS in Princeton and presented The Phantom of Princeton. A murder mystery play with a clue hunt that will be presented at the Market House as a dinner theatre on March 18 & 19.
Monday and Tuesday of this week April held auditions for EAT (It's Not About Food). Also on Monday the first rehearsal of Dixie Swim Club was held. Five separate events in 8 days!
Tomorrow McCracken County Gifted and Talented student will do their final rehearsal at the theatre for their performance on Thursday night. March is certainly coming in like a Lion as far as MHT is concerned.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
February 23 2011
This has been an incredibly active month behind the scenes at the theatre. Since The Complete Works of William Shakespeare closed on Jan. 23 we have presented Todd Duff and his performance of from Stage to Street, rented the theatre to Bawn in the Mash, started rehearsals for Phantom of the Market House Theatre Murder Mystery, auditioned Dixie Swim Club, and had lots of meetings about our big Curtain Call Fundraising event for Annie coming up March 4.
The Hundred Dresses will have it's first performance tomorrow morning with two school matinees followed by an evening show that night. Over the next 5 days the Hundred dresses will average 2-3 performances per day. That is the equivalent of an entire 2 week run for our mainstage shows into 1 weekend. There is a mix of newcomers and experienced MHT youth and adult actors in the production.
As with most youth productions we are struggling with all of the scenic changes and technical elements which are prominent in books for young audiences. Dozens of location changes, day dream sequences out of reality, and how to bring a book to life onstage. April has been working day and night in addition to her teaching schedule at the schools to create the music for the production. She uses a variety of sound effects and musical underscoring to set the tone of the play. I am always amazed at her ability to create a sound track for the youth productions and her ability to set just the right mood with just the right piece of music which only comes from hours of painstaking work. It has also been a challenge to create a set that changes locations so many times without slowing down the pace of the show with scene changes. April wanted a basic set that wasn't set in any specific location and to use certain areas of the stage for the school, a home, an abandoned house, the woods, etc... I designed a set with the idea that the walls would be representative like a small town quilt. Artist Theresa Perry has taken some quilt paintings that I found online and transferred those onto the set walls to give the feeling of a rural town in the 1930's. As with every show you take 2 steps forward each day and 1 step back. Things that you create during the day then have to be readjusted and redone after you see them onstage that night with the cast in a rehearsal. The creative process is rarely straight forward and ends up often with lots of trial and error which takes time yet that opening performance clock is counting down quickly.
The Curtain Call Committee chaired by past MHT President Valerie Pollard has been working very hard to come up with great auction items for the fundraiser a week from this Friday. Mary Hammond and Elaine Spaulding are raising money for the theatre to compete for one of the roles of the "oldest" orphan girl in the opening number "Hard Knock Life" in the show. There are so many committee members I can't even begin to name them all. Auction packages of vacation get away's, girl's night out, fishing parties, a day on boat at Kentucky lake, and many more will be auctioned off that night. In addition several cameo roles for the June 18 performance of Annie will be auctioned. There will be lots of great food along with beer and wine at the event and limited tickets are on sale at the box office.
Last night the arts and culture organization of Paducah/McCracken County went to the fiscal court budget workshop to request funding in the economic incentive funds. The commissioners asked lots of questions and got lots of information about all of the jobs and economic impact that the arts groups have in our community. We will hopefully hear more from the Fiscal Court in the next few months as to our possibilities for support. In total the 5 organizations last night will spend $5.5 million during the course of the year. That is paid for from tickets, fundraising events, individual and corporate donations, and support from local, state and federal government funding. The recent bills in the US House of Representatives have offered cuts of 25% to National Endowment for the Arts funding. NEA funding makes up about 15% of what the Kentucky Arts Council grants to local arts organizations. With budget cuts at the federal and state levels expected, arts groups are really struggling with providing services and programming at accessible prices for all in the community. It is the education programming that is the most subsidized by government grant money. Many groups like MHT have kept their student prices extremely low. Our children's ticket prices for youth shows have only gone up 50 cents per child over the past 10 years. Our story theatre shows have only gone up 25 cents per child over the past 10 years. When governments cut grant funding these are the programs that are hit the hardest.
Next Monday and Tuesday are auditions for Annie. I meeting today with Musical Director Doug Arnold and talked last week with Choreographer Katy Miller to prepare for the auditions. We've had lots of interest and expect a big turnout next week. The children audition on Monday night and the adults on Tuesday night.
The February Board of Directors meeting will be tonight at 5:30 in the box office lobby. They will be hearing from the Curtain call committee on last minute items left to do for the fundraiser next week and having an in depth discussion about MHT facilities and our current needs.
