National Community Theatre Director's Conference

Although it's opening weekend of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, I had to leave Midland on Friday to attend AACT Board meetings and the National Community Theatre Director's Conference in Madison, WI. Arrived in Madison on Friday afternoon, and had dinner with AACT friends. Saturday, we had six hours of AACT meetings, and the board made several important decisions. Conference attendees arrived for a Saturday night reception, and the conference has started on Sunday morning. We'll be meeting through 10 p.m. on Sunday night, and then all day Monday and Tuesday morning. Planning to return to Midland late Tuesday night as long as the flights arrive on time.

I'm very proud of the cast and crew of THE SOUND OF MUSIC. We have had three shows on opening weekend and we have four more weekends of performances. If you can't get tickets for the night you want to come, just show up - we'll work really hard to get you in.

The Sound of Music - Tech Week

Opening night is near, and we're getting ready to open the show on Friday night. The cast has been working hard for the past five weeks, and they have a couple of dress rehearsals to get ready for opening night. The set crew has been working on moving sets between scenes over the tech weekend, and the staff and volunteers are working on painting and finishing these items before opening night. The costume crew has worked on beautiful costumes for the show, and tonight is the first time the cast will be wearing these costumes. Lights and sound have been arranged, and the Stage Manager, ASMs, Light Board operators and Sound operators are working on learning the show in the technical rehearsals. Overall, it's amazing to watch this process of the final 10-12 days of rehearsals for a show at your community theatre. MCT continues to produce the finest in quality live theatrical productions in the Permian Basin due to our amazing volunteers - onstage actors, backstage volunteers and front of house volunteers. If you attend our 2011 holiday production, say "thank you" to our wonderful volunteers - without them, the show could not go on!

November at MCT

Several fall events are now behind us, including the great production of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE in Davis Theatre I, the fall Improv at the Yucca, the HamHock Halloween Howl and our recent fundraiser The Sizzle King. However, that does not mean that we've scaled back for the upcoming holiday season. In Mabee Theatre II, our final 2011 show in the small theatre has two more weekend. The cast and crew of CHARLIE COX RUNS WITH SCISSORS has done an amazing job with this great script, and I hope you'll support them and come out and enjoy this wonderful show. Meanwhile, I've been in the basement for the past three weeks with the cast of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, working on choreography, blocking and music. We're one week away from moving upstairs and getting ready for tech weekend. The Box Office was filling orders all weekend long for our 2011 holiday production, and we hope that you and your family will share the end of the year with some time at your community theatre.

MCT has recently announced our 2012 membership season: GUYS AND DOLLS, RED WHITE AND TUNA, LITTLE WOMEN, LARRY'S BEST FRIEND (2011 McLaren winner), ANYTHING GOES, A CLOSER WALK WITH PATSY CLINE, THE 39 STEPS and A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Membership renewal letters have been mailed to 2011 members, and brochures will be mailed in mid-November to everyone on our mailing list. We feel that we have a great lineup of shows for next season, and we hope you'll agree and purchase a 2012 membership. Thank you for your support of our community theatre!!

Busy Fall at MCT

As we prepare to turn the page to October, the theatre continues to be a very busy place. Our Mabee Theatre II production of THE DINNER PARTY finishes performances this weekend, and I congratulate this talented cast on their outstanding run. As this show wraps up, our Davis Theatre I production of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE opens tonight with an incredibly talented cast led by the skilled direction of Carl Moore. This Agatha Christie mystery - based on the nursery poem "Ten Little Indians" - is a tour de force of acting and technical elements. While these shows are in performance, three shows are preparing for their eventual runs. CHARLIE COX RUNS WITH SCISSORS is in rehearsal in the basement and waiting for THE DINNER PARTY to clear out of Mabee Theatre II so they can move upstairs and get ready for their opening in mid-October. THE HUNDRED DRESSES - the fall Pickwick show - is currently in rehearsals in preparation for their public run on October 21-23 followed by performances for MISD students the next week. Finally, our 2011 holiday musical THE SOUND OF MUSIC will have auditions this weekend - youth on Saturday (October 1st) and adults on Sunday and Monday (October 2nd and 3rd) - and will start rehearsals on October 10th in preparation for their opening in mid-November. Needless to say, there's always so much happening at your community theatre!!

