FROM THE ‘PAD’DED CELL...

2013 SEASON WAS MTC’s BEST YET,

BUT 2014 IS OFF TO AN EVEN BETTER START!

February 19, 2014 — The following items are covered below (yes, we’re a little busy!): 2013: Season Highlights 2014: Season Productions JTF ‘14: MTC Only Theater To Earn 3 Acting Awards!!! Filichia: National Theater Writer Really Likes MTC! Tap: Adults Began Last Week; You Can Still Join! Zumba: Also Started; If I Can Do It, So Can You Mulan & Oz: Tickets On Sale Now Season Ticket Plans: On Sale Now ‘Partners’ / Ads: Your Company & MTC In 2014? Pre-Teens: Register Now Disney’s Winnie The Pooh, Kids Fiddler: Video Party & Audition Dates Set Summer Stage: Register Now For ‘Best’ Camp JTF ‘15: MTC To Take My Son Pinocchio, Jr. Elf, Jr.: MTC’s Second ‘Pilot’ Production! ‘Extrava-Gala’: Sixth One Held On October 18th Auditions: MTC’s Coaching / Voice Lessons Storage: Do You Have Any Space For MTC? Read on to get an update on all things MTC!

2013 Was MTC’s Best Season Yet… MTC had another multiple award-winning year in 2013, as we presented another season of great musical pro-ductions for the families of Moorestown and our surrounding communities. The highlights include: Jr. Theater Festival - We made our first appearance at the national Jr. Theater Festival in Atlanta, GA in Janu-

ary 2013 (with my son Jack Morgan winning MTC’s first JTF Acting Award)!

Peter Pan, Jr. - MTC received an “early license” from our friends at Music Theatre International to allow us to present the Delaware Valley Premiere of this updated high-flying, family-favorite musical!

Fame, Jr. - MTC presented the Burlington County Premiere of the musical version of the classic ‘80s movie by our Sum-mer Stage Teenagers!

September 1, 2014 - This date was very important in MTC’s history for three reasons: MTC moved into our new home at First Baptist Church, Carol Ann Murray was hired as a full-time MTC employee, and Thom Sirkot was hired as MTC’s part-time costume designer! (Unfortunately, Thom has since left us for a great career move with a dancewear design company in CA.)

Alternative Stage - Due to MTC Trustee Tom McHale’s tireless efforts, Scenes & Songs debuted to great ac-claim in September (and will be back again this September)!

Quaker Stage - After MTC’s success in running the Drama Club at Our Lady of Good Counsel School for 11 years, we were asked to create and run a Drama Club at Westfield Friends School. The debut production of Disney’s The Jungle Book, Kids ran during Halloween week to even more favorable reviews.

Mark Morgan

Producing Artistic

Director

“Best Of” Awards - MTC received two more awards in 2013; “Best Community Theater” from the readers of SJ Magazine and “Best Children’s Theater” from the editors of Suburban Family Magazine! MTC has now won 13 of these “Best Of” Awards since 2007.

Increased ‘Stats’ - MTC saw increases in every category from 2012 to 2013. 2012 2013 Total (11 Seasons) Productions: 12 15 79 Performances: 60 64 371 Cast Members: 481 686 3,609 What we did together in 2013 was amazing! MTC performances were seen by over 12,000 theater lovers in 2013. Thank you for your part in this great year!

...But 2014 Could Be Even Better! With three acting awards at the 2014 Jr. Theater Festival (see below) and a doubling of our grant from the Hori-zon Foundation for New Jersey (from $10,000 last year to $20,000 this year; also see below), 2014 is already off to an amazing start!! And can you believe that 2014 is MTC’s 12th Anniversary Season? (Or even harder to be-lieve is that our first production, Annie, was way back in 2003?) Please look at our website for all of the specific show dates, but here are the months and titles of our 2014 Productions: Month Program Production January JTF Willy Wonka, Jr. (with 3 Acting Awards!) March WS Disney’s Mulan, Jr. & Princess Sing-Along (with Princesses singing ‘Let It Go’ from Frozen) April CS The Wizard Of Oz (YPE) May SCR Spring Studio Class Recital May 1S Disney’s Winnie The Pooh, Kids July MS Fiddler On The Roof (New to MTC!) July SS I Annie, Jr. July SS II My Son Pinocchio, Jr. (Delaware Valley Premiere, and our JTF ‘15 Production!) August SS III Grease, School Edition (New to MTC!) August SS IV A Year With Frog And Toad, Kids (New to MTC!) September AS Scenes & Songs II (New Version for 2014!) October EG Sixth Extrava-Gala (October 18, 2014) Oct.-Nov. QS Disney’s 101 Dalmatians, Kids November 2S Anything Goes (New to MTC!) December FS Elf, Jr. (East Coast Premiere!) It will be another great Season for MTC, so come join us for as much of it as possible!

