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Bidders share theatre gift with Grand Lake

by Cyndi Palmer
Sky-Hi Daily News
December 14, 2007

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Christmas show

When: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 19
Where: Grand Lake Community House
Cost: Free
Info.: (970) 627-5087, rmrtgrandlake@aol.com

    A special invitation has been extended to the public to join Carol McMurray and Pat Spieles as they enjoy the first-ever Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre Christmas Show in Grand Lake.

    The show features stage stars Mary Nye and Emily Kish and was an auction item McMurray and Spieles won at the 2007 RMRT Cabaret and All That Jazz event. The two, who are avid supporters of the local theatre company, decided to share the festivities with the entire community.

    Carol Wolff, RMRT’s executive director, said this was just another way the theatre company and its stars wanted to give back to the community.

    “We could not be happier that Carol and Pat won us in the auction,” said Nye, who agreed with Kish to offer the show as an auction item.

    The cabaret show and auction night had always been the best night of the summer in Grand Lake for Kish, who said “It makes me incredibly proud that with the help of some wonderfully generous people and my voice, I feel like I get to help raise the money to make the dreams for my favorite little theatre come true.”

    She said she wanted to come up with an auction item that would possibly make a new record for the highest bid, and had always had friends from the county tell her they hated waiting all winter for the theatre company to return.

    “I thought maybe it would be worth it to someone to bring us to Grand Lake in the winter to entertain them,” she said. “Christmas seemed like the perfect time.”
Nye said she lives for the holidays, usually putting up a Christmas tree in early November each and every year.

    “I still get just as excited to see Christmas lights and decorations as I did when I was a child,” she said. “I love it all.”

    This is the very first time the two talented actresses will see Colorado in the wintertime, with the theatre company here only during the summer and early fall months. Nye, a southern girl used to 60-degree winter weather, admits she’s excited for her first chance to see real snow.

    With Grand Lake and RMRT as huge parts of her life, she said she feels the community has helped shape her character.

    “The exciting part for me is that this town I hold so dear is about to get even more special as I see it in all its snowy glory,” Nye said.

    She has been busy getting the props and costumes together, with simplicity in mind, she said, and hopefully their traveling wardrobes include some longjohns to keep the Colorado chill off. She said it will definitely feel like Christmas at the Historical Community House for the show and that she hopes “the audience comes down with a case of the warm fuzzies after watching the show.”

    Kish said she “can’t imagine doing this show with anyone else.” She and Nye performed for three summers together and Nye was her roommate for two of them.

    Neither would spill the jellybeans about what to expect, just that audience members will hear a lot of Christmas classics, solos, duets, sing-a-longs and surprises.

    Kish, who is putting the music together for the program, said she just has some lyrics to work out and then she’ll be ready to share the holiday with her extended Grand Lake family.

    “I think Grand Lake is the best place in the world,” she said. “The people I have met there, mostly through RMRT, are the most incredible and giving people that I have ever met. They have welcomed me into their homes and hearts and I am so lucky to have that with me — now even in the winter months, too.”

    There is no charge for this special one-of-a-kind performance, but seating is limited and interested parties must call or stop by the RMRT office above Black Bear Bakery in Grand Lake to pick up tickets. Guests are also invited to join Kish and Nye at a post-show party at the Bear’s Den after the performance for refreshments.

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