DINNER WITH FRIENDS

Tonight is the opening of the Neil Simon comedy DINNER WITH FRIENDS in Mabee Theatre II. Director Jane Moore and her strong cast have done a wonderful job with this later work of Mr. Simon - it's really more of a drama with comedic parts - that deals with divorced couples who are forced to face their former partners. Kudos also to Scenic Designer Brian Baillif, who challenged me to allow him to put this play "in the round" in Mabee Theatre II and build the platforms and seating areas that can be used again in future Theatre II productions. We hope our audience will enjoy the new seating option - it's not permanent, just an option for future Mabee Theatre II shows - as well as the production. Cast members Andy Salcedo, Joe Thomason, Paul Mangum, Missy Hulen, Stephanie Rivas-Guevara and Samatha Spencer have done a great job with this play - support their hard work and come on down as we resume our 2011 membership season with this Neil Simon play.

McLaren Festival

This past Saturday was the 2011 version of the McLaren festival - a reader's theatre version of the three finalists. This past Saturday was one of the better festivals we've had - the audience was large and responsive, and actors and directors were well-prepared and presented each script in a positive manner, and the voting was very close. The finalists were MARFA, TEXAS, LARRY'S BEST FRIEND and WANDA JOHNSON AND THE KINGDOM OF HAIR. The audience selected LARRY'S BEST FRIEND as the winning production, and the members of the 2012 Play Selection committee are discussing which production to produce in our 2012 membership season. McLaren chair Mary Lou Cassidy and her volunteer directors and actors should be very proud of their hard work on this competition and festival - also, special thanks to staff members Eddie Taylor, Laura Abott and especially Tracy Alexander for their extra work on this event.

Midland Community Theatre presents MY WAY at the Tromsø Dialogue 2011

This past July, Midland (TX) Community Theatre was proud to represent the North American Regional Alliance (NARA) and the USA at Tromsø Dialogue 2011, the IATA/AITA International Amateur Theatre festival in Norway. Midland Community Theatre submitted its application to NARA in December 2010, and was chosen by the Norwegian organizers in January 2011. Midland Community Theatre submitted its production of My Way – a Review of the Music of Frank Sinatra since Midland Community Theatre had previously toured this production to the Dundalk Maytime Festival in Ireland during 2004 and could travel to Norway with a small company.

Our company arrived in Tromsø on Friday, July 15, 2011, and we immediately were attending productions that night from Hungary, Denmark and Germany. Our first performance took place on Saturday, July 16^th at 10 p.m., and we spent that day working on technical elements and preparing for our show. During the rest of the week, our group was also able to attend productions from Croatia, Cuba, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Monaco, Norway (2), Russia and our favorite Argentina. When we arrived, we were told that the group from Iran was unable to obtain a Visa to enter Norway, but suddenly on Wednesday the group was able to secure these documents and they arrived and performed on Saturday night to wrap up the festival.

 Jaime Sotelo, Lisa Jebsen, Kristen Loyd, Rob Montgomery

Performing groups lived together in a local school, which was set up with cots in classrooms. Although not ideal, it was a wonderful opportunity to meet people from around the world and interact with them. Our men were on the same floor as the groups from Russia and Lithuania, and our women were located next door to the Hungarians. Several groups held parties with their national music and food and drink. Our group decided to host a special breakfast for everyone in the school. On Thursday morning, we awoke at 6:30 a.m. and started cooking scrambled eggs with cheese, peppers and onions and made breakfast burritos for everyone. Many people told us that they set their alarms in order to not miss our special treat.

One of the wonderful elements of having the festival in Tromsø was the fact that July is the time for the Midnight Sun. During the festival, the sun never went down, and this took some adjustments. However, we brought sleeping masks and darkened the windows in our schoolroom to allow us to sleep at night. It was a magical feeling to walk home late at night with full sunlight, but we were all glad to return home and see the sun go down again.

 Rob Montgomery, Lisa Jebsen, Tim Jebsen, Ryan Loyd, Kristen Loyd, Jaime Sotelo

In addition to our participation in the festival, several member of the group were able to travel early to Oslo and tour the capital in addition to taking a train trip to the Sognefjord in Western Norway to see the beautiful scenery. However, the terrorism event of Friday, July 22, 2011 added a somber note to the end of the festival while reminding us that theatre can bring together people from different societies, and that the arts can be part of the process of education and knowledge. The terrorism event took place two hours before our second performance – and our thoughts and hearts were with our Norwegian friends as they dealt with the national tragedy.