Life is never dull at MHT! We hope to see you at The Hundred Dresses and Curtain Call!
The Hundred Dresses will have it's first performance tomorrow morning with two school matinees followed by an evening show that night. Over the next 5 days the Hundred dresses will average 2-3 performances per day. That is the equivalent of an entire 2 week run for our mainstage shows into 1 weekend. There is a mix of newcomers and experienced MHT youth and adult actors in the production.
As with most youth productions we are struggling with all of the scenic changes and technical elements which are prominent in books for young audiences. Dozens of location changes, day dream sequences out of reality, and how to bring a book to life onstage. April has been working day and night in addition to her teaching schedule at the schools to create the music for the production. She uses a variety of sound effects and musical underscoring to set the tone of the play. I am always amazed at her ability to create a sound track for the youth productions and her ability to set just the right mood with just the right piece of music which only comes from hours of painstaking work. It has also been a challenge to create a set that changes locations so many times without slowing down the pace of the show with scene changes. April wanted a basic set that wasn't set in any specific location and to use certain areas of the stage for the school, a home, an abandoned house, the woods, etc... I designed a set with the idea that the walls would be representative like a small town quilt. Artist Theresa Perry has taken some quilt paintings that I found online and transferred those onto the set walls to give the feeling of a rural town in the 1930's. As with every show you take 2 steps forward each day and 1 step back. Things that you create during the day then have to be readjusted and redone after you see them onstage that night with the cast in a rehearsal. The creative process is rarely straight forward and ends up often with lots of trial and error which takes time yet that opening performance clock is counting down quickly.
The Curtain Call Committee chaired by past MHT President Valerie Pollard has been working very hard to come up with great auction items for the fundraiser a week from this Friday. Mary Hammond and Elaine Spaulding are raising money for the theatre to compete for one of the roles of the "oldest" orphan girl in the opening number "Hard Knock Life" in the show. There are so many committee members I can't even begin to name them all. Auction packages of vacation get away's, girl's night out, fishing parties, a day on boat at Kentucky lake, and many more will be auctioned off that night. In addition several cameo roles for the June 18 performance of Annie will be auctioned. There will be lots of great food along with beer and wine at the event and limited tickets are on sale at the box office.
Last night the arts and culture organization of Paducah/McCracken County went to the fiscal court budget workshop to request funding in the economic incentive funds. The commissioners asked lots of questions and got lots of information about all of the jobs and economic impact that the arts groups have in our community. We will hopefully hear more from the Fiscal Court in the next few months as to our possibilities for support. In total the 5 organizations last night will spend $5.5 million during the course of the year. That is paid for from tickets, fundraising events, individual and corporate donations, and support from local, state and federal government funding. The recent bills in the US House of Representatives have offered cuts of 25% to National Endowment for the Arts funding. NEA funding makes up about 15% of what the Kentucky Arts Council grants to local arts organizations. With budget cuts at the federal and state levels expected, arts groups are really struggling with providing services and programming at accessible prices for all in the community. It is the education programming that is the most subsidized by government grant money. Many groups like MHT have kept their student prices extremely low. Our children's ticket prices for youth shows have only gone up 50 cents per child over the past 10 years. Our story theatre shows have only gone up 25 cents per child over the past 10 years. When governments cut grant funding these are the programs that are hit the hardest.
Next Monday and Tuesday are auditions for Annie. I meeting today with Musical Director Doug Arnold and talked last week with Choreographer Katy Miller to prepare for the auditions. We've had lots of interest and expect a big turnout next week. The children audition on Monday night and the adults on Tuesday night.
The February Board of Directors meeting will be tonight at 5:30 in the box office lobby. They will be hearing from the Curtain call committee on last minute items left to do for the fundraiser next week and having an in depth discussion about MHT facilities and our current needs.
Life is never dull at MHT! We hope to see you at The Hundred Dresses and Curtain Call!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Jan. 30 2011
A lot has happened since my last post and it seems I just posted! Complete Works of William Shakespeare had a wonderful performance run. Steve, Al, and Chuck really outdid themselves and the audiences were very responsive.
The Kentucky Arts Council Grant was submitted on Jan. 15 after about a week of work. I wrote on Facebook that no matter how much prep time I get in I'm still always down to the wire to get it submitted.
In the middle of the run of Complete Works we learned that long time MHT actress and friend Mary Margaret Hoffman passed away. The service was held on the Saturday morning before Complete Works of Shakespeare shows that afternoon and evening. I spoke with Mary Margaret's niece Mary and we arranged to have lots of photos and the painting that is hanging in our lobby at the funeral. Thank you to Betty Wise who went through the photo albums to find pictures of Mary Margaret. I went through the boxes of old publicity photos and found lots of candid shots. The theatre is looking for an appropriate way to honor Mary Margaret and her long connection to MHT. I hope to have something to announce very soon.
