Expressions

Expressions, the All-of-us Express Children's Theatre member newsletter, has been on hiatus, so this issue is rather plump with news. We intend to make the newsletter a regular feature of the AECT website again, so if you have news of interest to the AECT member community, please let us know.

Boo Bowl: All-of-us Express Bowling Fundraiser Saturday 27 October 10:00 – noon at Spare Time Entertainment, 3101 East Grand River, Lansing MI (across from Frandor). Costumes encouraged! Prizes awarded!

• Each participant on a five person team bowls two games. The first game is a regular game, the second is a ghoulishly fun game.
• Your $20 registration fee offsets the cost of bowling, shoes and T-shirt. Each bowler must raise an additional $30 in pledges to participate, totaling a minimum of $50 per bowler. (The entire $50 may be raised in pledges, but $20 must be paid when you register, with the remainder being turned in at the event.)
• A bowler who raises $100 in pledges receives a free Laser Tag admission good for the day of the event.
• This event works great for company team building!
• Prizes are awarded for costumes, for various bowling achievements, and for pledge achievements.
• We encourage team competitions. (So put together a rival team!)

More information provided upon registration, or call 517-333-2580x0. You may register online at cityofeastlansing.com/allofus. Choose Online Registration from the left column, then Children's Theater from the right column on the next page, then you should see the event on the following page. (Note that you must create an account before you can register.)

Printable registration form (PDF).

Watch the Boo Bowl PSA on YouTube. Thanks to Josh Cook (Last Laugh Productions) for filming and editing this video!

Thanks to Sandi Sigworth, Gina Golden, Kathleen Miller and others for their time and effort in planning and organizing this fundraiser! (If you would like to become an event sponsor, sponsor a lane, or donate a prize, please contact Sandi Sigworth.)

Costume Shop Expansion

After much discussion with City staff, work is going forward to improve the spaces used by the All-of-us Express guild program in Hannah Community Center. Over the summer a former locker room was converted into a dedicated costume shop and costume storage area, allowing all of our costumes to be securely stored in Hannah Community Center for the first time since the merger.

The cost for converting the costume shop space and moving the costumes was about $9,000, which was shared by AECT and the City. AECT is now pursuing a grant to cover the cost of further enhancements to the basement space, including bringing running water to the area. (When Hannah Middle School was converted into a community center, work was only partially completed in the basement and on the third floor.)

Thanks to Sandi, Missy, Crystal, Katy and Kathleen for organizing and unpacking the costumes into the new space.

23rd Season Wrap-up

Our four mainstage productions showed an increase in cast and crew participation, with audiences that averaged about 100 for most shows. Refresh your memory by looking at the Season 23 page, which includes links to the photo galleries for its shows, and lists the sponsors and grants that helped make the season possible. We have not been able to have our touring troupes (ACTORS and SBST) the past few years, but hope to find a way to do so in the future.

Also of interest to those who have been involved in shows in the past, beginning with the summer show in 2012 rehearsals now make use of the auditorium for the week prior to tech week, making the transition to the performance stage much easier.

Summer Acting Academy was taught this year by Paul Bourne and Jennifer Smith. Paul had this to say:

"All-of-us Express offered six weeks of summer acting academies during June, July and August. The themed, one-week programs were geared toward either 4-8 year old or 9-12 year old participants. Our themes included: Stage Adventure, Monster Tales, Royal Pains and others. Of the possible six weeks my very talented co-counselor Jennifer Smith and I taught four weeks together. One week did not have enough enrollment to go and the other week Jennifer and I were not available, so we had a substitute instructor from the Mason Youth Theatre.

"I thought the format of camp this year was much better than the past summer. Having the same instructors for every week was a wonderful benefit, because Jennifer and I could rely on the other for different skill sets in providing different lessons. Having themes was also a tremendous benefit, because it lent a direction to the original scripts that Jennifer and I wrote each Monday night of camp. Last summer I wrote at least two different scripts that tried to make a story that included Jedis, pirates, werewolves and more. This made script writing very difficult. Having the themes kept the youth's imagination focused on one general group of characters which allowed for much cleaner plot construction.

