| 
Lori Roming (left) hands
a check to Belfast Maskers board President John Bielenburg and
Lilias Outerbridge.
Photo by Pat Moss
|
Thanks to the generosity of the Unity Foundation,
the Belfast Maskers can confidently move ahead with their summer
production of “Oliver!”, scheduled to open in Steamboat
Landing Park on July 24th.
In the fall of 2006, Maskers president Lilias Outerbridge and
Artistic Director Aynne Ames approached Larry Sterrs, Chairman
of the Board of Unity Foundation, with a proposal that would enable
the theater company to stage an ambitious theatrical production
out-of-doors. The project would be expensive and carried many
risks, one of which, of course, was the weather itself. How could
this small group manage the many aspects of successful theater
in a space not easily accessible by vehicle, not near the home-base
theater with its costumes & set pieces, all in an area with
no running water and minimal electricity? The Unity Foundation
gave the Maskers $10,000 for the production, with the understanding
that such a summer event would probably take three years to become
established and would need further support.
The resulting 2007 production of “A Midsummer Night’s
Dream” in Steamboat Landing Park, with traditional and original
music, was labeled “a magical evening” by audience
members. With the boats in the harbor, the sun setting and the
moon rising, sometimes fog and sometimes a rainbow, with Oberon
high up on the scaffolding singing to the skies while his fairy
troupe danced on the grass below, “magical” was an
apt label.
Unity Foundation agreed to sponsor the 2008 production of “Carousel”,
and Maskers produced another magical event, and one with bigger
audiences. And now for the third time, Unity Foundation has given
the Maskers $10,000 to mount their third out-of-doors production.
“Oliver!” promises to be just as good as the former
shows, but this time will have a cast of about 60, most of whom
are children ranging in age from 3 years through the teens. Without
the help of the Unity Foundation, this emerging tradition would
never have begun. |
