Latest Milford Cabinet Article

Riverbend Youth Company to Celebrate 5 Year Anniversary In Style
By Janine Leffler


Riverbend Youth Company is celebrating its Five Year Anniversary and it will be like no celebration you have ever seen!
Aly McKnight , a senior at Souhegan High School in Amherst is organizing the event as part of senior project. Senior Project is a self-directed research project which all seniors at Souhegan must complete in order to graduate. McKnight’s essential question is, What are the essential elements of bringing together a community to celebrate and recognize supporters of local youth theater?. When asked about her project McKnight explained “My research for this question entails that I learn about event-planning, marketing, and many elements of theater production. I have learned by doing book and database research, but most of what I have learned has come from what other people have taught me. I learned how to design a web page from Meg Petersen, how to effectively market and organize various aspects of production from Jennifer Whitney, and I've been advised every step of the way by Robin Lacroix and Susan Taylor at the Boys and Girls Club. This project has been a great way to learn from a variety of people with different talents and skills in event-planning and the performing arts.”
McKnight’s goal behind planning this event is “To celebrate the past five years, because every member of the Riverbend community has contributed to working toward the mission of Riverbend Theater and the Boys and Girls Club of Souhegan Valley. In the five years that Riverbend Theater has existed, some absolutely amazing, inspiring, and important events have taken place. What started with one show has grown into an annual season with three main stage productions, a one-act play festival, a summer theater troupe, summer theater camps, theater classes, and a growing amount of student-run productions. This event is meant to be an opportunity to recognize the fact that so many people have worked toward helping kids to "Be Great" through theater and the performing arts. It is a time to be proud of individual accomplishments, but more importantly, to be proud of the things that we have accomplished together as an organization, and to look forward to great things to come in the future. Whether you are an audience member, a performer, a parent, a crew member, a director, a music director, a choreographer, a sibling, a volunteer, or one of the many others who smiles when they think of Riverbend, the goal of the event is to celebrate you and all that you have done to make youth theater in your community such a great success!”

McKnight has organized this exciting event which includes a potluck supper, an awards show and performances of musical numbers from past Riverbend shows. When asked about the nomination process and the types of awards that will be given, McKnight explained “The awards are designed to recognize the moments and people that have made the Riverbend Youth Company and the Riverbend School of Theater Arts such incredible organizations to a be part of. There are nine awards, each of which recognizes a moment, musical number, person, or quote that has positively affected the Riverbend community. Audience members, parents, performers, crew members, and other people involved in Riverbend productions were encouraged to send nominations to a committee. The committee is now in the process of choosing the top three or four nominees from each category, and people will have the opportunity to go to the website for the celebration and vote for their favorite nominee. Various guests within the Riverbend organizations will present the awards to the winners the night of the event.”

McKnight said putting this event together has been both stressful and fun, “I've had a lot of research and work to do over the past few months, but every time I spend time with people through theater at the Boys and Girls Club, I remember exactly why it is worth all that work. This celebration has been such a team effort, and I've had so much fun working on it with every person involved. I'm really excited to see how the event turns out all together.”

The Riverbend Youth Company 5 Year Anniversary Celebration will take place on Saturday evening February 19th at the Boys and Girls Club of Souhegan Valley located at 56 Mont Vernon Street in Milford. The potluck supper will begin at 6pm. The Awards Ceremony will begin at 7pm. The tickets for the event are $5. Tickets can be purchased in advance by contacting Robin LaCroix at the Boys and Girls Club of Souhegan Valley at 672-1002, or at rlacroix@svbgc.org. The evening requires semi-formal attire, and people are asked to bring a dish to share if they plan to attend the pot-luck dinner.

For further information about the Riverbend 5 Year Anniversary Party and how you can help go to https://sites.google.com/site/riverbend5year/ Please come out and celebrate a truly amazing local youth theatre company and see how far they have come!