Second Anniversary Gala & '09 Season Kick-Off

Mark Saturday, October 18, 2008 on you calendar!

That's the day we'll be celebrating the 2nd anniversary of the reopening of the Empress Theatre! And well be kicking off the 2009 Season Ticket Sales!

We're having a gala party, starting at 7:00 PM, with dinner, an awards program and a sneak peek at the 2009 season, followed by dancing. The affair will be held at Rocky Mountain Raceway, 6555 W 2100 S, Magna. Tickets for dinner, the program and dancing will be $45/couple or $25 per person. If you just want to come for the program and dancing, it's $7.50 per person. Businesses can purchase their own table for up to 8 people for $160, and will get a placard with their business name on the table.

We'll also be kicking off our 2009 season-ticket sales at the gala, so you won't want to miss it.

Dress will be semi-formal, with coat and tie suggested. Call the box office at (801) 347-7373 to reserve your tickets now!

Cast List for Babes in Toyland

First rehearsal - Saturday September 20th, 2008 9:00 am at the Empress
If you cant make it please email nolanglen@yahoo.com
We will talk about scheduling conflicts at the first rehearsal, as I know that there will be some now that we have what nights you are performing.

Character	Mon, Wed, Fri	Tues, Thur, Sat
Barnaby	John Peckham	Joel Clark
Grumia	Heidi Colver	Amanda Heywood
Alan	Sami Roe	Danny Eggerts
Mary	Tara Peckham	Aubrey Vance
Tom	Justin Kofoed	Dallon Thorup
Jane	Shana Davis	Samantha Pace
Rigo	Nathan Unck	Troy Larsen
Gorza	Cowboy Adam	Ernest McGillicutty
Marmaduke	Steve Harmon	Brady Flanagan
Widow Piper	Nancy Jensen	Debora Searcy
Bo	Stormy Buckway	Kristen Olsen
Jack	Stephen Millsap	David Wade
Blue	Trenton Oliphant	Austin Wrathall
Santa	Raymond Brown	Raymond Brown
Lead Gypsy	TBA	Erin Fair
Gypsies and Soldiers	Emmi Oliphant	Hannah Ruth
	Katie Oliphant	Stacy Olsen
	Mary Alice Nelson	Rossana Moreno
	Daniel Bello	Ralph Faneus
Chorus	Cierra Manley	Brittany Millar
	Chelsea White	Tianna Wrathall
	Lindsie Bressler	Alyvia Wrathall
	Charlene Harmon	Melina Wrathall
	Alina Colver	Timsy Rowe
	Melody Colver	Talyssa Swan
	Harley Beck	Jasmine Dean
	Christina Oliphant	Kylee Clark
	Jennifer Oliphant	Tera White
	Talissa Kofoed	Elizabeth Jane Nuttall

Reorganization

For those of you who've wondered what happened to all the posts on the blog, well, we've been reorganizing things a wee bit.

During the August board meeting, the Board of Directors changed the by-laws. The change created a new position of Executive Director for all of OHPAA and eliminated the Empress Theatre Executive Director position. It also eliminated all of the other positions and responsibilities that were held by board members. The new structure prohibits a board member from being either the Executive Director or in any position that reports directly to the Executive Director. Trent Oliphant, who had been filling in as the "acting" (now there's a concept for a theatrical organization...) Executive Director of the Empress Theatre was named as the new OHPAA Executive Director.

Over the last month, Trent has been creating and filling various first tier jobs under his direction, and the board ratified his selections in yesterday's meeting. Nolan Mitchell was named as Artistic Director, Joline Walgamott is now the Development Director, Porter Williams is Marketing Director, and Kathy Wilcox is remaining in her old position as house manager.

As a result of these changes, two vacancies were created on the board of directors when both Trent and Nolan had to give up their seats to take the executive positions. Mike Caldwell, the vice chairman of the Board also received a call for a senior LDS mission to Mongolia, so Mike will be resigning from the board soon as well. So in last night's board meeting, Mike stepped down as vice chairman, and Mason Heywood was elected to that position.

That left the secretary's position vacant. I think the other board members think that I'll be so busy taking notes that it will shut me up, so they elected yours truly to be the new secretary. Little do they know...

