Save the Date!

Do It For the Kids – 5 K Run & Kids Fun Run

Wednesday April 25, 2012

River Common, Wilkes-Barre

Walk-A-Thon

Saturday April 28, 2012

WVCA, Forty Fort

In attendance at the annual event were, Carole Fischer, P G & W, Sharon Harry, Wyoming Valley Children’s Association, Nina Dei Tos (Domestic Violence Service Center, Debbie Peters, Incol, Jolene Miraglia, Domestic Violence Service Center, John Kebles, Real Solutions Program Manager PCUA, Debbie Mozal, NMH, Karen Finnegan, Choice One, Tom Smith, Choice One, Ken Burke, Valley Pride, Bob Aleszcyk, Corner Post, Bill Jones Volunteers of America, Melanie Draus, Wyoming Valley Drug & Alcohol, Janelle Kasczmerek, Tobyhanna, Dan Chipego, Cross Valley, and Thomas Gibbon ,Geisinger Health System.

When Rose Marie Wright first read Nahar’s story, her husband, Robert Anderson, had not fully cast his play “The Cat, the Sun, and the Mirror.”

Wright encouraged her husband to take notice of Nahar’s promising credentials. Soon, Nahar will have another theater credit on his resume and the Wyoming Valley will be able to see him — and a host of the area’s best talents — act in a benefit performance of Anderson’s play.

It will be staged July 16 at Canteen 900 in Forty Fort: the place largely responsible for allowing Anderson’s vision to be realized.

Anderson, 65, spent many years as a successful playwright in New Bedford, Mass., while allowing his affinity for eclectic and experimental theater to flourish. In 1995, he founded Teatro Gumbo Limbo, a production company whose members went on to perform many of his plays and satires. He also founded a giant puppet troupe in New Bedford with Vinny Lovegrove called Miracle Fish Puppet Theater.

Together, Lovegrove and Anderson created the play “Manjiro: An Oddysey.”

Using live performers and shadow puppets, the play told the story of Manjiro Nakahama , the first Japanese citizen to live, work, and study in the United States.

It was his collaboration with Lovegrove, and their shared interest in Japanese history, that would lead to the birth of “The Cat, the Sun, and the Mirror,” which is based on a Japanese myth that recounts the disappearance of the sun.

“Vinny wanted to do a sort of kiddie play,” Anderson recalls, “and my vision encompassed all ages. We ended up taking our different versions and parting ways. This play is based on the Shinto legend of Amaterasu, the sun goddess who shuts herself away until a mirror draws her back out.”

To update the tale, however, Anderson imbues it with a dose of American mythology. “What is the great American mythos,” Anderson posits, “but the Private I[nvestigator] story.”

In Anderson’s play, the Private I just happens to be a cat.

“The Cat, the Sun, and the Mirror” was performed for the first time by the New York State Theatre Institute during their 2005-2006 season on the campus of Russell Sage College in Troy, N.Y.

“My wife, Rose, and I spent a lot of time in New York as well as Massachusetts. We met in New York City when she was a ballet dancer with Twyla Tharp . Rose is originally from West Wyoming; we moved back here in April 2010 to be near Rose’s mother, and that November she passed away.”

From sorrow, however, arose unique artistic opportunities for Anderson.

“We first went to the Canteen 900 to meet with the lawyer handling Rose’s mom’s estate,” Anderson explains.

Anderson and Wright came to realize that the Forty Fort restaurant was a gathering place for area art enthusiasts.

Soon, the couple started a tradition of breakfasting at the big red-bricked building on Rutter Avenue every Friday where they struck up acquaintances with talented neighbors including Naomi Hatsfelt Baker, assistant professor of theater at Wilkes University.

“One day I was talking about my playwriting background and Robert Koral, the owner of the building, suggested we perform something there.”

Anderson seized the opportunity to perform “The Cat, the Sun, and the Mirror” again, this time with Baker directing.

“The first time the play was performed, with NYSTI, it was almost like an opera because everything was sung,” Anderson says. He calls the performance that will take place next Saturday a “play with music,” with the music being provided by Charles Davis of the band The Ends of the Earth .

Baker, however, chooses to elaborate a bit on Anderson’s description.

“All of the dialogue is in rhyme, which is charming,” she says, “It’s like a film-noir-hip-hop Dr. Suess .”

Both Baker and Anderson agree that the show offers something for audiences of all ages, which is evident in its diverse cast and crew culled from the area.

Nahar will play the spiritual guru Old Dog.

“When Rob first asked me to do the part, I thought maybe he only wanted me because I was in the paper. But playing the role of a guru is something I have really connected with, and I hope I can live up to his vision,” Nahar said.

Nahar will be joined by an array of talented area youths.

Lacey Willis, a theatre and communication studies major at Wilkes, serves as stage manager. She will also be designing costumes and props for the first time.

