It's the day of the show, y'all!

Annie opens TONIGHT!

I sat in on the invitational dress rehearsal last night, and what a fun show it is going to be! The sets are incredible (a HUGE thanks to the set crew for all of the long hours they put in, including my roommate, Vanessa!), the costumes are gorgeous (Eric and the costume shop did an amazing job), and the cast is hilarious. Everyone who stepped on that stage brought a smile to my face, from Mr. Warbucks singing "I Don't Need Anything But You" to the Orphans' rendition of "Hard Knock Life" to the Cabinet's rousing chorus of "Tomorrow." This truly is not a show to miss.

This is the first time I've manned a box office for a show of this size, and what a day it has been. Phones ringing off the hook all. day. long. It is so rewarding to hear the excitement in everyone's voices as they call to purchase tickets-- all of the hard work everyone has put in over the last two months is finally coming to fruition. Again, a massive thank-you to everyone who has helped in any capacity over the course of putting this show up.

Tickets are still available for all other performance of Annie (Friday at 7:30, Saturday at 2 and 7:30, and Sunday at 2 and 6) but purchase yours now, as they're selling like hotcakes! (Although it might be more appropriate to say they are selling like popsicles, thanks to the heat this week... haha) Go online, call the Box Office, or come by and see us to get your tickets now!

Easy Street and Dancing Feet,

Carrie
Arts Administration Intern

Harry Potter Happiness!

Is anyone else as stoked about the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt 2 as I am??? Ok, I know that my Box-Office coworker Meghan is. I brought our Harry Potter battling wands to work today, and she was stoked.

We think everyone at the theatre is (not so) silently celebrating with us-- we have 2 Harry Potter-themed summer classes going on this week. Earlier, "Harry Potter and the Wand of Destruction" crept through the lobby. When Meghan discovered them, they successfully wiped her memory with a rousing, "Obliviate!" She was able to sneak up on them later to catch some photos of their progress this week. Enjoy!

If I Ran the Circus

Across the street in the auditorium of St. Peter and Paul, a group of rowdy 6- and 7-yr-olds are letting their friends and family know exactly how things would be if they ran the circus. To be quite honest, many days it feels like we're running our own circus here. We currently have a host of Alexanders (who suffered a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad camping trip this morning), some prancing Fancy Nancy's, rambunctious circus ringleaders, twisted Fairy Tales, and a clan of creatures from the Spiderwick Estate crawling through our building.

In addition to my administrative duties in the box office, I have the privilege to frequent all of the other departments running around in this circus. This week we celebrated with the costume crew when our dress forms finally arrived. (Thank you Beaux Arts Ball!) The Annie cast braved a torrential downpour last night to come in for rehearsal. Thanks to our recent $2.5 million endowment from the Little Foundation, meetings are taking place regarding the (permanent!) future of our Shooting Stars Youtheatre satellite program. And the ringleaders across the street were visited by the infamous Miss Viola Swamp, who read "Miss Nelson is Missing" and taught them the benefits of being a well-behaved class. (It's a shame I missed seeing her. She visited their class at the exact same time I was out of the office. Strange...)

It was another jam-packed week here at the theatre (literally, thanks to the holiday weekend), and we're already gearing up for another fun-filled adventure next week. Enjoy some photos from the week!

Big tops and camping flops,

Carrie
Arts Administration Intern

 Our Fancy Nancy's prepare for their sharing!

Our ringleaders anxiously await the start of the circus!

Life as an LCT Intern

Greetings, theatre-lovers!

Welcome back to the LCT blog! It has been a long year since the last post, but what a year it was. Our 2010-2011 season brought stunning shows, creative classes, exciting new special events, and another year of friendship with our LCT family.

I joined the family in May of this year, and I can't believe it's been over a month already! The last few weeks have been insane in the best way possible-- helping design marketing materials for the Shooting Stars Youtheatre's Alice in Wonderland and the 10th Annual Summer Family Musical, Annie, learning how to handle ticket sales, hosting hundreds of students in the Imagination Zone, our summer theatre school, and so much more. In addition to getting to know my incredible crew of co-interns, I've had to opportunity to talk with the insanely knowledgeable staff of theatre professionals that work here. And the families! Oh, the families. Wonderfully friendly smiling faces that welcomed me to the family from my very first day. As I write this, I'm serenaded by the sound of 20 four- and five-year-olds performing their version of "Angelina Ballerina" for their family and friends. I watched the morning session's "Where the Wild Things Are" this morning-- pics coming soon. Seriously, this is my job? It rocks!

And to think, it's just getting started. I have a whole season of fun ahead of me, and I can't wait to experience it with all of you. We'll have spotlights from other interns and staff and be sure to keep you updated on all the magic happening here.

