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The Musical Theatre of Anthem in danger of closing

In December, Musical Theatre of Anthem had reason to celebrate. The company was awarded a $57,000 grant from Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust for the purchase of upgraded auto, lighting and microphone equipment.

The funds were used to purchase a more sophisticated and unified system that matched the new 110-seat auditorium.

“It was a year in the making of getting strict financial reviews and meeting with the Piper foundation on multiple occasions,” says Jackie Hammond, the MTA’s producing artistic director. “We couldn’t believe how lucky we were to be the recipient.

“The sound is enhanced. The clarity of the sound in general is 10 times better, if not 100 times better. The lighting really gives us more options for back lighting, and upgraded lighting in general. It gives us more color options. There aren’t any dead spots on stage.”

But all of that could change, thanks to COVID-19, or the coronavirus. Musical Theatre of Anthem closed its production of “The Wizard of Oz,” shorting the company of its ticket and merchandise profits. The third-party ticketing system it uses, Brown Paper Tickets, refuses to release $8,300 of its money, Hammond says.

“We were doing so great and now we’re in danger of closing,” Hammond says. “After a wonderful grant and an exciting upcoming season, we will close if we can’t get back on our feet. We’ll lose $50,000 if we’re dark for eight weeks. Christina Fuoco-Karasiski >>The Entertainer!

“We were so excited about this season and one of the shows is our 100th production, which is very special. I’m trying to remain positive, but as you can imagine it’s hard.”

Musical Theatre of Anthem is an award-winning, nonprofit theater company that works to develop youth and adults in the performing arts. The MTA trains and educates youth so they can become the artists, patrons and leaders of tomorrow while providing opportunities to adults that empower them and foster their creativity. The MTA is supported in part by the Arizona Commission on the Arts, which receives support from the state of Arizona and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Right now, though, Hammond says she doesn’t have the ability to pay her staff, rent or utilities.

“We have no money coming in, except from our donors,” she says. “Our operating expenses are $400,000. If we can’t get kids in the doors, we can’t run our company at all. It’s terrible that it’s happening.”

As a result, Musical Theatre of Anthem is looking for donations.

“No donation is too small,” she says. “When it’s time to open our doors again—and hopefully we will—hopefully new kids who haven’t participated will come. We need help to get through this time, though.”

Musical Theater of Anthem To donate, visit musicaltheatreofanthem.org/ donate.html or call 623-336-6001.

TAKING THE STAGE Terry Temple is ready to usher Desert Foothills into new era

At many theaters, the creative and business management are separate and distinct, often locking horns as they challenge each other in what is artistic and what makes managerial sense.

Terry Temple’s career has always been a marriage of the two, which is part of what he feels makes him the right person for the job at the helm of Desert Foothills Theater. He’s experienced on both sides of the fence—as a manager of nonprofits and as an artist who has extensive acting and directing credits. It is what snared him the job as managing director of the Scottsdale community theater.

Temple earned a music degree from ASU and went on to be a liturgical musician for 25 years for the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix. He owns and manages Temple Music and Performing Arts, a studio that opened in 2009, and teaches acting, directing and dance. He was a national director of Survival School, an organization that trains leaders of large nonprofit organizations who rely on volunteers. “I understand the artistic side of things—last year I did 10 shows out of my studio at different schools—and I understand the business side,” Temple says. “There has always been this tension between the artistic and management. The business side doesn’t understand the artistic side; the artistic side doesn’t understand that without a business they don’t exist. I come in with both sides and I’m happy to do both now.”

He was hired in December by the Desert Foothills Foundation after most of the staff had left. He says he was eager to help an organization where he and his family had performed.

“I’m a helper by nature—I want to get in and get my hands dirty in anything that presents itself,” Temple says. “My daughter benefited greatly from her experience at Desert Foothills five years ago and we developed a lot of friendships. It felt like a home that was struggling a little bit and my gifts could help take it to a different level. That’s what propels me. It is such a beautiful arts environment all around there. I’ve always dreamed of running a theater.” CREATING A PLACE FOR VOLUNTEERS

Coming from a long career of working with volunteers, he says he has a nontraditional view of the relationship a Bridgette M. Redman >> The Entertainer!

