The Proscenium - April 2015

April 2015

The Official Newsletter of the Fredericktowne Players

STRIKE UP THE BAND - IT’S THE MUSIC MAN

By Karen Lane

I’D LIKE TO share a little bit of my family history and one of the reasons I am delighted to bring this musical to the FtP stage. My dad was a singer- a bass, actually- who loved Barber Shop quartet singing. He was very active in his chapter and competed beside his best friends locally, nationally and even internationally. If Dad wasn't home, he was in rehearsal. I played piano, so if Dad needed help learning his vocal part, I could bang it out key by key to help him with his harmonies. It was something we shared. I got a love of music and performing from him.

One of his chapter's biggest fundraisers was, and still is, their “May Show.” After the Buffalo Bills won the title of 1950 International Quartet

Champions, the chapter sent them an invitation to sing at the May Show, knowing that if they accepted it was like a big feather in the chapter’s cap.

Winning that title made the Buffalo Bills celebrities in the Barbershop World and many chapters wanted the opportunity to hear them sing live and up close. When they accepted the invitation, Dad's chapter had a soldout show. I believe they had to change the venue to accommodate the growing audience. Even better, the Bills agreed to stay afterward and sing at the afterglow, a late party after the concert with food, cold beer and lots of on the spot singing- what barbershoppers call 'woodshedding.' One of my father's happiest and most cherished life events (Continued on Page 3)

2014-2015 SEASON LUCKY STIFF September 26 - October 5, 2014

HARVEY January 30 - February 8, 2014

THE MUSIC MAN July 17 - 26, 2015 Performances at The Jack B. Kussmaul Theater at Frederick Community College 7932 Opossumtown Pike Frederick, MD 21702

FtP BOARD OF DIRECTORS Peter Jackson President

Meet the New President of Fredericktowne Players SINCE OUR LAST newsletter, Fredericktowne Players has a new president, Peter Jackson. He has been involved with FtP and its productions over the last two years and was later appointed to the board as its Vice President. While we are grateful that he has stepped into the role as President, we realize there are some things that our members do not yet know about him.

Peter has been married for 17 years to his wife Alisa. They met on a blind date and, in spite of that, they now have four children, ranging in ages 4 to 13 years old. Growing up, he wanted to be a professional baseball player. In his words, “As I grew older and realized that I was a good ball player and not a one in a million gifted athlete, the goal shifted to completing an education, obtaining a promising career, and raising a family.”

Growing up in California, he didn’t always play baseball; he was also involved in the local theater.

His talents there earned him parts in several commercials. He even auditioned for movies, one of them being The NeverEnding Story. This should give you and idea of how old he is now.

(Continued on Page 3)

Karen Lane Vice President

Sarah Marusich Secretary

Steele Michael Treasurer

The production team of Music Man is excited and has been planning for some time the details and overall "look" of our production. Adding a highly talented acting cast is one of the last parts of the puzzle, and absolutely one of the most exciting. Looking forward to seeing you at auditions!

Kirk Bowers

AUDITION DATES! Friday, May1st: 7pm - 10pm (adults preferred) Saturday, May 2nd: Youngsters only! 10am - 1pm Adults 2pm - 5pm Sunday, May 3rd: 6pm - 9pm (adults preferred) Call Backs if needed: Monday, May 4th 7pm - 10pm

Don Plugge

Please prepare 32 bars of music for singing and be ready for cold readings from the script. An accompanist, a CD player and speakers for your IPod will be available.

Mailing Address: Post Office Box 1479 Frederick, MD 21702

(Special Note: The Directors cannot be bribed, influenced, bought or bullied. But, they do like to be entertained. Pick a song you love to sing and wear a big smile- that will be perfect!)

shop on amazon.com and help earn money for ftp! www.fredericktowneplayers.org

Artistic Director

Devin Andren Development Director

Bruce Marusich Technical Director Marketing Director

FREDERICKTOWNE PLAYERS Studio Address: 306 East Patrick Street Frederick, MD 21701

Information: Tel: (240) 315-3855 www.fredericktowneplayers.org www.facebook.com/ftplayers Twitter: @ftplayers

FtP’s GOAL . . . …is to provide opportunities for the people of Frederick County and the surround ing areas to participate and enjoy quality theatrical productions.

THE PROSCENIUM: APRIL 2015

Page 2

IN MEMORY OF MICHAEL MORSBERGER LONG-TIME ACTOR, subscriber, and supporter of FtP, Michael Morsberger passed away April 17, 2014 at the young age of 55.

