CCT ANNOUNCES 2005-2006 SEASON

As our inaugural season winds down, CCT's Executive Board is gearing up for a very thrilling and ambitious second season. Armed with the goals of finding fun, interesting and appealing material that can be produced within the confines of our facility, this presents a daunting task! The Board strove to make certain that the shows chosen would have not only audience appeal, but also be interesting and challenging to the cast and crews. We believe that we have accomplished our goals-and then some.

Heading the list will be As Thousands Cheer, the Irving Berlin/Moss Hart musical comedy originally staged in 1933 and remains as rich in historical relevance as it is in popular music. Set in the Depression era on the eve of Franklin Roosevelt's move to the White House, the show looks back with satire at the political and social issues of the day. Despite its time frame, As Thousands Cheer is surprisingly current in its subject matter and perspective. Its score includes such standards as "Heat Wave," "Easter Parade" and the haunting "Suppertime" which made a star of Ethel Waters in the original production.

CCT Artistic Director, Steve Hilderbrand, is scheduled to direct the show which will run between September 23 and October 2.

Our popular Cabaret and Cafe' series will include Stephanie Likes on November 4 and 5 and a Christmas Cabaret on December 3. Headliners for the Christmas Cabaret will be announced at a later date. A third Cabaret is set for March 24 and 25, 2006 which will feature Valley favorite, JoAnn Yoeman.

Elwood P. Dowd and his imaginary friend, Harvey, visit CCT's stage from January 27 through February 5, 2006. When Elwood starts to introduce his imaginary friend, Harvey, a six-and-a-half-foot rabbit, to guests at a society party, his sister, Veta, has seen as much of his eccentric behavior as she can tolerate. She decides to have him committed to a sanitarium to spare her daughter, Myrtle Mae, and their family from future embarrassment. Problems arise, however, when Veta herself is mistakenly assumed to be on the verge of lunacy when she explains to doctors that years of living with Elwood's hallucination have caused her to see Harvey also! The doctors commit Veta instead of Elwood, but when the truth comes out, the search is on for Elwood and his invisible companion. When he shows up at the sanitarium looking for his lost friend Harvey, it seems that the mild-mannered Elwood's delusion has had a strange influence on more than one of the doctors. Only at the end does Veta realize that maybe Harvey isn't so bad after all.

This Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy by Mary Chase will also feature shadowed performances in conjunction with CCT's affiliation with Valley Center for the Deaf. Ken Kahle is scheduled to direct.

Side By Side By Sondheim, a glorious review featuring many of the earlier musical works of Stephen Sondheim is set for a CCT run from May 6-14, 2006. This incredible musical evening includes such standards as "Send In the Clowns," "Anyone Can Whistle," "There Won't Be Trumpets," "Losing My Mind," "Broadway Baby, "I'm Still Here," "A Boy Like That," and "Being Alive" (to name just a few!). The songs are culled from such musical milestones as A Little Night Music, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Anyone Can Whistle, Pacific Overtures, Gypsy, Follies, West Side Story and Company and are certain to whet your appetite for a full production of one of those shows that CCT hopes to mount in its 2006-2007 season!

Finally, our last offering of the season is a bit of surprise as well as a bonus. To launch CCT's Youth Theatre, at a date yet to be determined, in the summer of 2006, under the direction of the multi- talented Stephanie Likes, CCT will bring you Guys & Dolls, Jr. ,an edited adaptation of the Frank Loesser musical comedy gem inspired by Damon Runyon's collection of offbeat Broadway gamblers and chorus girls. Seeing such timeless delights as "Luck Be a Lady," "A Bushel and a Peck," "Adelaide's Lament," "If I Were a Bell" and "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat" performed by children is an experience not to be missed!

We hope you are as excited about our upcoming season as we are. There are endless opportunities to participate in these shows both onstage and behind the scenes. This is obviously a very ambitious undertaking and will require the efforts of all of our friends and patrons to make this a truly memorable season of fun, laughter and music.

Season ticket prices for all events are $125.00 for Premium Seating and $100.00 for General Admission Seating. Senior Citizen/Students (under 16) discount season ticket prices for all events are $115.00 for Premium Seating and $90.00 for General Admission Seating. Special pricing is available for groups of 10 or more by calling the box office.

NOTE: We are currently in the process of updating our website where you will find more information about the upcoming season and be able to purchase Season tickets. In the meantime, please email your Season Ticket orders to: CINDO13@AOL.COM or CCTNCON@AOL.COM or call the box office at 602- 357-3247.

CCT AWARDED PRESTIGIOUS ARTS GRANT!!

The Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture has selected Central Community Theatre to receive a grant for its efforts in bringing performance arts opportunities to the hearing impaired. The Arts Access Grant provides funding for projects that connect arts and culture to underserved communities and provide accessible services to these audiences, removing barriers to attendance and participation.

This grant is the result of CCT's partnership with Valley Center for the Deaf (VCD) which assisted in the addition of two shadowed performances of And Then There Were None. The funds will help to offset production costs for next season's production of Harvey, which will also include two shadowed performances for the deaf. We wish to extend our special thanks to ATTWN director Ken Kahle and VCD Executive Director Cindy Walsh for sharing their vision and talents and for collaborating with the CCT Advisory Board to make the dream a reality!

CCT competed for funds with 16 established Arizona non-profit arts venues including the Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona Opera, Childsplay and Scottsdale Community College. Despite its "newcomer" status, CCT impressed the reviewing committee. The following are a few of their comments:

• CCT is uniquely honoring their mission to provide outreach services to a significantly underserved community through partnership and professional level resources.
• Cited CCT's courage to fully integrate an alternative performance venue to their regular season to increase community awareness and acceptance of the hearing impaired.
• Noted CCT's strength as being a legacy of quality Arts programming at Central United Methodist Church under the leadership of Don Morse.

