Kaleidoscope
Theatre Newsletter
Volume
1, Number 1
www.kaleidoscopetheatre.com
kaleidoscope@kaleidoscopetheatre.com
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Hi everybody, and welcome to the first
Kaleidoscope Theatre newsletter!
We would like to thank each and every one of
you for making our
Summer 2005 touring season so successful! We
received so many
positive comments and letters of praise,
that we feel this summer
just might be our best summer yet!
In our newsletters, we will inform you of
many things, including:
upcoming Kaleidoscope Theatre performances;
special offers
involving discounted tickets or merchandise;
new sale items; how
to bring Kaleidoscope Theatre’s
award-winning school-touring shows
to your school; updates on Kaleidoscope
Theatre company members;
and much, much more!
In this issue, you will be able to read
about…
1. Upcoming Kaleidoscope Theatre
performances
2. A Special Offer for Cinderella’s
Christmas!
3. A Kaleidoscope Theatre History
4. Kaleidoscope’s award-winning
school-touring program
5. Kaleidoscope Theatre Q&A
6. Employment opportunities with
Kaleidoscope Theatre
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1: UPCOMING KALEIDOSCOPE THEATRE
PERFORMANCES!
In this section, we will let you know about
any upcoming performances
we have that are open to the public. This
will NOT include
performances at schools, private functions,
or events that you
would not be allowed to attend.
***DIAL M FOR MATRIMONY
*Friday, September 23, 2005; 7:00pm
Via Roma on Federal Hill in Providence, RI
For tickets, contact Domenic at Via Roma,
(401) 331-1717. Tickets
are $35.00, which includes dinner, show,
tax, and gratuity.
*Leave the kids at home, mom and dad,
because only adults are
invited to the wedding of cheese king
Pasquale Provolone and
Martini Ann Rossi! Just when the wedding
reception starts winding
down, a member of the wedding party is found
murdered and WHAM!
The wedding guests find themselves right in
the thick of things as
amateur detective/priest Pastor Fazool asks
for their help in
solving this dastardly crime. This Italian
wedding murder mystery
is one you’re sure to love and won’t want to
miss!
***PINOCCHIO
*Saturday, October 1, 2005; 2:00pm & 4:00pm
Kelsey Theatre, Trenton, NJ
Box Office: (609) 584-9444
*Friday, October 7, 2005; 10:00am & 7:00pm
Stadium Theatre, Woonsocket, RI
Box Office: (401) 762-4545
*An amazing series of adventures awaits
Pinocchio in his quest to
become a real boy. Will he take the Blue
Fairy's advice and listen
to the smart little cricket? Or will he end
up as a donkey on the
Isle of Joy? Come and find out! It's a show
the whole family
will enjoy, no strings attached!
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2. A SPECIAL OFFER FOR CINDERELLA’S
CHRISTMAS!
***CINDERELLA’S CHRISTMAS
*Sunday, December 11, 2005; 2:00pm
Robert’s Hall Auditorium, Rhode Island
College, Providence, RI
Box Office: (401) 456-8144
Tickets: $7 in advance, $8 at the door
*In order to show our appreciation to those
of you who have
supported us in the past, we have a special
offer just for you!
Purchase your tickets on or before November
11th, and receive
your tickets at $6.00 each! When you
purchase your tickets, be
sure to mention the word “NEWSLETTER” in
order to receive this
discounted price! This offer is only valid
for the performance
of CINDERELLA’S CHRISTMAS at Rhode Island
College.
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3. A KALEIDOSCOPE THEATRE HISTORY:
Most of you probably know Kaleidoscope
Theatre as the resident
children’s theatre company that performs
fairytale musicals
throughout the summer. But did you also know
that our Summer
Series of original fairytale musicals dates
back to 1982, and that
Kaleidoscope Theatre itself was incorporated
another 5 years
before that?
Kaleidoscope Theatre was founded in 1977 and
achieved 501(c)3
status the following year. From 1979 to
1981, Kaleidoscope hit
the local airwaves with our own television
series on channel 12,
the then-ABC affiliate in Providence.