Auditions were held for the Dixie Swim Club and 11 talented women auditioned for 5 parts. Because of the smaller turnout for the two nights of auditions I was able to read everyone several times and was able to cast the show without callbacks. Newcomer Sandra Wilson will play Lexie. Veteran Sue Fletcher will play Vernadette, Cat Tilker will play Sheree, Marsha Cash plays Jeri Neal, and Victoria Parrish plays Dinah.
Todd Duff brought his talents to the MHT stage on Sat. Jan. 29 to a sold out audience with all tickets going to benefit MHT Youth and Outreach programming. Todd and Tiffany Gust did a wonderful performance and audiences were very enthusiastic. Todd had a dress rehearsal Friday night the 28 and after the rehearsal we reconfigured the theatre seating to give Todd better access to the audience. We took the seating that was created for The Complete Works and turned the front rows sideways so they faced the middle of the theatre. This put half of the audience withing 4 rows of Todd's performance. Todd and Tiffany did a great job adapting to the new setup. A huge Thank You goes to Todd for all his work raising over $7,000 for the theatre during November, December and January.
This afternoon (Sun. January 30) Bawn in the Mash rehearsed on the MHT stage for a couple of hours to prepare for their performance next Saturday night. They are really excited about their performance and the opening act Pokey LaFarge. In December we rented the theatre to the Doo Wop group for their Christmas show and agreed to rent the theatre to Bawn in the Mash. We have very few dates available for shows like this due to our heavy performance and rehearsal schedule but it seemed to work out well. The musical groups have really commented on how much they enjoy MHT's acoustics for a music.
April is working on several shows all at once in the school system. With all of the snow dates some of her after school rehearsals have been canceled and they are really getting tight on time. In addition The Hundred Dresses is in rehearsal.
We've had a couple of groups contact us about our Murder for Hire Troupe so we are looking at a couple of scripts right now to produce with performances in March.
The Board of Directors met last Wednesday and approved the slate of plays for next season. We will announce our 48th Season at the Curtain Call Auction on March 4. The board also continued to work on the Curtain Call event coming up and reviewing the results of our Webb Management consultant report. President Cindy Miller has formed a couple of "task forces" for certain areas and we will come back with the results on a board retreat on April 16.
We have just under a month until auditions for Annie and our Curtain Call fundraiser. The Curtain Call committee chaired by Valerie Pollard has developed some great themed auction items for the event and everyone is excited.
The Kentucky Arts Council Grant was submitted on Jan. 15 after about a week of work. I wrote on Facebook that no matter how much prep time I get in I'm still always down to the wire to get it submitted.
In the middle of the run of Complete Works we learned that long time MHT actress and friend Mary Margaret Hoffman passed away. The service was held on the Saturday morning before Complete Works of Shakespeare shows that afternoon and evening. I spoke with Mary Margaret's niece Mary and we arranged to have lots of photos and the painting that is hanging in our lobby at the funeral. Thank you to Betty Wise who went through the photo albums to find pictures of Mary Margaret. I went through the boxes of old publicity photos and found lots of candid shots. The theatre is looking for an appropriate way to honor Mary Margaret and her long connection to MHT. I hope to have something to announce very soon.
Auditions were held for the Dixie Swim Club and 11 talented women auditioned for 5 parts. Because of the smaller turnout for the two nights of auditions I was able to read everyone several times and was able to cast the show without callbacks. Newcomer Sandra Wilson will play Lexie. Veteran Sue Fletcher will play Vernadette, Cat Tilker will play Sheree, Marsha Cash plays Jeri Neal, and Victoria Parrish plays Dinah.
Todd Duff brought his talents to the MHT stage on Sat. Jan. 29 to a sold out audience with all tickets going to benefit MHT Youth and Outreach programming. Todd and Tiffany Gust did a wonderful performance and audiences were very enthusiastic. Todd had a dress rehearsal Friday night the 28 and after the rehearsal we reconfigured the theatre seating to give Todd better access to the audience. We took the seating that was created for The Complete Works and turned the front rows sideways so they faced the middle of the theatre. This put half of the audience withing 4 rows of Todd's performance. Todd and Tiffany did a great job adapting to the new setup. A huge Thank You goes to Todd for all his work raising over $7,000 for the theatre during November, December and January.
