This is the Playing for Others’ culminating community celebration of the Playing for Others season.  Specific plans for this event are an all-year task.  However, there are some staples to the event that spans the three weekends in late April and early May:

• Multiple performances of the Theatre Experience Musical
• Red carpet event for our buddies, with limo rides, paparazzi & front row seats to the musical
• Red carpet after-party
• Photography display and purchase
• Songwriting competition finals & Music Experience Concert  
• NEW THIS YEAR! – Development and performance of Dance Concert incorporating Visual Artists and Musicians.

All Arts Festival events are ticketed and open to the public.

Hope to see you there,
Jen

P.S. Check out the town crier’s blog (talk about a creative writing exercise)

Greetings, brethren. As Town Crier, the duty falls upon me to report all of the happenings within Hamelin Town, good and bad. Much has happened over the past few months, but the biggest news by far is of the rat plague. It all began on a Tuesday morning. I was hard at work polishing my bell when suddenly I felt this strange tickle on my leg. I looked down expecting to see Pattycake’s kitten up to her usual antics but instead I saw right before my eyes a rat the size of a small child! At this sight, I jumped back in terror, only to land on another rat. I looked around and saw that the whole room was filled with the squeaking, gnawing and chomping little beasts! Knowing my job, I picked up my bell and ran to the town square to warn the citizens.

Over the next few weeks, the rats practically took over the town. They chewed the flowers, destroyed the school, and ate the baker’s food. Needless to say, the whole town was suffering, and if something weren’t done soon, the rats would have destroyed everything our forefathers worked so hard to build when they established Hamelin Town. In a time like that, the citizens of Hamelin Town needed a strong leader, but sadly, we just had the mayor, and everybody knows that the mayor is a simpleton. It’s his wife who actually runs the town, but she is a greedy and cold-hearted woman. Under their “leadership” we were all told to simply ignore the problem. At that point, when it seemed that all hope was lost, a mysterious man appeared. He called himself the “Pied Piper”, and he promised that he would be able to get rid of every last one of the nibbling pests. Normally, we would never believe such talk, but there was something magical about this man, something that drew us to him. However, his service required a fee, one thousand guilders. At first, the news of this fee made us citizens despair, but then, surprisingly, the mayor offered to pay the fee and even more if the Pied Piper did what he promised. A few hours later, we all witnessed the rats drown in the river, led there by the sound of the Piper’s flute.

In the following days, I was proud to report nothing but good news within Hamelin Town. Now that the rats were dead, everyone wanted to celebrate, and business was booming. It seemed like the good times would never end, that is, until the Piper returned asking for his money. Earlier, blinded by our desire to get rid of the rats we had not realized what a great sum of money he was asking for. Because of the rats we were all very poor, and now that they were gone it just seemed pointless to have to pay so much money. Why pay for a job that has already been done? Unanimously, we agreed that we would not pay even one cent to the Piper. When we told him of our decision, he had this warning for us “I play more than one tune.” At the time, we all laughed at his threat, but I can’t help feeling a certain sense of dread for what’s to come. Perhaps I am only being silly. Nevertheless I will be sure to keep you all informed. Thank you for reading!

Clothes may not “maketh the man”, as the saying goes, but they sure do maketh the character. And what incredible characters make up the citizens of Hamelin town! The Mayor, the Mayor’s wife, the Town Crier, a Hatter, a Baker, a Flower Shop keeper, and many more… including the Piper, himself, of course! In this year’s musical production, “The Pied Piper”, we can look forward to a fantastic cast of characters, and – it’s only fitting! – an amazing costume design.
This year, the PFO Costume Committee took on the huge task of planning for and designing the costumes for “Pied Piper – The Musical”. The teens researched Medieval and Renaissance costumes, and discussed character traits and how they could be expressed through costume. They learned how to do color renderings, and spent weeks designing costumes, revising their designs, and making necessary edits to accentuate casting choices and accommodate the overall look of the show. They learned how to budget for the costumes they were planning, and even took a trip to Mary Jo’s to learn how to fabric shop for such an extensive design.

Then came the fun part: taking the color renderings and translating them into costumes! With the help of a crew of super sewers, including parents, teens, volunteers, and even a girls’-night-out turned hat-making-party, the vision began to take shape! With strong designs, exquisite fabric choices and an eye for detail, the Costume Committee created a stunning visual complement to the actors’ expressive character interpretations.

Costume Advisor Hope Johnston is thrilled. “This year’s costume committee was a creative powerhouse!” she exclaimed. “I was impressed by their ability to understand the design process and their ability to translate character traits into costume choice. I was equally impressed by their overall sketches and fabric selections. I feel strongly that their design decisions will enhance the audience experience.”

Through the eye of a camera, PFO Photography Committee teens capture the heart of Playing for Others. As Photography Advisor Brandy Winn puts it, while taking photos at PFO Buddy Events, they get to see “the magical moments of connection between teens and their buddies.”

This year, the Photography Committee strove to do a few things differently. To build upon the success of last year’s committee, the teens began by examining what makes a good picture. They studied the market for teen/buddy photographs, and discussed design and layout options. Each week, they selected inspirational photos, submitted design/edit ideas, and searched for the perfect quote to be coupled with each photo. In this way, the pictures became collaborative art projects. The teens also added a new element to the committee’s plans: designing a 3-panelled photography display! This stronger focus, and incorporating more of a teaching emphasis in the committee meetings, supported the teens’ creation of storyboards – or groups of pictures that tell a story – comprised of 3 photos and a quote that ties them together. They also arranged photos of a variety of PFO T-shirts, as a colorful retrospective of PFO, “through the years”. And they created an online display for their heartfelt photo collection, with uniformity of design between the standing display and the online transfer.

“The way the teens worked together was phenomenal,” Brandy mused. “The way they helped each other design their pictures was impressive. They were on the same wave length from the beginning.”

The Photography Committee’s pictures capture the connection, love, and acceptance that is at the heart of PFO. “In these pictures,” Brandy reflects, “you see the lifelong lessons we try to learn and teach every day. The pictures are a beautiful reminder of these lessons!”