BROADWAY INSPIRATIONS CABARET INFO

 

A theatrical production that is the first of its kind!

This upcoming weekend, August 28-30, tune in to Facebook for scheduled premieres of a brand-new digital cabaret called “Broadway Inspirations: Lessons for Living in a Covid-19 World.” This 2-act show, complete with intermission to feel just like a live production, involves over 75 participants who have performed with over a dozen local Northwest Ohio community theatres—and it is over 4 months in the making.

This themed concert production responds artistically to our current pandemic, and we address topics like hope, connection, service, and celebration! With just over 25 medleys featuring snippets from 60+ musical theatre songs spanning 40+ musicals, this giant Toledo-area community theatre collaborative cabaret is the first of its kind!

Back in April, when it became unfortunately clear that live indoor theatre would not be occurring for a while, actors and musicians from all over the area were suddenly in an extended intermission. Five of those shows halted in various stages of production included major musicals from 3B Productions, Cutting Edge Theatre Company, Oregon Community Theatre, The Toledo Repertoire Theatre, and Waterville Playshop. Hundreds of actors, crew members, and musicians found themselves craving an artistic outlet. In fact, we are all striving for inspiration, community, and hope—and in a world craving connection, live theatre can’t be beat!

To answer this call, one of those suddenly halted theatre participants, Matt Zwyer, joined forces with directors, performers, or representatives from these 5 theatre groups to conceive and create this hopeful musical message. Then, along the way, performers and past participants from 9 other theatre groups jumped on board. This massive production (the first to include so many performers from different theatres under the same banner) became an undertaking perfectly suited for an August premiere, correlating to the beginning of a new school year: we ALL can learn from these Broadway-inspired lessons about living in a Covid-19 world.

So find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/WatervillePlayshop/ and attend this weekend’s show! Performances are Friday the 28th and Saturday the 29th at 8:00, and Sunday the 30th at 7:00. Show your support of the arts and each other! And enjoy a great production along the way. To keep communication as consistent as possible, all publicity and viewing can be found through Waterville Playshop’s Facebook page. Check there for the event invitation, informational posts, and actual premiere video events that weekend.

You can also check out the website here for a YouTube link to the production going live for a limited time Monday, August 31 through Thursday, September 3, in case you can’t make it “live” to one of the 3 scheduled Facebook productions.

**Please note that while Playshop is kindly hosting this event, it is not a show officially produced by Waterville or any of the theatres listed as participating. We just have current or past participants from all those organizations who wanted to lend their voices, and we in turn wanted to give a shout out to all those community theatres! We’re all in this together, right? Here’s to shows going on again very soon!

 

   

LINKS to BROADWAY INSPIRATIONS CABARET

This upcoming weekend, August 28-30, tune in to Facebook for scheduled premieres of a brand-new digital cabaret called “Broadway Inspirations: Lessons for Living in a Covid-19 World.” This 2-act show, complete with intermission to feel just like a live production, involves over 75 participants who have performed with over a dozen local Northwest Ohio community theatres—and it is over 4 months in the making.

Go to the Waterville Playshop Facebook page at and attend the premieres of this weekend’s show! Performances are Friday the 28th and Saturday the 29th at 8:00, and Sunday the 30th at 7:00. Show your support of the arts and each other! And enjoy a great production along the way. Check out the Facebook page for the event invitation, informational posts, and actual premiere video events this weekend.  The link to the Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/WatervillePlayshop/

You can also check out the website here for a YouTube link to the production going live for a limited time Monday, August 31 through Thursday, September 3, in case you can’t make it “live” to one of the 3 scheduled Facebook productions.

THE LINK: https://youtu.be/cmSXbgCRcBk

 

**Again, please note that while Playshop is kindly hosting this event, it is not a show officially produced by Waterville or any of the theatres listed as participating. We just have current or past participants from all those organizations who wanted to lend their voices, and we in turn wanted to give a shout out to all those community theatres! We’re all in this together, right? Here’s to shows going on again very soon!

 

 

Within the past several months, Playshop has lost 3 of its most enduring members.  Here is just a little of what they contributed to our organization.

 

 

JAN MACERA (passed April 16, 2020). Her only onstage appearance was in Little Me in 1971. After that she dedicated herself to selling Playshop through membership and advertising campaigns at which she was very successful. She was a page turner for many musicals and comedies. She served as secretary/treasurer for 19 years, longer than anyone else. She was awarded the Spirit Award in 1999.

