|
| Home ║ Season Ticket ║ General Ticket Info ║ About Us ║ Helpful Links ║ Contact Us║ |
|
President’s Notes
Greetings, TownSquare Players (TSP) members and Web site visitors. I have been involved in both of the current season’s shows and, sorry to say, have neglected to put out any “President’s Notes” until now. Allow me to correct that with the following updates. Happy 40th Anniversary! We are celebrating our 40th year as a community theater group, and it couldn’t be done without all of you. If you have thoughts on how we might celebrate our anniversary this year, please email them to me here by noon on Feb. 20th. The TSP board will be discussing this at a meeting that evening, and I’d like to have some different ideas. As you submit them, please understand that – as is the case with other arts groups – we’re not overflowing with funds. Thank you. Sabrina Fair 
Publicity Efforts have been made this season to get as much publicity for our shows as possible. Examples include a large Chicago Tribune story about the fall shows at the Opera House produced by Woodstock Musical Theatre Company (“Lend Me a Tenor”) and TSP (“State Fair”) and nearby restaurants visitors could enjoy when they came to the show. We also worked out an agreement with WMTC and Star 105.5 to have the FM station give away a certificate for two show tickets to a listener each weekday of Tech Week…and to have one of the actors in each show interviewed during morning drive on the Monday of Tech Week. A “celebrity” pie-eating contest immediately after the opening night “State Fair” performance resulted in a front-page Woodstock Independent photo the following week, with Woodstock Downtown Business Association President Lucia Matlock with a face full of pie and a caption that referred the reader to an inside page for a favorable review of the show. Coming soon: a Northwest Herald pre-Valentine’s Day story about Rob and Kim Scharlow, one of the three couples involved in “Sabrina Fair.” (The other two: Lou and Janie Czarny, and Tim and Pam Curtis.) I have also written an essay for the Northwest Herald that is expected to run in its special “Progress” sections on Sat., Feb. 23. I have also used a Letter to the Editor to protest the 2008 decision to move all theater/audition/etc. listings from the Northwest Herald’s Friday “Sidetracks” section to the newspaper’s Web site. (Several other letter-writers have also had letters printed against this decision, which will make it more difficult for readers to know what’s going on.) State Fair 
Fundraising Efforts We included inserts in our “State Fair” programs for Jewel-Osco’s “Shop and Share” program...and we’ll have inserts in the “Sabrina Fair” programs for another set of three consecutive days in which you can shop at any Jewel-Osco, give your coupon to the cashier, and help raise funds for TSP. (Jewel-Osco makes a donation to us based on the total amount spent by people who bring in those coupons on the specified Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.) So when you come to “Sabrina Fair,” hold onto that coupon…and then take it to your local Jewel-Osco to make purchases on March 17, 18, or 19. Our TSPrestige program has also been garnering some interest from “State Fair” attendees and others. This program allows for a tax-deductible donation by individuals or businesses to be made to TownSquare Players and – provided we have the donor’s name, etc. – we acknowledge our contributors in upcoming programs. For example, contributors whose checks are received at our P.O. Box by Feb. 15 will be listed in the “Sabrina Fair” programs. Those whose gifts are received after Feb. 15, but before mid-October will be recognized in our 2008-09 programs. 
Lou Czarny, our former president, has graciously worked on TSP’s behalf to complete an annual grant application with the Illinois Arts Council. Last summer, we were notified that we would receive a $4790 grant, but after the IAC’s budget was slashed, the amount was reduced to $2790. I spoke at a public hearing State Rep. Jack Franks and State Sen. Pamela Althoff held about the governor’s budget cuts at McHenry County College last fall, and made additional comments Jan. 14 as I accepted the cardboard version of our $2790 check at a presentation at the Opera House attended by Sen. Althoff, Rep. Franks, and IAC Legislative Liaison Karla Kunzeman – all seen in the photo at right – and other local officials, including Mayor Brian Sager. At “Sabrina Fair” performances, we will be raffling off a copy of “Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit: A Son Remembers” that’s autographed by the author, Sean Hepburn Ferrer, son of “Sabrina” star Audrey Hepburn. Deb Spitzbart is coordinating volunteers to man the raffle table during intermission and after each performance (except for the final performance, when the winner’s name will be drawn). This is a gorgeous “coffee table book” about a very classy star. Please purchase your ticket(s) when you come to see “Sabrina Fair.” 2008-2009 Season The classic comedy about Elwood P. Dowd and an invisible rabbit named “Harvey” will be produced in November by TSP. And we’ve received the rights to perform a newer four-person musical that pokes gentle fun at the style and shows of musical geniuses like Rodgers and Hammerstein and Andrew Lloyd Webber - “The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!)” in March 2009. More information about both shows is available here. Run for Office! Dan Kreisman is heading up the Nominating Committee seeking active members who’d be willing to run for office when we hold our annual meeting in June. More information on available positions and on prerequisites (e.g., that you’ve been active with TSP this season, that you paid your dues for the 2007-2008 fiscal year no later than Jan. 1st) is available here. Programs One cost-saving measure implemented this season by both WMTC and TSP involves the printing/layout of our programs. The Woodstock Independent has taken on the responsibility of laying out our program content, seeking advertisers, and working with Indepth Graphics to print all of our programs. If the advertising more than covers the costs of printing, etc., we’ll also receive a percentage of those profits, but so far it doesn’t appear that the advertising revenue has exceeded the expenses. The TSP and WMTC boards will soon be discussing whether to continue this program going forward. Paul Lockwood, President, TownSquare Players TOp of Page |
|
Site Design & Administration by: Rae Pfundt 
|
|
Contents of this site Property of TownSquare Players, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
