Dear Visitor,

Welcome to our seventh decade of providing you with thrilling dramatic and musical adventure, an experience which we hope has inspired, delighted and enriched your lives.  Because we, like many cultural organizations, are weathering the worst financial crisis in decades, the purpose of this letter is to update you on what we are doing, where we are, and what you can do to help.

Our strong Board of Directors, our dedicated staff and countless talented actors and other volunteers want you to know that we have shaped ourselves into a pared down but highly productive company designed to bring you a season of outstanding theatre.

This 69th Season is a transitional year.  First, we have reorganized from an Artistic and Executive Director management model to a Teamwork model, with many talented people sharing leadership responsibilities.  And it's working!  Morale and artistic production have never been higher, as you saw in our opening musical Oklahoma! and as you will see in our opening play Steel Magnolias.  Second, we are boosting our talent pool by affiliating with Actors' Equity Association.  We were pleased to welcome guest artist Paige Cook-Perez to our stage in Oklahoma! and also to welcome David Sattler to our stage for Christmas, My Way in December.  We look forward to this new transition to professional talent working side by side with talented community actors.

Our "Next of Kin" season we dedicate to you--our community--to discover the essence of what is truly important in our lives.  On a practical note, if continuing to enjoy coming to Hillbarn productions is important to you, please know there are many ways we need your help in these rough economic times.  We need more people coming to our plays, so please bring your friends to a production.  People who come usually return or subscribe, and that enlarges audiences and helps support us.  We need more subscribers, so please consider becoming a subscriber if you are not already one.  We need your donations, so please write a tax-deductible check as you can afford it.  We are writing grant proposals to corporations and foundations, so let our staff know if you can suggest a possible funder.  And, finally, let us know if you can give of your volunteer time and talents to act, to usher, or to help in the office. 

We believe you need Hillbarn in your lives and we need you in our lives now more than ever!  Please help continue to be our "Next of Kin". 

Warm regards,

Lee Foster

Executive Producing Director