FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 1, 2019
New Albany Founders Day
Linda Honaker
info@newalbanyfoundersday.com
NEW ALBANY THEATRE BOOSTERS NAMED 2019 COMMUNITY CONNECTION AWARD HONOREES
New Albany, OH: This year, Founders Day is excited to announce this year’s Community Connection for the 2019 New Albany Founders Day Parade and Festival will be the New Albany Theatre Boosters.
The New Albany Theatre Boosters is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that was created in 2010 to support the innovative work of the New Albany High School Theatre Department and continue its tradition of “Staging Excellence”.
Parent and community support have been integral to the New Albany Theatre Boosters’ success. On each production, we have between 20 – 30 parent volunteers, assisting with everything from publicity to set construction. The support of the community for our organization has been humbling; local businesses show their commitment to our transformative work by sponsoring our season, purchasing ads in our Playbills, donating food and materials, and promoting and attending our productions. Any alumnus, community member, or parent can become a Theatre Booster and attend our monthly meetings. People can donate by mailing a check to the following address: NA Theatre Boosters, P.O. Box 1065, New Albany, OH, 43054.
The New Albany Theatre Boosters holds many fundraisers throughout the year to support the work of the NAHS Theatre Department, including:
- Rummage Sale (held in October)
- Car washes
- Raffles and silent auctions at the department’s productions
- Concession stands at McCoy Center events
- Spirit wear sales
Every year, the Theatre Department produces at least two full-length theatrical performances as well as their 24 Hour Theatre project and a year-end Showcase. These productions involve over 100 students in the cast, on crew, and in the pit orchestra for the musical. Performers are rigorously trained in acting and vocal techniques, and dance/movement; students on crew build and paint sets, design props, and run lighting and sound, as well as assist with any other technical needs a production might have.
The NAHS Theatre Department is a nationally recognized program. Its novel Robot Theatre program was featured in The New York Times, Dramatics magazine, and The Columbus Dispatch. Its production of The Laramie Project Cycle, which included both The Laramie Project and The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, was profiled in Ohio Schools magazine and in the Outlook Ohio magazine. Two of its productions, The Diary of Anne Frank in 2007 and The Crucible in 2014, were selected to perform at the Ohio Educational Theatre Association’s annual State Thespian Conference.
The NAHS Theatre Department has received international recognition for its continued excellence in the theatrical arts, performing its production of The Comedy of Errors at the 2014 American High School Theatre Festival (AHSTF). Held annually during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world’s largest performing arts festival, in Edinburgh, Scotland, AHSTF is a life-changing experience for students that profoundly influences their growth and development in a positive way when they realize their goal of performing a production on an international stage.
The NAHS Theatre Department has been invited to perform in the AHSTF again this summer. To return to the festival a second time is a prestigious honor for our school and community. Since the fall, the New Albany Theatre Boosters has been raising money to support the students and staff traveling to Scotland.
These honors would not have been possible without the support of the New Albany Theatre Boosters and our generous community.
Recent productions of the NAHS Theatre Department include: The Addams Family: A New Musical, MR. BURNS: a post-electric play, The Drowsy Chaperone, Julius Caesar, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and FOOTLOOSE the Musical. The New Albany Theatre Boosters is currently supporting the next two projects of the NAHS Theatre Department. This spring, they are producing the acclaimed play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. Based upon the novel by Mark Haddon, it won 5 Tony awards for its Broadway run, including Best Play. The show will perform at the McCoy Center for the Arts April 18th – April 28th.
The New Albany Theatre Boosters and the NAHS Theatre Department pride themselves on their support of local businesses and community organizations. Through our Playbills and sponsorship program, we offer opportunities to showcase institutions that support the arts in our community. Our collaboration with the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts (CAPA) and the McCoy Company continues to thrive and enables us to provide students with unique learning experiences and opportunities. We have collaborated with the New Albany Community Foundation on many of their guest lectures, adapting works written by guest speakers Clarence B. Jones, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, and Dr. Paul Farmer and performing them for the authors and student audiences during their visit. We have supported other local arts organizations, including the New Albany Symphony, New Vision Dance Company, the New Albany Arts Council (now CATCO for Kids), the New Albany Symphony, and Broadway Bound Dance Centre, whose owners, Chrissy Danflous and Nikki McKenzie, have choreographed our musicals since 2010’s Hairspray.
###