So I will be posting as the board's secretary from now on. Maybe some other posts, too.

Wait Until Dark Auditions

Audition notice for Wait Until Dark

Date: August 30th
Time: 9 am to 2 pm
Place: Empress Theatre

Auditioners need to be at least 18.

Anyone auditioning must come prepared to do some cold reading and must be available for at least one half an hour of the audition time period. For audition times please call (801) 347-7373

Show runs October 24th thru November 17th Monday, Friday and Saturdays.

Seven Brides Review by Mary Margarita

You'll need lots of salt and limes for this one, since the "5 margarita" review says if the review were for a book, "Best read I've had in a long time. Will re-read it several times until the cover falls off." (For you Latter-day Saints out there that don't understand the reference, a "margarita" is an alcoholic cocktail served in a salt rimmed glass, and with limes.)

Here's what she said about the show itself:

The play is performed by local actors from the Oquirrah (sic) Hills Performing Arts
Alliance. However, you couldn't tell, I felt like I viewed a Broadway play, well
alright, maybe an off Broadway play.

Pre-show there was an old fashioned,
finger-lickin', lip-smackin', rip roarin', dutch oven dinner. Delicious, and for
a good cause, help to fund our community non-profit theatre.

Mary Margarita Reviews and Blog

A Win-Win Solution

Would you invest an hour of your time to raise $50 for the Empress Theatre?

Would you invest an hour of your time planning your financial future?

Here's the deal: We've just formed a business alliance with Ameriprise Financial Ameriprise, (ranked 296 on the Fortune 500) has been around for more than 110 years providing solutions to help people change how they think about their money. Their specialty is creating financial plans to help their clients reach their personal goals and dreams. Their unique and comprehensive Dream > Plan > Track>^® approach helps their clients create and manage a personalized and long-term financial strategy. Go check 'em out!

If you call Amy at (801) 864-5280, schedule a free initial consultation with a certified financial advisor, and let her know that you were referred from the Empress Theatre, Ameriprise will donate $50 to OHPAA! There's no obligation beyond spending an hour with the advisor. Now if everyone of the 482 unique visitors to this blog over the last month were to schedule an appointment, that would be over $24,000 for the Empress Theatre. How cool would that be?

And, if Ameriprise's services are a match for you and you sign up as a client, Ameriprise will donate another $50 to OHPAA.

What are you waiting for? Call Amy now! (801) 864-5280.

Other Stages

OK, this post is only for those of you that have already seen Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. If you haven't seen our show on the Empress Theatre stage, then go reserve you tickets now...

Go ahead, I'll wait.

Got 'em reserved. Good!

Laura Bedore was kind enough to invite my family to the dress rehearsal of Twelve Dancing Princesses which opens tomorrow night at the Off-Broadway Theatre and runs through August 18. It was the most fun I've had at a non-Empress Theatre show this season!

Laura directed, and also stars as the Fairy Godmother/Narrator/Wicked Witch, and features more than a dozen actors who have graced the Empress Theatre Stage in recent months. Brady Flannagan, Nate Unck, Aldo Gomez from The Jesters Royale (with Nate playing a Jester... When he's not pretty in pink); Scott Ferrin and Aubrey Vickers from It's a Wonderful Life; Patrick Aldeman, Brinana & Brooke Bedore from Midsummer Night's Dream and Chris Aldeman and Drew Keddington from Much Ado About Nothing; Jourdan Dixon from "Work in Progress." There weren't any printed programs, so I'm sure I missed a couple of folks.

I'm not going to spoil the show for you, but there are some wonderful surprises. There is something for everyone: Opera, French cuisine, buff jocks, ledherhosen, hot latin lovers, aristocrats in powdered wigs and frogs in need of kisses.

If you only get to see one show this month... Well, I gotta tell you to go see Seven Brides, because that's my job. But if you can see two shows this month, go see Twelve Dancing Princesses. You won't be disappointed.

Oh, and what a wonderful way to take a ride on 'Max.' We caught Max at Smiths (8000 W & 3500 S) at 5:59 PM and arrived about 6:40 at OBT, which is just across Main Street from the 3rd South Trax station.