ENTERTAINERMAG.COM nonprofit should have with its volunteer base.

“Rather than look at the things we need to get done and tell volunteers, ‘Here, paint this,’ or, ‘Clean this,’ or, ‘Sell tickets,” I’d rather spend the time getting to know the people and their giftedness and what they bring to Desert Hills. Even if something sits undone, that is better than putting someone in a position that their giftedness isn’t being used to the fullest extent,” Temple says. He says it’s important to look at the organization as being there for the volunteers, not the volunteers being there for the organization. At its core, it’s an organization that exists for the people involved—to meet their needs and give them a place where they can grow and flourish.

“I say at meetings that I don’t think that volunteers exist to get the work of Desert Foothills done,” Temple says. “I think the work of Desert Foothills exists to get the volunteers done so they can use their years of experience to become all that they can be. The work exists for them, not the other way around.” NURTURING THE SPIRIT Temple values community theater and the role it plays in the lifeblood of a community. He wants to ensure Desert Foothills, which has been around since 1975, continues to be a place where people gather and make connections to others.

“I would like to nurture the enormous spirit that is already at Desert Foothills. There are people who love Desert Hills Theater and would do anything for it,” Temple says. “I want to find more of these people and treat them well, treat them as sources, not resources, to get our work done, to make them really feel a part of it. The amount of people who have stepped up and said, ‘What do you need from me?’ is really humbling.” He wants to see Desert Hills go beyond just a place where plays and musicals are performed and become a destination—a home for people. While he knows ticket buyers are needed and that they are important, he also values having a community that is engaged in what is going on. He would love to see students come to the theater, regardless of whether they are working on a show.

“My ideal thing is an art YMCA where kids can come by after school and do their homework, get help with it, do creative one-act plays, have a healthy snack and go to dance rehearsal or music class or theater rehearsal,” Temple says. “It would just be a place for artisticminded people young and old.”

MOVING FORWARD

For now, the theater’s staff is being rebuilt, starting with Temple’s position. He cites the excellent support from the Foothills Community Foundation in keeping the theater running and helping him get started as the managing director. The theater is now identifying its most pressing needs as it builds from the ground up. In the long term, it hopes to hire a development director, education director, community outreach person and artistic director.

All this is happening while making sure the next show goes on. In Temple’s first months on the job, he oversaw the productions of “And Then There Were None,” “Honk Jr.” and “Freud’s Last Session.”

He plans to tilt toward more children’s and intergenerational theater in the future.

“As I go through the archives and see who the theater has been to the community, and what has worked and what hasn’t, I’m a big proponent of children’s theater and educational opportunities,” Temple says.

“I want to get back to that, to add more children’s shows and also intergenerational shows where parents

and kids can participate together. That’s the community aspect, but never letting go of the artistic stuff. We have to push to sell tickets, but the theater must intrinsically add to the artistic element of the community.”

He’s not creating something new. He wants to tap into Desert Foothills’ more than four-decade existence.

“There are marvelous things that have happened in our past,” Temple says. “I want to pick and choose what works best.” For now, he has hit the ground running and is doing his best to keep Desert Foothills an active and engaging theater. He describes himself as a work in progress involved in a work in progress and acknowledges that not everything he tries will work.

“I fully intend on failing occasionally and learning from it and moving on,” Temple says. “I would hope people would give me that opportunity to experiment a little, trust me a little bit that I know what I’m doing, but that I don’t have all the answers and I’m open to the wisdom of the community.”

Comedian Paul Diedrich’s road has been littered with detours

During the past few years, local teacher-turnedcomedian Paul Diedrich has thrilled audiences at every comedy club in Arizona as well as on the road, touring through Washington, Nevada, California, New Mexico and Colorado. This month, he will release his first comedy album, “Teachable Moments.” We sat down with him to learn a little more about his winding road to the funny.

Ironically, his early life wasn’t much of a laughing matter.