MTC Earns Most Acting Awards At JTF ‘14 (Out Of 93 Theater Companies)!! Please click on the media button on the top of the MTC Website to read a de-tailed release describing all of our success at the 2014 Jr. Theater Festival. The highlight of our trip, above and beyond being in a magi-cal world of musical theater

with nearly 4,000 people for a whole weekend, was to be the only theater company out of 93 participating com-panies to receive an award in all three major acting categories!! Aren Duffy (“Charlie Bucket”) and Jordan Bud-ney (“Veruca Salt”) each won an “Excellent Individual Performance” Award in the male and female categories, respectively; there were only 12 of these awards given per gender. I was then honored to accept an “Excellence In Acting” Award for our entire 24-member Cast, of which there were only eight companies so honored! Our Adjudicators selected Jack Morgan (“Willy Wonka”) and Kylee Miller (“Mrs. Gloop”) as our ‘Broadway Jr. All-Stars’, and they chose Jordan Budney, Aren Duffy, Rocco Ruccolo (“Augustus Gloop”), and Samantha Spirt (“Phineas Trout”) as our Broadway Jr. Choreography DVD Auditionees (with Duffy and Ruccolo being invited to a ‘Call-Back’ in NYC this summer). Congrats to all of our JTF ‘14 Cast!

Horizon Foundation For New Jersey Shows Us Twice The Love This Year! After giving MTC a $10,000 grant in 2013, The Horizon Foundation For New Jersey increased its grant to us to $20,000 for 2014! So The Horizon Foundation For New Jersey will again be our Season Partner for 2014. If you have questions about your healthcare benefits, you can stop in at the Horizon Connect Retail Center, at 1680 Nixon Drive in Moorestown (across from the Moorestown Mall and next to Al Dente Restaurant), and speak to one of the staff members. And please tell them that MTC sent you!

National Theater Writer/Author Peter Filichia Likes Us; He Really Likes Us! National Theater writer and historian Peter Filichia, who first mentioned MTC in a story about the 2013 Jr. Theater Festival, came down from NYC to watch our production of Thoroughly Modern Millie this past November. In addition to praising our show, he used our ‘color-blind’ casting policy as the inspiration for his column that week. He then mentioned MTC in both of his columns about this year’s Jr. Theater Festival. Links to all four columns appear below:

01.25.13: MTC at JTF ‘13 11.17.13: MTC’s Thoroughly Modern Decision 01.31.14: The Night Before JTF ‘14 02.07.14: On-Stage At JTF ‘14 Thanks for writing so often about us Peter! And if you want to see another example of his writing, his new book, Strippers, Showgirls, and Sharks — a Very Opinionated History of the Broadway Musicals That Did Not Win the Tony Award , which Peter autographed for me at JTF ‘14, is now available at www.amazon.com. His new book, Strippers, Showgirls, and Sharks – a Very Opinionated History of the Broadway Musicals That Did Not Win

the Tony Award Is now available at www.amazon.com.

Read more http://mtiblog.mtishows.com/filichia-features-on-stage-at-junior-theater-festival-14/

Take Our Adult Tap Class Now To Get Ready For Anything

Goes In The Fall If you’re thinking about dancing in our Second Stage production of Anything Goes in November, or you just want to get in better shape before warm weather arrives, then you should register for MTC’s Adult Tap Class, which began this past Tuesday (January 21). Our Tap Class runs from 6:45 to 7:45 PM and is taught by our Second Stage Cho-reographer (and former Rockette and Broadway Vet) Tamlyn Orlando. You can regis-ter on our website for this Class, and/or our new Zumba Class (and get a discount if you register for both). If you plan to set sail with us this on the S.S. American this Fall, then start tapping with us!

If I Can Zumba, So Can You... If you’ve never taken a Zumba Class, you should definitely show up at First Baptist Church on Tuesday nights at 8 PM. The picture at left is from our first class on Feb. 11th, and yes, that is me attempting to Zumba! Also pictured from left are Annette De Rosa, Andi Leibowitz, and Lauren Primas, with teacher Gina Petti in front. Joining us for this week’s class were Carol Ann Murray and Bruce Jordan. Gina, who played “Rose Alva-rez” in our Main Stage ‘13 production of Bye Bye Birdie, is a very energetic teacher, and this class is a great way to get in shape for whenever we are done with all of this snow! You can register on

our website for this Class, and/or our Adult Tap Class (and get a discount if you register for both). And just re-member, if I can Zumba, anyone can Zumba!

Tickets Now On Sale For Mulan & Princess Sing-Along & The Wizard Of Oz! Tickets for our first two musicals of the 2014 Season, Disney’s Mulan, Jr. & Princess Sing-Along and The Wizard Of Oz (Young Performers’ Edition) are on sale now. Our “Great Yellow Brick Road” Double Feature combines our Winter Stage and Counsel Stage Productions. In our first show in March, not only will you see the story of Mulan in Act I, but you will see the following “Disney Princesses” perform in Act II: “Jasmine”, “Cinderella”, “Pocahontas”, “Rapunzel”, “Tiana”, “Merida”, and “Mulan”, with all of the Princesses joining together at the end to sing “Let It Go” from “Frozen”. In our second show in April, you will see the classic story of Dorothy and her journeys to and from Kansas. If you have any questions, please call the MTC Office at 856/778-8357.

