[Click here for a Noozhawk photo gallery from the event.]
An Afternoon at the Fair was the theme for an Ensemble Theatre Company of Santa Barbara fundraiser that was highlighted by the announcement of the first-ever season to be held at a new state-of-the-art venue, The New Vic Theatre.
“Today is a celebration of where Ensemble is,” executive artistic director Jonathan Fox said. “It is actually our most important fundraising event of the season.”
Nestled below Ortega Hill, Mary and Hal Coffin’s beautiful Montecito Valley Ranch home again hosted the annual spring event for the fourth time. Attendees mingled and strolled around the grassy plain that had been transformed to look like a traveling carnival fairground.
“We have a long history with Ensemble Theatre and it’s a wonderful organization,” Hal Coffin told Noozhawk. “We’ve been very supportive through the years — we’re certainly not the biggest supporters that Ensemble has — but it’s been lovely and it’s a wonderful organization.”
A sold-out crowd of 250 guests enjoyed fresh-buttered popcorn, cotton candy, pizza, home-style lemonade and a variety of theme park treats at food stands served by a dozen local eateries, including Arlington Tavern, Bella Dolce, Country Catering, Jill’s Place, Maggie’s, Marmalade Café, New West Catering and Village Modern Food.
“There are wonderful foods that are modern twists on typical state fair food,” Fox said. “So we have corn dogs with pork belly, for example, a California version of Philly cheese steak, and things like that.”
Carnival games, a caricature artist, a palm reader and live entertainment enhanced the Old World fair theme chaired by Paula Yurkanis Bruice and set the mood for a fun-filled afternoon for adults and children alike.
Founded in 1979, Ensemble Theatre is Santa Barbara’s only company that manages all aspects of selection, design, cast and production. It’s new permanent home at 33 W. Victoria St. will provide a dedicated space to the community for performing arts, dance, ballet, lectures, music and film, all with convenient parking and proximity to restaurants and shopping.
The conversion of the 80-year-old Victoria Community Hall provides a comfortable and intimate 300-seat theater with optimal sightlines, state-of-the-art sound and flexible staging options within the growing arts district near the Arlington and The Granada theaters.
During the fundraiser, supporters, donors and special guests were treated to preview performances from the upcoming season that generated a buzz of excitement, including “The Impossible Dream” sung by Matt Wolpe and “Send in the Clowns” by Susan Ruttan.
Fox surveyed the joyous atmosphere and excitedly announced highlights for the upcoming 2013-2014 season that begins on Dec. 5 and runs through July 27, 2014, with five plays filled with suspense, humor and music.
A Little Night Music kicks off the season with a musical directed by Fox and featuring the songs of Stephen Sondheim.
Good People is a comic drama that takes place in the working-class Southie and upscale Chestnut Hill neighborhoods in Boston with humor, suspense and plot twists, running from Feb. 6-24.
Ancient stories and characters are told in Metamorphoses in another production helmed by Fox that will run from March 27 to April 13.
And, set in 1958, Red is a 2010 Tony Award winner that analyzes the artistic temperament and primal relationships between father and son, and teacher and student based around renowned painter Mark Rothko that runs from May 15 to June 1.
The inaugural New Vic season closes with the Broadway comic hit Looped that will be directed by four-time Emmy Award winner and Ensemble board member Glenn Jordan, who comes out of retirement to lead this production that runs July 10-27, 2014.
Fox eagerly anticipates the five plays for both quality and how they will work with the New Vic space.
“They’re all standouts,” he said. “I just think it’s a really exciting season and we’re opening with a bang. And the season will really show off the new space and what we can do.”
Barbershop tunes from the Masterpiece Quartet, who are currently ranked fourth in the world in the Barbershop Harmony Society, were also part of the afternoon entertainment, which included a lively auction hosted by Geoff Green.
Live auction items included a week in a 15th-century Tudor cottage in Warwick, England; garage and pit passes for a NASCAR race in Sonoma; a party for 40 at the New Vic; and a cooking class for 12 at Village Modern Foods Kitchen Facility. Also back by popular demand were a Theatre in Your Home, a private reading of a play with Ensemble actors, a week stay at a Mexican hacienda and a walk-on role in the New Vic in which the winner will be costumed and rehearse with Fox.
The event raised $75,000 to support the 2013-2014 season and the Ensemble’s youth-oriented educational Storybook Theatre, which is currently on hiatus until the spring of 2014 when exciting new children’s programs will be offered at the new location.
Subscriptions to the new season are available now, ranging from $146 to $270 for a five-play series, and special youth subscription series for theatergoers aged 26 and under at only $80. Single tickets will go on sale in November. Click here for more information, or call the Ensemble Theatre box office at 805.965.5400.
The Ensemble Theatre thanks the 2013 Afternoon at the Fair sponsors:
» Red ribbon: Bridlewood Estate Winery, Ruth and Alan Heeger, Frank Schipper Construction, Missy and Chuck Sheldon and Dana White.
» White ribbon: Gail Beust, Paula and Tom Bruice, Donna and Daniel Hone, Elly and Jim Langer, Dan and Jan O’Dowd and Sybil Rosen.
» Green ribbon: Joyce and Roland Bryan, Diane and Ray Hester, Ruth and John Matuszeski, PMSM Architects and Susan and Terry Northrop.
— Noozhawk iSociety columnist Melissa Walker can be reached at mwalker@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkSociety, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Become a fan of Noozhawk on Facebook.