Kaleidoscope Theatre aired
a half-hour family musical every Saturday
and Sunday morning to
the delight of families in the greater Rhode
Island area. One
viewer, Buster Bonoff, was the owner of the
Warwick Musical
Theatre in Warwick, RI. He was so pleased
with what he saw, that
he gave us the opportunity to perform a
season of live fairytale
musicals the following summer. The first
show only had half a
house, but the second show sold out! The
third and final show
was so packed, that the show was held for 20
minutes! The
following summer, Kaleidoscope was booked
into two more venues:
the South Shore Music Circus in Cohasset, MA
and the Oakdale
Theatre in Wallingford, CT. As summers
passed, Kaleidoscope
gained more and more new venues, and wrote
more and more new
shows, all written by our Executive
Director, David G. Payton.
Prior to this, in 1978, Kaleidoscope Theatre
toured educational
shows to elementary and middle schools
throughout the New England
area. One of our first school-touring shows,
“I’m Special – You’re
Special,” is perhaps the company’s greatest
success story. This
show is about the inclusion (mainstreaming)
of a boy with Down
Syndrome into a regular school. The show was
so well received
by its audiences, that Kaleidoscope Theatre
partnered with the ARC
(Association of Retarded Citizens)
nationally to tour “I’m Special…”
to schools throughout the country from Maine
to Texas, and bring
the show to three national conventions, two
national congresses,
as well as an international Down Syndrome
conference in Jerusalem,
Israel. Kaleidoscope Theatre’s other
school-touring shows have
enjoyed much success as well, dealing with a
broad range of topics,
such as: drug dependence, drug
prevention/elimination issues, teen
pregnancy, autism, deafness, divorce,
bullying, physical handicaps,
and the environment. The environmental show,
“The Seababies,”
taught audiences to save today’s resources
for future generations,
and was performed at the White House in
1996.
In the early 1990’s, Kaleidoscope Theatre
began presenting
original dinner theatre murder mysteries as
fundraisers for the
Rhode Island Special Olympics. These events
were so successful,
that we began performing them at local
restaurants. To this day,
we still perform our dinner theatre murder
mysteries at restaurants
throughout New England and frequently are
invited to perform for
fundraisers, private parties, as well as at
casinos, conventions,
and corporate functions.
Over the past 28 years, Kaleidoscope Theatre
has received many
honors and awards, including most recently,
the title of Rhode
Island’s Best Children’s Theatre from RI
Monthly magazine. Other
awards we have received include a Rhode
Island Theatre Achievement
Award, a Rhode Island Jefferson Award, and
several awards from
the ARC, including a Community Service
Award, a Community Awareness
Award, a Service Accomplishment Award, and
the Lilian Miller award
for Outstanding Leadership by a Volunteer.
Today, Kaleidoscope Theatre continues to
bring its acclaimed
productions to theatres, parks, schools,
clubs, organizations,
restaurants, and private functions
throughout the Northeast. We
pride ourselves on being an inclusive
theatre company, consistently
working with actors with differing abilities
and handicaps in
order to perpetuate the message that we are
all special. In the
future, we hope to expand our outreach by
continuing to address
topics of concern and interest, because
nothing is more important
to us than pleasing you, the audience.
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4. KALEIDOSCOPE THEATRE’S AWARD-WINNING
SCHOOL-TOURING PROGRAM:
Kaleidoscope Theatre’s school-touring
program is underway for
the 2005-2006 school year! We have many
wonderful shows on tour
this year, which are all available for
booking now! Information
is available on our website at:
www.kaleidoscopetheatre.com/brochure2005.htm
This year, we are featuring a brand new show
that is already
generating much excitement! Supported in
part by the Rhode
Island State Council on the Arts, B.U.L.L.Y.