 

GARY WAUGH (passed April 18, 2020). Gary’s activities within Playshop are legendary. From the first time he was clumping his rifle butt during the song, “Real Live Girl” in Little Me (1971) his name was constantly listed in many, many backstage activities: set design, set construction, light director, stage crew. He was also often working backstage and performing onstage. His deep bass voice was obvious everywhere in annual meeting programs, Christmas programs both local and on TV. He was one of the original members of Juke Box Saturday Night. He also served on the Board as Chair. He was also active in the Town Hall Theatre in Grand Rapids. He was awarded the Spirit Award in 2000.

 

ROY HEINZ (passed May 6, 2020). From the time he was a sailor in South Pacific in 1975, Roy became one of the dependable and talented character actors in Playshop history. Always ready with a quip, he had lead roles in Music Man (Marcellus), Pajama Game (Heinze), supporting roles in Brigadoon (1978), Fiddler on the Roof (1977), Annie Get Your Gun (1984), Kiss Me Kate (2009), 1940s Radio Hour (2002), Li’l Abner (1986) to name a few. He could be found caroling with Playshop during the season and during the TV series “Songs of the Season.” He was an original and popular member of Juke Box Saturday Night.

Scholarship Winners

 

ABBY FITCH: Abby has participated in several Playshop shows in the past including “Seussical the Musical” and “Wizard of Oz” in 2012, “The King and I” and “Oliver’ in 2014, “Aladdin Jr in 2015, “Elf Jr” and “High School Musical” in 2016. Abby appeared in three Playshop shows in 2017 which were “Fiddler on the Roof”, “Lion King Jr” and “Once Upon a Mattress”. Abby has also helped back stage as stage crew, co-stage manager and she has helped with set construction. Abby will continue her studies in the fall at Kent State as a sophomore where she will be pursuing a nursing degree. Abby has received scholastic awards for the last three years having achieved a GPA of 3.5 or higher. For these reasons, we feel Abby is deserving of a scholarship of $600 in memory of Gary Waugh.

 

WESTON MATLOW: Weston’s first appearance with Waterville Playshop was in “Aladdin Jr” in 2015 and he had the starring role of Buddy in “Elf Jr” in 2016. He also appeared in “High School Musical” that same year. Weston has received district and state recognition for band solo and ensemble events. He was also a state competition qualifier for BPA and DECA. He was awarded the opportunity to participate in the international DECA competition in Nashville, TN, but unfortunately, he was unable to attend due to the pandemic. Weston recently graduated from Bedford High School and plans on attending Western Michigan University in the fall. To help Weston with his college career, we want to award Weston a $600 scholarship in memory of Roy Heinz.

 

MAGGIE WEBBER: Maggie has also been in several Playshop shows including “Seussical the Musical” in 2012, “Wizard of Oz” in 2013 and “King and I” in 2014. Maggie’s extra-curricular focus moved in 2014 from theater to cheer competitions with Ohio Cheer Academy and Midwest Cheer Elite Toledo. Her cheer team has earned an invitation to compete at ESPN at Disney in Florida four times. Maggie has been very involved with her church for the last six years by helping with their children’s programs. Maggie recently graduated from Anthony Wayne High School and will be attending Bowling Green State University. She plans on majoring in Early Childhood Education. We are pleased to award Maggie a $600 scholarship in memory of Jan Macera.

 

 

 

Spirit Award Winner

 

TOM GRAY: Tom was nominated for the Waterville Playshop 2020 Spirit Award due to his backstage contributions for many years. Even though most of the accolades go to the actors and musicians, we could not do our shows without our backstage crew. Although Tom has runs lights for many of our shows, we feel his expertise is in running the sound board. He is responsible for setting up the microphones for the actors and also setting up and playing the sound effects. He has even added his own squawking sounds free of charge. Tom helps with tearing down all of the equipment and has helped with set deconstruction. We rely heavily on Tom for making us sound good. Congratulations on this award.