“Our age range is pretty wide,” Baker explains.

“We have a few children between 7 and 12, two teenagers, some twenty-somethings, Raj (Nahar), and Robert, who will be narrating.”

The actors’ experiences, it seems, are as assorted as their ages.

Members of the ensemble have been recruited from the Wyoming Area Drama Club and even the office of Anderson’s chiropractor.

Matt Hinton, 28, a founding board member of Gaslight Theatre Co., Wilkes-Barre, will play three roles.

Hinton, whose production credits include “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “The Tempest” is not afraid to depart from his traditional roots to perform Anderson’s more experimental work.

“Plays are just that — opportunities for actors to play, and you take every opportunity you get.”

Even though every cast member cannot lay claim to Hinton’s vast experiences, they seem to share his enthusiasm.

“For some of the kids, this is their very first performance. But we have a good mix. The kids provide an energy that invigorates the adults, and the adults serve as models for how the kids should behave during rehearsals,” Baker says.

While the cast runs through lines at Wilkes University’s Henry Student Center, Baker’s words ring true.

Everyone — from the tiniest girl with ribbons in her hair, to Hinton — offers Baker their rapt attention as she doles out notes on their performances.

No matter how whimsical the play might be, the actors maintain a certain degree of seriousness as the performance date draws near.

Baker explains, “From auditions to the time we go on stage, we’ll have had about a month to put this together. Most of us did not know each other going into this project, which has presented its own challenges, but we’re excited to perform.”

Not only will the cast and crew be sharing their talents with the community on July 16, but they will be making a contribution to one of the area’s most respected non-profits: all ticket sales will benefit the Wyoming Valley Children’s Association, which serves pre-school children with special needs.

“The space at Canteen 900 has very generously been given to us for free by Abby Singh, the owner of Canteen 900,” Anderson says, “which means that all of our proceeds really will go to the organization.”

While both Anderson and Baker were interested in staging a benefit performance, it took a great deal of soul-searching to decide on an organization to support.

“We thought of a lot of possibilities — tsunami relief in Japan, tornado relief, flood relief. But we eventually realized that you don’t need to go far away to help someone: there are people who need help in your own backyard,” Baker says.

Thankfully though, for those who consider the Wyoming Valley their backyard, there will always be many talented artists willing to pitch in and help their neighbors.

Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs is partnering with WVCA to offer a thrilling and exciting night out at the races!  The Downs is your place for down-to-the wire action for live harness racing and is one of the premier harness racing venues in the country.  

Joining Mohegan Sun as major sponsors of the event is Lamar Advertising, Fox 56 WOLF TV and The Times Leader. 

Come out to the track on the 23^rd and help support WVCA.  A portion of all wagers on live racing placed that night will benefit WVCA.  Tickets are available for two reserved seating options.  Ballroom Reserved Seating tickets can be purchased for $50 per person and include a fantastic buffet dinner with choice of two alcoholic beverages.  Patio Reserved Seating tickets cost $10 per person and includes an alcoholic drink ticket and food ticket. Doors open at 5:30, pre-race show begins at 6:00 and post-time is at 6:30.  Live entertainment on the patio will be provided Kriki. 

Corporate and individual race sponsorships are available for $1000 each.  A Race Sponsorship includes a personalized named race, a full page advertisement in the night’s race program, a table of 10 in the Ballroom Reserved Seating area with complimentary dinner, two electronic written messages and/or company logo on the Jumbo Board at the race track, a free promo and/or interview with Mohegan Sun Marketing Staff aired live during the sponsored race and an opportunity for a photo with the winning horse in the Winner’s Circle for 8 to 10 people. For more information on sponsorships, contact Lori Kozelsky, WVCA Special Events Coordinator at lkozelsky@wvcakids.org. 

Tickets for Win Place Show are now on sale and can be purchased online at http://wvca.ticketleap.com/win-place-show/ or can be ordered by calling WVCA 570-714-1246.  More event information can be found out WVCA’s website, www.wvcakids.org.

An upcoming Chorus Summer Concert is planned for 8 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 21 at the Irem Temple Country Club in Dallas. The Harmony Society meets Mondays at 7 p.m. at Wesley Village in Pittston.

For more information, call 696-3385 or 287-2476.

Front row: Gavyn Daley, Celeb Hoffman, Morgan Drauchak, Miguel Baluena, Caitrin Perry, Jesus Velasquez, Kody Olejnik.

Most Pledges Raised Youth

Sofie Barlik

Most Pledges Raised Team

Cork Restaurant

Most Pledges Raised Individual

Alicia Magda

2011 Walk-a-thon Spirit Award

Wyoming Valley West High School Student Council

2011 Walk-a-thon Corporate Spirit Award

JP Boden