Michael graduated from Brunswick High School and the University of Maryland at College Park and worked at Wells Fargo as a computer analyst.

One of Michael’s loves was theater and he worked with several local companies in the area, including the Old Opera House in Charles Town and the Apollo Civic Theatre in Martinsburg, WV. If not in a show, he was usually in the audience enjoying himself.

While he was involved in a number of shows for FtP, including Gypsy and Chicago, he is probably best remembered as the Grinch in our performance of Seussical in the summer of 2007.

Michael’s wonderful spirit and smile warmed many hearts during his all-too-brief time with us. He leaves great memories for those who knew him and performed with him.

Michael’s last gift to FtP was a very generous bequest which came at an extremely financially delicate time for the organization.

His gift bolstered our funding and allows us to carry-on to our upcoming summer musical, The Music Man, and into the following years. The company is working very hard to be good stewards to this extraordinary gift so that it will make a difference for years to come.

Thank you, Michael, for everything. We know you are with us still in heart and spirit. You will be missed.

IN MEMORY OF BILL MOORE, JR. ON FEBRUARY 25, 2015, the Fredericktowne Players lost a member who nurtured and cared for this organization for virtually every day of its 46-year existence. It is inadequate to say that William Moore, Jr. was just a member. While it is customary to provide a litany of all the shows he directed or the many roles he performed, Bill deserves more than a mere list.

Bill loved to relate the story of FtP’s genesis. Many of us heard how a group of theater enthusiasts met one evening in 1969 and how they discussed the need for a theater company in Frederick County. Those founding mothers and fathers, among them Bill Moore, literally passed a hat around the room and collected the princely sum of $40 to give birth to the Fredericktowne Players, Inc. To those not part of the live theater scene in Frederick, Bill was a Math teacher at Linganore High School and the school’s yearbook advisor, a role he performed with great pride. For 15 years, Bill shared his extensive knowledge and love of theater at Linganore directing their productions of shows like Oklahoma!, Hello, Dolly!, Dracula, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Grease. He inspired and encouraged not only the students cast in or working on the shows, but those who used their Math skills to further their education and, ultimately, their adult careers. That is quite a legacy by any measure. Bill even helped this writer through his struggle to understand negative fractional exponents in calculus when, in my late forties, I went back to college for my Bachelor’s degree.

Not that long ago, the Fredericktowne Players produced Peter Shaffer’s difficult play Amadeus. FtP’s Board and president were concerned. Casting, directing, and providing tech crews for the show were difficult but not impossible. Costuming such a period show was another matter. Constructing the costumes from scratch was too daunting a task for the limited time and resources. Renting them locally was not possible. FtP’s president asked the Board to address the financial issue. Answering that call, Bill paid Baltimore costumer A.T. Jones well into four figures to rent the appropriate costumes for the show. FtP staged the show; audiences gave it their enthusiastic support, and Amadeus raised the bar for subsequent FtP shows — helped in no small part by Bill’s generosity.

Amadeus was not the only show to benefit from Bill’s largesse. When FtP needed help, he was there for the organization.

For Bill’s service, the organization presented him with their Player of the Year Award in 1982. The services he rendered to FtP included a stint as the group’s unofficial Historian, making him invaluable as a source of information on the maturing Fredericktowne Players. He reveled in relating both formal and informal stories of the organization. Indeed, you could count yourself lucky if he regaled you with his stories of FtP’s backstage dramas and lighter moments.

In 2009, a grateful Fredericktowne Players awarded Bill with its Lifetime Achievement Award, referring to him as the “Father of FtP.” Other organizations may boast generous and dedicated members, but Bill was special in that he did not seek recognition for his contributions. They simply came from his heart. Often, members and audiences alike would be unaware of Bill’s support, but it was there.

Bill loved both directing and performing. Among the shows he directed were Once Upon a Mattress, Murder by Misadventure, The Melody Lingers On, Two by Two, Dark of the Moon, and Biloxi Blues. On stage, Bill played such popular roles as Nicely-Nicely in Guys & Dolls, Marryin’ Sam in Li’l Abner, Billis in South Pacific, Doctor Lundy in Brigadoon, and his signature role, Prologus/ Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. This writer will long remember Bill’s spot-on performance as Nicely -Nicely. Stubby Kaye would have been very proud.

Bill served the Fredericktowne Players in other roles as well. Among them, serving as FtP president, a Board member in many capacities, set designer, and financial “Angel.” To the minds of many Frederick County theater lovers, Bill Moore, Jr. was the symbol for FtP. It would make him happy to know that the “child” he helped deliver survived and thrives.

