HELP WANTED: Treasurer

With the sudden passing of our dear friend Jack Mical, Brunswick Little Theatre lost its treasurer, among all else. Jack's shoes will be hard to fill, but find someone to fill this role, we must. Great community theatre takes talent and heart for sure, but it also takes no small amount of money, and we require a trustworthy, steady and careful individual to be steward of our group's funds.

BLT's treasurer sits on the board, but is not necessarily a voting member (though he/she can be) and is a volunteer as is everyone in Brunswick Little Theatre. The treasurer is tasked with maintaining our accounts and financial records, preparing a monthly report of expenses and income for Board review, and tracking expenses for each show and activity. The treasurer signs and disperses checks for reimbursement of show expenses and bills that relate to the operation of BLT. We retain the services of a CPA for filing taxes, but the information needed is maintained and organized by the treasurer.

A candidate for BLT Treasurer needn't be an accountant, but a familiarity with bookkeeping is essential, along with a willingness to work with a wide range of directors, set designers, costumers and board members.

If you think you could help us in this regard, or would like more information about what the position entails, please contact Brunswick Little Theatre President Jeffrey Stites at jgstites@yahoo.com or (910) 471-7741.

Let's PLAY! Children's Theater Workshop

Brunswick Little Theatre launched it's very first Let's PLAY! Children's Theatre Workshop in the spring of 2013 with the goal to "provide our youngest performers with an opportunity to explore and excel in the theatrical arts, in a low-key, relaxed environment." Director Jen Iapalucci proposed the program as a way to introduce and teach the theatrical arts to younger children (4-12 year-olds) without the pressure of auditions. That first session, a series of 12 weekend workshops culminating in a showcase, was followed in the summer of 2013 by two weeks of summer camp and by a second weekend workshop in the spring of 2014.

This summer will see the second set of two week-long summer camps with registration opening on Saturday, April 26 at 9 am. Let's PLAY! Summer Camp will be offered the weeks of June 16-20 and August 11-15, 2014 and will be directed by professional theater educator Amanda Penegar. All the details can be found on the Let's PLAY! page of the BLT website.

Brunswick Little Theatre is very proud of this workshop and the students, teachers and parents who have invested so much time, effort and enthusiasm in its success. We are looking forward this summer's camps and another weekend workshop in the fall. Below are some quotes about the program from the students involved and their parents. We believe exposure to the arts is important for every child (and adult, really) and hope you'll agree and consider joining the Let's PLAY! family!

"I like Let's PLAY! because they showed me how to take my talent to the next level, and I had a really fun time" -- Ryleigh, age 11

"I like Let's PLAY! because my grandson has a blast. I can see real growth in his confidence and exploring

his creative side." Kim, Kiro's Grandmother

"I like when we get a story and get to act it out." - Jillian, age 7

"We love Let's PLAY! because of its freestyle and imaginative approach. The performances are earnest and very entertaining! We are grateful for it in Brunswick County. The kids are building up their public speaking skills without knowing. That is priceless to every parent and child. Let's PLAY! builds confidence while stimulating their artistic abilities." - Liz, Lila's Mom

"I Like Let's PLAY! because I get to pantomime." - Maddie, age 8

"I enrolled my child in Let's PLAY! because I wanted her to overcome her shyness. By participating in Let's PLAY!, she has developed more self-confidence and is more willing to step out of her comfort zone." - Monica, Maggie's Mom

"Let's PLAY! has been wonderful for Sophia because it has helped build her confidence and develop a love for theater. In a school writing assignment she wrote that when she is on stage she feels like a bird taking off to fly." Jennifer, Sophia's Mom

"I like Let's PLAY! because I get to see my friends and have fun with them." - Mallory, age 7

"As a parent I like Let's PLAY! because my child gained social skills, focused on taking turns, and was able to self-express his talents in a safe and fun environment." - Jenni, Nicholas' Mom

April Happenings

Happy Spring to one and all! We are more than happy to see the arrival of some warmer weather and are looking forward to a busy spring and summer.

Spring for Brunswick Little Theatre means the arrival of our FREE show in Southport's Franklin Square Park. This year's shows kick off in just over one month! An American Band, Music of the Rock Revolution (1965-1973) will rock the park 8 pm nightly May 16-18 and 23-15. If you were one of the very few people who missed last year's hugely popular My Generation concerts, you don't want to miss this one! It's being brought to you by most of the same musicians and vocalists that drove record crowds wild last spring. So, bring your entire family, bring some beach chairs and be ready to be entertained by the best free concert Southport offers. You can see some songs from last year's shows here and check out this year's rehearsals here.

