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Letter
from the President
This
is a very exciting time for CCT. We have just concluded
our first musical production of the season and are preparing
for Tregoney Shepherd, our first cabaret performer
of the 2005-2006 Season. In just over a month, our Holiday
Cabaret featuring Susan Kay Wyatt will be
upon us as well as auditions for our January production
of Harvey. Side By Side By Sondheim and
our first Youth production, Guys & Dolls Jr.,
are also just around the corner.
As
we close the books on As Thousands Cheer,
it would be easy to take a deep sigh of relief and bask
in the glory of having put together an entertaining and
well-received show. In fact, we did exactly that once
the set was struck and the props and costumes were properly
stored away. I think our glory basking, however, lasted
about 10 minutes.
After
that, the basking necessarily turned to reflection. We
learned many important lessons from As Thousands
Cheer. While we who were involved with making As
Thousands Cheer happen are extremely proud of
our accomplishment, we are also very well aware that
this accomplishment did not come easily.
As Stephen
Sondheim wrote in Assassins, “It takes many
men to make a gun.” Similarly, it takes many
people to put on a show. When you attend a performance,
you see a cast of talented individuals acting, singing
and dancing. What you don’t see is the hours
and hours of time they spent creating and polishing
their roles. You don’t see the people who designed
and built the sets or designed, installed and operated
the lights and sound. You don’t see the choreographer
creating the moves the actors will later bring to life,
or the shops that had to be scoured to obtain the multitude
of props required for the production. You also don’t
know about the numerous telephone calls and meetings
necessary to coordinate licensing rights, volunteers,
marketing, playbills, caterers, budgets, etc., etc.,
etc. You don’t see and know these things because
you’re not supposed to see and know these things.
But you should know that whether you see and know them
or not, they do go on.
Central
Community Theatre is in its fledgling year. As such,
our resources are limited. Because people are just beginning
to discover who we are and the quality of what we do,
not only are we budget-challenged, but we are also challenged
by our minimal reserves of volunteer power. Simply stated,
the more people we have to spread our jobs among, the
better those jobs can be done.
When
we chose the name of our organization, we quite intentionally
included the word “Community” in our title.
We want to not only be a part of the Phoenix arts community,
but we want to include members of the community – at
all skill levels – to be a part of us. We are guided
by our love and passion for the theater arts and want
to share that with other members of the community seeking
a venue to express and cultivate their own talents. We
have no desire to become a profession equity theater.
We believe that as a “community” of friends
and volunteers, we can pool our talents, knowledge and
experience to present quality productions in a supportive
and mentoring environment.
Because
we are a new “community theater,” we do not
have the financial resources available to us that many
of our friends at more established theaters enjoy. We
cannot afford to hire professionals to do all the jobs
that must be done to ensure our shows happen and are
seen. We must rely on our friends to make that happen.
We
need you to help us make theater “happen.”
Please volunteer whatever talents you possess by forwarding
your name, telephone number, e-mail address and areas of
interest to CCTGGallner@aol.com. Occasionally, we will
send out e-mail blasts requesting volunteers for certain
needs. Please do not ignore these requests! Your help is
desperately needed. Please come and help and if you have
friends whose talents might be useful, bring them along!
You will find yourself being richly rewarded by the experience
and may even make some new friends who share your passion.
Gary
Gallner, Advisory Board President
CCT's
mission is to enhance the quality of community life through
excellence in all areas of theatre arts, bringing together
diverse levels of talent and skill in a safe and supportive
artistic environment.
| "ACT
TO ATTRACT" CAMPAIGN |
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Spread
the word, the secret is out! Central Community
Theatre has arrived! Now let's tell the world
about it!
CCT is kicking off an email drive/volunteer recruitment
campaign.
Forward the newsletter on to generate a larger
distribution list. Help us get the word out about
who we are and what we do by referring someone
to join our email list. Whoever refers the most
people, who stay on our email list, by the end
of the season, will be rewarded with a pair of
tickets to each full play production in our 2006-2007
season!
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Recruit
your friends, your family, your old classmates,
your neighbors and the bag boy at the grocery
store!
Opportunities
abound, so join the FUN and become one of the
CCT STARS!!
There
are many opportunities to volunteer. Volunteers
are needed for:
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Construction
and Painting: Time commitment: 3 -
7 hours, evenings & weekends. Number
of volunteers needed - Harvey:
5-8, Side by Side by Sondheim:
5, Youth Theatre Guys and Dolls,
Jr.: 7-10.