CCT's Advisory Board is extremely proud to have been recognized by the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture. We believe this recognition not only acknowledges our mission to serve our community, but also lends legitimacy to our efforts to be a force in the local arts community and opens the door to CCT's receiving similar funding from other sources in the future.

May 13 & 14, 2005, 7:30 pm

Steve Hilderbrand (CCT Artistic Director), is familiar to Phoenix audiences in several areas. He has served at Unity of Phoenix as Saturday Music Coordinator and Interim Director of Music. As a singer, he has performed with Phoenix Bach Choir, Central United Methodist Sanctuary Choir and Trinity Central, a Contemporary Christian vocal jazz quartet, in which he triples as performer, arranger and musical director.

Steve has served as musical director for Arizona Jewish Theatre's Children's Company and as director/musical director for Central Arts Players' The Music Man and Cinderella. His association with Ed Graczyk (Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean) began in Columbus , Ohio during his stint as musical director for the esteemed Players' Theatre where he and Graczyk collaborated on the revues, Brother Can You Spare A Dime? and The Late Great 40's. They were commissioned to write 'S Wonderful: A Gershwin Memoir for the Leo Yassenoff Jewish Center in 1984.

Hilderbrand directed A - My Name is Alice and musical directed Anything Goes for The Ohio State University. Other credits include direction, musical direction or choreography for productions of Bye Bye Birdie, Chicago, They're Playing Our Song, Bells Are Ringing, The Pajama Game, Cole and Oklahoma! His current title is Minister of Contemporary Music for Central United Methodist Church.

Steve is our final cabaret entre of the 2004-2005 Inaugural Season. For those of you accustomed to seeing Steve as a member of Trinity Central or as CUMC's Director of Contemporary Music, hold on to your seats. You are in for a real treat as Valley favorites Stephanie Likes and Lynne Haeseler join Steve in a personal trek through the influences upon his talent and career. If you think you know Steve, do not miss this special opportunity to get to know him and his music even better. (WARNING: You can be assured Steve has other surprises in store!) Be sure to purchase your tickets for this show early as we anticipate they will go fast.

May 13 & 14, 2005, 7:30 pm

CCT is pleased to announce Stephanie Likes, a prestigious AriZoni award winner for her musical theater performances, will be joining Steve Hilderbrand in his May 13th and 14th Cabarets. Stephanie has also appeared in a featured role in the Broadway production of Les Miserables'. This will provide a small taste of what you will see and hear in Stephanie's own cabaret scheduled for November 4th and 5th, 2005.

Stephanie will also be bringing her directing talents to CCT in our upcoming season when she helms our youth production of Guys and Dolls, Jr.

ICCT Program Advertising is a great way to reach our patrons, show your love and support for your favorite actors and helps CCT continue its quality programming. As they say at KAET, "Give the gift that keeps on giving." To place a "Best Wishes" ad or a commercial advertisement, please click on the following link. An order form is there as well as pricing. Please act quickly for inclusion in the program for "Nightsongs - An Evening of Cabaret and Cafe' with Steve Hilderbrand & Friends" as it goes to press by noon on Wednesday, May 11.

A special thanks goes to the incredible cast and crew who made CCT's production of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" a memorable success.

A very talented and hard-working cast under the leadership of director Ken Kahle kept audiences spellbound during the two week-end run. They all did extra duty by restaging the entire production for the two shadowed performances included in the second weekend. This is, to say the least, a daunting task and they pulled it off masterfully allowing our hearing- impaired friends to fully experience a theatrical performance.

Kudos also go to Set Designer John Michael Sanders for designing and constructing one of the most beautiful sets ever seen on the Kendall Hall stage.

"And Then There Were None" was the first full production undertaken by CCT and introduced many new faces to our venue. It also offered a tremendous learning experience to those behind the scenes. Many valuable lessons were learned through this production which will be incorporated into our upcoming season to make our future shows even better for those onstage and off. We appreciate the patience of those involved in this show for putting up with our "learning curve."

With the announcement of CCT's 2005-2006 Season, it is time to update the website (centralcommunitytheatre.com) to accommodate the new schedule. Over the next month, the site will be completely redesigned to not only make the information current, but to also make the site more informative and easy to use.

Bear with us as we go through this frustrating, but necessary, change. The results will be worth it! In the event you are unable to log onto the website to purchase your season tickets, call the box office at 602-357-3247. Cindy will be happy to take your order!

• Chryl Bohnenkamp, Executive Director
• Cindy McNeely, Executive Assistant
• Steve Hilderbrand, Artistic Director
• Nancy Connelly, Financial Director
• Don Morse, Marketing Director
• Darragh Smithers, Webmistress
• Dee Korinek, Advertising
• Gary Gallner, Newsletter Editor

Advisory Board...........Gary Gallner, President

Norma Huebach, Andrea Kosciusko, Alan Fisher, Rebecca Martin, Cheryl Hammerman, David Rokstales, Ken Kahle

CUCS Board of Directors......Wray Clark, President, Sue Caniff, Chairperson, Mike Danko, Treasurer, Judith Humberg, Secretary, Directors - Stefanie Moore, Amos Johnston, Thelma Sparks, C. Bohnenkamp

SPOTLIGHT ON CENTRAL is a publication of Central Community Theatre and is intended to be a means of communicating on an ongoing basis with our friends, sponsors and volunteers. Please feel free to forward your comments and article suggestions to Galr54@aol.com.