Provincetown Theater

From President, Tim McCarthy:

To our Member/Owners of the Provincetown Theater,

We had our annual meeting last Wednesday night at which I was re-elected as President by the membership present. I really appreciate the vote of confidence on my and the Boards work. As a group the board is working very hard and the results are showing. Of course we have much to do. Please come and join us.

We are now The Provincetown Theater Company. We have officially retired the New Provincetown Players and are now doing business as The Provincetown Theater Company. This has been the name we have used for most of our past 45 years. So it is, the future thru the past; nourishing and replenishing our community roots and history.

The only real thing that concerned me at the Annual meeting was the low attendance. How can we make it easier for you to be involved at the theater and the annual meeting in particular? Would email voting or proxy voting help? Please send in your suggestions to us at operations@provincetowntheater.com .

The Annual Membership meeting on April 22 was important for the quality of the discussion that took place, about the significance of Membership in the Provincetown Theater Foundation. This discussion was in response to two new efforts by the Board of Directors to attract new and renew prior annual Members.

In recognition of significant service in one of our own productions by the Provincetown Theater Company (formerly known as The New Provincetown Players), Membership benefits will be awarded for a year. We hold the work of our resident company, and of the Playwrights’ Lab, to be the legacy of theater in this town, a trust to be preserved and nourished.

A second initiative is to reduce annual Membership dues to just $10 a year. Why? To engage a much broader community involvement in this Theater and its preservation. We exist to meet a need for a performance space, both for our own Provincetown Theater Company, and for the range of other production companies that have presented on our stage. Many, many audiences have enjoyed these diverse, excellent productions, in our comfortable and intimate venue. We’d like to think of all these people as the community that owns the theater.

So, what does it mean to pay dues or earn membership? It means keeping involved in the life of this place, through these regular newsletters, as audience members, as participants in the productions, and through the Membership meetings, in April and October. Your membership connects you. We want you to join the meetings, to help steer the future of the community of theater on the outer cape. We want you to help this heritage continue; to become so involved that you are nominated to serve on the Board!

We are committed to making it easy to go to the website, and pay annual dues. For now, please, ten dollars by cash or check in the mail, would be most appreciated. And encourage everyone you know who enjoys the programming at the Provincetown Theater, to get connected, with an annual membership.

This is your theater. All that you need do is join!

Opening Friday, May 15th! WIT, the Pulitzer Winning play written by Margaret Edson and directed by Valerie Stanford, with McNeely Myers,* Lynda Sturner*, Ben Griessmeyer, Elizabeth Clark, Scott Hayes, Gwen Kaslouskas-Noyes, Salie Tighe, Kevin Doherty and Anne Stott… and more Counter Productions’ Members. Counter Productions, the Primary Renter at the Provincetown Theater, is employing stage crew and tech people for their 2009 Summer Season. It’s going to rock! For more information about the shows and employment visit www.counter-productions.org. Happy Spring!

Counter Productions is very proud to present JUST MARRIED! (the Muscial) written and performed by Jon Arterton and James Mack, ONE NIGHT ONLY, Sunday May 17th at 7pm. Ticket price $20.00. All proceeds go to Freedom To Marry. Call 866.811.4111 for tickets to this great cause and great show! Sponsored by Counter Productions and Lip Tv.

From Adam Berry: A Counter-Productions fundraiser called BIG OL' SHOW on May 26th at the UU Meeting House! Show starts at 7:30pm. 20$ suggested donation at the door! Produced by Adam Berry and Counter-Productions. Special guests included some of Ptown's most influential celebs, singers and composers!

Stage Crew/Tech Needs: Counter Productions, the Primary Renter at the Provincetown Theater, is employing stage crew and tech people for their 2009 Summer Season. It’s going to rock! For more information about the shows and employment visit

www.counter-productions.org

Provincetown Counter Productions is a not for profit 501 (c) (3) organization. For more information about the work of this company and how to become involved, visit www.counter-productions.org or email susan@counter-productions.org.

REMINDER: We have scheduled the State Commissioner of Health, John Auerbach, to address the Provincetown Community on the state of health care on Cape Cod at the theater on Friday, May 8th, at 2pm. We welcome everyone to this event. Please come with all your questions and concerns.

Allen Gallant winters in Key West as house manager and resident sound designer for the Waterfront Playhouse. He reports that ticket sales for this season are up in spite of the economic slump. “Even with hotel reservations off, people seem to be staying closer to home and going out to theater.....here's hoping that theory holds true for Provincetown this summer.

“We had to replace the sound board in The Provincetown Theater this winter....the humidity and salt air kills that kind of equipment after 5 or 6 years...same here in Key West. Casey Sanderson and I consulted over this issue. Unfortunately, that type equipment evolves so much in 5 years that it is not worth repairing....however, this new board was half the cost of the original one...and includes so many more features, that it also replaces 2 other major pieces of hardware in the sound booth. We are using much the same equipment in both the Provincetown Theater and the Key West Playhouse.... so it is easy to troubleshoot problems long distance.

“Looking forward to my return mid June. So glad the warm weather has returned to the Cape as of this writing.... Regards Allen Gallant/ Board Member/PTF”

Consider using GoodSearch.com when you do your on-line searches, and GoodShop.com when purchasing products on-line from thousands of brand name stores! You just type in GoodSearch.com when you want to do any search on the internet. GoodSearch.com is a charitable fundraising site for nonprofit organizations. There will be a bar underneath your search bar, where you can type in Provincetown Theater. Hit “verify” and “Provincetown Theater Foundation (Provincetown, MA)” will fill in automatically. For every search you do in this way, the theater will receive a small percentage of income that doesn’t come out of your pocket! When shopping, if you go to GoodShop.com, 30% of all your purchases will go to the theater! The more people who do this, the more profit we will have at the end of the year. Please spread the word. By making this adjustment in your searches and shopping, you can contribute in a small way that will add up, compounded by the number of people who participate.

The theater is looking for a representative to sell video spots to advertisers and receive commissions for every one sold. Leave a message for Tim at the theater office: 508-487-7487.

Provincetown Theater is working to do its share to help the environment in the way of recycling paper, plastic bottles, glass and returnable cans. If you have other thoughts on what else can be done to preserve and stretch our resources, please call the theater office and leave a message for Sewall Whittemore, 508-487-7487. She’ll get back to you!

Tim McCarthy, President
Brian O’Malley, Chairman of the Board
Joy McNulty, Vice President and Treasurer
Karen Billard, Grants and Website Coordinator
Robert Cardinal, Special Events
Luceil Carroll, Special Events
Allen Gallant, Sound Engineer
Scott Hayes, Program Committee Co-Chair
Judith Partelow, Newsletter Editor
Robert Seaver, Program Committee Co-Chair
Sewall Whittemore, Building Committee

http://www.provincetowntheater.org/

               "Theater is, of course, a reflection of life. Maybe we have to improve life before we can hope to improve theater."                         William Inge