ZACH Theatre | Beyond the Stage

BEYOND THE STAGE SPRING 2018

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IN THIS ISSUE:

We’re Glad to Have You in Our Family!

ZACH’s New Production Facility

Page 2 What’s on Stage?

Your Gift in Numbers

Page 3 Welcome to the ZACH Team!

Page 4 End of Year Update

Page 5 Actor Spotlight: Vincent J. Hooper Upcoming Events

We’re Glad to Have You in Our Family!

Welcome to ZACH Theatre’s first edition of our donor newsletter! This bi-annual newsletter will allow you to get a glimpse at what goes on at ZACH day-to-day and what your dollars make possible. I want to communicate and celebrate our successes with you because without you, they would not become a reality. Your generosity and continued support make me eternally grateful to go to work every day. ZACH could not inspire our Austin community without your contributions.

When was the last time the art on ZACH’s stage inspired you?

I look forward to seeing you at the theatre soon and often,

Brittney Woolley Individual Giving Manager

For Sale or Lease Commercial Warehouse ZACH’s New Production Facility 10606 Bluff Bend Drive Austin, TX 78753 ±18,200 SF

We are excited to announce the acquisition of our new Production Facility across town on Bluff Bend Drive.

Property Highlights This new facility will replace the current production PROPERTY SIZE • 18,200 Total SF space on our main campus, which we have outgrown PROPERTY FEATURES over the years, and will allow for more flexibility in • 2,000 SF office space w/ HVAC, 2 bathrooms, 1 break room, 1 conference room, 5 private offices and 1 open cubicle area regards to the creation and scheduling of future ZACH • 1,500 SF storage space • 2 grade level productions, thanks to significantly larger work and

• 3 dock high

• 22' clear height

• 60 sky lights

• Insulated White Conklin roof

• Fire sprinkler system

storage areas. The new facility is currently undergoing renovations, and our production team will officially move into the space just in time to begin work on our upcoming production of Sunday in the Park with George.

We will host a Production Facility Donor Celebration at the new space on April 22, 2018 at 1 p.m. and hope you’ll be able to join us. Look for an invitation via email over the next few weeks, and RSVP to Ryan Griffin at rgriffin@zachtheatre.org.

Thank you to Bettye Nowlin for leading the charge on this initiative and Annette Renaud—both Board Members were significant in making this dream realized with their generous support.

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What’s on Stage?

Playing now through March 4 in the Topfer Theatre, ZACH is elated to share the regional premiere of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Winner of the 2015 Tony Award for Best New Play, the play follows the story of Christopher, a 15 year-old detective and math-science savant. When he falls under suspicion for killing his neighbor’s dog, Christopher is determined to find the perpetrator in true Sherlock Homes style, leading him on a quest across London that will change his life. Directed by Producing Artistic Director Dave Steakley, ZACH’s immersive production will utilize origami, physical storytelling, and extraordinary video design to create Christopher’s world.

Preston Straus as Christoper and Katie Kohler as Siobhan. Photo by KirkTuck.com.

Also playing now as part of the Moody Families and Schools Theatre Series are The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, and Las Aventuras de Enoughie—both through February 25.

Visit tickets.zachtheatre.org for tickets and more information!

Your Gift in Numbers Now that we’re approaching the mid-point of ZACH’s 2017-18 Season, we want to take a quick look back at what your generosity made possible for our education programs in the 2016-17 Season. These numbers are significant as ZACH strives to keep its promise to not turn any child away and to make sure that all have access to high-quality arts experiences—thank you for making this possible!

Photo by Axel B. Photography.

In the 2016-17 Season: • 19,645 reduced price tickets to ZACH’s Moody Families and Schools Theatre Series performances were provided to students, reaching 250 Title I and underserved schools in 30 different school districts.

• 3,200 students registered for camps and classes between ZACH’s main campus and ZACH North, and 224 scholarships worth a total of $54,000 were awarded to entering students.

• 240 local middle school students participated in Young Playwrights for Change (YPC), a nationwide play writing contest which ZACH hosts for our region. The mission of YPC is to produce meaningful conversations among our youth that ripple across the nation to provoke change.

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Welcome to the ZACH Team!

Margaret Gooding-Silverwood

Institutional Giving Manager

What was your previous role prior to joining the ZACH team?

I worked in development for a local, civil rights focused, legal advocacy organization.

What drew you to your role as Institutional Giving Manager at ZACH? I wanted to specialize in grant writing. ZACH is a place where I can satisfy my creative needs, while using my talents in writing and development to serve the local Austin community.

Why do you think the arts are important?

The arts and arts education help everyone, adults and children alike, to find their voice and to tackle complex social issues in a constructive, non-confrontational environment.

What production are you most looking forward to later this season?

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. I read the book when it was first published and loved it. When I saw the production in New York, I was impressed by how the text had shifted perspective in a way that allowed the audience greater emotional access to the protagonist, Christopher. I am excited to see ZACH’s unique staging and the ways in which the production is employed as an approachable means of addressing ableism in our community.

What’s something people might not know about you?

I love to cook; it is my stress relief. I worked in restaurants for a while, but I prefer the pace of my own kitchen. Lately, I have been learning to prepare traditional Punjabi food under the tutelage of my soon-to-be-mother-in-law. I’m pretty proud of my mooli parantha.

Drew Nebrig

Director of Marketing and Communications

What was your previous role prior to joining the ZACH team?

