Dec 16 2008
Strand Theatre Weekly Email: December 16, 2008
What a month! We are pooped. First we had Hope’s Point Baptist Church with their wonderful musical "That’s the Good News!". We followed it with a Community Band Concert that Sunday. The theatre had to have everything associated with the musical removed and the concert setup within 16 hours of each performance! We had the Chamber of Commerce Network Luncheon on Wednesday. That was lunch for 72 in the Cabaret Area and the SHS Jazz Band on the stage. We finished the week with 2 performances of "Our Crazy Family Christmas". We certainly pushed every volunteer a bit too much…but it was fun.
"Our *Crazy* Family Christmas" that Cindy Houpt and Kim Wallace produced was a hit. We had great attendance both performances. Elvis made and appearance (disguised as Willandra Macklin). The Addams Family made an appearance too, along with Cousin It and Thing. I think Lurch needed a new tailor. He was funny. The whole show was funny. The highlight was Cindy, Kim and Willandra singing "White Christmas" a cappella. It was a musical treat. We are eager to see what they cook up for next year!
In preparation for the show, we finally installed the electricity for our Spot Lights. These lights are all the way in the back corners of the balcony. You have read many times about our lack of electricity in the theatre. Steve D. and Darin M. had to take the power from our new panel in the basement under the stage. It is not easy to get from there to the balcony. They had to fish the wire through the tunnel, take a 90º bend through a connecting tunnel. Fish is up a column in to the balcony, then snake it through the inside of the balcony to the proper position. Darin drew the short straw (as he always does) and got to do the crawling….lucky him. Well it was all worth it because the spotlight, expertly operated by Strand Board Member Cody V., added greatly to the show. It is necessary piece of stage equipment that we were long overdue in getting ready.
The spotlights that we were given are going to have a short life (warning, tech talk ahead). These instruments take a Mogul Bi-Pin lamp rated at 1500W. This was an old Sylvania style lamp that required air cooling. They discontinued this lamp in the 1970’s! Needless to say, we can’t get another. We are going to attempt to retrofit the fixtures with a Mogul Pre-Focus base. That will buy us some time, but the fixtures are not viable for the long term. New fixtures will be quieter and more efficient. The optics of the old spots are perfect for the Strand, but that can easily be replaced…maybe just not so easily paid for.
This week we have 2 Strand events on the same evening…you ask "how can that be?" Well, Strand Friend Martin Zinser is having another benefit for us at Occasions. The Flying Toasters will perform on Saturday December 20, 2008 @ 9:30pm. Tickets are $10 with $3 coming to us! The show will be fantastic. Please go over to Occasions for a great party helping what we think is a great cause! Thank you Martin.
To prepare for the Toasters, you can come to the Strand for a performance at 7:30. There will be a benefit concert for the Ryan Fischer Foundation. Ryan was a very nice young man that lost his battle to cancer earlier this year. The Strand is donating our facility to the producers of the event to help them raise the funds. This will make the fourth time in our short history that the Strand has given back. So far, we have helped raise over $4000 for others, and have received 200+ lbs of food that we donated to Human Services. We are very proud that we are helping to give back to our community. Please help support the Ryan Fischer Foundation and stop by on Saturday night before the Toasters.
We finish the month and the year with our 59th performance….ROCKPHORIA. This is a Smashed Productions show that you will not want to miss. It is on Saturday December 27th at 8:00pm.
Kudos to our friends at the Shelby County Players for their successful production of "Rumplestiltskin". Also kudos to our friends at Mainstreet for their successful Home Tour.
Thank you to all who came to the events of the last few weeks. Of the 5 performances, 3 were no charge. We are pleased to help bring affordable live entertainment to Shelbyville and Shelby County. Please check our web site for performance pictures and other fun information. Again, we couldn’t do it without you…thank you!
Comments Off
Email Newsletter SignUp...