2014 Season Ticket Plans Are Also Available If you are interested in saving some money (I know, who isn’t), MTC is offering Season Ticket Subscription Plans for 2014. We will present 13 productions this season, which if you bought individual tickets for each show, would cost $140. If you buy a Season Ticket, the cost will only be $100. Please call Ticket Manager Annette De Rosa at 856 / 778-8357 to buy 2014 Season Tickets.

Be A Partner And/Or Advertiser With MTC In 2014 If you would like to get your company or business seen by MTC’s 2014 audiences (which should range between 10,000 to 15,000 people), then please give me a call at 609 / 922-2506. As a Production Partner, your company will be promoted on the program cover, in the program, on our cast t-shirts, on our website, and in a curtain speech, among other ways. As an Advertiser, you can place an ad for one production, multiple productions, or for the entire Season! Thanks in advance for supporting the arts in Moorestown!

Disney’s Winnie The Pooh, Kids Coming In May (Just For Pre-Teens!) If you want your pre-teens to spend the Spring in the 100-Acre Woods, you can now register your six to 12-year-olds for MTC’s First Stage production of Disney’s Winnie The Pooh, Kids (which will be performed in May). There will be no teenagers in this production, which means that all roles will be played by pre-teens!

Fiddler Pot Luck Dinner / Video Preview Party & Auditions Set If you want to be part of our Summer ‘Tradition’, then you will want to be in our Main Stage ‘14 production of Fiddler On The Roof. To refresh you about this won-derful musical, or to see it for the first time, MTC will host a Fiddler Pot Luck Din-ner / Video Preview Party on Sunday, April 13th at 5 PM in First Baptist Church’s Fellowship Hall (lower level). You can enter through the glass doors on the South / Carl’s Shoe’s side of the building. Anyone driving should park in the Municipal Parking Lot behind Carl’s Shoes. We’ll have this schedule: 4:30 - 5:00 PM: Arrival / Set-Up 5:00 - 6:00 PM: Pot Luck Dinner 6:00 - 9:00 PM: Video Preview of Fiddler On The Roof Look for more details next month.

The schedule for the Auditions / Call-Back will be: Mon., April 28 / 6:00 - 10:00 PM: Audition Tue., April 29 / 6:00 - 10:00 PM: Audition Sun., May 4 / 2:00 - 6:00 PM: Call-Back Audition songs will be posted on the MTC Website next month, along with registration information. We do hope that your entire family of Papas, Mamas, Sons, and Daughters will join our family this summer!

Time To Register For MTC’s Award-Winning Summer Stage

Annie, Jr., Disney’s My Son Pinocchio, Jr., Grease (School Edition), and A Year With Frog And Toad, Kids are the four musicals that will be produced at MTC’s multiple award-winning Summer Stage this year. (MTC has been selected either ‘Best Community Theater’ or ‘Best Summer Camp’ five years in a row by various local media pub-lications.) If you haven’t registered yet, now’s the time to do so at www.MoorestownTheaterCompany.org. We had a record number of attendees last summer, and we might have to put a limit to the number of campers we can take, so don’t miss out. Also, we will hold our popular Costume / Make-Up Camps and Tech / Stage Crew Camps that we began last summer.

Pinocchio Will Be Growing His Nose At JTF ’15; Register Now! If you want to go with MTC to the 2015 Jr. Theater Festival, you should register for Disney’s My Son Pinocchio, Jr., as this is the show that we will be performing at JTF ‘15. (See Elf, Jr. story below for more information.)

MTC Will Present The East Coast Premiere Of Elf, Jr. This December Because of MTC’s great relationship with Music Theatre International, we are going to produce the East Coast Premiere of Elf, Jr. in December in a ‘pilot’ production (like we did in August 2010 with Disney’s Camp Rock: The Musical)! If you saw the full-length version of this musical at the Walnut Street Theatre this past fall, you already know how entertaining it is! We had hoped to take this musical to JTF ’15, but ’pilot’ productions are not allowed to be performed at the Festival. It is still going to be very cool though to be the first theater company anywhere in the area to produce this

musical that will be available to be performed everywhere in December 2015 (once it is in general release).

Mark Your Calendars Now For Our Sixth Extrava-Gala On October 18th Mark October 18, 2014 on your calendars for MTC’s Prom (our Sixth Annual Extrava-Gala)! More details will follow each month!

Be Better Prepared For Your Next Audition To be better prepared for your next audition, call me at 609/922-2506 to schedule an Audition Coaching Session, or a Private Voice Lesson (with MTC Managing Director Carol Ann Murray).

Do You Have Extra Storage Space That MTC Could Use (For Free)? MTC still needs donated storage space (for our various sets and costumes), so if you, or someone you have influ-ence with, has an empty barn, warehouse, garage, etc., that you would be willing to let MTC use, call me at 609/922-2506.

Still In A JTF ‘14 Celebratory Mood,

Mark