Are you ready to venture Into The Woods with BLT this summer? Work has begun on our big summer

musical and auditions are less than THREE WEEKS away! Director Jen Iapalucci and Musical Director Michael Stringer will be hosting auditions at Building F on the campus of Brunswick Community College on Saturday, May 3 and Monday, May 5. Children under 15 (except those auditioning for the role of Red Riding Hood) are to audition from 11 am to 1 pm on Saturday, May 3, while adults and all those seeking Red Riding Hood's role are to come at 1 pm Saturday, May 3 or 7 pm Monday, May 5. All are asked to please try to make the Saturday date if at all possible. Complete details on roles available and expectations for those auditioning can be found on our web site's Auditions Page. Please come prepared and break a leg!

Tickets for Into The Woods will be available through the Odell Williamson Auditorium box office beginning Friday, May 16. You may purchase in person, over the phone or online. All the links, times and numbers you need are on our own Box Office page here.

Looking for something for the little theater aficionados in your family to do this summer? BLT is very excited to announce the return of Let's PLAY! Children's Theater Workshop Summer Camp! This year we will offer two one-week sessions, June 16-20 and August 11-15. With Director Jen Iapalucci busy preparing Into The Woods, this summer's camps will be directed by long-time BLT friend and professional theater educator Amanda Penegar. Camp will run from 10 am to 2:30 pm Monday to Friday with a showcase performance at 3 pm the Sunday following camp week at the South Brunswick High School drama classroom. Fees for

camp are $100 per student with a 20% discount for siblings. Registration opens 9 am Saturday, April 26 via email to jgstites@yahoo.com. These camps will fill up fast, so registration is on a strict first come, first served basis. To find out more about Let's PLAY! and our summer camp program, please visit the Let's PLAY! website here. You may also check out video from past Let's PLAY! classes and showcases on our YouTube channel here.

With all these great programs and shows Brunswick Little Theatre offers, the board of directors has decided it is time to start seriously looking for a permanent home for BLT. Our options are wide open right now, but the board will be creating a Facility Fund very soon and begin accepting donations to help us acquire a place of our own. Stay tuned for details on how YOU can help build the future of community theater right here in our own back yard.

Last but certainly not least, the Brunswick Little Theatre is proud and thankful to announce the election of Sue MacCallum as President-Elect of its Board of Directors. Sue brings years of experience in theater, community involvement and fundraising and will ensure that BLT remains an active and vibrant part of our community as we move forward. Sue will assume the office of BLT President as of January 2015. Thank you and congratulations Sue!

Dear Edwina JR Opens Friday

Brunswick Little Theatre's Stagestruck Players bring you the musical fun of Dear Edwina JR starting this Friday night at the Brunswick Center at Southport. The show will run Friday and Saturday, March 28 and 29 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, March 30 at 3:00 pm this weekend, and again next weekend Friday and Saturday, April 4 and 5 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, April 6 at 3:00 pm. The Brunswick Center at Southport is located at 1513-1 N. Howe Street. It's right behind the Wingate Inn in the shopping center at the intersection of Hwy 87 and Hwy 211, where there's a Go Gas on one corner and Famous Pizza on the other. Here's a map.

Dear Edwina JR is a delightful show sure to be enjoyed by all ages. The story follows Edwina, a middle school advice columnist with very talented siblings. She tries to show her own talent by entering a play in the Advice-a-Palooza festival and all her friends and neighbors come by her garage to help out. The show plays out in a series of musical numbers based on the letters and responses from Edwina's column. The music is spectacular and touches on genre's as diverse as opera and ethnic music.

This is a non-stop, musical joy-ride, so if you have young ones you'd like to introduce to the magic of live theater, here's your perfect chance. But the show touches on important themes as well, and the cast of thirteen 11-16 year-olds is as talented as any group of adults you're likely to see on stage, so even if you don't have children, you really owe it to yourself to check this one out. You'll be glad you did and you'll be supporting a group of really amazing and hard-working youths.

Tickets for Dear Edwina JR are just $14 for adults, $10 for students (with ID) and $5 for children 12 and under. Our online box office uses PayPal, so it's easy to purchase with any credit or debit card, or, if you'd prefer, tickets will be available at the door (cash or check only).

For more about the show, visit the our website, check out our Facebook album for photos and read some comments from the cast in this blog post (please note the ticket giveaway is over, sorry).

March Happenings

Spring Is Coming! Brunswick Little Theatre is moving into Spring as busy as ever. Here's a look at some of what we have in the works.

The children of our Let's PLAY! workshop have been hard at work (and PLAY) for the

last 12 weeks and are ready to show off all they've learned. The Spring Session Showcase will be tomorrow, Sunday, March 16 at the South Brunswick High School theater arts classroom. The show will begin at 4 pm with doors opening at 3:50 to allow the children as much time as possible to rehearse in their performance space. Come on out and see the creativity, talent and pure exuberance this great group of 4-12 year-olds brings to BLT. They are our future, and a bright one it is! A BIG thank you to Jen Iapalucci and Katie Deese for volunteering many hours to make this program the huge success it has become.

