Audition Announcement

auditions@mightygoliath.com

Tweeters beware

Lots of cool things have been going on over the summer. Urinetown the Musical! is our new show. We are ramping up a lot of awesome new things. One of which is our new twitter handle, @mightygoliathAL.

If you're a twitter junkie like me, we'd love to see you there. We will be posting audition dates, photos, contests, and much much more over there so drop on by and say hi. Use the hashtag #MGPUrinetown to welcome Mighty Goliath to the 21st century!

Coming Soon: Auditions

Want to audition for Mighty Goliath's Production of Urinetown? 

Get ready to polish off your 36 bars of audition music. 

Work out your best material so you can tell us a funny joke. 

Stay tuned because audition details are dropping soon. 

Urinetown?!

Every year members of Mighty Goliath Productions anticipate our announcement of our next show. By the looks of it, people are really excited. 

But with a name like Urinetown, leaves some of us scratching our heads. Why Urinetown? 

So I did what any good blogger does, I asked the Director, Douglas F. Bailey II, why Urinetown? Also asked why he thought it was important for Mighty Goliath Productions to do it, and now that he is also our Board President, how does that play into his approach? 

Why not Urinetown??? Seriously though, I elected to pitch Urinetown to our board of directors for about a thousand and one reasons. My initial attraction to Urinetown was that it's my all time favorite musical, and in my opinion it is under produced by the community theater world. It is an in your face comedy with very serious undertones. When deconstructed to it's furthest degree, Urinetown is a musical about being responsible with our natural resources and not destroying our home and planet. Layer in a  love story, a greedy and corrupt organization, and two narrators who have no problem poking fun at themselves and the show, particularly the name of the show, and you've got a hilarious romp that leaves you thinking as you leave the auditorium. 

Another HUGE attraction to Urinetown is it's constant callback to other iconic musicals. Each musical number was modeled after a past show, from Hello Dolly! to West Side Story toFiddler on the Roof, there is something in show to get everyone's toes tapping. Finally, like all Mighty Goliath shows, Urinetown is family friendly and fun for all ages.

"Why do we go to the theatre?" Theatrical experiences are about entertaining the audience, but more over, I believe we as performers, directors, etc have a responsibility to use the power of theater for good. Mighty Goliath does that in raising funds for the performing arts of Avon Lake, but I think it is also important for our productions to have "take aways" for the audience. Last year's Seussical: the Musical was about inclusion and self worth; Urinetown  is about overcoming corrupt entities and working to preserve this beautiful rock that we live on. Urinetown is not Guys and Dolls or other Golden Age Musicals, but it is a funny, beautiful show with a wonderful message that can still pay homage to the great musicals that came before it. i think it's important to continue to expose people to the different types of productions that exist, while still keep the scope very specific to our organization.

Does being the board president change the way you approach the show? 

The much longer answer is that art should not be tampered with based on the expectations of position. I respect my colleagues on the board and on my production team enough to trust that they know my vision for Urinetown and Mighty Goliath Productions as a whole are similar. We're here to raise funds to keep the arts alive. In order to that, we need to produce a fantastic musical. Urinetown was on my list of shows to pitch to the board of directors as the returning Director long before I became President of the Board. This production, with the support of the many talents of Might Goliath is going to be something that our audiences have never seen before. And I think they're going to LOVE it.

Auditions will be announced soon so stay tuned. We'll be very excited to hear from you soon! 

Sam Sarvas

Sam Sarvas photo: acgercak

Sam Sarvas is a Mighty Goliath Productions alum with an ambitious goal. She will graduate high school this year with a college degree. For most of us this seems impossible, but Sam took a bite out of the impossible and will do just that. Lorain County Community College has a program that lets high school students attend college and also attend high school. This is different that the typical post-secondary education that has been around for many years. This is a full-time program called Lorain County Early College High School.

The program is open to students in Lorain County who is a first generation college student, but it also accepts a short list of open enrollment students. That open enrollment is how Sam was able to take advantage of this groundbreaking program. Because she is at Lorain County Community College she can participate in the choral program there and also take voice lessons.

Sam is also the recipient of the MGP scholarship last year. $350 doesn't seem like a lot in the large scheme of things, but Sam was really able to maximize the benefits of the scholarship. She used her scholarship to buy an iPad, which seems silly, but in the age of electronics, hauling around an iPad for class not only cuts down on the items she will need for classes, but allows her to be a more mobile student. Most classes have homework assigned online Sam used her laptop to stay connected at all times, but that large piece of hardware was hard to carry around. By using the iPad she can also download coursework, books, and even research papers while keeping the load she has to bear to a minimum. Next year when she attends Cleveland State University to finish her 4 year degree, she will have a leg up on all the other freshmen entering college, because we will enter with an Associates Degree. Sam has chosen Cleveland State so she can be close to home and participate in MGP for years to come.

Sam has been able to take what some consider a small scholarship and use it for big things. Good luck next year Sam.

If you would like to apply for the Mighty Goliath Productions scholarship, click here. Deadline for Submissions is May 1, 2015.

Free Money

Seussical the Musical Production Staff (2015)

In 1959, I am not sure our founding founders thought about making Avon Lake one of the best communities nationwide to get a superior music education. Fast forward 56 years and here we are. Still raising money for the Avon Lake Schools.

As a whole, music education holds a place near and dear to our hearts. Many of our actors and actresses, stage crew, set designers, orchestra members, and audience members had some form of formal training at some point growing up. Whether it was band once a day, marching band, or drama club. We all loved our time in our school organizations.

Avon Lake is now one of 5 local communities honored with the distinction from North American Music Merchants as being one of 388 communities nationwide as being one of the best communities for music education. There are members of our board that went through the Avon Lake School system and would agree wholeheartedly that this is the case. There are those that participate in MGP that have never seen a school do so much for music education. Avon Lake residents should be proud to have such a great program in their city.

Music education isn't about playing an instrument. Music is a gateway to learning. Studies show that increases music education leads to better math grades, science grades, and opens students up to better critical thinking.

Mighty Goliath Productions wants to continue to support anyone who wants to further their music education into college. As per tradition MGP will award one small scholarship of $350.00 to a student this Spring. The requirements are simple; you must be enrolled (or enrolled for the Fall) in a two or four year college and have at least 3 years of musical theater experience. If you are interested in Applying all you have to do is click here. Once you've filled out the application, email it to our Board President, Doug Bailey ( douglasfbaileyii [at] gmail [dot] com ). Deadline for applications is May 1, 2015.

Striking the Set

photo c/o Samatha Sarvas

 Seussical the Musical has closed. The last day of February 2015 marked the last show for MGP's production and the agonizing process of tearing down the set that everyone worked so hard to build. The cast gathered on stage and took down the set, stored the costumes and all began speculating on next year's show.

It's always sad to wrap up a show. You pour your heart and soul into it from November til now, and the 5 shows you perform go so quickly. It always feels like there should be another show, another week, another month. 

But that's the fun of wrapping the show. The board meets soon, the new members of the board are brought up to speed and outgoing board members move onto taking a bit of a break. There they will start the process of closing the books on the show and work begins almost immediately on the next show. 

Stay tuned because we have a lot of ideas for things on the blog. It is going to be exciting. Thanks you for supporting the arts in Avon Lake, and that you for being amazing.