This afternoon (Sun. January 30) Bawn in the Mash rehearsed on the MHT stage for a couple of hours to prepare for their performance next Saturday night. They are really excited about their performance and the opening act Pokey LaFarge. In December we rented the theatre to the Doo Wop group for their Christmas show and agreed to rent the theatre to Bawn in the Mash. We have very few dates available for shows like this due to our heavy performance and rehearsal schedule but it seemed to work out well. The musical groups have really commented on how much they enjoy MHT's acoustics for a music.
April is working on several shows all at once in the school system. With all of the snow dates some of her after school rehearsals have been canceled and they are really getting tight on time. In addition The Hundred Dresses is in rehearsal.
We've had a couple of groups contact us about our Murder for Hire Troupe so we are looking at a couple of scripts right now to produce with performances in March.
The Board of Directors met last Wednesday and approved the slate of plays for next season. We will announce our 48th Season at the Curtain Call Auction on March 4. The board also continued to work on the Curtain Call event coming up and reviewing the results of our Webb Management consultant report. President Cindy Miller has formed a couple of "task forces" for certain areas and we will come back with the results on a board retreat on April 16.
We have just under a month until auditions for Annie and our Curtain Call fundraiser. The Curtain Call committee chaired by Valerie Pollard has developed some great themed auction items for the event and everyone is excited.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
1-11-11
It’s two days before opening for the Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged and the theatre was full of activity- but not from the Complete Works cast- they had the night off. Director Ross Daniels has the cast tuned up and ready for the opening and decided that what they really needed was a night off. A great deal of the show has the actors improvising with the audience. It is difficult to rehearse these sections without an audience and keep them lively so Ross suggested it and I agreed that a night off wasn’t a bad idea. This will also help the performers be fully rested for the performances this week. Crew members Denise Bristol, Diane Byrd and Kris Shanks have been refining their dresser duties backstage for the past week to make it seemless for the actors to walk offstage and immediately back on in a new costume. Lisa Wilkins and Jim Roush are running lights and sound for the show.
In the Classroom Tuesday night everything was buzzing with almost 70 auditionees trying out for roles in The Hundred Dresses. April said she had a great turnout with lots of really talented new people as well as the veteran youth and adult performers from past shows. Tonight was the second night of auditions for the show. As I write this April is busy pouring over the auditions forms looking at which actors might work well in the roles, looking at schedule conflicts listed the auditionees listed on their auditions sheets and trying to determine a call back list. The Hundred Dresses opens in about 6 weeks!
As many people already know Rhiannon Dodds McIntosh left the theatre after 7 years as a box office assistant over the Christmas break. Rhiannon found a job much closer to home and can now be home in the evenings with her son, daughter and new husband! We wish her the very best. We have had several calls and emails asking if we are going to hire someone to fill the vacant position. At the present time we are doing a thorough review of all the administrative duties and staffing positions. The last time we did a review was just before we hired Alexis as the Box Office Manager almost 5 years ago. After we finish our review we will post any open positions on our website and in this blog and seek applicants to fill the position or positions. We currently hope to have new staff in place and trained by the opening of The Hundred Dresses in February.
This week and last has also been spent working on plays and royalties for next season as well as writing the Kentucky Arts Council Grant for our next fiscal year. The grant is due Jan. 15 and it is always a race to get it submitted by the deadline. Each year I spend two weeks writing about the economic impact on our community, the 50+ jobs that MHT supports in the community, the 300+ performers and technical crew members at MHT, the over 40,000 people who participate in some manner in MHT programming, the money that is raised in local tax revenues for the city of Paducah from MHT programming and audience spending, and the 15-17 plays and productions created each year. The staff collects samples of our programs, advertising, and other things that we include with the grant to prove that we credit the Kentucky Arts Council for their funds and prove the quality of our programming. The same kind of grant writing for Kentucky Arts Council funding is happening at the Symphony, Carson Center, Yeiser, Maiden Alley Cinema, and Quilt Museum. In a continuing tradition of making my life difficult, this year’s ART’s DAY at the Kentucky Capitol building in Frankfort is once again the week we open a show- The Hundred Dresses.
Valerie Pollard and the Curtain Call Committee meet this week to start the intensive work until the first week of March and the auction to raise funds for the theatre by auctioning off roles in a special performance of ANNIE in June. I spent a couple hours today going through the Annie script and pulling out cameo roles that could be auctioned off. Each year it gets harder to top the previous year!
In the Classroom Tuesday night everything was buzzing with almost 70 auditionees trying out for roles in The Hundred Dresses. April said she had a great turnout with lots of really talented new people as well as the veteran youth and adult performers from past shows. Tonight was the second night of auditions for the show. As I write this April is busy pouring over the auditions forms looking at which actors might work well in the roles, looking at schedule conflicts listed the auditionees listed on their auditions sheets and trying to determine a call back list. The Hundred Dresses opens in about 6 weeks!
