The aliens (or "cicadas") are finally out of our lives but probably not our gutters. Speaking of gutters, it's time for another issue of the KAT's Meow, Kensington Arts Theatre's online newsletter. Read on for the skinny on our 3rd annual fundraising Gala and what's in store for the Town Center in the next few months.

Coming Soon...

Broadway Through the Years, A Musical Revue 3rd Annual KAT Gala -- Saturday, August 7th Cocktails at 7:30pm | Show at 8:30pm Come and help us kick off the 2004-2005 season at our third annual fundraising gala, Broadway Through the Years. We will explore the evolution of themes such as love, anxiety, sorrow, and hope with songs from the early days of Broadway through today's popular shows. With familiar faces from past KAT shows, the evening will be an unforgettable journey. This year, our guests will have the opportunity to participate in a silent auction during the cocktail hour. Silent auction items will be posted on the web site in the coming weeks. We will also be seating patrons at tables to enable you to enjoy the food and drink in a more relaxed atmosphere during the show. Click here to go to the Gala Page at KAT Online »

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Congratulations to the cast and production staff of tick, tick...BOOM! for putting together a fabulous run of shows in our Spring 2004 slot. Craig Pettinati's direction, the voices of Will Hayden, Amy K. Cropper, and Aaron Reeder, along with the cohesiveness of the band brought a tremendous amount of energy to the Town Center stage. Thanks to everyone who came out to see the show and support the group. Special thanks go out to everyone who donated money to the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation and came to see the show on our Benefit Night. With your help, we were able to raise over $500 for the JLPAF, which was established to honor Jonathan's memory by providing financial assistance and encouragement to emerging artists. Tax-deductible donations can always be sent to: Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation PO Box 672, Prince Street Station New York, NY 10012 Donations to the Foundation will ensure continued growth and increased support for composers, lyricists, librettists and other creative artists and nonprofit producing organizations. Each year the Foundation provides grants to an extraordinarily talented group of individuals and organizations selected from over 100 applications. Click here to go to the tick, tick...BOOM! Page »

Summer Membership Meeting

KAT's bi-annual membership meeting was held on June 19, and what a great meeting/party it was. The main function of the meeting was to get everyone together and introduce/vote in the Board of Directors for the 2004-2005 season and to officially announce our new season. Our BOD will remain the same with three exceptions. Our acting Vice President, Matt Karner, is now officially Vice President. Our Secretary, Marie Coyle, who will be attending University of New Hampshire in the fall, will be replaced by Ryan Manning, who played the role of Rapunzel's Prince in Into the Woods and who just graduated from University of Maryland. The 2nd Member-At-Large position will be filled by Malinda Ellerman, who played Rapunzel in Into the Woods and who is entering her senior year at the University of Maryland. We also announced a change in our 2004-2005 Spring show. More on that can be found in our Season section on the right. Now on to the fun stuff. The membership meeting officially started at 7pm, but the festivities began at 5pm. Thanks to all our Board members and friends for providing the food and drink. From chips to goldfish and burgers to sweet Italian sausage and potato salad to a tres leches cake, everything was delicious and satisfyingly good. Every KAT production was well-represented, so not only was it fun to do some catching up, it was a chance for people to make new friends and share their KAT experiences at KAT with everyone. It was our biggest meeting yet! All in all our meeting went wonderfully. Thank you to all our members for coming out and sharing their time with everyone. Not only did we have fun, but we supported KAT in the process. A special thanks to Craig, Elizabeth and Diego for hosting the event - and cleaning up afterwards!! Thanks again and see you next time! Click here to become a KAT Member »

A Night Celebrating Community

On Thursday, June 24, Matt Karner, KAT Vice President, was invited to represent Kensington Arts Theatre at Community Night - A Celebration of Community Outreach hosted by Gensler and Associates at their office at 2020 K Street NW in Washington, DC. Gensler is a well-renown, international architecture and design firm which impresses upon their employees the values of branching out and being active their community. Gensler hosts this event every year to demonstrate their appreciation to the organizations for which their employees volunteer and to provide a showcase for others to discover the opportunities that exist to get involved. The theme of this year's event was "Stories" and was carried through with the displaying of quotes from volunteers relating to the experiences they have had with their specific organization. Marc Yeh, a member of KAT and designer at Gensler wrote, "After long hours of coordination and construction, enjoying opening night and seeing the stage transformed is rewarding. To see the set develop with the creative team's concept, to see actors interacting with it and finally to see the audience enjoying the whole experience gives a great feeling of accomplishment." Other organizations represented were the Jubilee Housing Organization, American Institute of Architects, Green Building Council, Habitat for Humanity, and many more. This was the first year Kensington Arts Theatre was invited to participate in this celebration and hopefully we will continue to actively participate in events such as this. Click here for more information on Gensler »