ILLINI STUDENT MUSICALS NEWSLETTER

October 2013 2

Newsletter

Illini Student Musicals

WELCOME TO ANOTHER GREAT SEASON OF ILLINI STUDENT MUSICALS

IN THIS ISSUE

Letter from the President Hello, all, Letter from the Director
With the beginning of this semester, we have had a successful first show without you. First, thank you all for your supportWe of are Illini Student Musicals. your are pleased to announce the firstcontinued issue of the truly grateful that our Through friends, family, help, we were able to produce an incredible season last year with still Thebelieve Drowsy Illini Student Musicals newsletter! This and business partners in the newsletter, sent out every other month, will marvelof that is live theatre and the idea that Chaperone and Little Shop of Horrors . I am so proud what was accomplished, and our keep our supporters inbeen the loop about musical theatre should be accessible toour goal this year has to top that. The level of collaboration that I've seen from everything thats being done in ourmembership is inspiring, university and students of all majors. We cant cast, staff, crew, and general I know that this group of organization. thank you enough for all of your support. talented individuals has the capacity to make the 2013-14 season even greater than

Remembering Gary Gardner

Gary Gardner embodies the spirit of student musical theatre, and it is for that reason that Illini Student Musicals is proud to present its 2013-2014 season in loving memory of Gary Gardner. Page 2

The Wedding Singer

Illini Student Musicals is very excited to be within a month of opening night for our fall production!

we've produced in the past. If you havent heard the news already,
our spring show is Little Shop of Horrors! We're over a month into rehearsals now, and I've been privileged to be at almost every Were really excited about this production, th th rehearsal and thismore show come alive. The cast and staff are working very hard to running March 28watch -30 . For information our production, to make Theabout Wedding Singer therefer show we envisioned when it was decided late last spring. page 4 of this newsletter, visit Director, I've also been able to work closely with everyone Through my duties asor Music illinistudentmusicals.org. involved in the production, and I can see first-hand how passionate our team is. Not

Pages 4&5

only do they care to about putting on the show you deserve to see, but they care about Theres so much find in our first issue. each other. We're very lucky to have a group that is this close, and it shows in the work Enclosed are articles with information on our that we do. I'm sure you'll be able to see what I'm talking about when The Wedding recent fundraising efforts, donating to our Singer goes up in November. organization and sponsorships, and our new
educational outreach program. There are also photos from last semesters production Aside from the updates you'll read in this newsletter, be sure to like us on Facebook ofand The follow Drowsyus Chaperone! Special thanks to on Twitter for pictures and news from rehearsals. If you are so moved, Neal Capapas for photographing please consider donating to the theshow. 2013-14 season, in memory of Gary Gardner. If you are Thanks to your feedback on last unable to donate, I sincerely hope that you'll be able to attend The Wedding semesters ticket sales, we are pleased to Singer on 7-9, and that announce weNovember are now partnering with a you'll come introduce yourself! different ticket company, Ticket Turtle! Again, thank you for staying to our organization. It's because of you and Making the switch to Ticket Turtlecommitted has your support that we arethings able to provide this opportunity on campus, and you are allowed us to do a lot of cool which Wed also like to take this moment to thank everyone who has supported our Thank you, organization in its first year. We wouldnt

One of the most important aspects of putting on a show is making sure the cast is comfortable with one another. Above, the cast participates in team building activities to get to know one another.

greatly appreciated.

Justin Brauer, President

ILLINI STUDENT MUSICALS NEWSLETTER | Issue 2

Want to Help Out?

