Legends Rehearsal Starts in ONE WEEK

You read that correctly. Rehearsals for Matawan Legends 2010 start next week! Come one, come all. ALL Matawan Theater Alumni are invited to participate - even those that just became alumni on Monday. ;) You don't even have to be signed up for numbers yet - we'll take care of it.

Here's the schedule:

Tuesday, June 29, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Thursday, July 1, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Wednesday, July 7, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Friday, July 9, 6:00 PM - 10:00 PM (Dress Rehearsal)

Saturday, July 10, 5:00 PM - 11:00 PM (Final stage time & show at 8:00 PM)

*All at MRHS Anne Hannah Auditorium

PLEASE come out and join us. Truly, everyone is welcome. Legends was a blast last year, and we want to make it even more awesome this year.

If you have any questions, email us at legends@matawantheateralumni.org. Otherwise, we'll see you on Tuesday!

The Performing Arts Picnic Returns

Celebrate another great year for Matawan Performing Arts
* Dance * Theater * Chorus * Band *

Food & Fun all afternoon!

Games & activities, with prizes including tickets to Legends!
Arts & crafts for kids - bring the family!

Suggested Donation $5, Or contact us about bringing something.

Alums, Teachers, Families, & Other Adults - If you're willing to talk to students about jobs, internships, colleges, etc., please let us know!

Students, Recent Alums, & Other Curious People - We want to make this as useful as it is fun. If there's a college, theater, profession, major, anything at all, that you want to find out more about, let us know and we'll try to find an alum for you to talk to!

Here's Tony!

The Tony Awards are this Sunday night!! (CBS 8pm) Are you excited?

You know, growing up in Central Jersey, we were pretty lucky. I mean, let's face it - we were in Broadway's back yard! I can remember at least one trip to The City every year of middle school and high school to see a show. For us, it was standard, even expected. The subways, the TKTS booth, rush tickets, lines, waiting at the stage door... all rather common place.

But there are people all over the country and the world that will never take a trip to New York City, let alone see a Broadway show. But that doesn't stop them from loving the theater.

The Tony Awards broadcast is the only nationally televised celebration of the theatre community.

Think about that for a second. Until I read that earlier this week, it had never crossed my mind. In some ways, it's amazing that we have a national broadcast that celebrates theatre. But in another way, it's sad that there aren't more. The Tonys bring Broadway into the homes and lives of people who would never experience it otherwise, here in the US and in over 45 countries around the world. They can picture themselves in a darkening theatre waiting for the curtain to rise, see the very best that Broadway has to offer, and share the rush of the performance without ever leaving home.

So, celebrate this Sunday night. Celebrate the winners, the nominees, and the theatre community.

Memorial Day

On a day that fills our social consciousness with sales and BBQs, we'd like to remind you to take a moment for remembrance of our fallen heroes, both from the Matawan Theater community and all over the country. They gave their lives for our country and our freedom.

A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.
— Joseph Campbell

Thank you.

Team MTAA Wins at the AIDS Walk

Top: Dan, Sam, Amy, Sue, Matt; Bottom: Emma, Mel, Steph, Stef, Kate

The AIDS Walk was a WIN. Team MTAA had 10 walkers who each completed the 10K walk this past Sunday. We're grateful for excellent weather, as well as for all of you who donated to our team. Donations are still trickling in, and to date, we have raised over $2,100 to help the battle against AIDS. Congratulations Team MTAA!!!

So far, AIDS Walk NY 2010 has raised over 5.7 MILLION dollars. Over 3000 teams registered (Team MTAA was in the top 10% in fundraising), and 45,000 walkers were present on Sunday.

Donations will be accepted through June 4th. To donate, please visit our team fundraising page.

To see the live tweets from the AIDS Walk, search #teamMTAA on twitter for updates, locations, musings, and photos. And there are some video blogs from the walk in the works.

Again, a huge "thank you" to everyone who supported us on the Walk, and an even huger "congratulations" to the Walk participants.

And stay tuned - a June MTAA event will be announced soon!

2010-11 School Budget Results

The 2010-2011 School Budget in Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District was defeated by 544 votes.