(Better Understanding
by Listening and Learning about You) helps
youngsters deal with
the ever-present and often dangerous issue
of bullying. This
show is a sensitive, participatory
presentation offering viable
solutions to difficult situations via peer
education. A cast of
middle and high school students performs in
this show to create
an atmosphere of peer teaching that has been
very successful for
us in the past. As entertaining as it is
educational, B.U.L.L.Y.
is sure to be a hit in your school!
Also available are:
I’M SPECIAL – YOU’RE SPECIAL: a show of
compassion and
understanding about a boy with special needs
who is included in
his brother and sister’s school.
BAD COMPANY: A soft-rock musical conveying a
drug-free message
using young performers and peer education to
explain the drugs
caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, marijuana,
cocaine, and crack.
Other shows are also available, such as “I’m
Special – You’re
Special, Too,” “Goldilocks,” and, “Little
Red Ridinghood.” To
read more about these and other shows,
please visit our online
brochure at the above website.
Remember, if you picked up a $100-off coupon
this summer at one
of our performances and would like to use
it, you must book a
show by October 15th!
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5. KALEIDOSCOPE THEATRE Q&A:
In this section, we will address questions
that you, our audience
members and our mailing list subscribers,
have about Kaleidoscope
Theatre. To ask us a question, just send us
an e-mail with “Q&A”
in the subject line, and your question may
be answered in the
next month’s newsletter!
This month, Donna writes:
I would love for my daughter (she is 5½)
to become involved
with theatre. She absolutely loves your
shows and I think
it would be great for her. How do we start
to become a part
of Kaleidoscope Theatre or any other kind of
theatre?
This is probably the most common question we
receive. Parents
are always eager to get their children
involved in extracurricular
activities, and theatre is the perfect
vehicle for a child to
flex his/her creative muscles while meeting
new friends and
having fun!
The best way for your child to get involved
in the theatre is,
simply put, to audition. Many parents think
that their child
will not be cast in a show because he/she
has no theatrical
experience, but it is important to remember
that most children
do not have a lot of theatrical experience!
Directors and
producers are constantly casting children in
their theatrical
debuts, and oftentimes these kids are the
ones with the most
talent! Keep an eye on the audition notices
in the newspaper
(there are usually several auditions this
time of year), and just
give it a try. The worst that can happen is
that your child will
gain the experience of going to an audition
and singing or dancing
or reading lines in front of other people.
You might also try
looking in the phone book and calling
children’s theatre companies
to see how you might get involved.
Kaleidoscope Theatre holds open auditions
every spring to prepare
for our summer tour. During the rest of the
year, auditions are
set up by appointment as needed.
We look for two things in an audition.
Primarily, we look for a
child’s ability to perform on stage. Does
he/she have the ability
to become another character and express that
character
appropriately and believably through
movement and voice? Many
(but not all) of the roles in our company
involve singing and
dancing. Therefore, we ask each person
auditioning to sing an
up-tempo song that they are familiar with,
either supplying their
own taped accompaniment without vocals or
singing a cappella
(without accompaniment). We also ask
children auditioning to
show us some movement, such as a cartwheel,
somersault, or other
gymnastic or dance ability. Once we have
determined a child’s
abilities, we then may ask them to read
something from one of
our scripts, or may teach them a song from
one of our shows.
The second, and most important thing that we
look for at an
audition is stage presence. We need to know
that a child is
ready to perform in front of thousands of
audience members with
confidence and poise. The ability to follow
directions is a
must, as is a sincere desire to be on stage.
If a child is not cast from an audition, it
does not mean that
that child will not be called upon again in
the future to come
in and audition for something specific
within his/her
appropriate range of age and ability.
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6. EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES:
In the near future, we will be listing two
job opportunities
within our theatrical organization. They are
the positions of
Grant Writer and Part-time Office Manager.
Full listings will
soon be available on our website. If either
of these positions
sounds like something you are qualified for
and interested in,
please contact us immediately for further
discussion.
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Well everybody, that’s all for the first
Kaleidoscope Theatre
newsletter! We look forward to informing you
of more shows and
other news in the October and future issues,
and are so grateful
for your continued support of our company!
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