Speaking of the future of Brunswick Little Theatre, our Youth Division, Stagestruck Players, is also hard at work on its next production. Dear Edwina Jr. Tickets are on sale now in our online box office and will also be available at the door. The show features a cast of 13 portraying Edwina Spoonapple and her friends and family as they put together a musical based upon letters to Edwina's advice column, Dear Edwina. There are song and dance numbers galore, something from almost every genre you can dream of, so this show will be sure to be a hit with all ages. We will once again be performing at the Brunswick Center at Southport, 1513-1 N. Howe Street, behind the Wingate Inn. Showtimes are March 28-29 and April 4-5 at 7:30 pm with two matinees March 30 and April 6 at 3 pm. Be sure to make your plans to catch at LEAST one of these shows. Check out pictures from rehearsal here and hear from some cast members on our blog here.

To make it even easier to introduce your children or grandchildren to the magic of live theatre, BLT is giving away 20 children's (12 and under) tickets to the opening night performance of Dear Edwina Jr., March 28th at 7:30 pm. Simply follow this link to the BLT Giveaway page and get up to four entries! It's quick, easy and fun to enter, so please enter today and tell your friends to give it a try. Also, you can print a poster for the show from our Poster Page and hang it at school, church, work or anywhere else you can get permission to help spread the word. We would LOVE to see a packed house on opening night!

Excitement has already been building for Brunswick Little Theatre's big summer musical Into The Woods. Auditions have been scheduled for May 3 and 5 at Building F of Brunswick Community College. Visit our Auditions Page to learn all the details.

With the coming Spring comes the much anticipated return of BLT's FREE rock and roll show in Franklin Square Park. This year we shift from the British Invasion to our own shores as we present An American Band: Music of the Rock Revolution on two weekends, May 16-18 and 23-25. Shows begin at 8 pm nightly, so bring a chair and enjoy a great night of music under the stars. You can get a glimpse of what's in store at our Youtube channel, and be sure to check back, new songs are added all the time.

As always thank you for your support of Brunswick Little Theatre.

Dear Edwina Jr. Ticket Giveaway

Brunswick Little Theatre is giving away 20 children's tickets to the opening night performance of Stagestruck Players' Dear Edwina Jr. These tickets are for our budding theater fans 12 years of age and under. The show will be performed at the Brunswick Center at Southport, 1513 N. Howe Street, Suite 1, behind the Wingate Inn. Dear Edwina Jr. will run for two weekends with evening performances at 7:30 pm on March 28 and 29 and April 4 and 5 and two Sunday matinees March 30 and April 6 at 3 pm. Our free ticket giveaway is for opening night, Friday, March 28 only.

To enter, simply visit the Brunswick Little Theatre's Facebook Giveaway page and get up to five entries per person. It's quick and easy and all 20 winners will be notified via email.

I had the pleasure of visiting with the cast of Dear Edwina Jr this past weekend while they rehearsed the

Gina Flow, starring as Edwina Spoonapple

show. This is going to be a great one, let me tell you. The music I heard was wonderful, and according to

choreographer Bev Veenker, the show's musical reach is vast, moving through an amazing array of genres. The show follows Edwina, played by Gina Flow, as she puts together a musical based upon questions and answers from her advice column to enter in the Advice-A-Palooza Festival.The show-within-a-show features lots of vignettes and offers the youth actors the opportunity to play multiple roles.

One number involves a farmer, played by Sydney Parker, and a collection of pigs portrayed by Noah Huntley, Noah Jibke, Chase Coston and RJ Thomas. Noah Jibke explained the pig role this way, "I snort a lot and try not to be made into bacon." Noah J. also gets to play a "mean kid", which he says is his favorite character, because, "everyone loves to hate him."

Noah Huntley breaks from his pig role to play a few more characters, including the annoying Frank in "Franken Guest". But Noah H's favorite role is a boy named Billy because he "gets to talk a lot and is in some songs."

Noah is pretty typical in his desire for stage time. These kids are hams (get it?) in the best sense of the word. They obviously love what they're doing and it shows through in the energy they bring to the show.

Left to right: Noah Jibke, RJ Thomas, Noah Huntley and Chase Coston, hamming it up

Director Debbie Skillman has these kids practicing all weekend and one weeknight, but the show features 20 scenes with 20 songs, so there is a lot to learn between music and choreography. And then there are lines. I was blown away by the fact these kids are "off book" already. The adults I've worked with weren't at this point. It's impressive.