Yes Votes = 1,645
No Votes = 2,189
Total Votes = 3,834

The following individuals have been elected to the Board of Education:
Aberdeen:
Patricia Demarest
Dr. John Delaney (Incumbent)

Matawan:
Anissa Esposito

This Week at MTAA

So, we haven't used the blog in a while, but don't worry. The MTAA Board has been super-busy, and this next week is even busier and packed full of things you should be aware of. So, here's the run down for the next week (and then some).

Tuesday, April 20

School Board Elections in Matawan! Please remember to go out and vote. Whoever you vote for, please consider voting to pass the budget. Matawan is already struggling with budget cuts for the remainder of this school year. If the budget doesn't pass, there will be ever more cuts in the district, and the kids miss out. You can read over the proposed budget here on the MARSD website.

Thursday, April 22

Scene proposals are due for the second annual Matawan Legends! Remember, even if you don't want to propose a scene, you can sign up now to be a part of Legends 2010. For more, go here.

Friday, April 23

Scholarship applications are due for the MTAA Theater Service Award and the MTAA Memorial Music Award ($500 each!). That's right, one thousand dollars in scholarship money. For information and applications, check this link.

Monday, April 26

The next MARSD board meeting, scheduled to take place at One Crest Way at 8:00pm. This will be the first meeting after the School Board Elections. If you are able, please attend and help us to support arts in the schools. Remember, we know that cuts have to happen, and we're not asking that the arts be spared. Only that the cuts are spread evenly across all programs, so no one area is targeted. For more information on the meeting, visit MARSD.org.

Looking Ahead:

The MTAA is taking part in the 25th Annual New York AIDS Walk in memory of Anthony DiVizia and all other Huskies affected by AIDS. Please consider joining out AIDS Walk Team (you do not have to be able to attend the event!!) or donating to the team. So far, we've raised almost $800. The registration deadline is May 5th at noon, and the AIDS Walk itself is Sunday May 16th. For AIDS Walk information, check our AIDS Walk FAQ, or visit our fundraising team page to donate.

That's it for now, folks. Hopefully, weekly updates will become regular on the blog. For the most up to date information, make sure that you're on the MTAA mailing list, and be sure to join the new MTAA forums.

Until next time,

Sue

NEEDED: YOU!!!!

The MTAA needs YOUR help to protect The Arts in Matawan

The Situation:
As you may or may not have heard, recent cuts in school funding by the state have left Matawan looking for ways to trim one million dollars from this year's budget. Though nothing is certain yet, the arts are in a position to be extremely hard hit as the district struggles to find a way to deal with this loss in aid. Already the theater and arts programs are feeling the squeeze and may not be able to cover their costs for the year.

What MTAA is doing:
MTAA is rushing to the aid of the arts program by trying to help fill gaps in the budget and acting as an advocate for all of the programs. We are working with several other groups in and out of the district to maximize our effectiveness. No art exists in a vacuum and we must work together to stay strong through this struggle. We have set up an emergency fund raising campaign on our website and have added a new section about becoming an arts advocate.

What YOU can do:
Check out the newest section of our website - Give Back - for information on our emergency fund raising campaign and to find out how to become an advocate for arts education. The pages of this new portion will be changing constantly over the next few days & weeks, so please - keep checking it for new information! There are already three things listed there that you can do right now to help the theater, and all the arts, in Matawan:
1. Donate - use our Paypal button, or play with our new sponsorship catalog to choose something to donate to the theater.
2. Come to the Board of Education meeting at 8pm Monday February 22 in the high school cafeteria and hear how they plan to deal with these cuts.
3. Participate in our letter writing campaign as we collect letters from throughout the community to show the support the arts have in Matawan.

There will be difficult times ahead as the schools deal with the loss in aid, and the additional projected cuts for next year. With your help we can make sure that the theater and the arts in Matawan are not forced to shoulder more than their fair share of this terrible burden.

If you have any questions at all about what is happening, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us. We look forward to working with you to keep the arts alive in Matawan.

MTAA Vlog 2

MTAA Vlog 1