As many people already know Rhiannon Dodds McIntosh left the theatre after 7 years as a box office assistant over the Christmas break. Rhiannon found a job much closer to home and can now be home in the evenings with her son, daughter and new husband! We wish her the very best. We have had several calls and emails asking if we are going to hire someone to fill the vacant position. At the present time we are doing a thorough review of all the administrative duties and staffing positions. The last time we did a review was just before we hired Alexis as the Box Office Manager almost 5 years ago. After we finish our review we will post any open positions on our website and in this blog and seek applicants to fill the position or positions. We currently hope to have new staff in place and trained by the opening of The Hundred Dresses in February.
This week and last has also been spent working on plays and royalties for next season as well as writing the Kentucky Arts Council Grant for our next fiscal year. The grant is due Jan. 15 and it is always a race to get it submitted by the deadline. Each year I spend two weeks writing about the economic impact on our community, the 50+ jobs that MHT supports in the community, the 300+ performers and technical crew members at MHT, the over 40,000 people who participate in some manner in MHT programming, the money that is raised in local tax revenues for the city of Paducah from MHT programming and audience spending, and the 15-17 plays and productions created each year. The staff collects samples of our programs, advertising, and other things that we include with the grant to prove that we credit the Kentucky Arts Council for their funds and prove the quality of our programming. The same kind of grant writing for Kentucky Arts Council funding is happening at the Symphony, Carson Center, Yeiser, Maiden Alley Cinema, and Quilt Museum. In a continuing tradition of making my life difficult, this year’s ART’s DAY at the Kentucky Capitol building in Frankfort is once again the week we open a show- The Hundred Dresses.
Valerie Pollard and the Curtain Call Committee meet this week to start the intensive work until the first week of March and the auction to raise funds for the theatre by auctioning off roles in a special performance of ANNIE in June. I spent a couple hours today going through the Annie script and pulling out cameo roles that could be auctioned off. Each year it gets harder to top the previous year!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Christmas Eve Eve
It was 2:30 pm on December 23 and all through the house (Market House that is) not a creature was purring, not even a mouse (we've trapped them all).
The staff hung their stockings on the mantle (prop fireplace in the display window in front of the scene shop) with care in the hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
Marsha and Rhiannon were complaining to Michael. We need more time off for Christmas to prepare!
Janice was busy in her second floor shop, trying to find a pair of knickers for Chuck before we stop.
Jim was out bargaining for a ukelele for Ross. Who wants the actors to learn to play music without any props.
April was entertaining, now that school was out. She took Jade and a friend, to an afternoon movie bout.
Marsha was busy with Constant Contact. She's trying to import graphics, which gives her a pain in the back.
Rhiannon is sorting and delivering mail, she's also on the look out for anything with a tail.
Michael is in the office fixing websites and grants. He's drinking his coffee and shouting in rants.
The end of the day is coming quickly said he, I hope that we get all this stuff done by three!
So its off to the kennel! And off to the bank! Go dash to the post office and don't be a crank!
So to all Market House fans, both far and near, Have a Merry Merry Christmas and we'll see you next year!
The staff hung their stockings on the mantle (prop fireplace in the display window in front of the scene shop) with care in the hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
Marsha and Rhiannon were complaining to Michael. We need more time off for Christmas to prepare!
Janice was busy in her second floor shop, trying to find a pair of knickers for Chuck before we stop.
Jim was out bargaining for a ukelele for Ross. Who wants the actors to learn to play music without any props.
April was entertaining, now that school was out. She took Jade and a friend, to an afternoon movie bout.
Marsha was busy with Constant Contact. She's trying to import graphics, which gives her a pain in the back.
Rhiannon is sorting and delivering mail, she's also on the look out for anything with a tail.
Michael is in the office fixing websites and grants. He's drinking his coffee and shouting in rants.
The end of the day is coming quickly said he, I hope that we get all this stuff done by three!
So its off to the kennel! And off to the bank! Go dash to the post office and don't be a crank!
So to all Market House fans, both far and near, Have a Merry Merry Christmas and we'll see you next year!
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Mid Year Update
Yesterday we started experiencing some telephone equipment problems and will be working to correct those. If you call the theatre you may end up having to leave a message and we will return your call. We are having to bypass our telephone system in order to allow incoming calls to reach our box office during business hours without cutting them off. Its amazing what you can work around when you need to. Unfortunately our telephone equipment is almost 10 years old and is still operating on a Windows 95 computer system that we keep in the phone closet. We are investigating upgrading out system. We have certainly got our money's worth out of the system.
