Join Karen as she gives you an inside look at just how unique C.A.S.T. really is. She’ll take you behind the scenes to get a closer look at how a CAST production is created; from the first few meetings all the way up to the opening night jitters.

Hi everyone! My name is Karen DeLabar and I’m the President of the Catasauqua Area Showcase Theatre. I’m so happy that you’ve decided to check out our website and in turn, our organization. We’re hoping that the feeling you get from this website is the feeling we hope to give everyone who joins our organization or comes to one of our shows - the personal feeling of family and community.

The purpose of this blog is to give you an insider’s look into the world of CAST, and community theatre in general. I’ll give you a backstage pass to rehearsals, work days and even the opening night jitters. Posts will become more frequent as rehearsals start and the production gets on its way. I’m anxoiusly awaiting for this year to start so I can reconnect with my CAST family and I’m really excited to have you along for the ride.

Oh, and if you or anyone you know have an upcoming theatre event (high school, college or community) that you would like me to comment on, just head on over to the Contact Us page and send us an email. Just be sure to put “Karen’s Blog” followed by your event in the subject line.

Join me in September for my next post when I cover the Family Night Meeting that will be held on Thursday, September 11th at 7pm at Sheckler Elementary School.

See you then!

Karen

Hi everyone! This is just a friendly reminder that we’re having our Family Night meeting this Thursday, September 11th at 7pm at Sheckler Elementary School’s Large Group Room. The meeting will cover all aspects of our upcoming FAMILY NIGHT Fundraiser on Friday, October 10th. Remember this is our only fundraising event and we need your help to make it a successful night!

All we need from our members are two things:

1. To donate two gifts for our auction:

•   Common donations are baskets made up of home decor, back to school supplies, toys etc. We’re also having a special section of just baked goods, so you can bake your favorite dessert, put it in a nice and attractive basket or box and it’ll sure draw people to the table! This year we’d like to see more business donations, so feel free to visit the local businesses around you to see if they’ll offer any business donation such as gift certificates. We have a donation letter that you can take with you. If you’d like a copy of that letter, head on over to the Contact Us page and email us a request.

2. To serve on a committee:

• Food (make, prepare and serve the food the night of the auction)
• Auction (prepare the auciton items, tickets, sell tickets, monitor items during auction)
• Kid’s Games (create games for children of all ages, monitor the games)

* Note that people on the auction committee may be asked to help out with the kid’s games because of the amount of people that is needed to run all the kid games and activities.

* We ask that everyone help with set-up and tear-down to make the night run smoothly.

It truly is a great night full of fun and friends. I love getting together with everyone and sharing the gift of theatre with our community. Family Night is just the start of our production year and it is great to see everyone coming together to raise money for a very special group of people and a wonderful cause. I hope to see you at the meeting this Thursday night.

And remember, this meeting just isn’t for returning members; if you’re interested in joining CAST, this is the perfect opportunity for you to come and see what we’re all about. This meeting will give you a taste of what is to come, you’ll see our dedication to the organization as well as our excitement about working together to have a successful and fun night. In our organization, we have space for everyone, so come on out and help us spread community theatre to the Lehigh Valley!

See you there!

Karen

FAMILY NIGHT is fast approaching and we need your help to make it a success. In cased you missed the meeting about it, I’ve recapped the meeting for you! Read on to find out how you can help us out! (Side note: Also, let me know if you want to walk in the Catasauqua Halloween Parade with us on Wednesday, October 22nd. I need to know by next Wednesday, September 24th!)

