Pictures and Grants

The cast of the Sugar Creek Players' production of To Kill a Mockingbird is coming together and our rehearsals are getting better with each passing evening. On Sunday, we came together for our usual cast meeting — though missing a few spring breakers — and worked through the entire play for only the second time. There were a few bumps here and there, but our actors have worked hard to learn their lines and blocking, and it looked really good last night.

Great news: Our production was selected as a grant winner by the Montgomery County Community Foundation! The MCCF is celebrating 20 years of grant-making and is doing so by drawing at random 20 grants each worth $1000 in the 20 weeks leading up to the anniversary of the founding.

Our production of Mockingbird was selected on March 28. Our hope was to use grant money to purchase tickets for students at the local middle and high schools who are studying Harper Lee's book. We didn't want ticket prices to get in the way of an important learning opportunity for those students, and so we wrote a grant application with hopes of being drawn.

Cheryl Keim, the MCCF director of development, called last week to tell us we had been selected, and on Wednesday she surprised the cast by showing up with a check for $1000. Not only that, but Cheryl made a few phone calls to other local agencies, and we've now received four grants totaling $1800 for our educational outreach efforts. Big thanks to the Republican Women of Montgomery County for a $500 grant; the Delta Theta Tau sorority for a $200 donation; and the Women's Auxiliary of the American Legion for their $100 grant.

We love this play, this story, and all that it stands for. We're excited that so many local people have shared our vision and our desire to bring students into our theater to experience the story on stage.

Finally, Steve Charles of Wabash College dropped by last night and took photos of our rehearsal. Steve will be back to take "official" photos once we're in dress rehearsals, but he shared a few of his better shots with us. Many, many thanks, Steve!

Mockingbird Rehearsal Photo Album 1

Mockingbird Rehearsal Photo Album 2

Mockingbird Rehearsal Photo Album 3

Mockingbird Rehearsal Photo Album 4