The Encore

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THESPIAN ALUMNI INTEREST GROUP Penn State Alumni Association Hintz Family Alumni Center University Park, PA 16802 We Need Your Input for the Next Issue! We will be starting “The Callboard” back up for the fall issue. “The Callboard” is the place for our alumni to share things that they have been up to with the other Thespian alums. If you would like to have something included in our next is- sue, please send an e-mail to Andrea Schwander at [email protected] TAIG E-mail LISTSERV In an effort to be able to contact you, our member alumni more frequently and effi- ciently, TAIG recently unveiled an e-mail LISTSERV. We’ll be using the LISTSERV to send reminders of show dates and announce- ments regarding TAIG activities. If you would like to subscribe to the LISTSERV, please contact Stacy Reck ’88 at [email protected] Non-profit Org. U.S. Postage P A I D State College, PA Permit No. 41 2010-2011 TAIG Board Members Nick Semon ‘07, President ([email protected]) Guy Fissel ‘77, Vice President Stacy L. Reck, ‘88, Secretary Vincent Rosciolli ‘09, Treasurer Diane M. Bongiorni, Historian William A. Schwab, ‘01 Tom O’Leary, ‘08 Erin G. Albrecht, ‘04 Crystyna M. Dail, ‘98 Erin Minford, ‘76, ‘83 (g) Fred Leuschner, ‘50 Luanne M. Russell, ‘63 Ruth Yeaton, ‘53, ‘59 (g) Questions regarding TAIG may be sent to TAIG President Nick Semon ‘06 at [email protected] Connect to Thespians Online Facebook: Penn State Thespians Alumni Interest Group (group) Penn State Thespians (fan page) Penn State Thespians (group) Twitter: psuthespians TAIG: http://www.psualum.com/affiliate/ thespians Penn State Thespians: http://www.clubs.psu.edu/up/thespians/ Rather receive this electronically? Send an e-mail to [email protected] and we will take you off the mailing list. This publication is available in alternative media on request. Penn State is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity, and the diversity of its workforce. Remember way back when (the late 1970's - Camelot, South Pacific, The Fantas- ticks) when Thespians pro- duced a show soup-to- nuts? We ran the front box office, ushered, built sets, made props and costumes (or borrowed them from Mrs. Montez King in the Theatre Arts Production Studio), held auditions and rehearsals— all in Schwab? We had our building, rent free, when we needed it, for the show must go on! Well, times have changed indeed! While Schwab is still our home, we have some new rules to fol- low. Thespians now work with the Center for the Perform- ing Arts (CPA) in order to use Schwab Auditorium. In the 1980’s, the University called upon CPA to manage performance space. With CPA came new rules and regulations. CPA schedules all of our stage access for callbacks, tech week, and show runs, and Thespians pay for each day we are there, which is why auditions are now held elsewhere. The University also no longer allows Thespians or anyone else to build sets in Schwab; we must construct our sets in the Theatre Arts Production Studio (TAPS) across campus prior to shows and load into Schwab before tech week. CPA is also accommodating for one Sitzprobe per show and other events, such as Diva Day (a fundraiser we started this year to help Girl Scouts get their theatre, arts, and dance badges). While we have to schedule stage access, we can still get into our basement rooms as needed. Thespians cur- rently have access to three rooms at all times: our cos- tumes (Room 4), props (Room 7), and building (Room 11) rooms. However, even though our advisor has the keys for these rooms, we must e-mail CPA prior to going into Schwab in case they have an event planned. To access any other base- ment rooms, Thespians must sign out the keys from CPA. This includes access to dressing rooms, the booth and the stage. The make-up room that some alumni may remember from post-1980’s is now off limits. In addition to the access changes, Thespians can no longer sell their tickets or usher their shows. By Uni- versity policy, our tickets for all shows in Schwab are sold by CPA. Thespians pass on the ticketing fees to patrons. Despite discounts extended by CPA as courtesies from our longstanding relation- ship, all of these costs need to be accounted for in show budgets. All told, Thespians spend on average $7,000 a show just for Schwab. This includes equipment, building usage, personnel (ushers), and ticketing fees. At $8 per student ticket, we’d need 875 students to attend in the single show weekend to cover the venue alone. Thespians’ ability to afford these expenses lies with the University Park Allocation Committee (UPAC). UPAC is an organization designed to allocate the student activity fee (paid by every University Park student) among the various student organiza- tions in need of funding. Offi- cially recognized student organizations are able to request funding for capital expenses, travel, or event- hosting expenses. To re- quest money from UPAC, the organization must fill out an application and offer a brief presentation to the UPAC board, which then makes a decision on how much money to allocate to the organization for its event. The Thespians submit a UPAC proposal every se- mester to acquire funding for around 30-40% of the total show budget—typically the fees associated with the use of Schwab. However, this funding comes with the stipulation that if the event makes a profit, UPAC must be reimbursed for its funding before the organization may keep any of the profits for themselves. This puts the Thespians in a difficult posi- tion – the organization has not actually made money on a show in several years. (Continued on page 3) VOLUME 9 NUMBER 1 Penn State Thespians:Then and Now July, 2010 The Encore Penn State Thespian Alumni Interest Group President’s Corner Welcome to The Encore! This newsletter is the official print and .pdf communication of the Thespians Alumni Interest Group. After a short hiatus, I am very excited that this newsletter is going out once again to our many alumni. This year, TAIG is staging a renaissance. With this news- letter, more regular updates through the Listserv, and plenty of information posted on Facebook and Twitter, we’ll be staying in touch on a much more regular basis. I would like to invite every- one personally to attend an open TAIG meeting during Arts Fest weekend. This will be the first of many new op- portunities to engage with both alums and student mem- bers of Thespians. You can find more information about the meeting and ways to stay in touch on pages 3 and 4. I also need to extend my gratitude to everyone who contributed to this newsletter. In particular, Andrea Schwander (’10) took the lead on layout and the ambitious Then and Now article. Thank you for your continued interest in and support of TAIG. It is greatly appreci- ated. Nick Semon (’07) TAIG President