We are entering our 2nd season of providing We're very excited to be musical theatre topartnering the campus of University of with Ticket Turtle this semester, a ticketing Illinois at Urbana-Champaign during a managementchallenging company based out of time. In addition to rent economic Portland, Oregon. Theytheater have built a fantastic for the itself, construction space, and new ticketing system for us that is already in other ongoing expenses, each production involves royalties, costumes, sets, lighting, sound, stipends for instrumentalists, and script costs, to name a few. A large-scale musicals cost tens of thousands of dollars. Fortunately, we are able to keep our ticket prices down with the help of dedicated volunteers, sponsors, and a loyal membership base. This support enables us to maintain a high level of excellence we have offered in our inaugural season, and in order to keep the shows going, we could use help from you. A simple donation from you will get your name listed in our programs for the season, and is tax deductible .Even a small donation is a big help to putting on a great production.
company as convenient and enjoyable as We are dedicating our current season to possible. We hope you'll find new system Gary Gardnerour , a University of Illinois great, and friendly, easy to use, and incredibly helpful. If all donations will be in honor of his legacy. you have any questions, feel free to contact place on our website, as well as an integrated way for us to accept donations and sell ad space for our program. They also allow us to keep incredible records of our patrons, and make targeted mailing lists both for snail mail and e-mail, so we'll be able to keep you all in the loop more easily! With our new ticketing system, we'd like to point out that we are now charging a $1 per ticket fee. This fee will go to improving our box office services in an effort to make your experience with ourpossible. We hope you'll find our new Gary earned a B.A. and Ph.D from UIUC, system friendly, easy to use, and incredibly and an M.F.A. at UCLA, where he went on helpful. If you have any questions, feel free to to become a beloved professor and Brauer at contact Vice President Justin mentor. As a student at the University of VicePresident@IliniStudentMusicals.org

Illinois, Gary was very active in studentproduced theatre, and pushed the boundaries of success with every production he was a part of. Gary inspired thousands of students and pupils with his involvement in musical theatre. To learn more about Gary Gardner and to contribute, please visit IlliniStudentMusicals.org/lending-a-hand

Vice President Justin Brauer at:

VicePresi

Fundraising at Schnucks
This year ISM is fundraising with Schnucks grocery store. If you shop at Schnucks, all you have to do is go and pick up a customer card, register it online and choose Illini Student Musicals as one of the nonprofits to support. Once you have your card, get it scanned every time you shop there! When you do that, we can get up to 3% of what you spend to support the production of our shows! An added bonus is for every $100 of groceries that you purchase you will get a 10 per gallon discount on gas at Schnucks Express!

Current Sponsorships
We are very excited that, with the help of Dawn Harris, our faculty advisor, we have once again partnered with the University of Illinois School of Music this semester. They have very graciously allowed our cast and band to rehearse in the Music Building this semester, and it is a partnership that we hope to continue as our organization grows! Special thanks to Director Jeff Magee, Jim Gortner, Ruth Stoltzfus, and Steve Burian for their help in creating this sponsorship.

ILLINI STUDENT MUSICALS NEWSLETTER | Issue 2

Advertisements
This year, ISM is excited to be hosting a projected 800 patrons at Lincoln Hall th Theatre on November 7,8,9 at 7:30pm. The Wedding Singer program is an excellent opportunity to get your name, event, or business in front of friends, family, community members, students, and faculty. As an opportunity to you, ISM would like to offer you the chance to advertise in the production playbill, as well as our social media and newsletter outlets. Advertisements are available in three sizes at three prices:

The cast of The Wedding Singer rehearse lines & develop their characters

Full Page Ad: $150.00 (5.5 wide, 8.5 tall) 1/2 Page Ad: $100.00 (5.5 wide, 4.25 tall) 1/4 Page Ad: $50.00 (5.5 wide, 2.125 tall) (Business Card Size) When you choose to advertise with ISM, your ad will be run in each of our programs for the Wedding Singer in black and white form. Your ad will also be seen in our social media outlets as well as our newsletters. Social media ads can be hyperlinked to bring viewers directly to your website or online documents. Social media advertising is included in the cost of the printed ad in our playbill and your ad will run with ISM from the time we receive payment until the day of the show.

Dentist Orin and Seymour face off in last semesters production of Little Shop of Horrors

If you are interested in running an advertisement with ISM please contact ISM Treasurer Michael Courtney (Treasurer@IlliniStudentMusicals.org) or Director of Marketing, Derrick Pemberton (Marketing@IlliniStudentMusicals.org). Finalized, ready to print advertisements can be sent to Marketing@IlliniStudentMusicals.org. Checks can be made payable to Illini Student Musicals and mailed to: 202 E. John Street Unit A40 Champaign, IL 61820. You can also pay online at: www.IlliniStudentMusicals.org/lending-a-hand/

Program Shout-Outs
This semester, we have decided to sell personal "shout-out" ads for our program. These can be either basic text, or a standard ad. Think along the lines of "Way to go, Sara! We're so proud to see your hair-whipping performance in The Wedding Singer! Love, Mom and Dad" Pricing is below: Text shout-out (up to 20 words): $20 1/4 page shout-out ad: $40 1/2 page shout-out ad: $70 Full page shout out ad: $100 Ads are due by Thursday, October 24. Please send ads to Marketing@IlliniStudentMusicals.org. Checks can be made out to Illini Student Musicals, or ads can be purchased on our website.