So come on in -- join a summer theatre class, sign up for a Season Subscription, purchase your tickets for the 10th Annual Summer Family Musical-- and stop by the box office to say hello! I'll be here all year, folks. :)

Pink shoes and Wild crews,

Carrie
Arts Administration Intern

Visit Wonka's Candy Shop!

Hello all!

This is Tiffany, the Marketing and Sales Associate at LCT! As we get ready to open Willy Wonka tomorrow night, I’ve been busy readying a fantastic Candy Shop for the lobby before, after and during the show’s intermission! From Ale-8 lollipops to Wonka Sploshberries the Candy Shop will be stocked with your favorites!

Along with sweet treats, there will also be some Wonka-fide souvenirs! You can pick up a button straight from the Salt’s Nut Factory (as seen in the show!) or a Wonka Summer Family Musical button!

I’ve had so much fun putting the shop together and couldn’t be more excited for opening night! So make sure you stop by LCT’s Candy Shop and get your tickets to Willy Wonka!

See you there!
Tiffany

Charlie and the Chocolate Theatre Tour

Hi, it's Lesley again. 

I just wanted to update everyone on the great event we had.  It was a ton of fun for all the staff and volunteers and we hope all who came as well.  In conjunction with our upcoming production of Willy Wonka, the Development and Marketing staff wanted to put together an event that would sugar up your spirits!  After our first meeting in June, we knew that we definintely needed some help so we asked for help from the education department and the production team to help us turn the building into a chocolate factory and have great things for everyone to enjoy! 

Mission accomplished!  Everyone who came was greeted by our very own Mr. Willy Wonka and each had to take an oath and sign the famous contract!  All 3 floors of the theatre were covered with great things for kids to do and the whole first floor was almost covered in chocolate!  We had great crafts like mixing sprite and mentos to make fizzy lifting drinks in the invention room! We also took purple balloons and gave them heads, feet and hands for the Violet's Volume craft.  At the Candy Land Craft we had grahm crackers, icing and candy so that kids could create their own game boards. The education department created a building wide scavenger hunt and there was a really cool obstacle course for kids.  In the learning stage we had a trivia game where everyone got to compete against Mike Teavee and the first floor had tons of candy everywhere!  It was more than any kid could imagine just there for the taking plus a Chocolate Fountain to dip marshmellows and grahm cracker in!  Who could ask for more! 

It was a lot of fun for me to go around and take pictures of so I thought I would share a couple with you. 

Hope you can make it to our next event! 

Lesley

Summer Family Musical Auditions

Hi Everyone, it's Lesley.  I am the Managing Director for LCT.  I wanted to let everyone know that this weekend are auditions for our 9th Annual Summer Family Musical, Willy Wonka.  If you have never been through one of our auditions before, let me fill you in on my experience!

Now, please know first and foremost, I am not an actor.  I love theatre so I support it from the business side. But I did not study it or practice it before my audition. But that's why our Summer Family Musical is so great.  You don't have to have any prior experience and theatre doesn't have to be your life's work.  Our Summer Family Musical is for families and individual theatre lovers to be part of something over the summer they will never forget.  And I assure you, that is exactly what it does.  I auditioned several years ago for The Wizard of Oz and was lucky enough to be cast in the chorus and had the time of my life (I'm the one in the 3rd row 2nd from the right!). 

I was a little nervous about auditions, but after going through them, it's not intimidating at all.  It's actually a TON of fun!  This is what we did the year I auditioned. (Please know this may or may not be what happens this year.)  We split up into groups and did three different segments of the audition.  My group first went to the dance segment (and no, I am not a pro dancer. I think she was making sure we can move or see who among us were shining star dancers).  Then my group went to the singing segment and we sang in groups of 3 for the musical director.  It was nice not to have to belt it out all by myself but I do suggest you at least make sure they can hear you! Then we went to acting segment and the director handed us pages that had the lines on them and we broke into groups and did scenes from the actual show.  It was fun.  He had us read several different parts and it was fun just to try new things.  Then the director pulled all of us back into one group and told us the logistics and we went home.  All together it was about 4 hours and it was a great afternoon.  I met a lot of new people and got to step outside my box for a change.  Getting cast was really just the icing on the cake.  The next year, I was not so lucky to be cast, but hey...you can't win them all!  It's still fun auditioning no matter what.

This year's show is Willy Wonka.  We are absolutely excited about this show and all the fun things our designers have planned to make it unlike anything you have ever seen before.  Let's just say that Violet will be no ordinary blueberry and our Oompa Loompas will be fabulous!  Plus, our Marketing & Development department is planning on turning our whole theatre into a Chocolate THEATRE for a special event in July.  Don't miss it, whether you want to audition or just come see the show in August! 

Click Here for more information about how to audition.