description

The Penn State Thespians Alumni Interest Group (TAIG) newsletter for summer 2010. This is the first newsletter after a little hiatus, so it is focused on bringing alumni up to date of Thespians' affairs.

Transcript of The Encore

Page 1: The Encore

THESPIAN ALUMNI INTEREST GROUP Penn State Alumni Association Hintz Family Alumni Center University Park, PA 16802

We Need Your Input for the Next Issue!

We will be starting “The Callboard” back

up for the fall issue. “The Callboard” is

the place for our alumni to share things

that they have been up to with the other

Thespian alums. If you would like to

have something included in our next is-

sue, please send an e-mail to Andrea

Schwander at

[email protected]

TAIG E-mail LISTSERV

In an effort to be able to contact you, our

member alumni more frequently and effi-

ciently, TAIG recently unveiled an e-mail

LISTSERV. We’ll be using the LISTSERV to

send reminders of show dates and announce-

ments regarding TAIG activities. If you

would like to subscribe to the LISTSERV,

please contact Stacy Reck ’88 at

[email protected]

Non-profit Org. U.S. Postage P A I D

State College, PA Permit No. 41

2010-2011 TAIG Board Members

Nick Semon ‘07, President

([email protected])

Guy Fissel ‘77, Vice President

Stacy L. Reck, ‘88, Secretary

Vincent Rosciolli ‘09, Treasurer

Diane M. Bongiorni, Historian

William A. Schwab, ‘01

Tom O’Leary, ‘08

Erin G. Albrecht, ‘04

Crystyna M. Dail, ‘98

Erin Minford, ‘76, ‘83 (g)

Fred Leuschner, ‘50

Luanne M. Russell, ‘63

Ruth Yeaton, ‘53, ‘59 (g)

Questions regarding TAIG may be

sent to TAIG President Nick Semon

‘06 at [email protected]

Connect to Thespians Online

Facebook:

Penn State Thespians Alumni Interest

Group (group)

Penn State Thespians (fan page)

Penn State Thespians (group)

Twitter:

psuthespians

TAIG:

http://www.psualum.com/affiliate/thespians

Penn State Thespians:

http://www.clubs.psu.edu/up/thespians/

Rather receive this electronically?

Send an e-mail to [email protected]

and we will take you off the mailing list.

This publication is available in alternative media on request.

Penn State is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity, and the diversity of its workforce.

