What’s Up Now:

Somerset Valley PlayersSomerset Valley PlayersSomerset Valley PlayersSomerset Valley Players

601 Route 206 Suite 26-216

Hillsborough, NJ 08844 908-369-7469

www.svptheatre.org

Executive Board: President: Emily M. Windus

Vice President of Production: Todd R. Bennington Vice President of Theatre Mgmt.: Ed Hayden

Vice President of House Mgmt.: Randy J. Coddington, Sr. Vice President of Sales & Marketing: Roberta Steve

Secretary: Kyle Hamilton Treasurer: Michael A. Muller

March 2020 Volume 21 Issue 3

PLAYHOUSE

NEWS

Inside this issue:

Calendar of Events 2020 Sponsors

2

Meeting Bites Audition Notice

3

Steel Magnolias 4

Dinner/Show Special Be an SVPSVPSVPSVP Sponsor

6

SVPSVPSVPSVP 2020 Flex Pass

Form 9

SVPSVPSVPSVP 2020 Member-

ship Form 10

AmazonSmile 5

SVPSVPSVPSVP 2020 Season 7

SVPSVPSVPSVP 2020 Subscrip-

tion Form 8

Somerset Valley PlayersSomerset Valley PlayersSomerset Valley PlayersSomerset Valley Players

Set in Truvy's beauty salon in Chinqua-

pin, Louisiana, where all the ladies who

are "anybody" come to have their hair

done. The outspoken, wise-cracking

Truvy dispenses shampoos and free ad-

vice to the town's rich curmudgeon, an

eccentric millionaire, and the local social

leader. Ladies fill the shop with hilarious

repartee and not a few acerbic but humor-

ously revealing verbal collisions. The

sudden realization of their own mortality

affects them all, but also draws on the un-

derlying strength—and love amongst the

ladies.

Directed by Holly J. Kowalenko

Runs

March 6th through 22nd, 2020

Fridays & Saturdays at 8PM, Sundays at 2PM

Tickets: $20 Adults $18 Seniors/Students

To purchase tickets:

Visit www.svptheatre.org

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Calendar of Events

• Ada & Francis Savarese • Affordable Air • JML Landscaping • Mailbox Business Center • Petrock’s Bar & Grille • Robert W. Pittenger Family • Sal’s Professional Touch Dry

Cleaners—Custom Tailors • State Line Aviation

Page 2

Playhouse News

M�� M�� �" D� �: M�� 11, 2020 T���: 7:30PM – 9:30 PM B���� �� G����� M��(�����) M�� �" D’� D���� �� D��� S��� D� �: J!� 5—21, 2020 S��� T����: 8PM F������ S� !�����, 2PM S!���� J!� M�� �" D� �: J!� 8, 2020 T���: 7:30PM – 9:30 PM B���� �� G����� M��(�����) M�� �" J!�� M�� �" D� �: J!�� 13, 2020 T���: 7:30PM – 9:30 PM B���� �� G����� M��(�����) M�� �" H����� S��� D� �: J!�� 24—A!"!� 9, 2020 S��� T����: 8PM F������ S� !�����, 2PM S!����

SVPSVPSVPSVP is very grateful to our 2020 Season Sponsors

Meeting Bites Meeting Bites Meeting Bites Meeting Bites ---- February 2020 February 2020 February 2020 February 2020

Page 3

• Theater Management • Mobile Box Office (reported by Kyle Hamil-

ton): volunteers needed, considering new loca-tions to set up.

• New board photos are needed for the website. • House Management

• Outside spotlight changed. • Security measures for the dumpster are con-

sidered to prevent community use and unlaw-ful dumping by contractors.

• The upstage left work light repair is pending as a set cannot be in the way when the repair is made.

• Production • Sweet Charity has been cast and will begin

rehearsals at South Branch Reformed Church soon.

• Costume committee in need of volunteers for a cleanout of the dressing rooms.

• Sales and Marketing • All shows have one sponsor except Don’t

Dress for Dinner. Following two leads for show sponsor.

• The 2020 season bookmarks were printed list-ing A Christmas Story as the December show. They are being updated to now show Annie.

Playhouse News

Supply will be sent to the Somerset County Cul-tural & Heritage Commission.

• Treasurer • Smokey Joe’s deposit check has still not been re-

ceived from R&H. • The dumpster was delivered and residential trash

bins were returned. • 2020 grant voucher, received and sent back.

Awaiting 75% of grant disbursement. • SVPSVPSVPSVP remains in a stable financial status.

• Members, actors, and volunteers are reminded to check with their corporate employers for potential work/donation matches for their involvement

with SVPSVPSVPSVP activities.

• Old Business • By-Laws Review Committee- Meeting this

Wednesday. • Additional Lounge Committee volunteers needed.

• New Business • A change was made on the timers so the lights

will go on at 5:30 pm. • Consideration is being made to make changes to

the temperature control system. This is in re-sponse to the significant temperature differences that exist between the sound booth, the audience, and the stage/backstage areas. No potential or specific solution was mentioned, the problem was

AUDITION NOTICEAUDITION NOTICEAUDITION NOTICEAUDITION NOTICE Date/Time: Sunday, March 15 at 6:00PM Monday, March 16 at 7:00PM Place: Somerset Somerset Somerset Somerset Valley PlayersValley PlayersValley PlayersValley Players,

689 Amwell Road, Hillsborough, NJ Synopsis: Bernard is planning a romantic weekend with his chic Parisian mistress in his charming con-verted French farmhouse, whilst his wife, Jacquel-ine, is away. He has arranged for a cordon bleu cook to prepare gourmet delights, and has invited his best

friend, Robert, along to provide the alibi. It’s foolproof; what could possibly go wrong?