If you were a student at Linganore High School; acted in a show with Bill; worked with him backstage; or just enjoyed him as a raconteur of FtP stories, be sure to thank Bill Moore, Jr. next time a curtain goes up. Thank him for enriching our lives with a love of live theater in Fredrick County. ~ Affectionately submitted by Steve Lloyd, two-term FtP president, and Jeanne M. Lloyd, former Board member and former Volunteer Coordinator

THE PROSCENIUM: April 2015

Page 3

SPOTLIGHT Continued . . . was singing on stage with those four men and woodshedding with them at that party.

Buffalo Bills in Meredith Willson’s ‘The Music Man’

Now, barbershop is not my musical genre of choice, but for a musical group to inspire Meredith Willson so much that he had to write them into his musical is impressive. For my dad, to see a quartet in a major movie and make it to Broadway was a dream come true! This musical became my dad's favorite, and since he shared his love of music with me, it has inspired the production team to create one of FtP's best musicals to date.

Break a Leg! ♫

PRESIDENT Continued . . .

His introduction to the Fredericktowne Players began a couple of years ago when his oldest daughter asked if she could audition for the summer show Oliver! When Peter was a young child, he and his mother shared the stage in a production of Oliver! so it didn’t take too much arm bending for him to come out and audition with his children. Acting on stage this time was magical as he was cast along with his two eldest daughters. His mother was in the audience cheering them on. Sadly for the Jackson Peter Jackson family, this is the last memory his daughters and he have with his mother as she died from cancer a few months later. Watching

Sunday, June 7th is the 75th annual Tony Awards. To those who are more athletically inclined, it is theater’s equivalent to the Super Bowl. This year we are having a party where we will all be able to enjoy the event together. FtP will be hosting the event at the Frederick Elks lodge #684 at 289 Willowdale Dr. Frederick, Md. 21702. Tickets will be available for $10 in advance and $15 at the door. Join us at the ‘Red Carpet’ at 7:30 for some fun, games and good times as we cheer for the winners. There will be a light fare provided and a cash bar will be available. Information on purchasing tickets will be on the Fredericktowne Players’ facebook page and our website (www.Fredericktowneplayers.org).

his daughters perform from the wings and knowing that his mother was in the audience made this one of his most memorable life experiences.

When asked what experience he brings to FtP, he described his sports participation. Where theater is not a sport, there are aspects that are similar. In fact, it has been said that theater is the other team sport. Not everyone who is cast is cast in the lead role; however the lead is dependent on the supporting cast and the crew to help bring to life the entire story. Years of athletic teamwork has conditioned him to cheer on all the actors and actresses throughout the process.

To keep the magic of Fredericktowne Players theatre going for future generations, he hopes to attract people who share his team spirit and love of theatre. Perhaps we may even see him playing his dream role of Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music someday.

As members of Fredericktowne Players, we look forward to working with Peter and following the direction that he will be providing to the Players into the future. ♫

THE PROSCENIUM: April 2015

Page 4

THE ELEPHANT MAN Maryland Ensemble Theatre April 11 - May 3

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF The Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre March 13 - May 30

If you have been around the shop recently or have helped build or move any of our flats, you noticed one glaring problem; our flats have some age on them. If they could talk, they would tell multiple stories. All of them would be fantastic. But sadly, it is time to retire some of our more aged flats and replace them with brand new ones. Bruce Marusich, our Technical Director, has calculated the cost of replacing an old flat to be $40. We are asking our members to consider contributing $40 to “sponsor” a new flat. Your name will be on stage during all of our future plays and musicals.

All contributions are tax deductable and checks should be made out to Fredericktowne Players and mailed to Post Office Box 1479, Frederick, MD 21702.

THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL Old Opera House April 24 - May 3

THE KING & I Washington County Playhouse April 11 - May 16

THE LITTLE MERMAID Fun Company April 4 - May 3

THE UGLY DUCKLING Other Voices May 2 - 30

THE WIZARD OF OZ Children’s Theatre at Way Off Broadway April 11 - July 26

Looking for a

Volunteer Coordinator

If you have a talent for matching people with their perfect job then we have a role for you. Contact Karen Lane (vicepresident@fredericktowneplayers.org) about being our volunteer coordinator.

Looking for a

PLAY READING COMMITTEE CHAIR Selecting a season is one of the most important things every theatre organization has to do. The Play Reading Committee is responsible for reading and reviewing scripts and recommending a season line-up to the Board of Directors.

If you are interested in helping the Fredericktowne Players pick its season, contact Kirk Bowers at artistic@fredericktowneplayers.org.