Remember way back when (the late 1970's - Camelot, South Pacific, The Fantas-ticks) when Thespians pro-duced a show soup-to-nuts? We ran the front box office, ushered, built sets, made props and costumes (or borrowed them from Mrs. Montez King in the Theatre Arts Production Studio), held auditions and rehearsals—all in Schwab? We had our building, rent free, when we needed it, for the show must go on! Well, times have changed indeed! While Schwab is still our home, we have some new rules to fol-low. Thespians now work with the Center for the Perform-ing Arts (CPA) in order to use Schwab Auditorium. In the 1980’s, the University called upon CPA to manage performance space. With CPA came new rules and regulations. CPA schedules all of our stage access for callbacks, tech week, and show runs, and Thespians pay for each day we are there, which is why auditions are now held elsewhere. The University also no longer allows Thespians or anyone else to build sets in Schwab; we must construct our sets in the Theatre Arts Production Studio (TAPS) across campus prior to shows and load into Schwab before tech week. CPA is also accommodating for one Sitzprobe per show and other events, such as Diva Day (a fundraiser we started this year to help Girl Scouts get their theatre, arts, and dance badges).

While we have to schedule stage access, we can still get into our basement rooms as needed. Thespians cur-rently have access to three rooms at all times: our cos-tumes (Room 4), props (Room 7), and building (Room 11) rooms. However, even though our advisor has the keys for these rooms, we must e-mail CPA prior to going into Schwab in case they have an event planned. To access any other base-ment rooms, Thespians must sign out the keys from CPA. This includes access to dressing rooms, the booth and the stage. The make-up room that some alumni may remember from post-1980’s is now off limits. In addition to the access changes, Thespians can no longer sell their tickets or usher their shows. By Uni-versity policy, our tickets for all shows in Schwab are sold by CPA. Thespians pass on the ticketing fees to patrons. Despite discounts extended by CPA as courtesies from our longstanding relation-ship, all of these costs need to be accounted for in show budgets. All told, Thespians spend on average $7,000 a show just for Schwab. This includes equipment, building usage, personnel (ushers), and ticketing fees. At $8 per student ticket, we’d need 875 students to attend in the single show weekend to cover the venue alone. Thespians’ ability to afford these expenses lies with the

University Park Allocation Committee (UPAC). UPAC is an organization designed to allocate the student activity fee (paid by every University Park student) among the various student organiza-tions in need of funding. Offi-cially recognized student organizations are able to request funding for capital expenses, travel, or event-hosting expenses. To re-quest money from UPAC, the organization must fill out an application and offer a brief presentation to the UPAC board, which then makes a decision on how much money to allocate to the organization for its event. The Thespians submit a UPAC proposal every se-mester to acquire funding for around 30-40% of the total show budget—typically the fees associated with the use of Schwab. However, this funding comes with the stipulation that if the event makes a profit, UPAC must be reimbursed for its funding before the organization may keep any of the profits for themselves. This puts the Thespians in a difficult posi-tion – the organization has not actually made money on a show in several years.

(Continued on page 3)

VOLUME 9 NUMBER 1

Penn State Thespians: Then and Now

July, 2010

T h e E n c o re

Penn State Thesp ian Alumni Interest Group

President’s Corner

Welcome to The Encore! This

newsletter is the official print

and .pdf communication of the

Thespians Alumni Interest

Group. After a short hiatus, I

am very excited that this

newsletter is going out once

again to our many alumni.

This year, TAIG is staging a

renaissance. With this news-

letter, more regular updates

through the Listserv, and

plenty of information posted

on Facebook and Twitter,

we’ll be staying in touch on a

much more regular basis.

I would like to invite every-

one personally to attend an

open TAIG meeting during

Arts Fest weekend. This will

be the first of many new op-

portunities to engage with

both alums and student mem-

bers of Thespians. You can

find more information about

the meeting and ways to stay

in touch on pages 3 and 4.

I also need to extend my

gratitude to everyone who

contributed to this newsletter.

In particular , Andrea

Schwander (’10) took the lead

on layout and the ambitious

Then and Now article.

Thank you for your continued

interest in and support of

TAIG. It is greatly appreci-

ated.

