Stage Notes - Performance With A Purpose!
Sponsor Stage Notes' 2025 Musical!
To our generous supporters:
Stage Notes students are fortunate to have supporters like you who value Stage Notes, not only for the entertainment we bring to our community, but also the education in theater and philanthropy that is the cornerstone of our organization. Stage Notes is proud to be in our 17th season of living our motto, Performance with a Purpose. We continue sharing our time, talents, and treasures with our community while advocating for the arts and investing in our high school performers.
This July, Stage Notes will proudly present Cole Porter’s Anything Goes. We will be presenting the 2022 version of the hilarious shipboard romp which features a revised script, updated in light of contemporary sensibilities. It’s 1934 and the S. S. American is sailing between New York and England with a comically colorful assemblage of passengers: Reno Sweeney, a popular nightclub singer and former evangelist, her pal Billy Crocker, a lovelorn Wall Street broker who has come aboard to try to win the favor of his beloved Hope Harcourt (who is engaged to another passenger, Sir Evelyn Oakleigh), and a second-rate conman named Moonface Martin, aka “Public Enemy #13.” Song, dance, and farcical antics ensue as Reno and Moonface try to help Billy win the love of his life. Anything Goes is delightful, delicious and de-lovely.
In the past several years, rental for the Dulles State Office Building has changed and impacted many not-for-profit organizations. I do not just speak for arts groups, but for many organizations that have made lasting cultural impacts on the North Country for years. Think back to annual events at the DSOB that no longer take place there, and you will start to realize the impact this rental increase has had on our culture. Just this school year alone we are spending over $7,000 to use the DSOB for rehearsals and performances. That marks a significant increase over years past and jeopardizes the sustainability of arts organizations like ours. Thanks to an anonymous supporter who has pledged $50,000 to Stage Notes over the next five years, we pledge to try and stay afloat until our 20th season but even with such an amazing supporter, we need your help. It is frustrating, to say the least, that 3.5 million dollars of taxpayer money was invested in improvements to the Dulles State Office Building Auditorium, and yet we are all struggling to be able to afford use of the facilities.
I respectfully invite you to consider a gift to help fund Stage Notes production of Anything Goes. Please know that any gift is appreciated. Stage Notes takes our role in arts education very seriously. Thank you for supporting this vital cultural need, helping to make it a lasting commodity for our youth, and also helping to instill a life lesson in philanthropy for our students. Your contribution to Stage Notes will help us maintain the high standard of theater and philanthropy which you have come to expect. Stage Notes is a 501(C)3 organization. Your gift may be tax-deductible. All gifts will be recognized in our July Playbill.
Thank you from all of us at Stage Notes!
Our Summer 2025 musical is ANYTHING GOES
Save the date for July 24, 25, and 26, 2025. Stage Notes proudly presents Anything Goes.
Sponsor Stage Notes' 2024 Musical!
To our generous supporters:
Stage Notes students are fortunate to have supporters like you. I hope you value Stage Notes, not only for the entertainment we bring to our community, but also the education in theater and philanthropy that is the cornerstone of our organization.
As you may know, in September of 2023, Stage Notes lost our beloved choreographer, co-director, mentor, and friend, David Simmons. David worked for the NYS Department of Transportation, retiring in 2017 after 33 years of service. He was an integral part of the Watertown arts and pageant communities and a favorite to Watertown audiences. David’s notable contributions to the Arts in the North Country began at Watertown High School in the fall of 1988, collaborating with Russ Faunce on a production of Guys and Dolls, starring Kyle Aumell as Sky Masterson and Ticia “Mastellon” Aumell as Miss Adelaide. Many years later, after his retirement from the DOT, David joined Kyle and Ticia as co-directors and choreographer of Stage Notes, returning to his roots of mentoring high school students through theater. He was dedicated to every Stage Notes student and to the organization’s motto of “Performance With A Purpose”. David raised Stage Notes to a triple arts program, offering training that combined the disciplines of acting, singing, and dancing. David’s expertise with choreography was evident in the Stage Notes productions of A Chorus Line, Pippin, Chicago, The Theory of Relativity, Rent, and ending his career in July of 2023 the way it began, with Kyle & Ticia, and a production of Guys And Dolls. David is survived by his husband, Scott Rennie.
This July, Stage Notes will proudly present THE PROM in memory of David Simmons. Four eccentric Broadway stars are in desperate need of a new stage. So when they hear that trouble is brewing around a small-town prom, they know that it’s time to put a spotlight on the issue…and themselves. The town’s parents want to keep the high school dance on the straight and narrow—but when one student just wants to bring her girlfriend to prom, the entire town has a date with destiny. On a mission to transform lives, Broadway’s brassiest join forces with a courageous girl and the town’s citizens and the result is love that brings them all together. Winner of the Drama Desk Award for Best Musical, THE PROM expertly captures all the humor and heart of a classic musical comedy with an inclusive message.
I respectfully invite you to consider a gift to help fund Stage Notes production of THE PROM. Please know that any gift is appreciated. Stage Notes takes our role in arts education very seriously. You can be assured that we will continue our goal to cultivate, promote, sustain, and support the arts in our community. Thank you for supporting this vital cultural need, helping to make it a lasting commodity for our youth, and also helping to instill a life lesson in philanthropy for our students.
Your contribution to Stage Notes will help us maintain the high standard of theater and philanthropy which you have come to expect. Stage Notes is a 501(C)3 organization. Your gift may be tax-deductible. All gifts will be recognized in our July Playbill. THANK YOU from all of us at Stage Notes.
PAYPAL
VENMO (@stagenoteswatertown)
Your contribution to Stage Notes will help us maintain the high standard of theater and philanthropy which you have come to expect. Stage Notes is a 501(C)3 organization. Your gift may be tax-deductible. All gifts will be recognized in our July Playbill.
THANK YOU from all of us at Stage Notes.
Amazon Smile - YOU can help Stage Notes
Amazon has a fantastic program to help non-profits like us! Just click the banner below and do your shopping on Amazon, and Stage Notes will receive 0.5% of your eligible purchases at no additional cost to you! Please consider doing your Amazon shopping at smile.amazon.com. Share our link with your friends and family.
More information on Amazon's "Smile" program can be found HERE