Overall, our group had a wonderful experience in Norway. The people were warm and welcoming, and our new international friends gave us a greater global perspective on the world of theatre. If you or your company has the chance to travel and perform abroad, please consider the sacrifice of time and money – it’s well worth it!

 Jaime Sotelo, Rob Montgomery, Kristen Loyd, Norwegian Chair Svein Svensson, 

Tim Jebsen, Lisa Jebsen

Norway

Tonight is our final rehearsal prior to leaving for the IATA/AITA international theatre festival in Tromso, Norway. MCT is proud to represent the USA at this festival, and our travel party of 6 is very excited to get started on this trip. We will run the show tonight, and then four of us leave on Monday and the other two on Thursday and we all arrive in Tromso on Friday and perform on July 16 and 22. I will attempt to post pictures on Facebook and keep the blog updated, but I can not promise that I will always have access to the internet. I will definitely update the blog upon my return!

National AACT Festival

I have just returned from 11 days in New York state - 3 days of fun with my Dad visiting the Baseball Hall of Fame and playing golf (including on Father's Day) and then 8 days of work in Rochester NY.

In Rochester, I started the week as the Facilitator of the Community Theatre Management Conference. There were 30 people from community theatres across the country - staff, volunteers, board members. We discussed budgets, marketing, volunteers, season selection, royalties - anything related to running a theatre. It was three days of discussion and sharing, and I believe that everyone came away from the event with a new idea (or twelve) for their theatre to implement. It was very exciting to meet these new theatre friends, and I look forward to hearing more from them about their experiences.

On Wednesday afternoon, the shows started and we saw twelve one-hour productions from the ten AACT regions. Texas was represented by "Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead" - a drama based on the Peanuts characters except now they are teenagers and they have very modern issues and concerns. It was definitely not a family show, but I had enjoyed it at state and they did a great job at nationals - it won the competition. Other shows included "Parrallel Lives", "Sunday in the Park with George", "The Bear", "Hauptmann", "The Gin Game", "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee", "Wiley and the Hairy Man", "The Zoo Story", "Second Samuel", "Check Please" and "Urinetown". "Urinetown" won second place and "Sunday in the Park with George" came in third.
 

Summertime is here!

It's officially summer when Summer Mummers opens - we had opening weekend starting on June 10th and the show runs at the Yucca Theatre through September 3rd this summer. This year's theme is bull riding - Ribaldry at the Rodeo or Hoping for an 8 Second Ride. It's important to remember that this event is the annual fundraiser for MCT, and puts an emphasis on the first three letters - it's a FUNdraiser. However, keep in mind that the event is recommended for those over the age of 16. Please support your community theatre and come see the show this summer.

In addition to Summer Mummers, the summer Theatre School program is now in session - our second week-long session is going on this week, and our two-week session starts on Monday, June 20th. All three sessions are full, and we are thrilled to have so many students (and parents) interested in our education program. The Pickwick Players have cast the summer musical - FAME - and have started rehearsals in preparation for their opening on July 15th in Davis Theatre I. 

In early June, we held fundraising performances for our trip to Norway this summer with the Frank Sinatra review MY WAY. I am so pleased that we were able to raise the necessary funds for this trip, and the cast and crew look forward to representing MCT, Midland and the USA at this international theatre festival in Tromso, Norway. MY WAY will be performed on July 16 and July 22 at the festival. 

Finally, we have several auditions coming up, including the Reader's Theatre readings for our 2011 McLaren finalists (auditions July 17-18), the fall production of THE DINNER PARTY directed by Jane Moore has auditions on July 24-25, the Agatha Christie mystery AND THEN THERE WERE NONE directed by Carl Moore has auditions on August 14-15 and the fall comedy CHARLIE COX RUNS WITH SCISSORS directed by Pam Keel will hold auditions on August 28-29. Needless to say, there's a lot happening at your community theatre this summer!

MY WAY and Summer Mummers

Many thanks to everyone who attended the performances of MY WAY this weekend at the Cole Theatre to raise funds for our travels to Norway. We had great crowds and are looking forward to our upcoming trip to Norway - we depart July 11 and perform at the festival on July 16 and 22. 

Kudos to the cast of THERE'S NO JUSTICE JUST COURT COSTS for their strong four weekend run of the 2010 McLaren winner - we closed the show on Saturday night, and the cast and crew have done a great job of entertaining our audiences with this new comedy.