April is rushing around with classes in the schools while at the same time holding auditions for some of the school productions that she directs. Clark Elementary school will produce Cinderella Kids as their school play and she is holding auditions at the school this work along with the school music teacher Dale Julian. She recently had auditions at Lone Oak Elementary for a play she is working on there as well. April has so many different classes and plays going on that I can't keep up with her schedule.
Technical Director, Jim Keeney, is continuing to work on the Complete Works set and is also still trying to organize the warehouse. I'm really hoping that he gets some time to clean the scene shop. It's in desperate need of a cleaning after our hectic fall schedule. If anyone has some time to sort screws and do general clean up in the shop it would be greatly appreciated.
Business Manager Marsha Cash and Box Office Assistant Rhiannon McIntosh are still on the hunt for a mouse who has made the office its home. We've set out traps and other devices to try to rid ourselves of it. Today in the box office we heard paper behind one of the desks moving and when we investigated we found that our little friend was nibbling on our season ticket holder charts! While not playing mousetrap the office staff has been looking at colors and working with a printer on new ticket stock. We order about 25,000 blank tickets at a time and as we sell them they are printed with information. About every 18 months we have to order new stock. We've had pink, green, and blue tickets. This year's color choice seems to be moving towards a pale purple.
The MHT Board of Directors met last night for our December meeting. Some of the staff was able to join the board in a more social setting at the Cochran house to share some holiday food and merriment! In addition to the social setting the board did conduct a business meeting and we reviewed two important documents the theatre received during the last month.
The first document was the official audit for the last year we completed back in June which was done by CPA firm Williams, Williams and Lentz. We had a great year last year and the theatre ended the year with a small surplus of funds. We have already invested some of that surplus into the purchase of the Arcade building and contracting Webb Management services out of NYC to do a thorough review of our organization structure and needs. The board intends to use the rest of the surplus to help us build up our reserve funds for those years that we don't do as well. I have already posted the official audit on our website and will add some additional information regarding number of people served and economic impact later today to that posting.
The second document discussed was the Webb management report as well. The report confirmed to us that our #1 priority is to secure the long term usage of the Market House building. Our lease runs out in 2014 and without long term control of our current space the theatre is not willing to commit the $50-$75,000 of renovation expenses on the lobby and restrooms. A committee is being formed to evaluate options and then meet with city representatives. We are waiting for the release of the River Area Master Plan report commissioned by the city. We would like to have this resolved as soon as possible so that we can move on to other organizational and facility needs that are outlined in our consultant report.
Overall the theatre is in a strong financial shape and we are almost half way through our current fiscal year. We are on track to meet our financial goals for the current year. I can't say enough about the MHT Board of Directors and the great job they are doing. President Cindy Miller has devoted countless hours to staying in touch with MHT donors and sponsors and letting them know how much we appreciate their support, helping put together the Offstage Noises Newsletters, and so many other things. Vice President Melisa Mast has been vital to MHT's marketing efforts and fundraising efforts with posters and flyers and postcards. Board members Scott Taylor, Jennifer Hughes, Barbara Allen, Don Barger, Pam Benzing, Chip Bohle, Denise Bristol, Sarah Roman, Sid Hancock, Kijsa Housman, Kathryn Joyner, Heather Overby, and Kristin Williams are passionate about the mission of the theatre and actively involved in all the fundraising events and strategic planning for the theatre. I can't thank them enough for all their work to support the theatre and the staff. In addition the Trustee group has provided invaluable advice over the past year on finances, programming and facilities. MHT has so many people working very hard to make it a success and they don't get thanked nearly enough.
As we get ready for the holidays and look back on the year I also want to thank all of the volunteers who are the heart and soul of this organization. We have a group of dedicated ushers who always step forward every time Marsha sends out an email request for help. We have been blessed so far this year with an incredible pool of actors who have created shows that truly delighted audiences. The small group of dedicated technical crew members have stepped in to help out when we needed them most this year deserve a big thanks as well.
The theatre office will be open through December 23. We will be closed December 24 through Jan. 3. The offices will reopen after the holidays on Jan. 4. Many of the theatre staff head off to various parts of the country over the Christmas break to be with family. A big thank you goes to the MHT staff who puts so much time and passion into their work- Marsha Cash, Rhiannon McIntosh, Janice Peterson, Jim Keeney, and Sandy Harben for all their hard work in 2010! Finally I have to thank April, who amazes me constantly with her talent and abilities in theatre. The theatre would never have achieved as much success as it has if it wasn't for her unending hard work and sacrifice. Every time I think she's peaked she just keeps getting better.