“I am the third of four children. For a large part of the 1970s, we were gypsies (well, homeless). Plus, when I was a kid, I didn’t understand that we were homeless. I thought other people lived like we did,” Diedrich says. “My dad was a Marine—a veteran of the Bay of Pigs. After he was discharged, he waged a constant battle with undiagnosed mental illness and diagnosed physical disabilities. I spent a lot of time in VA hospital waiting rooms as a kid.”

At one point, Diedrich’s dad decided the family of six would live in a car and travel to all 50 states.

“By the time I was 8, we’d visited 48 of the 50 states and sort of settled into the quiet little town of Dawson, Minnesota,” Diedrich says. “Through charity, we lived in a house owned by the Catholic Church.”

Then his dad had a new dream. Living rent free, he decided to use his Social Security payments to purchase land by a lake in rural Minnesota and build a house—with no electricity or running water.

“Dad moved there and lived in a tent while building. I remember mom being miserable, but dad was living his dream,” Diedrich says. “And then he passed away.”

Over the next five years, Diedrich’s mother—with no college degree, no sustained work experience and no money—followed her extended family from one city to another, living off their charity and accepting piecemeal jobs. “I started working when I was nine. I graduated high school at 16, moved out at 17 and worked for minimum wage as a night stocker at Toys R Us,” says Diedrich, who worked hourly jobs until he exhaustedly moved to Arizona to join his mom in 1993, where she’d moved a few years prior.

Once in the Valley, he began a job at Chili’s, where he met his future wife, Carrick Bray. Christina Fuoco-Karasinski >> The Entertainer!

“She talked me into attending community college, then Arizona State University. I graduated at 28 with a degree in marketing and took a job in corporate sales,” Diedrich says. “But it didn’t feed my soul.”

At 35, after seeking help for mental health issues inherited from his father, he decided to make a change and went to school to become a teacher. By 39, he owned a home, was happily raising two children with Carrick, and was working as a P.E. teacher at a local school.

“It was then, when I finally felt settled, I figured it was time to face my greatest fear: putting myself out there for public judgment,” Diedrich says. “I had always thought I could write and be clever, so I decided to cross stand-up comedy off my bucket list before I turned 40.”

He took a workshop at a small comedy club and basically freaked the heck out doing it the first seven weeks.

“The underarm sweat I produced during that time would fill a children’s play pool. I got through it with the essential help of Dee Ann Kinkaid. If it weren’t for Dee Ann, I would have probably tried an open mic one time, curled up into a fetal position and cried,” Diedrich says. The eighth week of the workshop was a student showcase show, and Diedrich shined. Based on his performance, he was hired by the club owner to perform in a real, professional show.

“That was the greatest $20 I had ever earned, because I earned it by facing something that scared me,” Diedrich says, noting that work at other clubs across the Valley soon followed. “Some nights I felt like Superman with illusions of greatness. Other nights I felt like I did when I was 10, thinking I was worthless and that nobody liked me.”

But he was hooked and kept at it. Diedrich settled into a groove of performing at the same club regularly and worked his way up to doing longer sets. Then, he met Frank Caliendo in 2015.

“We actually coached flag football together for our kids. I didn’t mention to Frank that I did stand-up for over a year of knowing him. I thought it would be like telling Michael Jordan, ‘Hey, I played a little ball in seventh grade.’ Eventually, we became friends and I shared it with him,” Diedrich says. Caliendo then helped Diedrich write some jokes and paved the way for Diedrich to cross a couple more items off

his comedy bucket list.

“Some things I didn’t even know were on my list until I did them, like flying in a private jet to a show in Seattle. Or, what became a passion: producing fundraising comedy shows to benefit nonprofit organizations via a company called Comedy Roadshows.”

While working as a full-time teacher, Diedrich performed at a casino show in California when the headliner asked Diedrich why he hadn’t yet made an album.

“I ended up wondering the same thing. Why not me? So, I recorded my first comedy album, ‘Teachable Moments,’ which comes out in April.”

Diedrich describes the album as “highbrow naughty.”

“I deal with adult themes in a clever, funny way without straying into obscenity. I discuss marriage, parenting, owning rescue dogs, teaching and other random stuff I think is funny, including my unique childhood,” Diedrich says.

Paul Diedrich comedyroadshows.com, amazon.com, itunes.com