Hats Off at CenterPoint

CenterPoint Legacy Theatre hosted a "Hats Off" party as a thank you to everyone who was involved with the 2013 season, including the board members, actors, production teams, backstage techs, ushers, box office people, and I don't know who else. They modeled it a bit on the party that Hale Centre Theatre does every year. It was pretty awesome, and I was thrilled to see many people I hadn't seen in awhile.

I was invited because of my role in Arsenic and Old Lace. Sadly, only a handful of us from the show came to the party.

At least Brandon was there. He was brilliant as Jonathan Brewster,

and not at all creepy in real life.

I invited my friend Liz to come as my date... and then she invited Randall to be her date... so I ended up just flitting around and talking with as many people as I could find. I probably would have done that anyway ;) I usually opt not to invite dates to these kind of things 1) because I don't have a steady significant other to default to, and 2) because I don't want to bring someone who doesn't know everyone else. Since Liz was also in a show and brought her own escort, I didn't feel too badly about abandoning them as much as I did. Haha! I was able to find them when it came time to sit and watch the program.

Randall and I looked great together in his navy blue jacket and my midnight blue dress!

The decor was impressive. They set up displays for each of the plays, and had food at each one to fit the show. Arsenic = punch, The Secret Garden = veggies and chocolate-covered strawberries, Fiddler on the Roof = chicken and rice, White Christmas = a candy bar (as in a table with various candies and little boxes to put together, not a snickers or something). I missed seeing how they incorporated Joseph, Into the Woods, or How to Succeed. I thought that concept was clever, though. They also had pizza and sodas for those of us who wanted something a bit more substantial.

The program was fairly straight-forward. The Executive Producer, Scott Van Dyke, and the Artistic Director, Jansen Davis, emcee'd the event. There were numbers from each of the plays (we didn't have enough players to do a scene from Arsenic, so our darling director sang "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" instead), interspersed with a huge raffle. I couldn't believe how much stuff they had to give away!

Scott and Jan give a madcap recap of Arsenic and Old Lace

The How to Succeed cast leads a sing-along of "Brotherhood of Man"

Two Bettys sing "Sisters" from White Christmas...

...then Bob and Phil do their reprise. So funny!

The invitation had said to wear "sparkly attire." I was glad to hear I wasn't the only person a little confused by that. According to the party planner, some of the head honchos hadn't wanted to wear tuxedos, and she'd seen the description on another invitation and thought it was cute. She ended up getting a lot of e-mails asking what that meant. People at the party ended up wearing whatever they wanted to, whether it be a fancy gown/tuxedo, Sunday best, or even jeans and t-shirts. I'm curious to see what the invitation will say next year ;)

I opted to go all out:

My mom had to come over to my house and help zip me into the dress. Sadly, I don't have much fancy jewelry. Happily, I won the necklace seen in this photo during the raffle! Score! Now I have something to wear next time!

I can no longer say I never win anything ;)
(I had just finished saying "I kind of hope I don't win anything, because I don't think I could make it down the stairs in these shoes" when they called my name. Then I said, "Woo-hoo! It's me!" and ran down without any trouble.)

Several of the women in charge told me they'd been coveting the necklace. I feel pretty lucky.

After the program there was a dance party on the stage, and I chatted and took photos with more favorite people:

My lovely Jillian (I love that her mom is photo-bombing us!)  

Jan cast and directed me in my first shows at both Rodgers Memorial and CenterPoint.
Thank you, Jan!

Scott and me (he's going to be mad I didn't photoshop this to make him look younger, as requested...)

Thanks, CenterPoint, for a terrific party. You know how to throw a classy shindig. I hope you do another one next year!

(I'd already be invited since I'm in The Sound of Music, right?)