Last night was Lyric’s Annual Meeting. The board members were all on stage with the set of “Picnic” as the backdrop. Bruce Merrill used his Comments from the President to summarize the successful season, highlight the “in the black” financial status, describe work that the board has accomplished this year, and comment on various committee endeavors. Each of the Board Vice Presidents gave their reports summarizing the year’s activities of their groups. The scholarship recipients were announced (see below). Then it was on to the voting on new board members where it was moved that the entire slate be accepted, as there were no additional nominations from the floor. The new board members are: Kathy Routh, Linwood Dyer, Lorna Endreson, Jennifer Miller, Sue Finch and Julia Littlefield. The by-laws change was similarly accepted.
The final agenda item was the presentation of the Volunteer of the Year and Lifetime Achievement awards. The first went to Kathy Routh for all her hard work with decorating and cleaning the theater while still finding time to appear on stage. The Lifetime Achievement award went to Louise Keezer for her outstanding costume work at the theater. This year alone she built costumes for every show including the spectacular ones for Beauty and the Beast, put together at least 140 costumes for Ragtime and raised nearly $7,000 through donations from other theaters for lending costumes and giving assistance. Both ladies were deserving of their recognition and will hopefully be able to take time out from their volunteer activities to use their season memberships and tickets to the annual auction. You’ll be able to read more about their accomplishments in next year’s program.
Five of the six Scholarship Award winners were present at the meeting to accept their awards. Erin Cole recently graduated Deering High School and will be attending Chicago College of Art at Roosevelt University this fall. Jessica Danielson will attend Northwestern University as a drama major with a possible communications minor. She graduated this spring from Cape Elizabeth. Matthew Farr graduated from South Portland High and will begin studying Music Education at USM Gorham in September. Jocelyn Gammon will be attending Muhlenberg College in Allentown PA. Courtney Cleftis is studying at Lawrence University in Wisconsin, where she is working towards a music degree in choral education. Not present was Juliana Partridge who will major in sociology at Spelman College in Atlanta, GA. The funds collected for Student and Senior Dress Rehearsal tickets contribute to these awards.

--Posted by Margaret Barrasso

Outgoing Lyric President Bruce Merrill
Bruce has served (so far) a total of 11 years on the board

Award winners Kathy Routh (Volunteer of the Year) and
Louise Keezer (Lifetime Achievement)

Lyric Scholarship winners
(Front row, left to right) Courtney Kleftis, Jocelyn Gammon
(Back row) erin Cole, Matthew Farr, Jessica Danielson

Lyric’s Annual Meeting will be held at the theater next Tuesday, June 20th at 7pm. Anyone is welcome to attend, but only those holding season memberships can vote. The meeting will include presentation of scholarship checks to the scholarship winners, voting on the slate of new board members, vote on a new by-law change and presentation of the Cedric Thomas Awards.
“The Cedi” awards, as they’re known at Lyric, are a much anticipated event as there are usually several worthy candidates every year. It was originally awarded 5 years ago to a single outstanding volunteer, Ellen LeFevre. Then in 2002 it was expanded to two categories – Volunteer of the Year and Lifetime Achievement. The awards are based on dedication and love of Lyric; the award winners must have the same passion and pride for Lyric as Cedric Thomas, one of Lyric’s founders and for whom the award is named.
Last June the winner for Volunteer of the Year was Mim Nappi and the Lifetime Achievement Award went to Lois Matthews. Previous Volunteer winners are: Eric Hannah, Margaret Barrasso and Frank Nappi. Previous Lifetime Achievement winners are: Blanche Mack, Laura Coffin and Ann Conley.
Stop by for the meeting and stay for refreshments in the lobby afterwards.

--Posted by Margaret Barrasso

It’s Labor Day already on Lyric’s stage – “Picnic” by William Inge opens a week from last night, so I visited the rehearsal to see how it’s going. Headshots of the actors for the lobby were on display for the actors to view and posters on hand for everyone to distribute. The set has mostly finish work remaining. Lights are running with a few adjustments left to do; props are in use and the artistic decoration has been started. All in all the show is in good shape, nearly ready for the dress rehearsal audience next Wednesday. Some of the actors were trying costume elements (such as aprons, hats, gloves and purses) to immerse them in their character. Most are wearing the shoes they’ll use in performances; one was working for the first time with a wig.
Before the rehearsal started sound cues were run and one of the dances reviewed. During the run-through, director Vince Knue was giving instructions for nuances to characters and everyone was told to ‘always drive the pace’ of the show. The remaining item to be added is costumes – next week will be the dress rehearsals.
Picnic is a “straight play”- something that Lyric Music Theater rarely stages. It runs for two weekends - June 15, 16, 17 and June 22, 23, 24 (Thursday-Saturday) – and tickets went on sale yesterday. It’s a small cast of eleven – compared to nearly fifty for just completed Ragtime – the perfect number for a summer picnic.

Picnic's Cast
Hal Carter - Chris Austin
Madge Owens - Kate Davis
Flo Owens - Denise Knue
Millie Owens - Genney Meyers
Helen Potts - Ellen LeFevre
Alan Benson - Chuck Waterman
Rosemary Sydney - Leslie Chadbourne
Howard Bevans - Mark Barrasso
Irma Kronkite - Betty Gravelle
Bomber Gutzel - Mike Lynch
Christine Schoenwalder - Candy Jamerson

-- Posted by Margaret Barrasso

Director Vince Knue and Stage Manager Doreen Caruthers watch
Kate Davis, Denise Knue and Genney Meyers

Drifter Hal Carter, played by Chris Austin, takes on work for Helen Potts, played by Ellen LeFevre

School teachers Rosemary and Irma chat (played by Leslie Chadbourne and Betty Gravelle)

Chuck Waterman plays Alan Benson, son of the town’s richest man

Rosemary and Howard (Leslie Chadbourne and Mark Barrasso)

Madge gets fitted for a dress by Flo, her mother (Kate Davis and Denise Knue)

Hal and Millie (Chris Austin and Genney Meyers)