Taking It On!
I don’t like to feel helpless in the face of all the horrors that of been done because we as a culture keep ignoring the issue of mental health and I wanted to help in some way, to be proactive.-Terri New
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Producer and Director - Terri New
Guests will step back into the 1920s at “The Don’s Speakeasy,” where they will become part of the performance - and part of solving this ingeniously clever who-done-it. ..."I just want you to know that you're fabulous extravaganza is getting soo much great Buzz around town. On all counts of the different facets of it. They are declaring it "the best event they've been to in years" & "best time ever", " over the top fun" "excellent production for such a good cause" "the most entertaining evening", "we a loved how you interacted with us, weaving us into story lines, so much fun."
Logo and Poster Design
Had fun creating these! Love detailed and elaborate! ...And the Art Deco era has such a great feel.
Rehearsals
People helping people and having fun doing it. Building community and working for a great cause.
THE DON'S SPEAKEASY MURDER MYSTERY DINNER
FUNDRAISER for The West Yavapai Guidance Clinic Foundation
This very successful event was Produced and Directed by Terri New. (All videos, photography and graphics for the production were created by Terri New)"I have to say this project was a labor of love for me. I had been in their first fundraising murder mystery with my husband the year before. I thought it was wonderful, but I thought ‘Wow we could really kick this up a notch.’ So I took it on as a production project. A couple of months into it the director of the show couldn’t do it, so I ended up taking on that role as well.
We also had Silent and Live
Auctions to add to the bank!...And an opening scene “Big
Spender” to kick off the silent auction with a flash mob with all of
the cast and our volunteers with dance moves and singing. We had a
terrific choreographer Alexa Hannah-Niekamp.
The West Yavapai Guidance Clinic Foundation exists to raise funds for transformational treatment programs, and to stand with you when you or someone you love is navigating a mental health challenge. When essential therapeutic services go beyond a client’s financial ability, the Foundation steps in to fill that gap. We also provide free community mental health education as well as information about substance use disorders, and work to eliminate stigma around mental illness
https://www.wygcfoundation.org/
Poster, Logo and Collateral Designs
It is great fun to create imagery in a stylized fashion. One of my favorite things to do is coordinate the “LOOK”... all those fine details in every aspect of the production.
Set Design
I was going for a lavish, bigger than life feel in the set design. There is nothing like working with can-do positive folks and Candace Packard and team worked hard to deliver a great set! Allen's Flowers also contributed so much to the table decor and the vavoom set flower arrangements!
Silent & Live Auctions
We upped the ante this year with auctions!... Both Silent and Live. We had over 70 wonderful offerings in the Silent Auction orchestrated by Danielle Adams ( my daughter) . The Live Auction featured, A's Diamond Tickets, 2 Golf Packages and an African Safari! The Auctioneer was non other than Louis van Tonder of Photo-Safaris.com (And my husband)...Keep the family active! ...And they were so appreciated!
Messaging
I had a concept in mind for the messaging script "The Human Connection" and both Tamara Player and Cindy Brown of WYGC loved it! We built on the importance of connection instead of... we do this... we do that. We did have a tough time quieting down the crowd who were in the mist of their merriment and we learned some things about crowd control, but the overriding message is still strong!
Deep and genuine connection with another human is seemingly what we are searching. Connection is the magic that is born out of souls feeling at home when they are with each other.
Fascinator Workshop
During the 1920s, American flappers wore headbands and cocktail hats to complete their look! I heard someone say in a committee meeting what if we had a workshop for people for making costumes?! Thus the plan was hatched! One of the aims was engendering community and this workshop did just that. I had great help from the Elks Guild and they had a gal, Sue McDonald a professional hat maker who made 'fascinators. So folks came and made those charming feather, blingy hats gals wore in that era. So our attendees could be “fascinating”... or should say more fascinating!
Audience Participation
New Names on entry! The audience had fun playing along in their new personas as big bad boys and gals. We had plants in the crowd to relay important clues that might be missed and also to engender conversation and friendliness. We wanted to build on what people said about last year's event... "friendliest time ever!"
