After Five Kiwanians scare up funding

Scott Smith — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 14:05:00 GMT

CHILDREN'S THEATRE TO BENEFIT FROM $600 DONATION

Published January 7, 2011 in The Daily Reporter
http://www.spencerdailyreporter.com/story/1693250.html

SPENCER, IOWA—As actors go, they were somewhat stiff. But what can you expect from a bunch of corpses?

As it turned out, the surprising curtain call generated a lots of laughs and culminated in a $600 donation.

The scene as set, took place during the final performance of Spencer Community Theatre's holiday production of "Arsenic and Old Lace."

Members of Spencer's After Five Kiwanis Club donned makeup and costumes, and played the roles of the dozen corpses buried in the Brewster sisters' basement. During the final curtain call, they emerged on stage from the basement and took their bows before an unsuspecting audience. Spokesman for the grisly group, Kevin Tlam, presented SCT with a $600 donation to support Children's Theatre programming.

Connie Goeken, SCT executive director, explained that SCT had been hoping to convince a community group to take part in the play as "corpses." Other theatres had done it as a fundraiser or just a fun add-on to the show.
"I happened to be giving a program for their group and suggested it to them. They had a board meeting that same night and made the decision to go ahead with it," Goeken said.

Another aspect of the "celebrity corpse" performance was to give people the experience of being involved in a production without the lengthy rehearsal and performance schedule.

"This was a great way to share a small part of the community theatre experience -- costume fittings, makeup, seeing the whole backstage aspect of a show -- with a new group of people," said Goeken. "And they were real troopers. They really got into the whole thing, even to the point of coming up with a special walk and persona for their corpse."

The After Five Kiwanians who were cast included: Kevin Tlam, Mari Lu Larson, Doug Wittrock, Larry Johnson, Bob Nase, Carol Hartig, Kathy Lawson, Dawn Fuecht, Christin Lee, Mark Lawson and Anita Miller.
The donation made by the club will go toward Children's Theatre production costs and scholarships offered to children who may have difficulty paying registration fees for classes and workshops.

Kiwanis News : dead

After Five Kiwanians scare up funding