At this years quad day, our booth was visited by Hunter Bell and Susan Blackwell from [title of show]. They said our booth was the best booth on the quad!

ILLINI STUDENT MUSICALS NEWSLETTER | Issue 2

Fundraisers
Illini Student Musicals is 100% funded by the support and consideration of patrons such as you. To make ends meet, ISM hosts fundraisers coordinated by our fundraising chairwoman, Samantha McArdle. Over the summer, Illini Student Musicals hosted two fundraisers. The first was a dine & share with Lou Malnatis Pizzeria in Schaumburg, Illinois. This was our second fundraiser with Lou Malnatis and ISM is extrem ely grateful for the support. ISM patrons who th dined at Lou Malnatis on June 12 , 2013 had 20% of their bill donated to ISM. Another successful fundraiser that ISM hosted was at Blues Bar in Mt. Prospect. ISM hosted a night of live performances including members of ISM, UIUC student Sara Brumm, and Thursday Morning Jazz, a Mt. Prospect native jazz group. Throughout the evening, ISM sold raffle tickets for various donated raffle prizes such as Mario Tricocci Salon gift cards, wine, and a date night gift basket. ISM also received 10% of all food and drink purchases donated by Blues Bar in Mt. Prospect. We had a great time getting together over the summer and raising money for the production. Thank you to everyone who came out and supported our events. As always, ISM appreciates your continued support for all of our productions!

Letter from the Director

My name is Ron Bowden Jr, and I am the director for Illini Student Musicals Fall 2013 production of The Wedding Singer. The board has asked me to share with you, the donors, and past and present members of ISM a little about me and the rehearsal process for this show. First, I have been doing theatre all my life. Since I was 10 years old I have been performing in plays and musicals all around the Chicagoland area. I am a fifth year student at the University of Illinois studying Theatre with a concentration in Acting. In my acting career I have been in over 40 plays and musicals. Additionally, I have over 6 years of dance training in Musical Theatre Jazz, Ballet, and Tap. On the technical side of theatre, I have worked on over 30 productions in various positions: crew member, lighting designer, technical director, master electrician, and rigger. I am so happy to bring my talents and training in all of those areas to ISM to put on the best production possible. The Wedding Singer tells an amazing story that has been told over and over again throughout history. Boy falls for girl, girl is engaged to another guy, girl falls for boy, boy does something heroic, boy and girl get married. This story is given new life in The Wedding Singer through its intense 80's rock style. This musical is different from any other musical that you will see in that it is not a typical musical comedy with crazy songs, unreal events, and ridiculous plot twists. While The Wedding Singer does have all of those things, it also has an amazing story that will make your heart swell with emotion and make you want to get out of your seat and sing along with the performers (but we kindly ask you not to do this). We are beginning our 6th week of rehearsals and I am so proud of how everyone in the cast and staff is working extremely hard to make sure this show is as good as anything you would see on Broadway. As we have finished all the blocking, learned all the music, and are getting a strong hold on the choreography, I can see that this show is shaping up to be one of the best that I have directed in my directorial career. I look forward to seeing you all at one or more of our performances for The Wedding Singer. It is going to be a whole lot of fun and you don't want to miss out on this wild ride.

ILLINI STUDENT MUSICALS NEWSLETTER | Issue 2

The Wedding Singer takes us back to a time when hair was big, greed was good, collars were up, and a wedding singer might just be the coolest guy in the room. Its 1985 and rock-star wannabe Robbie Hart is New Jerseys favorite wedding singer. Hes the life of the party, until his own fiancee leaves him at the altar. Shot through the heart, Robbie makes every wedding as disastrous as his own. Enter Julia, a winsome waitress who wins his affection. As luck would have it, Julia is about to be married to a Wall Street shark, and unless Robbie can pull off the performance of a decade, the girl of his dreams will be gone forever. We are excited to be opening our 2nd season, which is dedicated in loving memory of Gary Gardner, with The Wedding Singer. The show will be in Lincoln Hall Theater at the University of Illinois in UrbanaChampaign on November 7-9 at 7:30pm. Tickets are on sale now; we cant wait to see you all there!