A CHRISTMAS CAROL - Milwaukee Repertory Theater

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(CHRISTMAS FAMILY TRADITION . . . continued) PROLOGUE • Winter 2010 • 14 to collect donations from our audience. Returning actors guide those new to our production, and two interns volunteer to sort and count the nightly collection. That money is then brought to the Stackner Cabaret, where I recount it and deposit it with our Accounting Department. Our Development Department selects a different local agency each year, focusing on those that help children and families in need – present-day Cratchits, you might say. Then there is a Rep shopping day, when dozens of Rep staff go to Kohl’s Department Store early on a Saturday morning, with lists of ages and sizes for the families that the chosen agency has selected to receive assistance. In mid- December one of our rehearsal halls is literally filled with gifts, sorted by family, and all Rep staff assist with the wrapping project. And then, shortly before Christmas, other Rep staff volunteer to deliver the gifts to the families’ homes. “You wish to remain anonymous?” the three Businessmen ask Scrooge early in Act I, mistaking his stinginess for something else entirely. “I wish to be left alone!” is his stern reply. But Scrooge’s sentiment has been shared by none of the many people who have contributed to The Rep’s effort. I have had the great good fortune to assist in this collection tradition every night of the past 16 holiday seasons, and never cease to be touched by the generosity of our audiences, as well as by the enthusiasm and support the entire Rep staff provides to this undertaking. While that ledger book that Michael and I used in the early days seems to be lost forever, I do have records going back to 1999. From 1999 through 2009 we have collected a staggering sum of $233,056.36. With the 2010 collection the total donations from audiences of A CHRISTMAS CAROL will surpass a quarter of a million dollars, an amount that leaves me speechless with gratitude. And this is all because one actor, long ago and on his own, decided to help a few families. We have lost track of Michael Nash, but as I count the hundreds of dollars each night, I remember him counting the stacks of pennies and nickels here in my office. I have no doubt if he were here with us now – well, we would be laughing together. With joy and appreciation, Kristen Olsen, Stackner Cabaret General Manager SHARE THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT WITH THE CAST OF A CHRISTMAS CAROL Following all A CHRISTMAS CAROL performances, costumed actors will be in the Pabst Theater lobby collecting donations for the Sojourner Family Peace Center. Sojourner Family Peace Center’s mission is to create peaceful communities in which domestic respect and a life free from violence is the right of every woman, man and child. Sojourner Family Peace Center provides education, advocacy and resources to keep people safe. They operate a 42-bed shelter that provides safety and support services to thousands of women and children. Additional programs include a 24-Hour Domestic Violence Hotline, Family Advocacy and Support Services, Children’s Advocacy, Ending Violence through Education and a batterer’s intervention program. Sojourner Family Peace Center is committed to creating communities where people live peacefully. Please remember to give generously! James Pickering.
FUN FACTS FROM PRODUCTION – SECRETS REVEALED Having powered through the first three openings of our new season, we take time to reflect on some of the details of our experience. For instance: During the combined runs of CABARET, MY NAME IS ASHER LEV and Jim Guy. LAUREL AND HARDY, our stalwart Wardrobe Department did 389 loads of laundry. Surprisingly, the three-character LAUREL AND HARDY in the tiny Stackner Cabaret was the Laundry Leader with 225 wallpaper paste-laden loads over a long run. CABARET came in a distant second with 108 loads because, as Costume Director Holly Payne explains, “They’re just not wearing that much.” You could light up a small town with the power that it takes to run a performance of CABARET, according to Lighting Director Craig Gottschalk. The light bulb inventory alone is something more than impressive. There are 1606 practical lamps (those displayed on stage as part of the scenery, such as table lamps, the lights in the Kit Kat Klub sign and the swagged festoon strings) and 795 conventional lamps in the show’s inventory of theatrical lighting instruments. The grand total is 2,401 Things That Light Up. The performers in the number Money Makes the World Go Around tossed more than 4,000 “Kit Kat Bucks” into the audience, designed by Props Graphic Artisan Jill Lyons. All were printed and handcut in the Prop Department. The Master of Ceremonies in CABARET handed out 200 hot pink carnations to audience members. Laurel and Hardy slathered more than 80 gallons of wheat paste wallpaper adhesive on each other in the course of their run. What did Sally and Cliff actually drink when it appeared that they were downing raw eggs and Worcestershire sauce in their “Prairie Oysters?” Real pasteurized-in-the-shell Grade A large eggs and Lea and Perrins Worcestershire. Troopers, indeed. The wallpaper used in LAUREL AND HARDY’s wallpaper scene was hand-printed and handpainted on canvas in the Prop Department by Soft Props Artisan Margaret Hasek-Guy. (Continued on next page) PROLOGUE • Winter 2010 • 15 Kelley Faulkner and Geoffrey Hemingway in The Rep’s 2010/11 production of CABARET. Photo by Michael Brosilow.
Page 1 and 2: The Rep’s Insider Newsletter 2010
Page 3 and 4: MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER • Win
Page 5 and 6: Caroline O’Connor. A DREAM COME T
Page 7 and 8: MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER • Win
Page 9 and 10: (MR. SHOWMANSHIP . . . continued) P
Page 11 and 12: (A CHRISTMAS CAROL . . . continued)
Page 13: MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER • Win
Page 17 and 18: A SEASON OF FIRSTS As we began thin
Page 19 and 20: GET INVOLVED REP EVENTS AND NEWS MI
Page 21 and 22: BASIC INFORMATION TICKET OFFICE: 41

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