Nick Semon (’07)

TAIG President

Page 2: The Encore

The Thespians Today

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has started to utilize social media sites like Twitter and Facebook groups. This year the web committee has worked really hard to keep information current on the websites about our shows by adding more up-to-date media about the productions. Be sure to stay in touch through any of the means listed on page 4! The Children’s Show committee put on two fantastic productions this year: Madeline in the fall and Calvin and Hobbes during the spring. Each semester, Thespians write a script based on a children’s book and perform it at Schlow Memorial Library to promote reading. We use this opportunity to allow pledges to step into leadership positions with a member as their mentor/assistant. This year each show reached about 100 children at Schlow Library. Madeline reached even more children since Thespians hosted a “Diva Day” in Schwab Auditorium for the Girl Scouts to obtain their music, theatre, and dance badges. In addition to participating in activities with Thespians, the girls also were treated to a special perform-ance of Madeline and completed the require-ments for their badges. We used Diva Day as an opportunity to raise $200 for Thespians under our newly formed fundraising commit-tee. This committee is still in its infancy, founded at the end of the 2008-2009 school year, and was created to raise money for club activities. While Diva Day was our most suc-cessful fundraiser, we also had a fundraiser at Cold Stone Creamery and Five Guys Burgers and Fries. Overall, the total amount fundraised through our efforts was roughly $400.

The Penn State Thespians continue to grow and reach new heights this year, reaching 100 total members in the spring semester. These numbers were mirrored in the strong atten-dance for both of our mainstage shows. Sweeney Todd drew nearly 1600 patrons, and Hair brought in over 1200. Led by tri-chairs Alicia DiPompeo, Steve Levine, and Sam Shoffner, the marketing committee held many flyering parties. The team also managed to secure an article in the Centre Daily Times (CDT), a noteworthy ac-complishment given the stiff competition for page space. Coupled with shows over Hallow-een weekend and the recent release of the movie Sweeney Todd, the marketing team helped Thespians achieve one of the most financially successful shows in years. For Hair, Thespians’ presence on campus was stronger than ever. The marketing committee tried something new for this show – a rally. One sunny afternoon members of Thespians and cast members walked around campus singing songs from the show and passing out flyers. The rally was covered in The Daily Collegian, which gave us excellent coverage in three separate articles! In addition to the improvements in our mar-keting and membership, the rest of our com-mittees have made leaps and bounds this year. Building on the new format that was launched last year, the web committee is continuing to improve the “behind the scenes” coding of the website in hopes to make it easier to work with for future chairs. In addition, Thespians

The 2009-2010 executive board, which won the award “Outstanding Executive Board of the Year” from Student Affairs. From left to right: Secretary Evan Smith, Advisor Jerry Henry, President Andrea Schwander, Vice-President Nick Mittereder, Histo-

rian/Alumni Liaison Kendall Ireland, Treasurer Bram McGinnis

Thespians also gave back to the community through MasquerAIDS, an annual benefit for The AIDS Project. This year the theme of Mas-querAIDS was “Roles in Reverse: Heroes, Vil-lains, and Love.” Our chair, Ariana Papa, took the idea from Broadway Backwards, which al-lows women a chance to sing male songs and men a chance to sing female songs (imagine a woman singing “Gaston” or men singing “I Need A Hero”). Due to our theme and a partnership with the Paul Robeson Cultural Center Student Liaisons, we were able to get our venue for free and increase our donation by 40% for a total donation of $1,304! MasquerAIDS earned further recognition from the Division of Student Affairs receiving the Outstanding Collaborative Program of the Year award. Thespians have continued their relationship with Penn State IFC/Penhellenic Dance Marathon (THON) and their efforts to conquer childhood cancer. As Carey Humes, THON co-chairs wrote: “The Penn State Thespians are a theater club here at Penn State, but we are not only that. This year we really wanted to make a push in our THON committee. Our total money raised this year was about $9,900, which is the most we have ever raised!” Despite such a large membership number, the activities committee did a fantastic job this year creating a lot of different events to continue with the feeling of family within Thespians. In addi-tion to the numerous Frisbee games, movie nights, and bowling games, Thespians had a full bus when we invaded New York City this spring. We also had a Thespian World Cup where 30 members competed for bragging rights; ulti-mately the Vatican City team won. The feeling of family was especially seen during the eating competitions, which included 4 lbs burgers and hot wings. Groups of Thespians travelled from hours away to cheer on their fellow members as they tried to accomplish these herculean feats of gastric endurance. The Penn State Thespians have put their best foot forward this year and it was seen throughout the community at Penn State. In addition to the Out-standing Collaborative Program of the Year awarded to MasquerAIDS, the executive board was awarded the Outstanding Executive Board of the Year and Jerry Henry was awarded the Advi-sor of the Year. 2009-2010 proved to be a very successful year, and we can’t wait to see what the next has in store for the Penn State Thespians.

