CAPE MAY – The Equity professional East Lynne Theater Company is receiving $14,400.00 from the Cooperative Marketing Grant sponsored by the New Jersey Department of State: Division of Travel and Tourism. The award was given based on the scores of an independent evaluation and funding review committee that studied ELTC’s application and marketing plan. This is the sixth year in a row that ELTC has received this prestigious grant, and it will be used solely for advertising.
Aside from placing ads and articles in magazines and newspapers outside of South Jersey, ELTC actively pursues performance possibilities beyond state boarders. Funding for these productions comes from the organizations sponsoring ELTC’s touring shows and specific grants received by ELTC for touring only, yet the town of Cape May benefits because ELTC clearly states that its home is Cape May. Sometimes, complete ELTC playbills, including advertising pages, are distributed to patrons.
Since last April, over 3,000 people attended 43 ELTC performances in Texas, Illinois, North Carolina, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, and five counties in New Jersey: Bergen, Ocean, Passaic, Morris, and Union. Shows included “Someone Must Wash the Dishes,” “Victorian Magic,” “Sherlock Holmes Adventure of the Norwood Builder,” and “Eve’s Diary.”
Organizations who requested these shows include the College of Staten Island/CUNY, the League of Women Voters in Connecticut, The Annual Conference of the Popular/American Culture Associations, and the Cornelia Street Café in NYC.
“Paul Robeson Through His Words and Music” was seen by a sell-out crowd in Asheville, NC. It was a benefit for Homeward Bound, an organization that helps the homeless find home. ELTC received funding from the prestigious Puffin Foundation so that “Emma Goldman: My Life” could be performed at The Mahwah Public Library and The Metropolitan Playhouse in NYC. ELTC’s world premiere, “The Poe Mysteries” had a lovely run at Ocean Professional Theatre in Barnegat, and theaters from Pennsylvania to Wyoming have requested to see the script. Alas, due to Sandy, the “Poe” performance scheduled for Oct. 29 in Wyckoff, courtesy of the Wyckoff Public Library receiving funding from the NEA’s Big Read, was canceled.
Upcoming tours include “Paul Robeson” at the Newark PAC on March 9, and plans are in the works for the show to tour Siberia later the same month, and “Victorian Magic” goes to a library in Manahawkin on March 30. Next October, ELTC returns to Ocean Professional Theatre Company with “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” which makes its world premiere in Cape May in July.
East Lynne Theater Company has been performing throughout the United States since 1980, but for those who wish to see the company in its beautiful performance venue, The First Presbyterian Church, 500 Hughes Street, Cape May, “Sherlock Holmes Adventure of the Norwood Builder,” ELTC’s popular radio-style production, is there on March 15 and 16, and then the Summer/Fall Mainstage Season starts up on June 19 with “Lost on the Natchez Trace,” a New Jersey premiere about slavery, chosen in part to honor the 150th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. For information about being a season or show sponsor, advertising in ELTC’s program, season tickets, touring shows, and educational outreach, call 609-884-5898 or write to eastlynneco@aol.com
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