Preview & KCF Fundraiser: You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown

Woodminster Summer Musicals
Oakland's Summer Theater Under the Stars
Summer 2012 – 46th consecutive season of musical theater in Oakland's beautiful Joaquin Miller Park

Press contact: Kathy Kahn, woodminsterpr@yahoo.com, 510-418-8523
Theater contact: Harriet Schlader, harriet@woodminster.com, 510-531-9597

PRESS RELEASE (For immediate release)

Woodminster Announces Kids Come Free Fundraising Campaign
Corporate Support Dwindling, Organization Calling on Community to Keep Program Alive
Special May Performance of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown to Launch Season-Long Fundraising Push

March 7, 2012, Oakland, CA -- Producers Associates, Inc., producer of Oakland's Woodminster Summer Musicals, announces a special fundraising campaign to help support the Kids Come Free program the organization has offered since 1998. The program has traditionally been paid for exclusively by corporate and foundation grants, but after the loss of the major funder this year, Producers Associates is seeking community donations to continue it. The season-long fundraising campaign seeks to raise $25,000.

The Kids Come Free program provides free tickets to children and teens 16 and younger who are accompanying paying adults to a performance. Says Harriet Schlader, Managing Director, "Our mission has always been to present high quality, but affordable, family entertainment. Live theater, especially musical theater, has become so expensive to produce, that a lot of families have simply been priced out of the experience. With Kids Come Free, a family can see live professional musical theater for about the cost of an evening at the movies. We are committed to continuing this program, and we think our audiences will help us do that."

To launch the campaign, Producers Associates has announced a special pre-season production of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. The show will play only two performances, on Sunday, May 6 at 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Seating will be limited, with only 300 per performance. Tickets are $15, children and teens 16 and younger $10, and are available through the Woodminster box office, 510-339-0241.

Tickets are also available now for Woodminster Summer Musicals' 2012 season, which will open with "Fiddler on the Roof" July 13-22. The second show, performed August 10-19, will be "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum." Woodminster's 2012 season will close with the musical phenomenon, "Cats," September 7-16. See woodminster.com for information about regular tickets, season tickets, flex passes, group tickets, and Kids Come Free.

Woodminster Summer Musicals are performed under the stars at Woodminster Amphitheater, an open-air performance facility in Joaquin Miller Park high in the Oakland Hills. The park's spectacular views and serene woodsy environment made it the perfect setting for the amphitheater, cascades, reflecting pool, and paths that were originally built as a WPA project in 1939-40. For many East Bay families, it is a long-standing summer tradition to enjoy a picnic in the park and then see a musical at Woodminster.

Producers Associates, Inc. was founded in 1967 by the late James Schlader (who in May 2010 at age 96) and his wife, Harriet, to provide affordable live summer family entertainment in the East Bay, and to foster a love of live theatre. For more than four decades, the organization, in partnership with the Oakland Park and Rec Department, has been producing summer musicals at Woodminster Amphitheater. Healthy season tickets sales, attendance by groups, and special opportunities for families have made Woodminster shows the best attended performances in Oakland. For more information about the 2012 season or history of the organization, visit http://www.woodminster.com.

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