The Kitchen Theatre Company's Dance the Night Away Raises $48,000

The Kitchen Theatre Company's Dance the Night Away party on March 23, 2013 was the most successful fund raising event in the theater's history.

A total of $48,000 was raised through ticket sales, corporate sponsorship and individual sponsorships of "celebrity dancers." Attendees danced to the music of Little Joe and the Big Shots and enjoyed dance exhibitions, including: the Cha-Cha (Mayor Svante Myrick, County Legislator Nate Shinagawa, and Director of Cornell University's Asian & Asian American Center Patricia Nguyen); Lindy Hop (Audrey Edelman of Audrey Edelman RealtyUSA and Stephen Nunley, KTC Managing Director); West Coast Swing (KTC Associate Producer Lesley Greene with Anneke & Robbert van Renesse); Western Waltz (Jamie Morrisey & Carolyn M. McDaniel from Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine); Charleston (Cheryl Mitchell and Jamie Morrisey, KTC Board) and Polka (Tompkins Trust Company's Thomas Evans & KTC intern Emily Jackson). In a surprise last minute change, Rob de la Fuente replaced Tompkins County SPCA Executive Director Jim Bouderau and danced the Tango with Stephen Nunley. Other highlights included Tompkins Trust Company President and CEO Greg Hartz ice dancing with NYC theater director Margarett Perry. In a gentle competition, the dancer who raised the most won a trip to NYC. This year's winner was Audrey Edelman, who raised a total of $7080!

Corporate sponsors of the event included Lead Sponsor CFCU Community Credit Union and Event Sponsors Allergy Associates, Cayuga Medical Center, Cornell University Hospital for Animals, Incodema, James Orcutt Real Estate, Tompkins Trust Company and Travis Hyde Properties.

Dance the Night Away was organized by Kitchen Theatre staff and the Gala Committee: Cheryl Mitchell - Chair, Dianne Orcutt - Vice Chair, Bruce Berkman, Jim Bouderau, Karen Brown, KElly Jackson, Susan Johnston, Perri LoPinto, Jamie Morrisey, and Karen Powers.

Funds raised from this event support the Kitchen Theatre Company's year-round season in its still-new home at 417 West Martin Luther King, Jr. Street, Ithaca, NY. Kitchen Theatre Company is grateful to the community for supporting this important event.

Bold, intimate, engaging... Kitchen Theatre Company (KTC), in its 22nd season, is downtown Ithaca's critically acclaimed and nationally recognized year-round professional theater company, specializing in regional and world premiere plays and musicals. KTC's intimate 99-seat theater is in its newly renovated "green" building in the West End neighborhood of downtown Ithaca, New York. KTC is the first not-for-profit recipient of the David R. Strong Memorial "Small Business of the Year" Award from the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce and receives public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, the Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency, and the Tompkins County Tourism Program. The Kitchen Theatre Company also receives general operating support from the Shubert Foundation.

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