SENIOR NEWS EDITOR / THE DAILY IBERIAN
There is a treat for the community behind each curtain at Essanee Theater.
When the lights dim and the curtain opens revealing the set, actors and actresses, the audience is assured of feeling some suspense, getting funny bones tickled or a heart strings tugged, and generally being satisfied with a quality performance from the most talented cast members in the Teche Area. The Iberia Performing Arts League’s reputation has grown in stature as people from all walks of life here appreciate the fine arts.
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IPAL, a nonprofit group, is reaching out to those hundreds and more, to renew memberships and buy season tickets for 2009-10, which promises to be just as exciting over there on the 100 block of Iberia Street. Scheduled plays include “Moon Over Buffalo,” “The Importance of being Uncle Roscoe,” “Guys and Dolls” and “The New Kid on the Block.”
Robin Bull, IPAL treasurer, said she has received more than 70 renewed memberships and new memberships since the campaign began recently. There were about 300 IPAL members in 2008-09 and the goal is to attract 400-500.
“With membership, we can do so much more and buy so much more equipment. It costs so much just to run the building. There are always improvements to be done,” Bull said this week in The Daily Iberian.
For example, ISA president Todd LeMaire said IPAL wants to buy new microphones and finish the wall that separates the stage from the audience.
Contributors are recognized as official members in the plays’ programs with a donation of $25 or more. A $7 donation gets you an IPAL newsletter.
Season tickets are $40. There were 70 season ticketholders last year, said Bull, who noted season ticketholders save on the total cost because each play is $10 and each musical is $15, or $20 at the door.
Bull and others on the IPAL board are hoping to increase the number of season ticketholders. It behooves residents to get season tickets as the musicals “sell out all the time, so some people miss out,” she said.
Bull urged people interested in getting a season ticket to do so before Aug. 21 in order to get it in time for the first play of the season — “Moon over Buffalo.”
Take it from me, an erstwhile IPAL actor with two plays to his credit, and an impressed audience member who has been thoroughly entertained each time in the theater, supporting the arts like IPAL is a win-win situation for all. This community is better for the veterans and newcomers who drive the group each year.
DON SHOOPMAN
SENIOR NEWS EDITOR
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