Schoolhouse
Live, Jr.
 Rocked the House!

Students in DFT Gecko Teatro Acting Up! class at BMES (grades K-2)
perform Nouns, the opening song of Schoolhouse Rock Live, Jr.

What a great show!
Audience members were treated to a fast-paced show of
incredible performances....THANK YOU to all the wonderful artists who came out to support DFT by sharing their talent.

See photos below...Click on photos to enlarge

A Beautiful Night, a Beautiful Home...

great fun!

What a wonderful performance we had on Thursday, March 6.  Great people, great fun, a beautiful home.  DFT would like to thank Susan and Carrol Vanik for so graciously opening their home and sharing their hospitality and Susans great food!  Thank you so much for the ever-wonderful Kevin Glenn and Martha Lindsey joined by the incomparable Jim Whitaker. What a joy! We all had a great time. See you next year at our theatricales!

Click the photos to see some of the fun people that were there! 

A great day!

The audience LOVED Lilia!

Those who attended Sunday's presentation of Lilia! were rewarded with an amazing performance. Over half the audience stayed for the question and answer session. No one wanted to leave. The lobby did not close until more than an hour and a half after the performance. Here's what one attendee had to say...

I am new to the community, and heard of Lilia through Pat Dalton.  My husband and I attended (he dragged his feet) and we both thoroughly enjoyed it.  What a wonderful thing you are doing to bring that caliber of work to this community.  Thank you!  We look forward to much more.

--Bill and Kathy Hegberg

Many audience members asked if we were bringing Ms. Skala back to perform her other work, A Time to Dance which just won "Best Solo Performance" out of 45 solo performances at the London Fringe Festival.  The DFT artistic and steering committee will be discussing the possibility.

Thank you to Big Earl's Greasy Eats for their delicious coffee and dessert.

DFT VIPs enjoy special member-only reception
 

Producing theater is an expensive business and we are literally unable to survive without the generous financial support of our DFT VIP's (our members).  Through donations ranging from $150 to $5000, our members contribute their dollars to help DFT continue our mission of presenting quality theatrical productions. Each and every penny is put to good use producing the shows our community so enjoys. In order to thank those who do so much for us, we held our annual Member-Only event at Cave Creek Coffee Company, who generously provided coffee and desserts for attendees. The back room of C4 was decorated beautifully and lovingly by Rose Newman, one of the new owners of the coffee house.  Thank you, Rose for making the event so beautiful!

After enjoying wine, coffee and dessert, attendees were treated to a snippet of music performed by some of the actors from our upcoming production of Gypsy.  If you are interested in becoming a DFT VIP, you can make donations online or over the phone by calling
480-488-1981.

_______________________________

DFT Managing Director, Meribeth Reeves, and DFT Gecko Teatro director, Brenda Waffle, enjoy sharing information about DFT at the FCF event.
 

Great FCF Western Hoedown
 

On Saturday, September 29, the Foothills Community Foundation hosted a great western event at the Buffalo Chip.  Over 300 people attended and learned all about the many wonderful programs supported by the Foothills Community Foundation (like DFT!!) while enjoying a delicious dinner and wonderful music by Pioneer Pepper. 

"I had a great time talking with everyone about the theater," said Brenda Waffle, DFT Gecko Teatro director who was on hand, along with DFT Managing Director, Meribeth Reeves, to share in the fun. Steering committee chair, Michele Poetsch, showed what the theater is all about "FUN" and played a mean pair of maracas winning her a certificate for having the "best shakers". Great job Michele! 

DFT's A Grand Night for Singing receives 5 ariZoni Award Nominations -- other DFT friends honored too!

DFT Director Dee Dee Wood took on a lot last year when she offered to direct TWO productions for DFT. Now, in addition to our love and gratitude, Ms. Wood has also received an ariZoni Award nomination for her wonderful direction of A Grand Night for Singing. Four others were also nominated for their work on A Grand Night for Singing. These include Flora Mogerman (best music direction), Janine Smith (best actress, pictured right), Diane Welle (best hair/makeup) and Toby Payne (sound design).

"I want to congratulate each and every one of these nominees.  We had a short season last year with only two main stage shows that were eligible for ariZoni's. To see FIVE nominations is just a testament to the wonderful work of these artists," said Meribeth Reeves, DFT Managing Director. "DFT is so privileged to have so many talented people committed to providing quality performances in our community.  I thank every one of them from the bottom of my heart."

In addition to our nominees from last season, Amy Powers (who also appeared in Grand Night, pictured right) received a nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her work in Music Man at Fountain Hills Community Theater.