Stage Manager: (Stipend) Time commitment
agreed upon schedule with director two weeks prior
to production and performances.
Props: 7-10 hours procuring props and
1 hour per performance. Number of volunteers needed
- Harvey: 2, Side by Side by
Sondheim: 2, Guys and Dolls, Jr.:
3
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Lighting: Harvey - Lighting
tech - familiar with gels and lighting
instruments for tech week and Strike. Spot
Light Operator - for tech week through
Strike. Side by Side by Sondheim - Lighting
Board Operator, Light Tech and Spot
Operator with time commitments of production
meetings and performances. Guys and
Dolls, Jr. - Lighting Board
Operator, Light Tech and 2 Spot
Operators with time commitments of
production meetings and performances.
Sound: Side by Side by Sondheim - Sound
Board Engineer, familiar with Lavaliers with
a time commitment of production meetings and
performances. Guys and Dolls, Jr. - Sound
Board Engineer, with a time commitment of
production meetings and performances, 2 Front
of House Assistants and 2 Back Stage Assistants,
with a time commitment of tech week through performances.
Make Up: Time commitment - tech week (5
rehearsals) and all performances. Number of volunteers
needed - Harvey: 1-2, Side
by Side by Sondheim: 1, Guys and
Dolls, Jr.: 2-4
Costumes: Designer for Harvey (Stipend),
Dressing Room set. Seamstresses :Harvey:
2 sewers, maximum of 10 hours commitment. Guys
and Dolls, Jr.: 2 sewers, maximum of 10
hours commitment. Dressers : Harvey:
1-2 dressers per performance. Guys and Dolls,
Jr.: 2-4 dressers per performance.
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PR for all performances, advertising for
all performances, flyers for all performances, newsletters, program
coordination for all performances.
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Cafe' - All performances, the night
of performances only. Need a Cafe' Chair per
performance to assure that volunteers and serving
materials are in place. Commitment to arrive
at 5:30 pm to set up Cafe', coffee and rum
cake and to close after intermission.
Set Up - Need 3 physically capable persons
to set up chairs/tables In House on Thursday night,
Strike Sunday post production.
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Ticket Window - Training required
- financial background helpful, with credit
card machine experience, 1 person for pre-paid
will call.
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Need any and all volunteers to assist in
raising funds to assure that we can continue
to bring our productions to the community.
Any ideas, big or small, will be gladly appreciated.
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Harvey, Side by Side by Sondheim and
Guys and Dolls, Jr. Coordinating
logistics between assignments, how to resolve
space, provide directorial direction. Time
commitment - primarily remote prior to
last two weeks when you will be collaborating
directly with the Producer.
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Needs assistance in fund raising and getting
the CCT story out to the community. Contact
Crystal Emmott, Debbie Bleeker, September Mitchell
or Becky Fisher or info@CCTstage.org.
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Applications are reviewed each November for
positions on the Advisory Board. For more information,
please contact info@CCTstage.org.
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| IN
THE WINGS... |
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TREGONEY
SHEPHERD
As the final curtain descends on As Thousands
Cheer, CCT’s Cabaret and Café series
moves into full swing with our first offering
of the 2005-2006 Season - Tregoney Shepherd on November
4- 5 at 7:30 p.m., in Womack
Center.
Tregoney made her Broadway debut as Mdm. Thernadier
in Les Miserables, which she later reprised in
the national touring company. She subsequently
appeared in the touring company of Andrew Lloyd
Webber’s Phantom of the Opera. Other theater
credits include Sweeney Todd (Mrs. Lovett), The
Three Penny Opera (Mrs. Peachum), Oklahoma! (Ado
Annie), The Unsinkable Molly Brown (Mrs. McGlone),
Secret Garden (Ayah), Six Women with Brain Death
(Wanda & Diva Badger) and Something’s
Afoot (Ms. Tweed).
Her opera credits include La Boheme, Gianni Schicci,
Don Carlos, Andrea Chenier, Le Nozze di Gigaro
and Cosi fan tutti.
Tregoney’s one-woman show has been dazzling
and delighting audiences throughout the U.S. and
represents a real “coup” for CCT and
our patrons. Her appearance is made possible through
the generosity of Stephanie Likes who was originally
scheduled for this slot. Stephanie asked to postpone
her performance and arranged for her talented Les
Mis co-star to step in. This show is definitely
a “MUST SEE!”
Tickets can be reserved for what promises to
be a delightful performance, by calling the box
office at 602-357-3247.