Director Todd R. Bennington is seeking: • 3 adult males, ages 20’s to 40’s • 3adult females, ages 20’s to 40’s

Performance dates: June 5—21, 2020, Fridays & Saturdays 8PM, Sundays 2PM. SPECIAL NOTES FOR AUDITIONERS: • Readings will be from the script. • All actors must be comfortable with physical

comedy. • French accents will be used for some charac-

ters. Please refer to www.svptheatre.org for a com-plete breakdown of characters and other infor-mation.

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Playhouse News

March is International Women’s Month and women will be in command of the stage at the Som-Som-Som-Som-erset Valley Playerserset Valley Playerserset Valley Playerserset Valley Players when their production of Steel Magnolias opens on Friday, March 6. Often classified as a ‘comedy/drama’, Steel Magnolias, written by Robert Harling, focuses on the friendship of six Southern women and how love, humor, and wisdom help them meet life’s highs and lows. “The show really celebrates how deep and sus-taining the bonds of female friendship can be,” ex-plains director Holly J. Kowalenko. “The women are strong, opinionated, determined, eccentric, and hilariously funny. The audience never doubts that underneath it all they truly love and support each other.” “I have such a talented group of experienced ac-tresses in the cast. They shine in the play’s dra-matic moments just as much as they do in the com-ic,” adds Kowalenko. “Their mutual respect under-scores the believability of their characters’ camara-derie.” Kowalenko is no stranger to Southern comedy having directed Dearly Departed, another play set south of the Mason-Dixon line at SVPSVPSVPSVP three years ago. “It’s so much fun to do the accents and the lin-go in the script,” she recalls from that experience, “and we’re enjoying spending time onstage in Loui-siana where Steel Magnolias is set.”

The action in Steel Magnolias takes place entirely at Truvy’s beauty salon, where the women gossip, argue, reminisce, and bind while getting their hair done. Creating a realistic stage set – with beauty shop furniture and equipment – has been a challenge admits Kowalenko. “We’ve spent an enormous amount of hours try-ing to get it just right, including having an actual hairstylist work with the actresses playing Truvy and Annelle, the characters who work in the shop.” A hugely successful film adaptation of the play was released in 1989 that featured male characters who are only talked about in the stage version. “The play’s cast is only six women and takes place in only one set. While it’s different from the movie, the humor and the characters in the play really flourish in the more intimate set-ting,” Kowalenko states. Produced by Ed Hayden and stage managed by Shannen Rivers, Steel Magnolias runs week-ends beginning Friday, March 6, through Sun-day, March 22, at the Somerset Valley Players Somerset Valley Players Somerset Valley Players Somerset Valley Players theater on 689 Amwell Road (Route 514) in Hillsborough. Friday and Saturday performanc-es begin at 8 p.m. Sunday matinees start at 2 p.m. The theater is air conditioned, barrier free and wheelchair accessible. For tickets and show times go to www.svptheatre.org.

Southern Funny Ladies Take Center Stage in Steel Magnolias at

Somerset Valley PlayersSomerset Valley PlayersSomerset Valley PlayersSomerset Valley Players

Page 5

Playhouse News

If you’re one of the millions of people who shop online using Amazon.com, there’s an easy way you can help your fa-vorite nonprofit community theatre –

SVPSVPSVPSVP. It’s called AmazonSmile. AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon, with the same products, prices, and shopping features as Amazon.com. The difference is that when you shop on AmazonSmile, the AmazonSmile Founda-tion will donate 0.5% of the purchase price of eligible products to the charitable organ-ization of your choice. On average Americans spend about $488 on Amazon each year. 0.5% of that amount is $24.40; if you’ve signed up with

AmazonSmile and selected SVPSVPSVPSVP as your

charity, that $24.40 will be donated to the theatre. Considering that 96% of Americans re-port shopping on Amazon, many small do-nations generated by AmazonSmile can ac-cumulate into sizeable contributions for the targeted charity. The same principle ap

plies to our SVP SVP SVP SVP friends and family. If we each sign up for AmazonSmile, and shop online as usual, our combined individual contributions can mean a big return to

SVPSVPSVPSVP. If you want to help SVPSVPSVPSVP a little at a

time, while you’re buying that new kitchen gadget or a pair of really cool shoes, it’s simple. Here’s how to shop AmazonSmile: 1. Visit smile.amazon.com. 2. Sign in with your Amazon.com creden-

tials. 3. Choose a charitable organization to re-

ceive your donations 4. Select the Somerset Valley Players. 5. Start shopping! 6. Add a bookmark for smile.amazon.com

to make it easier to return and start shopping again on AmazonSmile.

For more information about the Ama-zonSmile program, go to http://smile.amazon.com/about. We appreciate your support…. And happy shopping!

How to Use AmazonSmile to Support SVPSVPSVPSVP

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Playhouse News

Become an SVP SVP SVP SVP Sponsor! A Show Sponsorship delivers you direct marketing

to the SVPSVPSVPSVP family and patrons. Your company will

become the headline sponsor of a SVPSVPSVPSVP production.

Your company name and logo will appear:

• On the cover of the Show Program for the spon-sored production.

• In all Audition Notices sent for the production. • In all Membership Notices and Newsletters for

the next 12 months. • In all Press Releases sent to local print and

broadcast media for the production. • On all Inside and Outside Signage during the

run of the production. • On the SVPSVPSVPSVP Website for the next 12 months. • In the production pre-show announcements

speech prior to each performance. • Plus you will receive passes for 10 free tickets

to the sponsored SVPSVPSVPSVP production. Please contact VP_marketing@svptheatre.org or

call 908-369-7469 for more information!

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Playhouse News

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