So, whether you have an "Under 12" and can enter the contest or not, you will be doing yourself a favor to come see this show. It's pure joy, and the actors deserve your support. Please join us the last weekend in March and first weekend in April at the Brunswick Center for a great time watching Edwina and her gang doing their thing.

For more information or to buy tickets, please visit www.brunswicklittletheatre.com

Does Our Theatre Need To Be "Saved"? Would These Ideas Help?

One of our actors posted a link to a column called "Ten Things Theaters Need To Do Right Now To Save Themselves". It was an interesting read, even if it was seemingly meant for more "big city" theatre groups, more semi-professional or professional houses. Some of the author's suggestions don't apply to us at all, but some may bear some thought and hopefully discussion.

Get them young. Seattle playwright Paul Mullin said it best in an e-mail last week: "Bring in people under 60. Do whatever it takes. If you have to break your theater to get young butts in seats, then do it. Because if you don't, your theater's already broke—the snapping sound just hasn't reached your ears yet."

Brunswick Little Theatre's audiences tend toward the over 50 demographic. Heavily. A lot of this is because of the demographics of our county, we are a retirement destination, but is that the only explanation? There are plenty of young people and families living here as well, is there something we can do to get them to shows? Should we change our show selection? If so, how? Should we change our marketing? Our image? Attempt somehow to reach out to new audiences? Are ticket prices reasonable for families? Are we already broken or are we just fine playing to our regulars?

 Offer child care. Sunday school is the most successful guerrilla education program in American history. Steal it. People with young children should be able to show up and drop their kids off with some young actors in a rehearsal room for two hours of theater games. The benefits: First, it will be easier to convince the nouveau riche (many of whom have young children) to commit to season tickets. Second, it will satisfy your education mission (and will be more fun, and therefore more effective, for the kids). Third, it will teach children to go to the theater regularly. And they'll look forward to the day they graduate to sitting with the grown-ups. Getting dragged to the theater will shift from punishment to reward.

Set aside the fact that you'd be hard pressed to find any "nouveau riche" in Brunswick County, this idea may have merit. What do you think?  There are issues of liability, space and volunteers to overcome, is it worth the trouble? Would YOU be more likely to come to an "adult" show if you could have on-site child-care? Would your children enjoy theater-based fun? Your grandchildren? BLT has developed a hugely successful children's workshop catering to those 4-13, could we capitalize on that to bring a smaller version to each performance? Should we try?

Build bars. Alcohol is the only liquid on earth that functions as both lubricant and bonding agent. Exploit it. Treat your plays like parties and your audience like guests. Encourage them to come early, drink lots, and stay late. Even the meanest fringe company can afford a tub full of ice and beer, and the state of regional- theater bars is deplorable: long lines, overpriced drinks, and a famine of comfortable chairs. Theaters try to "build community" with postplay talkbacks and lectures and other versions of you've spent two hours watching my play, now look at me some more! You want community? Give people a place to sit, something to talk about (the play they just saw), and a bottle. As a gesture of hospitality, offer people who want to quit at intermission a free drink, so they can wait for their companions who are watching act two. Just take care of people. They get drinks, you get money, everybody wins. Tax, zoning, and liquor laws in your way? Change them or ignore them. Do what it takes.

Here's a little more controversial one. North Carolina's liquor laws are a bit Byzantine, but they do provide for non-profits to sell alcohol on a temporary license at events, so it is do-able without ignoring the law. Is it something BLT should explore? Would it help attract audience, make theatre more accessible and "cool" or would it cause more problems than it solves? How about the idea of a hang-out with the cast and crew after a show? Would that work with or without alcohol involved? Is it worth a try or too much trouble?

 Boors' night out. You know what else builds community? Audience participation, on the audience's terms. For one performance of each show, invite the crowd to behave like an Elizabethan or vaudeville audience: Sell cheap tickets, serve popcorn, encourage people to boo, heckle, and shout out their favorite lines. ("Stella!") The sucky, facile Rocky Horror Picture Show only survives because it's the only play people are encouraged to mess with. Steal the gimmick.

This does harken back to Shakespearean days, when the audience whole-heartedly  cheered, jeered and harassed the actors. In those days, theatre was for everyone, could we bring new faces to the show if we made it less of a sit and watch experience? Is a jeering and yelling crowd disrespectful to the hours of hard work the actors put into a show, or a compliment to their entertainment skills?  Would designating one night during a show as "audience participation night" work? Disney just ran a sing-a-long version of Frozen in theaters, could we follow suit with a live orchestra and actors? Would you want attend such a show? Perform in one? Where would be a good place to try this, if at all, a free park show perhaps? Odell? Amuzu?


 Let us know your thoughts. Comment below, email us at brunswicklittletheatre@gmail.com, Tweet us, Facebook us, or find us out and about and share your thoughts. Community theatre belongs to the community, tell us how we can make that a reality right here.