"All participants seemed to have a really fun time, and several parents promised that their children would be returning next summer. Other participants were very keen on auditioning for our shows in our 24th season. A very fun and successful summer of outreach for AECT in my opinion.

"If I have any criticism of the program this summer it would be that a lot of pressure falls on the counselors Monday nights to compose, in one night, an original script that incorporates the ideas the youth generated during the first day of camp. Having prewritten scripts that might be expanded on would alleviate some of that pressure and provide the counselors some much needed sleep.

"Thank you for a wonderful opportunity and a wonderful Summer!"

24th Season Preview

Last performed in February 1998 at Kinawa Middle School in Okemos, Little Women returns to begin our 24th Season. Directed by Miranda Sue Hartmann with student assistant director Nick Cook and stage manager Gretchen Baker. Costume crewhead is alumnus Katy Kettles, Makeup crewhead is alumnus Morgan Lees, Props crewhead is alumnus Karyn Thrush, Sets crewhead is Nick Eaton and Tech crewhead is Paul Bourne.

The Princess and the Pea & Rapunzel is a double-bill, two shorter shows performed back-to-back, each with a separate cast. Our Riverwalk Theatre production this year is The Beatles Slept Here, which is not a musical. However, our summer show this year, Aladdin and His Wonderful, Magical Lamp, is the first full musical All-of-us Express has ever done.

More details about production staff and related events will be included in upcoming issues of Expressions.

25th Season Planning

At its August meeting, the AECT Board established a committee to begin planning events for our 25th Season. The committee co-chair is Lisa Lees. Please contact her if you'd like to help out. We're especially interested in having AECT alumni participate in the planning and in the season!

Art of Combat Workshop Several AECT alumni are members of Art of Combat, an organization dedicated to bringing historically accurate combat to stage and screen. This summer three of these alumni (Tobin Bates, Morgan Lees and Amelia Rogocka) attended a week-long AOC intensive workshop in New York City that included doing two public performances in a Broadway theater.

CTAM Fall Conference

A number of All-of-us Express members, participants and staff are involved in or are attending the Community Theatre Association of Michigan Fall Conference September 28-30 at McQuire's Resort in Cadillac. We'll have photos and a report in the next Expressions!

Board of Trustees

More information about the Board, its bylaws and members may be found on the Board of Trustees page and the Staff and Volunteers page.

Fundraising

Charity poker events are scheduled for September 13-16 (2012) and January 6-9, February 21-24, September 12-15 and November 18-20 in 2013. If you want to help out (and are 18 or older) please contact Sandi Sigworth for more information (no poker knowledge necessary).

Grants and Sponsors

Known at this time is a grant from the Ingham County Hotel/Motel Arts and Tourism Tax Fund for Little Women, and guild program support from The Capital Area United Way.

Information about sponsorship opportunities may be found on our Sponsors page. Sponsors and grants for particular shows and seasons is detailed on the Season pages.

Annual Meeting

The AECT Annual Membership Meeting is Wednesday, September 19, 6:30 pm at Hannah Community Center. This is a short meeting in which the Theatre's annual report is made available, members are elected to the Board, and the Board holds a short meeting to elect its officers for the season. If you're going to be at HCC for rehearsal that day, please stop by and participate, or just meet the Board of Trustees.

As of the time this issue of Expressions was published, the following people are standing for election or re-election to the board: Gina Golden, Dylan Lees, Lisa Lees and Chris VanZwoll. Further nominations may be accepted before or at the beginning of the annual meeting.

Once the election of members to the board by the members of AECT is finished, the board convenes a brief meeting to elect its officers for the next year. Board members standing for office are: Gina Golden (president), Morgan Lees (president), Tanya Stamford (vice president), Crystal Carrothers (secretary) and Megan Buonodono (treasurer). This may be the first time in AECT history that there has been more than one candidate for a particular board office.