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SUSAN
KAY WYATT, HOLIDAY CABARET
Susan will be our special performer for
our Holiday Cabaret on December
3, 2005 at 7:30 p.m. at Kendall Hall.
Susan Kay Wyatt is a richly diverse performer,
songwriter, and motivational speaker. The many
voices of her music include inspirational, children's
motivational music, and most recently, a return
to jazz standards, which fit her like a glove.
Whether her listeners are adults or children
-- Susan Kay's message remains constant in all
her work: To empower and inspire people of all
ages to find their own unique gifts and live a
life of joy that celebrates them. Her music expresses
this welcome message with passion, enthusiasm,
and listening pleasure.
Originally from Northern Ohio, Susan Kay has
been performing since the age of 4. Her journey
in music and performing will sound familiar to
anyone who stepped foot in this elusive arena.
And so it went: from musical theatre, churches,
opera, a touring show choir, to the inevitable
Holiday Inn Lounge circuit, an international USO
tour, national show band, modeling, jingles and
studio vocals, to Miss Ohio for the Miss America
Pageant, motivational speaking, a country music
detour, jazz club singing, more songwriting, and
an ever-transforming spiritual journey.
With a broad vocal range, Susan Kay’s voice
is often described as angelic and soothing and
yet she is also well known for her jazz savvy,
funky licks, and powerful high notes. Some vocal
influences apparent in her contemporary pop work
are Karen Carpenter, Melissa Manchester, Amy Grant
and Sheryl Crow. Her jazz influences are Ella Fitzgerald,
Diana Krall, Natalie Cole, Nancy Wilson and Rosemary
Clooney. There is also a trace of musical theatre
greats Julie Andrews and Bernadette Peters with
a wild side of Carol Burnett.
Susan Kay has a way of looking at this journey
of life that will keep you chuckling although she
insists she personally is not all that funny---Life
is. She speaks from the heart and shares her most
personal triumphs and failures with a refreshing
candor. She revels in the celebration and humor
of life and the constant process of letting go
of that which does not belong to us to make room
for the flow of that which does. Her message is
about honesty... being honest with ourselves about
who we are and what we want.
Currently residing in Altadena, California, Susan
Kay's favorite "project" or "gig" is
being a Mom to daughter Elizabeth and a devoted
wife to husband Larry. She credits both for her
most inspired work, her return to jazz, and a life
of love that she couldn't have imagined.
Susan Kay Wyatt inspires others through thoughtful,
deeply satisfying music to confidently express
their unique gifts with the world. Each body of
work is a captivating and purposeful journey from
start to finish. Give her a listen - you’ll
thank yourself and find a new voice to identify
with in the process.
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| COMING
UP... |
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January 27-February 5, 2006, Friday and Saturday Performances
at 8:00 P.M., Sunday Matinees
at 1:30 P.M. in Kendall Hall.
When Elwood P. Dowd 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 is
directed by Ken Kahle. A grant from the Phoenix
Commission on the Arts in partnership with Valley
Center for the Deaf, will assist in funding
shadowed performances for the deaf.
Valley Center of the Deaf is a non-profit organization,
established in 1978 to coordinate human services,
activities, referrals, and advocacy for the Deaf
in the Phoenix metropolitan area. In 1982, VCD
joined with Community Outreach Program for the
Deaf (COPD) and Catholic Community Services of
Southern Arizona to strengthen its ability to provide
interpreting, telephone relay and counseling services.
The partnership with Central Community Theatre
in 2003 has provided on-stage acting and stage
craft skill building opportunities to our clients
and staff through CCT’s Mentorship program.
The introduction of the unique performance style
of “shadowing” (where signers share
the stage with the actors, in character) in the
performances of The Villains Web (A
Melodrama) and the Agatha Christie thriller And
Then There Were None brought quality ARTs
programming to both hearing and hearing impaired
community positively impacting the social acceptance
of those with disabilities. We hope you will join
us for this season’s production of Mary Chase’s Harvey, directed
by the very talented Ken Kahle and sponsored in
part by a generous grant by the Arizona Commission
on the Arts.
OPEN
AUDITIONS
Open auditions for Harvey are being
held on Sunday December 4th 1-4pm and Tuesday December
6th 7-9:30pm. For more information click on the
link below and print the document there.