April is rushing around with classes in the schools while at the same time holding auditions for some of the school productions that she directs. Clark Elementary school will produce Cinderella Kids as their school play and she is holding auditions at the school this work along with the school music teacher Dale Julian. She recently had auditions at Lone Oak Elementary for a play she is working on there as well. April has so many different classes and plays going on that I can't keep up with her schedule.
Technical Director, Jim Keeney, is continuing to work on the Complete Works set and is also still trying to organize the warehouse. I'm really hoping that he gets some time to clean the scene shop. It's in desperate need of a cleaning after our hectic fall schedule. If anyone has some time to sort screws and do general clean up in the shop it would be greatly appreciated.
Business Manager Marsha Cash and Box Office Assistant Rhiannon McIntosh are still on the hunt for a mouse who has made the office its home. We've set out traps and other devices to try to rid ourselves of it. Today in the box office we heard paper behind one of the desks moving and when we investigated we found that our little friend was nibbling on our season ticket holder charts! While not playing mousetrap the office staff has been looking at colors and working with a printer on new ticket stock. We order about 25,000 blank tickets at a time and as we sell them they are printed with information. About every 18 months we have to order new stock. We've had pink, green, and blue tickets. This year's color choice seems to be moving towards a pale purple.
The MHT Board of Directors met last night for our December meeting. Some of the staff was able to join the board in a more social setting at the Cochran house to share some holiday food and merriment! In addition to the social setting the board did conduct a business meeting and we reviewed two important documents the theatre received during the last month.
The first document was the official audit for the last year we completed back in June which was done by CPA firm Williams, Williams and Lentz. We had a great year last year and the theatre ended the year with a small surplus of funds. We have already invested some of that surplus into the purchase of the Arcade building and contracting Webb Management services out of NYC to do a thorough review of our organization structure and needs. The board intends to use the rest of the surplus to help us build up our reserve funds for those years that we don't do as well. I have already posted the official audit on our website and will add some additional information regarding number of people served and economic impact later today to that posting.
The second document discussed was the Webb management report as well. The report confirmed to us that our #1 priority is to secure the long term usage of the Market House building. Our lease runs out in 2014 and without long term control of our current space the theatre is not willing to commit the $50-$75,000 of renovation expenses on the lobby and restrooms. A committee is being formed to evaluate options and then meet with city representatives. We are waiting for the release of the River Area Master Plan report commissioned by the city. We would like to have this resolved as soon as possible so that we can move on to other organizational and facility needs that are outlined in our consultant report.
Overall the theatre is in a strong financial shape and we are almost half way through our current fiscal year. We are on track to meet our financial goals for the current year. I can't say enough about the MHT Board of Directors and the great job they are doing. President Cindy Miller has devoted countless hours to staying in touch with MHT donors and sponsors and letting them know how much we appreciate their support, helping put together the Offstage Noises Newsletters, and so many other things. Vice President Melisa Mast has been vital to MHT's marketing efforts and fundraising efforts with posters and flyers and postcards. Board members Scott Taylor, Jennifer Hughes, Barbara Allen, Don Barger, Pam Benzing, Chip Bohle, Denise Bristol, Sarah Roman, Sid Hancock, Kijsa Housman, Kathryn Joyner, Heather Overby, and Kristin Williams are passionate about the mission of the theatre and actively involved in all the fundraising events and strategic planning for the theatre. I can't thank them enough for all their work to support the theatre and the staff. In addition the Trustee group has provided invaluable advice over the past year on finances, programming and facilities. MHT has so many people working very hard to make it a success and they don't get thanked nearly enough.
As we get ready for the holidays and look back on the year I also want to thank all of the volunteers who are the heart and soul of this organization. We have a group of dedicated ushers who always step forward every time Marsha sends out an email request for help. We have been blessed so far this year with an incredible pool of actors who have created shows that truly delighted audiences. The small group of dedicated technical crew members have stepped in to help out when we needed them most this year deserve a big thanks as well.
The theatre office will be open through December 23. We will be closed December 24 through Jan. 3. The offices will reopen after the holidays on Jan. 4. Many of the theatre staff head off to various parts of the country over the Christmas break to be with family. A big thank you goes to the MHT staff who puts so much time and passion into their work- Marsha Cash, Rhiannon McIntosh, Janice Peterson, Jim Keeney, and Sandy Harben for all their hard work in 2010! Finally I have to thank April, who amazes me constantly with her talent and abilities in theatre. The theatre would never have achieved as much success as it has if it wasn't for her unending hard work and sacrifice. Every time I think she's peaked she just keeps getting better.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
December 5 2010
The Story Theatre tour ended with a shocking finale at Meridian Elementary school. The Gym floor was made of small hardened rubber tiles that seemed to generate static electricity. Everything that we touched created a static shock. During the show I played the Wolf and put on Grandma's cape and glasses. After Little Red (Julie Price) discovers its the wolf in Grandma's bed, she gets chased around the stage with the wolf trying to get her goodies. I finally got the basket and pretended to eat all of the goodies and then got sleepy and fell asleep on the bed. Kim Yocum who played the Grandmother came out of hiding in the closet and took her glasses off the sleeping wolf's face and put them on. When Kim touched the glasses perched on my nose a large static shock was created between the glasses and my nose. It was everything I could do to keep pretending I was asleep and Kim had to fight bursting into laughter as the Grandma. It is certainly an electrifying moment in the final performance that I will always remember.
