Snowball Holiday Gala 2014, A fundraiser for Stages Theatre Company

I can’t tell you how EXCITED I am to tell you all about an awesome opportunity to support local youth theatre in the Twin Cities. It’s going to be an amazing family event, and I want as many of you as possible to attend. And for those of you wanting to know more about the Giveaway, read on or just head to the bottom of the post!

So, in full disclosure, I am on the Board of Directors at Stages Theatre Company (STC) in Hopkins, MN. I’d don’t benefit personally in any way from this post, but I hope that Stages will…

It’s the 50th Anniversary year of Rudolph, the 1964 claymation cartoon we all remember from childhood, and Stages winter show and Snowball fundraiser is The Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Musical! Everyone is going to be there, Sam, Santa, Hermey, Rudolph, Yukon Cornelius and all the toys!

Stages is the second largest children’s theatre in the state of Minnesota. STC is located in the Hopkins Center for the Arts right on Mainstreet in downtown Hopkins MN. Every year, in the middle of their show season, STC puts on a winter show and fundraiser. Being a non-profit, it’s important that STC actively seek donations to maintain their ability to bring youth theatre to their patrons, to offer free and reduced fee performances and to make scholarships available to underprivileged youth who wish to participate in their workshops and camps. I think this escapes a lot of people who attend local theatre in general. Until I became involved I was pretty unaware of how theatres, like STC, were funded and all the GOOD they do with the funding they have.

I value youth theatre. I think it’s incredibly important for children to be involved in the arts of all kinds including live theatre, visual and musical/instrumental arts. Involvement in the arts is correlated to better educational outcomes, higher test scores and contributes to the general well-roundedness of an individual.

My children and I enjoy attending performance at STC. The theatre always has youth players involved in every performance – I think it’s pretty cool for kids to see other kids on stage participating in their craft. I know when I was a young I enjoyed both watching and acting in performance. Acting in live theatre provides a creative outlet, it offers commandery and helps to boost self-esteem.

Snowball, the STC winter performance fundraiser, has typically been held in January. But times are changing! With the upcoming Rudolph performances perfectly placed around the holidays, Snowball has been revamped and will be held the afternoon of December 6th, 2014 at 2pm.

Emcee, Emily Engberg from TCL will be in site!

Attendees are promised a great time! The event includes a performance of Rudolph, crafts provided by The Home Depot, delicious treats, the opportunity to have your family’s holiday photo taken on the set (up on stage and everything!), baby reindeer on the Hopkins’ plaza, an awesome raffle for a change to “fly” over the stage like the actors, and more! Emily Engberg of Twin Cities Live will be the event Emcee – she’s so fun! There are a variety of levels of support for STC when registering for the event all the way from an individual ticket to a full sponsorship. Take a look at the Stages Snowball webpage for more info and to purchase tickets.

And to keep you enticed, take a look at the following snippets of the super ridiculous (and I mean that in a good way) puppets created for Stages, for the show, by the local artisans of the Ridiculous Puppet Company out of Minneapolis.

Do you know which buckaroo and his animal are pictured here?

Cutest puppet foot! Which toy does it belong to?

Cheek complete with rosey-ness!

As for a giveaway…. Eveyone who likes my new Everyday Fabulous MN page on facebook (sorry for the lack of photos on the page, but I’ll ge them up as soon as I can) and shares the link to this blog post, will be entered to win a set of two tickets to Snowball, courtesy of ME!! My treat and your good time!

Thanks to the Snowball corporate sponsors, Great Clips, Loffler, Matreks Printing, Best Buy and Faegre, Benson, Daniels law firm. STC couldn’t continue their mission driven work without the generous support of these corporate Snowball sponsors, it’s individual sponsors and you!

I hope to see many of you on December 6th! I mean, how could you say no to baby reindeer?!

XOXO

Courtney