This weekend marks the official beginning of summer - at least on the MCT calender - with the opening of the 2011 version of Summer Mummers on Friday night. Advance sales have filled the pit for almost the entire summer, but house seats are still available. The show runs June 10-September 3 on every Friday and Saturday night at 8 p.m. at the historic Yucca Theatre in downtown Midland. Come join the fun and see the show - remember, Summer Mummers is recommended for those over 16!

MY WAY

Midland Community Theatre is very proud to be selected to represent the USA at the upcoming AITA/IATA International Theatre festival in Tromso, Norway in July 2011. Our production of MY WAY - a review of the music of Frank Sinatra - will be performed in Norway at this festival. To prepare for our trip and help raise money for our expenses, we will have two public performances of the show in Midland on June 3 and 4 at 8 p.m. in Davis Theatre I. 

Tickets

HAIRSPRAY and JUSTICE

Sometimes, I think that I write these entries into the blog and no one reads them. It's one of the reasons that my writing has really slowed down this past year. Thursday night, however, someone told me something that reminded me that people do read the blog even if I don't know it. So, I'll try to do better and write more often...

HAIRSPRAY is closing today and it will be very sad. We've had a great run of the show and the crowds couldn't have been better or more receptive to the show. Some have asked why we didn't to the show as an opening musical - longer run, more opportunities to see it. First of all, I think part of the success is the partnership with Midland College Music and Drama - the 12 college kids in the orchestra and the 14 college kids in the choir performing have added so much to the show (and that wouldn't have happened on the opening musical). In addition, the Yucca Theatre has been a great venue for the show (and the opening musical would have been in Davis Theatre I), and some of our actors might not have participated with January rehearsals and six weeks of performances. It will be sad to see the show end today - but I'm sure that feeling will wear off when we're 2 hours into strike!

We opened the 2010 McLaren winner THERE'S NO JUSTICE JUST COURT COSTS last night. The cast and crew have worked very hard to get the show ready for opening weekend, and I know that they're ready for an audience. For the third time in my 15 years in Midland, I've had to remove an actor from the show during technical rehearsals - in this case, the actor was trying but he simply could not learn the lines and it was holding the show back. We replaced him on Tuesday night before we opened, and it's been an uphill challenge for the director (Gene Houk) and the incoming actor (Carl Moore). However, I must give full credit to the actor who was asked to step aside - he did it with grace and understanding. Working with volunteers is an important part of our work in community theatre, and it's never easy to make this kind of decision. We all hope it works out for the best.

Hairspray Rehearsal

We've moved rehearsals for our 2011 spring musical HAIRSPRAY down to the Yucca Theatre this week - we're headed into tech weekend in preparation for our opening next week. The set has been loaded in but still needs lots of painting and trim, but we're able to work in the space with the stage extension, buildings and portal all in place. On Monday and Tuesday, we adjusted the show to the Yucca spacing, and now we're going to work Act One (Wednesday) and Act Two (Thursday) and then do another run through on Friday night. Crews will start work on Saturday as we add lights, sound, sets and props. I'll keep you posted on our progress!!

UIL Drama at Midland College

Over the past eight days, we've hosted three UIL Drama competitions at Midland College and MCT. Certainly, my involvement at Midland College as the chair of the Drama program has added to the responsibilities across the bridge, but we've also partnered up with MCT for these events as the shows have used MCT spaces (Redfern, Taubman, North, Mabee, Dressing rooms) as their dressing rooms for the show. Thanks to the wonderful MC Hall Way bridge between MC and MCT, the casts have been able to walk over for their show and then walk back. They've gotten to see our wonderful spaces at MCT, and been able to perform in the Wagner and Brown Auditorium and see the Midland College drama experience at work. We've had 5-6 drama club students help us all three days (6 a.m. to 9 p.m.) and it's been a wonderful experience for the theatre, the college and the high school drama students. It's ironic that UIL and "competition" is keeping drama - and the arts in general - alive and well in Texas high schools.

