Golden Ticket Drawing!!!

On Wednesday, January 27 at 4 p.m., winners of New England Youth Theatre’s golden tickets from the Wonka-inspired candy bar sale, will gather at the theatre on Flat Street to draw their prizes. First up will be the first winners, Sam Grubinger from Dummerston and Tilden Remerleitch from Guilford, student costumers at NEYT who found the first golden ticket in late November, and plan to share their prize with fellow costumer Phoebe Martel. Next up will be 7-year-old Conall Halvey from Wardsboro who came to see Willy Wonka with his grandmother and left with a grin and a golden ticket. The third winner is David Petrie of Brattleboro, who brought his family to see the show and surprised them all when he opened his chocolate bar at intermission. The fourth winner is 10-year-old Zoe Baker of Putney who capped the special gala night festivities on December 18, by finding a golden ticket in her chocolate bar. 

      The fifth golden ticket winner has yet to come forward, although all the chocolate bars have been sold since late December. “We decided to go ahead with the drawing,” said Development Director Carlotta Cuerdon. “Although we are hoping a fifth winner will show up.”  Now is the time to check any unopened bars you may have, as the theatre has set the drawing date and time of 4 p.m, on January 27 as the deadline for producing the fifth ticket. Speculation on the missing fifth ticket ranges from an out-of-towner who didn’t know about the contest, or the story of the dog that swallowed a chocolate bar wrapper and all.

      Winners will be drawing for prizes including two $500 cash prizes, a $300 gift certificate to Vermont Artisan Designs, a pass for two to all New England Youth Theatre shows in 2010, and a $200 gift card from Gamestop. More information about the contest can be  obtained by contacting the theatre at 246-6398.

NEYT - an Accessible Theatre

NEYT is making strides in becoming a more accessible theatre!  This fall we purchased four Assisted Listening Devices (ALDs).  These devices receive a signal from a microphone near the stage and they transmit the dialogue and audio action right to your ear!

And for the first time ever for a main stage production, NEYT brought in two American Sign Language Interpreters for Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka.  In the past only Theatre Adventure Program performances have been interpreted, but it is NEYT’s goal to at least provide one interpreted performance for the holiday show and maybe even the big spring production.

On top of all of that, NEYT offers reserved handicapped parking, seating, and most of the theatre is on ground level.  What is not yet wheelchair accessible are the booth, where lights and sound are operated, and the costume loft, where many of the costumes are made and stored.  There are plans in progress to build an elevator so that we can make the full technical theatre training experience available to everyone.

If you would like to assist in helping New England Youth Theatre become more accessible for people of all abilities and mobilities, please contact our general manager, Michelle, at michelle@neyt.org.  You may also make a secure donation online by clicking here.