Email  Print

Support sought for Sonoma Theatre Alliance

Valley forum

With the holidays here, I’m feeling incredibly grateful for the community’s support of The Sonoma Theatre Alliance Summer Festival of Theatre 2011.

  The quality of these community theater productions was anything but ordinary. For those of you who saw Frankenfurter grace the stage this summer in “The Rocky Horror Show,” I challenge you to tell me you’ve seen anything more startling or exciting in live theater lately.

  The poignant dance between Laura and the gentleman caller in “Glass Menagerie,” or the sheer delight over Felix’s terror of the Pigeon Sisters in “The Odd Couple?” The swashbuckling exhilaration of “Treasure Island?” The set alone was worth the price of admission.

  And what about our Summer Nights Series, packing in over 90 people on a Monday night for Vox Populi, or Monica McKey and Jeane MacPherson’s “Having the Time of our Lives?” The “what will he do next” antics of Maxime “we knew him before he was famous” Simone?

  I could go on and on. And we’re right off the Plaza. Imagine, go out to dinner, support your local restaurants and then walk to live theater.

  Theater is an expensive passion to have, and we need your support, both in donations and in attendance to keep growing stronger. We urge local organizations to consider sponsorship of one or all of our presentations next summer.

  The STA is proud to say that through our community outreach, we have been instrumental in securing a matching grant of $100,000 through the amazing generosity of the Rotary Club. This grant will help transform Andrews Hall into a dedicated theater space, the projected permanent home of the STA.

  The Sonoma Community Center is working diligently to transform Andrews Hall into the dedicated performance arts space this town needs, already incorporating a state of the art ticketing service as its first step toward this goal. Plans are underway now, with secured funds for lighting, sound and balcony upgrades, with a planned completion date of spring 2013. If you would like to volunteer, donate to the matching grant, hear about our 2012 group auditions on Jan. 28, or just share your thoughts on our season, we’d love to hear from you. Drop me an email at sonomatheatrealliance@gmail.com. And, please, take a moment to take our survey by going to www.surveymonkey.com/s/62PH3Z7.

• • •

  Jaime Love is executive director of the Sonoma Theatre Alliance.