AACT Festivals

Sorry for the delay in posting - I've been traveling around the country in March. AACT is hosting the national community theatre festival in Rochester NY in June, and various state and regional festivals are taking place this spring. Some of them happened in the fall - I was an adjudicator for the Region X festival in Kaiserslauten Germany for the US Military bases in Europe in October 2010 - but many happen in the spring. Over the previous three weekends, I saw 22 plays. I was the AACT representative - basically, the person who makes sure that everyone follows the rules - at the Ohio state theatre festival from March 3-5. I was an adjudicator for the New Mexico theatre festival - one of three judges who comments on the shows and determines which show moves on - from March 10-13. Finally, I attended the Texas state theatre festival in Ft. Worth from March 17-20 in support of our MCT entry THE DIXIE SWIM CLUB. I was very proud of director Jane Moore and our talented cast and crew, but they did not advance to the regional. However, it was a good three week run of theatre, and I look forward to seeing the 12 shows that make the national festival this summer in Rochester!

March Madness

Not that it's ever a slow time, but March has been particularly busy for me. This month, I will be traveling to three state AACT festival competitions leading up to the national festival in Rochester NY in June 2011. On March 3-7, I was in Ohio at their state AACT festival competition as the AACT commission rep (basically making sure that everyone played by the rules). On March 10-13, I was in New Mexico as an adjudicator for their state AACT festival. This weekend, I will be in Ft. Worth representing MCT and cheering on the cast and crew of "The Dixie Swim Club" as they compete in the state festival.

In addition, our 2011 opening musical OKLAHOMA has now closed after a six weekend run - congratulations to the cast and crew for all their hard work and dedication to this show. The great cast of THE NERD opened the second show of the 2011 season in Mabee Theatre II this past weekend, and will continue their run through April 2, 2011. We had over 100 people audition for HAIRSPRAY, and rehearsals have started for the spring Yucca musical. The Pickwick Players currently have 100 youth in the building this week with Fine Arts Camp, and their production of THE MAGICAL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM is in rehearsal. Finally, we have rehearsals for our 2010 McLaren winner THERE'S NO JUSTICE JUST COURT COSTS on March 27 and 28. Needless to say, it's a busy March at your community theatre!

Busy Times at MCT

It's a very busy time at your community theatre! What's going on right now?

OKLAHOMA is still performing in Davis Theatre I
THE NERD is in rehearsals in Mabee Theatre II in preparation for performances in March/April
THE DIXIE SWIM CLUB is getting ready to perform at the Yucca Theatre and in Ft. Worth for the state AACT festival
MY WAY is starting rehearsals in preparation for our travels to Norway this summer
THE MAGICAL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM had auditions this past weekend and will begin rehearsals soon in preparation for their performances in April
HAIRSPRAY has auditions on February 27th, 28th and March 1st

Needless to say, there's a lot going on, and we'd love to get you involved. You can audition for a show, work backstage on building a show (sets, costumes, lights/sound), usher for a production or work concessions/bar or assist us in the Business Office or Box Office. It's YOUR community theatre - become a part of the fun!!

Interested in volunteering? Call Tracy Alexander at 682-2544 or tracy@mctmidland.org

 

Opening Night - OKLAHOMA

Last night was opening night for our 2011 opening musical - OKLAHOMA. We had a great crowd at the theatre - there were even 31 people on the waiting list to get in! The crowd was enthusiastic and excited by the show - and the cast was thrilled. After performing for five weeks with no one in the audience, it was nice to finally have someone clap, laugh and respond at the scenes and song. 

A very funny thing happened during the show last night. During the second scene, Jud and Curly are supposed to fire their guns in the smokehouse. Jud's fired just fine, but Curly's did not fire - he tried three times and nothing. Finally, he said "Bang!" and said "that would've gone through that knothole". The audience laughed and responded positively, because the actor (Drew Ervin) handled the situation well and in character. In the second act, Curly sells the gun at the Box Social in order to increase his bid over Jud, and he offers it to Joe and says "it only misfired once!" - well, the audience went nuts. The joys of live theatre - the gun had never been a problem in dress rehearsals, but it happened in front of an audience and the actor handled it well. All in all, it will probably go down as one of our "memories" of this show!

If you're in Midland over the next five weeks, come on down to MCT and see the show - support our talented volunteers (both onstage and off) who have worked on this show.

Opening Night

Well, it's time - all the work and preparation has come to an end, and it's time to perform the show in front of an audience. Our actors have done an amazing job getting ready for tonight's performance, and we have some incredible characters and performers onstage. We are especially proud of the fact that seven people in OKLAHOMA have never appeared on the MCT stage before tonight - it's their debut MCT performance! The crews have also done a wonderful job preparing the scenery, costumes, props, lighting and sound. If you don't already have a ticket, I hope you will get one and join us for our opening musical!!

