The Hedgelawn Foundation
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The Garfield Center for the Arts at the Prince Theatre is supported in part by: The Hedgelawn Foundation Dear Friends and Neighbors, Welcome to the Garfield Center for the Arts at the Prince Theatre! We are very proud of the productions we are presenting this year: the theatrical shows and musical concerts you will enjoy, the community events that bring us together, and the educational programs that inspire our children. I am proud to present our 2017 theatrical season! We opened in February with Mister Roberts directed by Tess Hogans, and Love, Loss and What I Wore in April, directed by Diane Landskroener. Short Attention Span Theatre returned to the stage for the 13th year this summer, and Bonnie Hill directs the comedy Sylvia in October. Our season ends with a beloved classic; Jim Landskroener directs Miracle on 34th Street. 2017 marked our 14th year of Playmakers’ Summer Camp for children ages 8-15, who presented The Princess Bride in August, and the 5th year of the weeklong MUSICAMP, offered as a musical theatre experience for ages 8-14 in July. Our commitment to the future of community theatre and the arts also extends to our partnerships with the Chester River Youth Choir, Kent County Public School systems, and with family-oriented activities like our Hedgelawn Multicultural Summer Performance Series and our Educational Outreach Programs during the school year. We are proud of the Roots at the Garfield series that just concluded in September! Enhanced by our new sound system, the five-part concert series showcased Bluesgrass, Early Country, Folk, Rock and Blues music from October 2016 to September 2017. Music lovers will also enjoy the return of our annual concert partnership with Sultana’s Downrigging Weekend on October 28th, featuring the Pam Ortiz Band. We are also planning for a variety of different concerts in the future; The Stories in Service Celebration that honors our veterans on November 10th, a Mainstay at the Garfield concert with Cassie & Maggie on November 12th and more! Our monthly events, like Free Open Mic Nights, themed First Friday celebrations and Live Playwrights’ Society form the undercurrent of our community programming that’s for you, by you! Strong partnerships with other local arts organizations and artists such as The Mainstay, Sultana Education Foundation, Washington College, and the annual Women Helping Women and Martin Luther King, Jr. concerts enable us to bring arts lovers together to celebrate our unique community of artists. We strive to invigorate the cultural life of our community by nurturing, celebrating, and supporting arts and artists through performance and education. We could not do this without your support! We appreciate your patronage and need it now more than ever. I know I speak for the board of directors and the staff when I express our sincere gratitude for your continued support of the arts in Chestertown. We truly have a wonderful community here in this Arts and Entertainment district, and are proud to be YOUR home for the performing arts. Enjoy the show, and I hope to see you back at the Garfield very soon! Cheers! Tess Hogans Theatre Manager A Letter from GCA Board President Jim Landskroener When I was growing up, it seemed that the entirety of Chestertown existed on the two blocks between Ben Heller’s meat market at the corner of Queen and High Streets and Otis’ Barber Shop. Otis’ was a narrow three- barber-chair affair (though it was usually manned by only Otis and Eddie Lane with an empty chair in the middle) below street level in what is now part of JR’s lower front lounge. My mother would drop off my brother and me every few weeks where we would read comic books and listen to the men as we waited our turn. Otis was a short, rheumy-eyed gent with a bristly mustache. Whenever he was without a head to trim, he would look over at Eddie Lane and quietly announce that he was going to the bar next door to have a “Bromo,” clearly a code for a shot of something stronger than a stomach tonic. Eddie Lane always cut our hair. He was a very dapper fellow, pencil thin mustache and Lucky Strike (or a Camel non-filtered, I can’t really recall) at hand at all times. He didn’t use an ash tray; he would just perch his smoke on the edge of the counter. I used to love sneaking quietly behind him, and, as I was about counter-height myself, I would blow on it gently in hopes of making the lit end glow. Occasionally, Eddie Lane would leave it on the counter so long that with a little puff of encouragement, I could get the ash end to break off and fall to the floor, but those moments