Virtually Determined Fun: Our Spring Event Recap

As with pretty much everything else this year, First Stage’s fundraising events also needed to be virtually reimagined. We are grateful to our event committees for helping create wonderful events for our guests while raising critical funds for First Stage. We hope you enjoyed them!

 

MAKE BELIEVE… IT’S A BALL!

On March 6, 2021, First Stage held our 27th annual—and first-ever virtual—Make Believe Ball!  First Stage patrons, Theater Academy families, alumni, their friends and families, as well as Milwaukee theater fans, from far and wide, tuned in to celebrate Artistic Director Jeff Frank and his 25th anniversary at First Stage!

 

Guests pre-ordered Party Packs prior to the event, filled with festive decorations for their homes, arts and craft projects and treats for the kids, as well as goodies for the kids-at-heart. Decked out in PaGLAMas (comfy pajamas paired with glamorous accessories or party attire with slippers), families and guests tuned into an entertaining virtual program co-hosted by the dynamic duo and First Stage actor/director favorites, Kelly Doherty & Karen Estrada.

The Ball’s virtual program honored Jeff’s First Stage history with selected scenes and songs from the 50 plus productions he has directed to date. The featured selections were from SHREK, THE MUSICAL (2013/14 season); A MIDNIGHT CRY (2013/14 season); THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER (2009/10, 2013/14, and 2018/19 seasons); ROALD DAHL’S MATILDA THE MUSICAL (2018/19 season); PETER PAN AND WENDY (2010/11 season) and TINKER BELL (2018/19 season).

 

The festivities also included video messages from several First Stage alumni sending their greetings, congratulations, and warm wishes to Jeff. First Stage Founder, Rob Goodman shared: “Jeff is a phenomenal professional director, with a unique and creative gift at taking a stage play and turning it into magic. He is also a human being with a very large and wonderful heart. A heart that is able to see and create art in ways that touches people and moves them and transforms them beyond who they are when they walked into the theater. He is a human being that transforms the lives of children, from his work in the Theater Academy and in the Education office, Jeff is uniquely First Stage.”

 

The event was made complete with “Zoom Room” pre-event activities led by First Stage staff members, for the young guests as well as large silent and live auctions filled with items and experiences that appealed to the whole family, guided by our engaging auctioneer, Dan Pronley. After the program, guests joined the popular Milwaukee radio host and DJ, 88Nine Station Director Jordan Lee for a post-event virtual dance party.

 

Approximately 100 households participated—raising $130,000 to support First Stage’s mission of transforming lives through theater.

 

Thank you to all who made this year’s virtual Make Believe Ball a success!

 

PRESENTING SPONSOR

Northwestern Mutual

 

CORPORATE SPONSORS

AO Smith Foundation, The ECAB Investment Group, BAIRD Private Wealth Management, KMPG, Studio Gear, 88Nine, Associated Bank, Johnson Controls, PNC, and We Energies Foundation

 

FAMILY SPONSORS

The Esten Family, The Field Family, The Marschka Family, The Orr Family, The Pence Family, and The Puechner Family

 

MAKE BELIEVE BALL EVENT HONORARY CO-CHAIRS
Jeff Frank and Sarah Hunt Frank

 

EVENT HOSTS
Kelly Doherty and Karen Estrada

 

EVENT COMMITTEE
Monica Arnstein, Lisa Boyce, Kelly Calvelli, Terri Field, Laura Hirano, Mary Kramer, Tonya Leuder, Melissa Marschka, Meredith Pence, Melissa Radtke, Kate Schroeder, Amanda Singh, Julia Westphal, and Heather Whitmill

 

If you weren’t able to join us for the livestream of our event, you may view our recorded event.

 

BARD-O-THON

On April 24, 2021, First Stage Theater Academy held its 11th annual, and second virtual, Bard-O-Thon.

In celebration of Shakespeare’s birthday, the First Stage Theater Academy challenged members of Young Company (the Academy’s award-winning training program for advanced high school actors) to stretch their artistic endurance by performing as many memorized Shakespearean monologues in a row as possible.

Last season, 50 Young Company members virtually performed 504 monologues for 100 guests and raised $16,102; however, Young Company left no record unbroken this year.

Amazingly, 55 Young Company members performed a total of 556 monologues this year. A presentation of some of their work was viewed in a Facebook Live event, where their incredible depth of understanding was displayed for all to enjoy. As this event is a fundraiser, these students also collected more than $17,000 in pledges from friends and family to help support Shakespeare programming at First Stage.

If you missed out, we invite you to view the recorded presentation.