AITA/IATA 2011 - Norway

It's now official - Midland Community Theatre has been invited by the organizers of the 2011 AITA/IATA International Theatre festival in Tromso, Norway to present our production of MY WAY this summer at the event. Needless to say, we are very excited about this invitation, and are looking forward to working on this important project. Here is a website for the festival - at last glance, it had not been updated to include the recent productions added to the festival.

We are currently in the process of putting together the production - three of the original four members of the show still live in the Permian Basin and have agreed to participate. I've had to add a new member to the production to replace Amy (who moved away) and the group is getting started in a week after I open OKLAHOMA. In addition, I can not devote my full attention to the production until I get done with HAIRSPRAY this spring - we may have some Saturday rehearsals and a slow beginning to the process before moving forward.

In addition, we'll need to work on raising the money to make this trip. When I asked the board's permission to accept this invitation (if offered), I agreed that we would not use funds from the 2011 operating budget for the trip. Therefore, we're going to need to raise a considerable sum to make this trip. I am planning to keep the traveling party small - six people - but Norway is an expensive country and summer is the busy travel season. I'll keep you posted as we develop more of our plans.

Tech Weekend - OKLAHOMA

We've reached the final week of rehearsals for our 2011 opening musical - OKLAHOMA. We open a week from tonight, and the next eight days will be filled with rehearsals and hard work to get ready for the opening. The cast has had a good week of work improving from our "stumble thru" on Sunday afternoon, and last night's run thru on the stage was a positive step forward. We'll run the show again tonight, and start technical rehearsals on Saturday by adding lighting, sound and the scenery. We'll have another actor rehearsal on Sunday afternoon, and another tech on Sunday night. Finally, we have dress rehearsals Monday through Thursday and then the opening on Friday night.

This is always an exciting part of the year, since it's the beginning of a new season. We recently had auditions for THE NERD, our first production in 2011 in Mabee Theatre II. They start rehearsals on Sunday in preparation for their opening in March, and soon the Pickwick Players will hold auditions and begin rehearsals for THE MAGICAL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM. There are lots of volunteers needed for our opening musical backstage, and we have auditions coming up for HAIRSPRAY and the 2010 McLaren winner THERE'S NO JUSTICE JUST COURT COSTS, so become involved in your community theatre!

Oklahoma Rehearsals

OKLAHOMA rehearsals have continued over the past week - we are working six days a week to get ready for our opening on Friday, February 5, 2011. The cast has been working hard on the songs, dances and scenes, and we're starting to transition from the "learning" process into the "performing" process by getting off-book (lines memorized) and working on more character interactions.

On Sunday night, Jessi and Cameron Willmann - Jessi is playing Ado Annie - hosted the cast for a party after the rehearsal and it was a great chance to meet and talk outside of rehearsals. There are lots of new people in the show, and it was a great chance for people to meet and learn more about each other. Part of the joy of community theatre is the family atmosphere that exists within each cast. When you work together for 5-6 weeks and then perform together for several weekends, it has a bonding experience for the whole group. I've been really pleased with how the veterans have mixed with the newcomers in our 2011 opening musical.

OKLAHOMA Rehearsals

We are now 1/3 of the way through rehearsals for our 2011 opening musical OKLAHOMA. Almost all of the scenes have been blocked, and all of the songs have been introduced and the choreography roughed out for the musical numbers. Musical Director Bert Bostic has a full night of music rehearsals tonight, and Choreographer Misti Tytanic will be working on the Dream Ballet, the song "Kansas City" and other dances at rehearsals on Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon. All of this work leads up to our opening on Friday, February 4, 2011.

Several people have noted that our 2011 opening musical includes many performers who have never appeared on the MCT stage before, and we're very excited to welcome these newcomers. These newcomers include the actors playing Laurey (Jenness Rouse), Curly (Drew Ervin), Gertie (Cara Craggett), and Jud (Micheal Waid). Additional newcomers include Jim Johnson, Meaghan Hall, Leanne Ervin, Brady Suggs and Daniela Morales. Of course, there are others in the cast that you will recognize from past MCT productions, but we are thrilled to have so many newcomers participating in our 2011 opening musical!