were as rare as shooting stars. To this day, I find the smell of cigarette smoke and hair tonic to be a magical thing. Down the street was Cooper’s Hardware. I loved just walking around the place, its dark, narrow aisles with rows and rows of little wooden bins and drawers. Every now and then, a customer would come in with some obscure nut, bolt or what’s- it. Mr. Cooper would think a second, walk down an aisle, and momentarily rest his hand on the handle of a little wooden drawer. Then, like a magician about to reveal something extraordinary, he would open the drawer to reveal a dozen or more of the very same nut, bolt or what’s-it. Magic! Otis, Eddie Lane, Mr. Cooper, Miss Anna, Mr. Sipala, Ben Heller, Norton Bonnett, Hurtt Deringer and a host of other local magicians are just ghosts now, their acts no longer performed. The old storefronts have changed or disappeared entirely. So how did the theater survive? Actually, it almost didn’t. Ron and Susan Kerns saved it from certain derelict oblivion by restoring the old movie house into a beautiful art-deco multi-use space. But if you rebuild, will they come? After a few years, the Kerns decided to sell the place and a foundation was created that would eventually become the new owners. From a schedule in the early years of only a few dozen events, the theater is now a very busy place, its calendar almost full to the brim with theatrical and musical performances, workshops, educational arts camps and community events. The wonderful thing is that this growth happened almost entirely by the efforts of volunteers. From the Garfield’s board of directors and various committees, to the box office and ushers, the writers, directors and actors on stage, the musicians at Open Mic nights and hundreds of financial supporters, the “theater” has become something much more than the sum of its many moving parts. Under the tireless direction of Tess Hogans and her remarkable staff, thousands of people from our area and beyond come to the theater throughout the year, giving this place its unique voice and making it truly a focal point for an amazingly talented community. We are all incredibly pleased to be able to share in this effort with you. Thank you for joining us tonight, and for helping us create a little magic of our own. - Jim Landskroener Garfield Center for the Arts Board & Staff Jim Landskroener, Matt Garfield, Honorary Elbert Sampson President Chairman Mark Sullivan Judy Kohl, Vice President Pam Duke Joyce Benton Morgan Ellis, Karen Ferguson Bryan Betley Secretary Julie Lawrence Butch Clark Vic Pfeiffer, Kristen Owen Tess Hogans Treasurer Mel Rapelyea, MD Garfield Center Staff Bios JOYCE BENTON, Finance Manager, is responsible for the day to day financial operation of the theatre. She attended Chesapeake College in Para-Legal studies and retired from the State, worked at the Kent Co. State’s Attorney Office as Circuit Court Coordinator and was Office Manager at Church Hill Theatre for 6 years. She loves the theatre and is excited to be part of the Garfield Center. BRYAN BETLEY, Production Assistant, is serving his third year as Production Assistant at the GCA. Bryan has been seen in many productions at Church Hill Theatre including South Pacific (2014), Oklahoma! (2013), Cabaret (2013) and many more. Recently, Bryan has performed at the GCA in Inherit The Wind (2014), A Christmas Carol (2015) and My Fair Lady (2016), and he directed a 10 minute play for last year’s Short Attention Span Theatre show. He was a counselor for the Playmakers Productions of The Hobbit (2016) Peter Pan (2015), Charlotte's Web (2014) and James and the Giant Peach (2013) and he’s thrilled to be back for a fifth year counseling The Princess Bride this summer! Bryan is incredibly grateful for all the amazing opportunities and experiences he gets from being involved at the theatre. Working in the arts has really made a difference for him! BUTCH CLARK, Technical Director, is the man behind the curtain at every production. In addition to designing and running sound and lights, he builds most of the sets used in the theatre. And he does all of this while holding down a full time job with the US postal service and volunteering for many other productions, concerts and public events held across his home county. Honored as the Chestertown Tea Party Grand Marshall in 2011, Butch also made his stage debut to a delighted audience at the 2011 Women Helping Women fundraiser. Here’s a secret not many people know - approximately 95% of the lighting and equipment used in the theatre is on loan from Butch Clark! TESS HOGANS, Theatre Manager, Tess has her dream job of keeping the Garfield running smoothly.