 

 

Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

 

KRIS FREDERICKSON: Since 1992, Kris has had a busy career with Waterville Playshop. She’s appeared in 21 shows, and had a lead in several of these shows. She played Hattie in “Kiss Me Kate” in 1994, Mrs. Paroo in “Music Man” in 1999 and 2010, Agnes Gooch in “Mame” in 2007 and Ida in “70 Girls 70” in 2011. She also performed in the Christmas Concerts that were held in 2012, 2014 and 2017. Kris has also benefitted Playshop with her special art contributions. She created a massive town square set that covered the entire AWHS stage for “Music Man” and it also included a small beautiful flower for the town square. She finished the set during dress rehearsal. For her special art work, Kris has received two Mad Tony Awards, One was for the 1993-94 season and the other for the 1994-95 season. Most recently Kris did some specialty art work for “Spamalot” in 2018 and “Addams Family” in 2019. For her work both onstage and offstage, Kris received the Spirit Award in 2011. Since Kris has now continued to contribute for over 27 years, we feel she is deserving of the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award.

Honoring our Outstanding Playshoppers, past and present!

Scholarship, Spirit Award, and Lifetime Achievement Award Winners…

As we look forward to a new theatrical season about to begin, we want to take an opportunity to celebrate some well-deserving members of Waterville Playshop from the recently closed 2019-2020 artistic year (and years past).  With the COVID-19 pandemic, Waterville Playshop was one of many area theaters to undergo a topsy-turvy season.  But even with the theatre temporarily empty, creative work continues backstage and online; and we want to thank all those who continue to work for and support Waterville Playshop and its mission.  One of those ways we can say thank you is by continuing our tradition of Spirit and Lifetime Achievement Awards.

We also wanted to offer the annual Playshop scholarship, and this year that also means honoring Playshop members who have participated for the last 50 years.  Sadly, in the midst of the spring health pandemonium, we as an organization also lost three of our long-time, avid members; truly, they are titans of this theatrical troupe, and we will dearly miss them.  In April, we said goodbye to Jan Macera and Gary Waugh.  And in May, Roy Heinz left us.  Since they all individually gave so much to Playshop (please see their bios on our website), there was no question that the board needed to do something to honor their legacies.  The answer quickly became the 2020 Heinz, Macera, and Waugh Scholarships.

As fate would have it, Playshop had 3 stellar young candidates apply for our annual scholarship.  And through donations made specifically in memory of Roy, Jan, and Gary, the board was able to offer each of those scholarship recipients $600 toward their college programs.  And with our award and scholarship winners chosen, it was time to celebrate as best we could!

About two months ago, back on June 28, the Playshop board hosted a small, socially-distanced gathering to honor these scholarship and Spirit and Lifetime Achievement Award winners.  We met at the Playshop building on Michigan Avenue Sunday afternoon for a brief 2-part ceremony, ensuring that we could meet safely while still celebrating those individuals.  At 4:00, the scholarship winners and their families arrived to be greeted by representatives of those being memorialized.   And at 4:30, our Spirit Award and Lifetime Achievement Award winners arrived for their accolades.  Our current Chair, Marsha Cochran, served as Master of Ceremonies.

Our Scholarship winners include Abby Fitch, Weston Matlow, and Maggie Webber.  Congratulations to them all!  Abby received the Gary Waugh Memorial Scholarship (presented by his wife, Diana—picture 1).  A graduate of Anthony Wayne, Abby has been in a dozen shows thus far with Playshop, and she is beginning her sophomore year studying nursing at Kent State.  Weston received the Roy Heinz Memorial Scholarship (presented by board member Shauna Newbold—picture 2), having participated in a handful of Playshop productions in addition to shows with several other organizations.  A Bedford graduate, Weston will be attending Western Michigan University this fall.  And Maggie received the Jan Macera Memorial Scholarship (presented by her husband, Sam—picture 3).  Maggie has been in a few Playshop shows, most of those before she turned her performing focus to cheerleading competitions with multiple cheer organizations.  She recently graduated from Anthony Wayne and is attending Bowling Green this fall to study Early Childhood Education.

The 2020 Spirit Award winner is Tom Gray, and our 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award Winner is Kris Frederickson (presented by board chair Marsha Cochran—picture 4).  In recognition of these honors, the winners each received unique glass art sculptures from local artist, Baker O’Brien.  Tom has been a consistent fixture of Playshop productions over the last decade plus, usually found behind the light and sound boards. And Kris has been an active member for 28 years, participating in a variety of roles.  Most often, she is onstage or providing her gorgeous, specialty art work for sets and props.  Again, congratulations to all of this years’ recipients!  For full biographies of these individuals, please see our website at www.watervilleplayshop.org.  Thanks to everyone for your continued support, and here’s to the upcoming 2020-2021 season!