For Family Night, we are asking that each family donate two gifts for our chinese auction. Some ideas for donations are: baskets full of seasonal home decor, kids baskets, toys, etc. (Check out back to school sales, you can put together a really full and creative basket for just under $10!) We’re also going to have a seperate table just for baked goods because people are always in line to win a chance at some scrumptious dessert! So you can bake your favorite cookies, cakes and pies, put them in a decorative tin or on a nice plate and I’m sure people will be lining up to win it! We’re looking for more business donations this year, if you are up for it go visit your favorite restaurant and ask if they are willing to donate gift certificates or a free will for a really good non-profit family organization! (Go to the contact us page and send us an email to request the business donation letter to give to the business)

We also need everyone to pitch in and participate on a committee. We have three committees:

• Food
• Children’s Games and Activities
• Auction

Set up for Family Night is Thursday, October 9th 6 - 8:30pm and Friday, October 10th 3pm Please intend on participating in set -up. Donations can be dropped off on Thursday night. We’ll need people to help pinch pierogies and pull turkey for the food committee, receive and tag gifts for the auction committee and make and plan out the games and crafts for the kid’s games.

There are flyers for you to print out and distribute to help publicize the event. You can find them on the Member’s page under downloads. It may take a second or two for it to appear depending on your connection.

* Family Night is a team effort. Over the course of the night we may approach you to help out with another committee. We need everyone to pitch in where they are needed in order to make this night a success.

* Everyone is needed to help clean up. If we all help and do our part clean up will be fast and easy

Thank you to everyone who attended the meeting and who emailed me. The response has been great, let’s keep up the momentum and I’m sure we’ll have a wonderful and successful night! If you have any questions, let me know!

Some other topics from the meeting:

* CAST will be creating a cookbook. We have recipe collection pages located on the Member’s page under downloads. We’re looking for a couple of people to get together to work on design, typing and editing recipes and general work for the cookbook. Go to the contact us page and email me if you’re interested in helping out.

Thanks!

Karen

Family Night is next Friday, October 10th and I hope everyone is getting ready for this wonderful event. Those of you who are new to our organization “Family Night” is our only fundraiser and its profits go directly to our Spring musical. This year’s event should be extra exciting since people can have their chance at winning four tickets to the Baltimore Aquarium with a TWO NIGHT hotel stay! Other prizes include signed DVD’s from Shirley Jones and donations from local businesses, including Pepsi!

Family Night is a great opportunity for the community to get to know us, but it just doesn’t happen by itself. We need your help to make this night a successful and fun event. We’re looking for donations for our Chinese Auction. Past gifts have been baked goods, seasonal home decor, themed baskets, kid’s toys and donations from local businesses. (Go to the Contact Us page to request a business donation letter.) Also, we need everyone’s help in setting up for the event. Please come to Sheckler Elementary School on Thursday, October 9th from 6 - 8:30pm to help set up. Every committee needs your help! Don’t forget to bring your donated items with you!

Thank you to everyone who has already contacted me with their donation items! I am looking forward to seeing everyone again next week and having a great time!

Karen

Thanks to everyone who helped with Family Night this past Friday night. It was a great night that raised about $1,000 more than last year! Thank you to Diane and Emmie Ledesma who helped at our information table at N. Catasauqua’s Autumn Fest this past Sunday. We had a lot of visitors and they did a great job of spreading the word about CAST. Now onto some housekeeping. Here are some upcoming dates that everyone should keep in mind:Don’t forget the Halloween Parade is next Wednesday, October 22nd. I’m waiting to hear from the borough some details about time so as soon as I hear something I will let you know. We’re also looking for adults who are willing to dress up in Music Man characters for the float, email me if you’re interested. Other adults and kids will walk along side the float in their red Family night t-shirts (or any CAST shirt or sweatshirt for that matter) throwing out candy and information about upcoming auditions.

Speaking of auditions, don’t forget about the Audition meeting on Thursday, November 6th to discuss the upcoming show, audition dates and material. New members are always welcome so tell your friends and come join us!

That’s about it for now! Hope everyone is doing well!

Karen

Hi everyone! Don’t forget the Catasauqua Halloween Parade is tonight! We’re meeting at the Catty Middle School between 6 and 6:30pm. We are having transportation running from the N. Catty Park (the parade’s end) to the middle school if anyone wants. Pick up will start at 6:15pm on the corner of Howertown and Grove, across from the Blue Monkey. We are the first group in the third division. So put on your red Music Man t-shirts (overtop of lots of layers - brrrrr) and come out to join us for some Halloween fun!

