June 22, 2005
Theater benefit colorful evening
Black and White Gala raises $60,000 for local playhouse
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
If you feed them, entertain them and provide an opportunity to dress to the nines, they will come.
For the seventh year in a row, the Black and White Gala has provided a glitzy night on the town for attendees while giving the Old Town Playhouse a funding boost. The annual event was held Saturday evening at the City Opera House, drawing 130 attendees in their black-tie-and-gowned best.
"It's just marvelous, unbelievable," said playhouse veteran Dan Goodearl, who greeted attendees at the door of the Opera House in top hat and tux.
The event's theme, "Phantom of the Opera House," also featured the City Opera House's very own phantom. This phantom, who shall remain nameless, skulked through the upper reaches of the venue during the evening with requisite cape, mask and red rose.
Terming the evening a success, George Beeby, executive director of the Old Town Playhouse, said the Black and White Gala is on target to gross $60,000, the figure reached last year. This quick infusion of funds matches in a few hours the profits that a major musical production brings the organization.
"[The Gala] is probably the equivalent of doing a Main Stage show, the income that we get from it in one night is the same," he said.
These Gala funds are crucial to Playhouse operation. Every year they purchase the extras that a bare-bones budget would not otherwise allow. In the past the money has been used to put in new chairs, lighting and sound equipment. The money also provides a cushion for emergencies, noted Tracey Towner, a longtime Playhouse volunteer and chair of the Gala for the past two years.
"Really, without the fund we wouldn't have any extra to continue to improve or to have any extra for emergencies, which we've had a few of those," said Towner, adding that Gala profits also help pay down Playhouse debt. "Seven years ago we found out about emergencies the hard way."
The first Black and White Gala was held in 1998 at a farm in Williamsburg. The unorthodox fund-raiser was needed after the Playhouse closed because the building did not meet fire-safety regulations. The funds raised that first year helped upgrade the facility to comply with code.
Since then, the Gala has been held at the Frog Pond Village in Interlochen and at the Milliken Auditorium. The venue was switched this year to the City Opera House in a last-minute change that had organizers scrambling. However, in a true show-must-go-on tradition, the Black and White Gala participants pulled it off.
They managed to shift from the tradition of a meal cooked by volunteers to a catered event at the drop of a hat. The change was necessary since the City Opera House kitchens are not yet completed. The Playhouse tapped Jeff Wiltse of 310 to provide the food. As they do every year, a cast of familiar Playhouse faces served the meal and beverages, cleaning up afterward.
"The wonderful thing about Playhouse volunteers is that they just roll up their sleeves and say, 'OK, we'll do this instead,'" Towner said. "It was one of those years that kept having things crop up."
The core of the evening at every Black and White Gala is the entertainment, which features the music, singing and dancing by Playhouse veterans. The entertainment coordinator Larry Avery bowed out this year after his house burned down, so Phil Murphy and Brian Dungjen stepped into co-chair the show.
"Every year we don't think we can beat our entertainment, which is a musical mix from different shows, but every year we do," Towner noted. "I saw the rehearsal probably five times and I could have sat through it for another five."