I was an Account Supervisor at a New York Entertainment ad agency called Serino Coyne doing the marketing and advertising for Broadway shows and some offBroadway non profits. My longest-running partnerships were with Wicked, Beautiful, and Second Stage Theatre.

What drew you to your role as Director of Marketing and Communications at ZACH? I wanted to move from New York to Austin, but didn’t want to leave theatre marketing.

I didn’t know ZACH personally, but I knew many people who did, and their deep love for the organization made me want to be a part of this special team!

Why do you think the arts are important?

For so many reasons...Theatre helps us understand what it means to be human—and often a human very different from yourself—in a way that everyday experiences and conversation cannot. It also requires and inspires creativity.

Who would we be if we were a society devoid of live entertainment, creativity, and art? Boring!

What production are you most looking forward to later this season?

Sunday in the Park with George...I love that show, and I haven’t seen it in so long.

What’s something people might not know about you?

I have flat feet, I’m a pretty good water skier, and I once dropped a croissant on James Earle Jones’ foot. He thought it was funny!

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The cast of A Christmas Carol. Photo by KirkTuck.com.

End of Year Update On behalf of the Individual Giving team, thank you for helping ZACH finish 2017 on a high note. We approached the final six weeks with a year-end goal of $50,000 and are thrilled to announce that, thanks to you, we exceeded this goal to raise $135,736. This was possible thanks to 896 gifts made by 807 households, with gifts beginning at $1.

Our year-end efforts began in mid-November with the return of A Christmas Carol and accompanying holiday light stick campaign. These gifts fund opportunities for children to experience the arts in a meaningful way at ZACH (read “Your Gift in Numbers” to learn how). This was our third year raising funds for ZACH’s education programs with the light sticks, and this was our most successful year yet! Additionally, each year, ZACH utilizes our in-house Priority Sales team to make end of year giving calls and share information about ZACH’s

artistic and education programs. The team is led by Bette O’Callaghan who has overseen ZACH’s Priority Sales efforts for the past seven years. Without their help, and your generous hearts and donations, we would not meet our goals. This year you raised $34,000 for ZACH’s robust education programs from these efforts and helped welcome numerous new donors to our Annual Fund family.

We were also excited to kick off our Why I Give campaign for Giving Tuesday on November 28, sharing quotes from ZACH supporters on why they choose to give to ZACH. Thanks to a matching gift from long-time supporters Marcy and John Melanson, all gifts made on Giving Tuesday went twice as far this year. We plan on continuing the Why I Give campaign through 2018, so be on the lookout and please reach out to us if you’d like to participate.

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Actor Spotlight: Vincent J. Hooper For our inaugural Actor Spotlight, we sat down with Vincent J. Hooper, whose compelling performance as Benny in In the Heights last summer garnered rave reviews.

As Vincent reflected on his first ZACH experience, he shared, “My career as a professional in this industry began with ZACH Theatre. When I was 16 or 17, a friend let me know about auditions for ZACH’s production of Ragtime, and it became an experience I’ll never forget. On the first day of rehearsal, I stood in awe as the cast sang the entirety of the show (some 30+ songs) practically off-book, and all the principal actors came into the room fully memorized.”

Six ZACH productions later, Vincent credits his ZACH family with helping him define professionalism. “Their influence became the foundation for my current work ethic and commitment to my craft.”

Most wouldn’t expect that Vincent is also a gifted visual artist. “Drawing was my first foray into the art world and continues to be an important part of my journey as a creative,” Vincent shared, adding that loves the ability to “produce Cristina Oeschger and Vincent J. Hooper in art at a moment’s notice without needing permission or guidelines.” Having In the Heights. Photo by KirkTuck.com. studied the arts in his youth, Vincent stressed the importance of arts education saying, “It is of the utmost importance that we cherish and support arts on stage, arts education, and the organizations committed to keeping them alive and thriving. Arts create empathetic, kind, confident, hard-working, generous members of our community, helping them build a skill set useful across a wide variety of disciplines. Some may use those skills to tell stories that impact others—causing them to love a little harder, listen more intently, or be more generous.

Some will use them for positive influence as community leaders, business tycoons, educators, designers, and innovators.”

When asked about dream roles Vincent said “I’d love to play or revisit Jamie in The Last Five Years, Roger in RENT, Scarecrow/Tin Man in The Wiz, Jimmy in Dreamgirls, Bobby in Company, The Youth in Passing Strange, Evan Hansen in Dear Evan Hansen, and of course, Aaron Burr in Hamilton.” He added, “I am always interested in being part of something original and would love play a role written specifically with me in mind. I don’t think there’s anything quite like being the first to inhabit a character, especially when the material has been tailored to you. That’s such a gift.” On what he’s working on currently, he shared, “I’m in the mix for a few exciting television and film projects and will be heading to Los Angeles at the end of January to participate in a pilot season. I am also developing screenplays for animated adaptations of several musicals crafted together by Allen Robertson and Damon Brown, and I have begun my first steps into the world of Broadway producing—thanks in no small part to a connection made via my dear friends Marc and Carolyn Seriff.”

To keep up with Vincent and his upcoming projects, visit his website vincentjhooper.wixsite.com/vjhooper.

Upcoming Events Amplify Austin March 1-2, 2018 Great Scotts Party

March 4, 2018

Production Facility Donor Celebration

April 22, 2018

Stage Manager’s Circle ($1,500) and above

Red, Hot & Soul – Sunday in the Park with ZACH Young Playwright for Change Staged Reading Featured Actor ($300) and above

May 5, 2018 May 19, 2018

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