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Why is Theatre Important Now? Blog # 22

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                                                               These are crazy times! Agreed? Every time you turn around, there is a new precedent for this or for that! People are confused, depressed, lonely, stressed-out, financially-strapped, fearful, anxious, and even suicidal!  We are all dealing with more stress in these uncertain times than we have had in our entire lifetimes! We are looking for relief and an escape...and there is none! Movie theatres have just now begun opening, with limited seating. Live Theatre is even more sorely needed than watching a movie, which is a one-sided stress reliever. With Live Theatre, both the performers and the audience interact with one another to bring about laughter, sadness, epiphanies, and yes, even catharsis! It is an interactive, cooperative, and reciprocal type of entertainment that we have all missed during these past several months of Covid Quarantine and isolation! It is time to get together again in a live theatre setting! The

Blog # 12- Hidden Treasure Productions and Covid-19

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    Hidden Treasure Productions began in January of this year with the same high hopes that many other endeavors had. Don’t get me wrong! We still have high hopes and are going forward with the great desire to be successful! However, the onset of Coronavirus has caused us to be creative. Fortunate for us, our company is made up of “creative types!”   Early on, the decision was made to hold all auditions and rehearsals online through Zoom Technology. That has worked out surprisingly well. We had also planned to start meeting as a live cast in early August. The Jury is still out on that one, but we are hopeful that we will soon be able to rehearse outside in someone’s back yard in groups of less than 10. Living in a nice climate allows us to do that, even in the autumn months.    We currently have a perfect venue booked for October 9-11, 2020. However, if we must change the dates to early November, due to CDC gatherings restrictions, then that is what we’ll do. We must all be ada

Blog # 11. Looking for a Lawyer and an Accountant By: Don Dennison

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As Hidden Treasure Productions (HTP), Our mission is to create quality professional plays, to take into the world. We have nine on the Board of Directors, and we are looking to add two more to the board. Each position requires you to live in the San Diego area. First off, we are looking for a lawyer to sit on the board and advise HTP, but have no other responsibilities to the organization. At this point, it will be a volunteer position, but our goal is to have it be a paid position in the future. The second position we are looking for is a Senior Accountant or Chief Financial Officer, who would assist the President and CEO of Hidden Treasure Productions with all financial statements. This position will also start as a volunteer but will become a paid position.                                                  Our History In October of 2018, we took a drama team to Uzhgorod, Ukraine. We performed a 2-Act professional-quality a play called PRODIGAL by James Shaver, that overw

Auditions For Shadows of the Mind

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                            Director of Productions Valerie Herrera                                       SHADOWS OF THE MIND Written by: Kanaan Hesseling Directed by: Valerie Herrera ALL ROLES:  Unpaid, Non-Union  Character Breakdown AUDITIONS:  Online-only, prerecorded self-taped, slated audition piece. Please submit a google drive folder link to valjoyherrera@gmail.com  by  July 30th , with the following items in the google folder: 1) A slated audition video with a 2-3 minute dramatic monologue or dialogue (with the offscreen reader) of your choice for each role you are auditioning for. Your slate should include your name, the play’s name, the playwright’s name, and the character’s name. 2) Your resume. Please make sure your resume is up to date. 3) Your headshot (if not included on your resume). If you don’t have a professional picture, a school photo will do. It’s important that the directors are able to reference you for casting purposes. Please also complete the following google

Blog # 10 Harpenden, Uk Drama Cast and Work Team By Don Dennison

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My wife Beverly and I went to “spy out the land” in the London, England area of Harpenden in February of 2020, during the same time that our drama workshops were taking place here at home. We were in Harpenden to plan for our future construction/work team to go there in September 16-28 of this year and for our HTP production to perform there on April 7-21, 2021. Here in Oceanside, Valerie Herrera, our Director of Production, directed the drama workshops for our coming production, Shadows of the Mind.  Here is her Blog about the workshops: https://donatnewblogaddress.blogspot.com/2020/04/blog-5-to-worshop-or-not-to-worshop.html On a beautiful February day, we flew out to a very chilly and rainy London, England. It was cold in Harpenden, UK, and it even snowed on one day. I was not prepared well enough for the cold weather, but our host, Susan was able to borrow a warm sweatshirt for me to wear while indoors. Susan Murphy is our good friend and contact, as well as the Site Development

We need 20 wireless mics for our start-up 501(c)(3) theatre company. By Don Dennison

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Would you consider supporting Hidden Treasure Productions (HTP)? We are a start-up 501(c)(3) non-profit theatre company, preparing to perform the play  Shadows of the Mind in Oceanside, California in October of this year, before taking it to international countries, including Third World countries in 2021. Our desire is to take live theatre to places in the world where it is not common or readily available.  We are in need of 20 wireless mics for our cast of 20 actors. The cost is about $10,000.00 dollars or about $500.00 for each mic. Please watch the video below for more details.        https://hiddentreasureproductions.org/contact%2F-give                Donald Dennison 1-760-458-0653 https://hiddentreasureproductions.org      don@hiddentreasureproductions.org Our Mission Statement is: Our mission is to create quality professional plays, to take into the world.

Blog # 9 By John Andy Herrera; "But I'm not an Actor..."

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This is how it all started for me… anyway, kind of. When I was asked to perform in a theatrical play opposite of my wife, who by the way is a brilliant actor, my response was; “but I’m not an actor.” This two-act play would be a comedy in front of an audience of 300 plus for two showings… GULP!!! Having no experience on stage, it went surprisingly well. Actually, it was enjoyable! Little did I know that this one taste of theater would start me on this journey in the theatrical arts. Fast forward to 2018 and four plays later. I was involved, whether it was on the stage performing or behind the scenes. We decided to take one of these original two-act plays to Ukraine, to do a to three-city tour, with four different venues. This trip would be an adventure that resonates with me and many others, to this day! The challenges of being in a foreign country, the language barrier, customs, the different theaters and just the unknown were the norm.   This experience has taught me wha