Music director, Miciah Dodge who will be providing music direction to DFT for Gypsy and I Love You... received several nominations including:

• Sound Design - Children's Theatre for My Emperor's New Clothes at Fountain Hills and
  Legend of Sleepy Hollow at Greasepaint.
  
  Original Music Composition
  Theatre Production

• Legend of Sleepy Hollow at Greasepaint; and
  
  Original Music Composition
  Theatre Production

• Legend of Sleepy Hollow at Greasepaint.

Winners will be announced at a special awards ceremony this fall.  Break a leg everyone!

New DFT Steering Committee Chair Announced

New steering committee chair Michele Poetsch (standing) 

greets DFT 2007/ 2008 directors at general auditions

Desert Foothills Theater is pleased to announce Michele Poetsch (pictured above) has agreed to take on the role of steering committee chair.  Ms. Poetsch spent the past year as co-chair under Toby Payne and has previously worked extensively in theater in

Meribeth Reeves has been asked to take on the role of DFT Managing Director beginning July 1.  Throughout the past year she has been working as communications manager, facilitating communication among steering committee members, soliciting corporate sponsorships, writing grants, overseeing all marketing and taking on additional administrative tasks. She also initiated the start of DFT's strategic plan with the support of the Arizona Commission on the Arts  and oversaw the development of the Kiwanis/ BMES Black Box Theater. "Meribeth's commitment to DFT is inspiring,"said steering committee chair,

Michele Poetsch. "We make a great team and I am really looking forward to working more closely with her."

Meribeth's background includes extensive work in arts marketing and arts management for the Pittsburgh Dance Council, Dance Alloy,  Pittsburgh Youth Ballet and a number of new and existing arts organizations in Pittsburgh as well as Phoenix. While in Pittsburgh she also taught classes in arts management at Point Park University. Click here for Meribeth's bio.
 

Throughout the past year, Desert Foothills Theater has been working to develop its youth theater, called Desert Foothills Theater Gecko Teatro.  "We are pleased to announce that Miss Brenda B. Waffle has agreed to join us as Director of Gecko Teatro and help us grow Gecko Teatro into one of the best children's theater's in the state," said Meribeth Reeves, DFT Managing Director.  "She brings a wealth of experience in the management of her own youth theater and her connections to the Cave Creek Unified School District, a strong partner in the creation of our programs.  Miss Waffle was owner and director of the award winning Columbus Youth Theater in Columbus, Ohio for ten years. For the past fifteen years, she Waffle has been a teacher in the Cave Creek Unified School District and has been performing in theaters throughout the valley.  In her role as Director of Gecko Teatro, Miss Waffle is able to combine her two great passions: teaching and theater.  Miss Waffle has been on stage acting since the third grade.  She has acted in or directed over forty shows during this time period. Click here to learn more about Gecko Teatro

The DFT steering committee has been very busy this summer working toward making DFT the best community theater it can be.

On June 16, the steering committee began its planning with a day-long retreat to answer the question: "Given that DFT wants to expand community involvement how can we better embrace our community and motivate increased participation?"
 

.Thanks to the generous support of the Arizona Commission on the Arts and the help of their Performing Arts Director, Claire West, DFT was able to bring in consultant Esther Groves to determine DFT's focus for the future.

Through work at that meeting and a subsequent follow-up meeting, the steering committee has set the following vision for our move into the future: "Focusing on community in our community theater"  Within that overarching goal DFT's steering committee's objectives are to increase ticket sales, increase contributed income and encourage more volunteer participation.

These objectives will be achieved through the work of our seven subcommittees:

• Audience Development   (marketing)
   

• Resource Development (fundraising)
   

• Volunteer Development
   

• Artistic Committee
   

• Community Collaboration
   

• Board Development
   

• Youth Program
  (Gecko Teatro)

The subcommittees are working, active committees tasked with prioritizing activities and setting goals for the 2007/2008 season in their area of influence. 

We are still looking for subcommittee members. We have some great committee chair people. If you are interested in learning more about arts management, then a DFT subcommittee membership is a great way to do that!  Just email  and let her know your interest!

October 4

The Horny Toad

Our first member-only event of the season was wonderful! Over 50 people joined us for delicious food and had the opportunity to meet Dee Dee Wood, Alexx Stuart, Diedre Kaye, Diane Welle and the entire cast of A Grand Night For Singing! Fun was had by all.

Members are theater supporters who have donated at least $150 to the theater for our 2006/2007 season.  Their support of the theater is imperative to its success! We thank everyone that attended and look forward to seeing you at future member-only events.

Diedre Kaye, Dee Dee Wood and Alexx Stuart at the first Member-Only event of 2006/2007

If you would like to become a member of Desert Foothills Theater, click here for details on how to join.