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| SEASON
TICKET PACKAGES STILL AVAILABLE |
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Season tickets are still available for the remainder
of our 2005-2006 season. Performances include 3
Full Performances including - Harvey, Side
by Side by Sondheim and Youth Theatre Guys
and Dolls, Jr., and 3 Cabarets including
- Tregoney Shepherd, Susan Kay Wyatt (Happy
Holiday) and Joanne Yeoman. Prices are as
follows -
- $119 - Gold Circle Seating
- $99 - Gold Circle Seating with Senior/Student
Discount
- $90 - General Admission Seating
- $80 - General Admission Seating with
Senior/Student Discount
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| CCT
GROWTH AND CHANGES |
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STORAGE
AND REHEARSAL SPACE
Thanks to the generosity and support of our friends
at Central United Methodist Church, CCT
finally has a physical “home” as well
as accessible storage space for its growing inventory
of costumes, props and set pieces.
Classroom 202 and its adjacent Teacher’s
Conference Room have been set aside for the exclusive
use of CCT. Room 202 has become a rehearsal space,
which enables us to schedule rehearsals regardless
of the availability of Kendall Hall and Womack
Center. Long-term plans include mirroring at least
one full wall of the space and installing a wood
floor. The adjacent room provides desperately needed
office space, which will assist in centralizing
(pardon the pun!) our administrative functions.
In addition, CUMC has obtained a mobile mini
storage unit that now houses many of our construction
materials and cabaret tables when not in use. Discussions
are also underway for an additional air- conditioned
space to house our costume inventory. These areas
not only make our belongings more accessible but
also help to maintain and preserve them. The lack
of adequate storage space has long been a problem
for CCT as it required that many potentially reusable
items be tossed out or given away after their initial
use resulting in repeated expenditures for the
same items.
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WEBSITE
CCT’s new website at www.CCTStage.org is
finally operational. The move to the “.org” domain
was necessary to reflect CCT’s status as
a non-profit organization.
The transition was the result of the tremendous
efforts of CCT Webmistress Darragh Smithers and Marilee
Robertson. The site, of course, will be changing
and continually evolving throughout the coming
days, weeks and months.
A major goal is to include the ability to do
online ticket sales. We have been working with
a vendor to accomplish this but the process was
sidelined until we were able to obtain our own
merchant account to accept sales through Visa,
MasterCard, Discover and American Express. Recently,
we obtained the merchant account and plan to go
forward with the sales link to enable online ticket
purchases.
Until that process is completed, please continue
to order tickets through the Box Office by calling
602.357.3247
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| CCT'S
WISH LIST - |
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Womack
Center Lighting System – Each time
we use Womack Center for a cabaret performer,
a lighting system must be rented for the period
of the run. This creates a substantial economic
and logistical problem, which makes profitability
for cabarets difficult. While performances
could be moved to Kendall Hall, that room does
not offer the ambiance or acoustic quality
of Womack Center, which is garnering a reputation
as the finest cabaret venue in the Phoenix
area. We have done some research into the cost
of obtaining two light trees with four instruments
each, 2 ground rows, a dimmer pack and a light
control board. We anticipate that cost to be
in the neighborhood of $2500-3000 but the lights
could also be used to augment to equipment
in Kendall Hall, thereby “killing two
birds with one stone.”
Additional Lights for Kendall Hall – In
the process of setting the lights for As Thousand
Cheer, many of the instruments and dimmer packs
were found to be broken and/or unusable. Fortunately,
our friends at LED Lighting fixed the ones that
could be repaired. It was also determined that
contrary to our previous understanding, additional
lighting could be added with a few electrical modifications.
Now that we know the power is available, we know
that we can add additional instruments, which would
make our productions much brighter and visible
and reduce shadows.
- Mirrors for Room 202 - Estimated cost
$1500
- Wood Floor for Room 202 - Estimated
cost $2000
- Credit Card Machine - Estimated cost
$2000
- Ticket Printer - Estimated cost $750
- Color Laser Cartridges for Dell 3100cn -
Estimated cost $225 per multi-pack set.
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| HOUSEKEEPING |
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Please note the time changes for Harvey, Side
by Side by Sondheim and Guys
and Dolls, Jr. Curtain goes up at 8:00
pm instead of 7:30 pm. All Cabarets still begin
at 7:30 pm. For more information please check
out our website, by clicking on the link in
the Quick Links section of this newsletter.
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| CCT
STAFF |
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- Chryl Bohnenkamp, Executive Director
- Cindy McNeely, Executive Assistant
- Steve Hilderbrand, Artistic Director
- Nancy Connolly, 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 Rukstales,
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
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| SPOTLIGHT
ON CENTRAL |
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|
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 CCTGGallner@aol.com.