Andrea Schwander ‘10

Thespians President 2009-2010 [email protected] Thanks to: Eliza Altenderfer, Alli Antis, Stephanie Bernard, Alicia DiPompeo, Jerry Henry, Carey Humes, Matt Lesniewski, Meghan McNamara, Nick Mittereder, Ariana Papa, Nate Schwalm, Christina Sharkey, Evan Smith

Over the years, many Thespian alumni have donated money to support the activities of the club. Many don’t even know what happens to that money after they send the check to the University. After passing through the Office of University Development, donations that have been marked as supporting Thespians are automatically deposited into the Thespians’ account at Associated Student Activities, the bank used by all student organizations at Uni-versity Park. But what does the club do with these funds? In the early 90s, it was decided that a form of oversight regarding these funds was desirable. From this desire was born the TAIG Gift Fund. The Gift Fund consists of all funds donated to Thespians by alumni, and the use of these funds for purchases (usually capital expendi-tures) is overseen by the Executive Committee of the Thespian AIG. When the active mem-bership comes upon a purchase that they think is an appropriate use of the TAIG Gift Fund, they submit a proposal, which is reviewed and subsequently recommended or not recom-mended by the TAIG Executive Committee. Over the years, the TAIG Gift Fund has seen over $68 thousand in donations from alumni and has been used to support a number of capital expenses, worth nearly $33 thousand. These expenses have included sewing machines, lighting equipment, wireless microphones, and power tools. The TAIG Gift Fund has even been used to help the Center for Performing Arts install upgrades to the lighting and sound equipment in Schwab Auditorium (in ex-change for reduced rates when using that equipment). The proposal process for using funds from the TAIG Gift Fund is designed to be as unre-strictive as possible for the active membership, while ensuring that alumni donations are put to good use for both the current and future membership of the Thespian club.

Vince Roscioli ‘09

TAIG Treasurer

[email protected]

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TAIG Gift Fund Report

THESPIAN CONTRIBUTION FORM

Please complete this form and mail to:

Office of Annual Giving

Penn State University

17 Old Main

University Park, PA 16802

Name: ____________________________________________________________ Address:___________________________________________________________ City, St. Zip:_______________________________________________________ Telephone:______________________E-mail:_____________________________

Cash Gift

____ Check enclosed payable to Penn State. Note: Please indicate in the memo line of the check Penn State Thespians

Credit Card Gift

____ Please bill my credit card: MasterCard VISA Discover American Express

_____________________ __________ ______________________ Account Number Expiration Date Signature

Electronic Funds Transfer

____ Please make my gift via (EFT). Please deduct $________ each month from my account. I have attached a voided check.

___________________________________ Signature The authorization to transfer the amount indicated shall remain in effect until I notify the bank or Penn State. A record of the deduction will be made on the regular bank statement. A receipt for the total amount will be sent at the end of each calendar year. In the event of an error, I have the right to reverse the gift with written notice.

Three Pledges

___I pledge a total gift of $1,000 or more and would like to spread the payments over 3 years. My 1st payment of $________ is enclosed. 2nd Payment $__________ 3rd Payment $_______ Please send a reminder in the month of _________. Signature:_______________________________________ Date:_________________ _____ My company’s matching gift form is enclosed. XXXXX/AAXXOO

July 10, 2010 (1 pm EST)

TAIG Meeting

106 HUB

November 11, 12, & 13 , 2010

My Favorite Year*

Schwab Auditorium

April 7, 8, & 9, 2011

Jesus Christ Superstar*

Schwab Auditorium

• These are the selected

shows, rights have not

been secured yet

TAIG CalendarTAIG CalendarTAIG CalendarTAIG Calendar

Production revenues may be large enough to cover our own costs, but not large enough to fully repay the university loan. While this is unfortunate, Thespians would not last very long financially without UPAC’s assistance. All of these new rules and regulations mean that Thespians are even more reli-ant on alumni donations than ever. In fact, they are the only reliable source of annual income! It has been some time since TAIG has made an appeal to our members, but it is high time for all of us to remember the club that meant so much to us when we were students and that con-tributed so much to our lives and suc-cesses after graduation. Please consider a gift to Thespians, no matter the size. Now, more than ever, the club needs the assistance. After all, the show must go on! Please help Thespians continue to raise the curtain on student theater at Penn State. Guy Fissel (‘77), Eric Minford (‘76, ‘83 g), Tom O’Leary (‘08), Vincent Roscioli (‘09), Andrea Schwander (‘10)

(Continued from page 1)