Last Thursday night the Lone Oak Middle School presented a murder mystery performance performed by the drama club and directed by April. The kids did a great job and the event sold out. April did a great job of directing as well. The event raised money for the school library.
Last week Jim Keeney cut a section of the front of the stage out and built steps to insert in the center front of the stage for the Complete Works of Shakespeare. There is a section of the show that requires the actors in the audience. We took rows A-G and separated the rows between seats 6 & 7. Seats 1-6 are now on the house right and seats 7-13 are on house left with a center aisle between them. We put in an aisle all the way across the theatre in front of row H for access to the center aisle. Marsha Cash and Rhiannon Mackintosh called those ticket holders who sit in seats 6 & 7 and either confirmed that they were okay with the change for Complete Works or moved them into open seats next to their original seats. The new seats we purchased at the beginning of 2010 allowed us to create this option for the Shakespeare show. I want to stress that this arrangement is just for this production of Complete Works.
The theatre has received the draft of the first part of our consultant report and it stresses the need for MHT to tackle several issues. The most important issue is for the theatre to get a long term commitment from the City of Paducah to occupy the Market House building. The theatre's lease ends in 2014 and we are in discussions with the consultants from the River Area Master Plan and the city to work out long term agreement. A second issue is a restroom renovation in the main theatre. Our preliminary costs are over $50,000 for the renovation. Over the next few months the theatre board will review the consultants reports and look for ways forward.
Tomorrow, Dec. 6 the staff will take the day off and celebrate the holidays with a lunch and then a movie in the afternoon. This is an annual staff tradition at the theatre. The next few weeks up to the Christmas break we will be working on the set fo the Complete Works of Shakespeare and continuing organizing our warehouse space. I'm putting the old theatre seats on sale on a couple of online websites to see if we can sell off the approximately 170 seats that are currently in storage. If you know of anyone who is interested in buying the seats have them contact the theatre.
On December 10 the theatre is rented for a musical group presenting a Doo Wop Christmas show. We have posters on the theatre doors that promote the event for the group.
Last Thursday night the Lone Oak Middle School presented a murder mystery performance performed by the drama club and directed by April. The kids did a great job and the event sold out. April did a great job of directing as well. The event raised money for the school library.
Last week Jim Keeney cut a section of the front of the stage out and built steps to insert in the center front of the stage for the Complete Works of Shakespeare. There is a section of the show that requires the actors in the audience. We took rows A-G and separated the rows between seats 6 & 7. Seats 1-6 are now on the house right and seats 7-13 are on house left with a center aisle between them. We put in an aisle all the way across the theatre in front of row H for access to the center aisle. Marsha Cash and Rhiannon Mackintosh called those ticket holders who sit in seats 6 & 7 and either confirmed that they were okay with the change for Complete Works or moved them into open seats next to their original seats. The new seats we purchased at the beginning of 2010 allowed us to create this option for the Shakespeare show. I want to stress that this arrangement is just for this production of Complete Works.
The theatre has received the draft of the first part of our consultant report and it stresses the need for MHT to tackle several issues. The most important issue is for the theatre to get a long term commitment from the City of Paducah to occupy the Market House building. The theatre's lease ends in 2014 and we are in discussions with the consultants from the River Area Master Plan and the city to work out long term agreement. A second issue is a restroom renovation in the main theatre. Our preliminary costs are over $50,000 for the renovation. Over the next few months the theatre board will review the consultants reports and look for ways forward.
Tomorrow, Dec. 6 the staff will take the day off and celebrate the holidays with a lunch and then a movie in the afternoon. This is an annual staff tradition at the theatre. The next few weeks up to the Christmas break we will be working on the set fo the Complete Works of Shakespeare and continuing organizing our warehouse space. I'm putting the old theatre seats on sale on a couple of online websites to see if we can sell off the approximately 170 seats that are currently in storage. If you know of anyone who is interested in buying the seats have them contact the theatre.
On December 10 the theatre is rented for a musical group presenting a Doo Wop Christmas show. We have posters on the theatre doors that promote the event for the group.
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