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|
"AS
THOUSANDS CHEER"ed |
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CCT’s
first full-scale musical offering glides from
the boards to the history books with the conclusion
of the two weekend run of As Thousands
Cheer. A departure from typical musical
fare, As Thousands Cheer takes
a cynical and sometimes harsh look at the political
and social mores of 1930’s America.
The
Irving Berlin/Moss Hart musical review was
the biggest hit on Broadway in its initial
run in 1933. It starred Clifton Webb, Marilyn
Miller and Ethel Waters and included a cast
of 50. When it closed, everything to do with
the production was hastily tossed into storage
and essentially forgotten. In 1998, a few artifacts
from the original show were discovered in a
New Jersey warehouse. The New York Drama Department
took the skeletal remains and fashioned an
off-Broadway revival with a cast of six.
Despite
the popularity of many of the songs in the
score (“Easter Parade,” “Heat
Wave,” “Supper Time,” “Harlem
on My Mind” and “Let’s Have
Another Cup of Coffee”) and its historical
significance, few people today knew much about
the show. Prior to CCT’s production,
it was never mounted on a Phoenix stage. Given
the relative obscurity of the show, the reference
to a political and social climate that existed
more than 70 years ago, and the lack of production
notes or even stage directions in the script,
making this show relevant and entertaining
to a modern-day audience was a daunting task.
In
the creative hands of director Steve Hilderband,
the challenges of this task were masterfully
met! While superficially a time capsule of
1930’s America with its references to
Herbert Hoover, the Joan Crawford-Douglas Fairbanks,
Jr. divorce and John D. Rockefeller, comparisons
to George W. Bush, the Jennifer Aniston-Brad
Pitt divorce and Donald Trump were inevitable.
Though not suggested by the script, historical
fill-ins were accomplished via slideshow presentations,
which helped to explain the 1930’s references
contained in the script and to define the newsmakers
of the time whose celebrity has since faded
with the passing decades.
Another
first for CCT is being considered for the ariZoni
Theatre Awards of Excellence. The Zoni's are
in their 16th year of promoting the visibility
and growth of theatre in the Valley of the
Sun & Maricopa County. Each year at its
annual awards ceremony, the Board bestows an
outstanding contribution award and a distinguished
service award to deserving individuals or organizations
for their contributions to theatre. In addition,
the ariZoni Scholarship Committee will award
one or more scholarships to selected, qualified
students. Most importantly, after completion
of an exhaustive judging process, (involving
close to 100 Adjudicators) awards of excellence
are presented to those individuals who have
excelled in performance and production during
the just-completed season. These awards represent
true celebrations of EXCELLENCE IN THEATRE. Central
Community Theatre is proud to be a part of
the ariZoni commitment to excellence.
The
superlative ensemble cast included Scott
Schmelder, David McNutt, Crystal Emmott, Jan
Sanderson, Jerilyn Babicky, Ken Kahle, Tiffany
Rush- Green, Amy Henstra, Josh Martin, Elizabeth
Norris, David Rukstales, Debbie Bleeker, September
Mitchell, Mike Kaiser, Michael Leeth and Norma
Heubach.
John
Michael Sanders oversaw set design and
construction. Wendy Quinonez created
the choreography for the show.
Without
our behind the scenes volunteers, we could
not have been successful. Many thanks to the
following supporting cast....Steve Hilderbrand,
director/pianist, Lee Gendvillas, bass, Nancy
Connolly, Cindy McNeely, Karen Turner,
box office, George Johnson, Joyce Williamson,
costumes, Don Shipe, house manager, Paul
Goldman, light design, Jolie Roundy,
Joe Hammer, lighting, Yancy Green, Gary
Gallner, power point presentation, Sue
Caniff, David Caniff, David Ramsey, Allen Enochs-
White, Cast & Crew, props, Samantha
McNeely, Austin McNeely, C. Bohnenkamp,
servers & administrative support, Jerry
Connolly, David Rukstales, Andrea Kosciusko,
Steve Llinhart, Tiffany Rush-Green, Steve Quinonez,
Rachel Newman, Zhana Jacob, LeeAnn Fred, Jaroslov
Krol, Wayne Tong'm, construction and painting, Allen
Enochs-White, Gary Gallner, stage managers, Don
Morse, sound, Joyce Williamson, Susan
Parkins, servers, and all the youth from
the charter school who volunteered to acquire "service
learning hours." The generosity of your
time and resources has been invaluable.
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