The parade route is as follows: Starting at Shecker Elementary School, down Race St, right onto Second, right onto Bridge, up to Fourth Street, down Third to Arch St, right on Arch and finishes at the N. Catty Park.  We’ll have candy and flyers to hand out.

Don’t forget, if you’re interested in helping out with the cookbook (collecting or typing recipes, designing book, etc) please join us tomorrow night at my house (go to the Contact Us page to email me for address and directions) for a cookbook meeting 7-8pm.

Thanks, and have a great night!

Karen

Hi all,

Tomorrow night (Thursday, October 23rd) is the Cookbook meeting at my place (go to Contact Us and email me for address and/or directions) The meeting is from 7-8pm (if that) and will go over what will need to be done as far as designing, recipe collection and typing and an overall timeline.

November 6th at 7pm at Sheckler is our Audition meeting. Our director, Bill Nothstein, will be giving an overview of the show as well as audition details. We welcome anyone no matter what your experience or talent level is. So please, even if you’re a little curious, or know someone who is, please join us!

Auditions will be Sunday, November 16th and Monday, November 17th starting at 6:30pm at Sheckler Elementary School. Callbacks will be held on Sunday, November 23rd.

Thanks to everyone who walked in the Halloween parade this year. It was a great night and it was a great way to get out there and publicize our group! Also, thank you to Diane Ledesma who ran transportation to the start of the parade!

Thanks,

Karen

It’s that time of year again, auditions are just around the corner and everyone is getting ready. Some are ready, some are indifferent, most are nervous; but there’s no need to be! CAST welcomes anyone of any talent backgroud or experience level. We are looking for hardworking people who like to have fun and who are ready to see their efforts displayed on stage for the whole world to see. Well, at least for the Lehigh Valley to see!

The meeting is held at Sheckler Elementary School in Catasauqua (directions can be found on the Contact Us page. It starts at 7pm and we’ll be discussing member responsibilities, audition material and general information about us.

We’re looking forward to this year, at least I am. The Music Man is such a wonderful show that really encompasses the kind of group we have. It allows for a stage full of families and friends which is always up our alley.  We do our best to have a good time and after 16 years we got that part down pat! We just need your help and hard work to make it a success, so if you are anyone you know is interested, please, come and check us out.

We hope to see you there!
 Karen

Auditions for our Spring musical “The Music Man” are this coming Sunday, November 16th and Monday, November 17th starting at 6pm. All are welcome! It doesn’t matter your experience or background, if you’re interested in having a good time and working with others to put on a fantastic show come and join us! If you missed the information meeting last Thursday, check out our Member’s page for the informational handout!

It’s an open casting call for friends and neighbors of the Lehigh Valley. Bring 16 bars of familiar music to audition. You can prepare 16 bars of “76 Trombones” from the musical or if you don’t know that, or have music for it, then you are welcome to perform something else (an accompanist is available.)

Auditions are held at Sheckler Elementary School in Catasauqua, (directions and map can be found on the Contact Us page) and are from 6-9pm on both days. Callbacks will be the following Sunday, November 23rd starting at 6pm at the same location.

Material about our organization, including member responsibilities will be given out at auditions. A membership handbook will be available online within the next few days. This book highlights responsibilities and guidelines within our organization.

We look forward to meeting new people and catching up with returning members.

Break a leg everyone!

Karen

Hi everyone! The cast list has finally been posted for our production of “The Music Man.” The list is posted on our Member’s page. Congratulations to those receiving major and supporting roles and a very big and gracious thank you to the 92 individuals who auditioned. This show is perfect for a big cast and this year we have the stage to showcase everyone!

Now the fun part. Stay tuned in each week as I bring you behind the scenes stories and give you a personal look at what CAST is and how we produce a show. See you in a couple of weeks!

Also, CAST, along with its Board, would like to thank everyone who has made the past 16 years enjoyable and successful. We wish our friends and family a wonderful and safe holiday as well!

Cheers!

Karen DeLabar

President