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Their Aunt Lauren will treat 5-year-old

  • September 19, 2011 at 7:30 pm

September 18

By Mary Therese Biebel mbiebel@timesleader.comFeatures Writer

Their Aunt Lauren will treat 5-year-old Brenden and 2-year-old Nicholas to the show, their mom, Alisa Scarantino, will come along to help take care of the boys, and they all expect to have a grand time at the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts.

“Any time you go to the Kirby, you feel like you’re going someplace special,” Scarantino, 34, of Dunmore, said last week, shortly after she picked up the tickets to next month’s “Max and Ruby: Bunny Party” at the box office.

That’s just the kind of sentiment Marilyn Santarelli likes to hear.

“what I become most excited about,” the executive director said, “is about how the Kirby Center is perceived in the community. It’s all really, really positive. That’s what it’s all about.”

For 25 years the Kirby, which celebrates its quarter-century mark this month, has given the community the opportunity to experience everything from opera to folk music to kids shows to rock concerts to international films.

“(My daughter) Iris and I saw a great one about Africa,” said Kirby fan Gary Johnson, 60, of Sweet Valley, who also enjoys Philharmonic performances and was thrilled to see B.B. King in concert.

“I couldn’t believe I was seeing him in person,” added Johnson’s wife, Louise Edwards, 67, who has admired the jazz great for years.

This month’s headliner, who will kick off the 25th-anniversary season with a Sept. 30 concert, is Motown legend Diana Ross.

“We have about 20 tickets left,” Kirby staffer will Beekman said Tuesday.

“thank God,” said Santarelli, thrilled that so many patrons are willing to pay for tickets ranging from $79.50 to $99.50 to $125 for the big-name act.

Other shows take a smaller bite from the wallet. you can see comedian Paula Poundstone and her ever-present can of Diet Pepsi on Oct. 14 for $19 to $29, for example, or the King Arthur spoof “Monty Python’s Spamalot” for $29, $49 or $59 on Oct. 15.

Kid-friendly fare such as “Max and Ruby,” which stars a pair of bunny siblings, offer tickets at $19, $23 and $33, while the “Haunted Illusion” magic act is $15.50 for children and $25.50 for adults. The Young People’s Theater tickets, for shows such as “Charlotte’s Web” on Jan. 30 and “Alice in Wonderland” on May 18, are $6.50 each.

“We’re all about accessibility,” Santarelli said, explaining the Kirby has given away hundreds of tickets, underwritten by donors and distributed to underserved families through social-service agencies. “The United way has been a big help with that, and Head Start.”

Sometimes, the Kirby sends artists into the community, too, as when magician Stephen Knight went to the John Heinz Institute and taught therapists some simple sleight-of-hand tricks they could use with their patients.

Another time, a family-friendly act appeared on the small stage at Heights-Murray Elementary School in Wilkes-Barre. “that saved them the hassles of transportation and permission slips,” Santarelli said.

The Kirby’s gifts to the community include a teachers’ in-service program, through which educators can earn credits as they learn ways to introduce the arts to their classrooms, and a Kirby Kidz Summer Theater workshop that allows teens as well as younger children to study various aspects of theater

Another Kirby treat, planned for the coming season – though not finalized — will be free films designed to match the holidays. There will be something scary for Halloween, something romantic for Valentine’s Day, etc.

Proud of the depth and breadth of the 2011-2012 schedule, Santarelli said it’s part of the Kirby’s mission to expose the region to classic opera, such as Teatro Lirico D’Europa’s version of “La Boheme” and straight (non-musical) plays such as the father/daughter mathematical mystery “Proof.”

Concerts such as the Philadelphia-based jam band The Disco Biscuits, who played the Kirby in 2010, or The Pink Floyd Experience tribute band, set for Feb. 21, attract audiences who might be a bit more rambunctious than the opera crowd, but they’re welcome, too.

They tend to be enthusiastic, but they do behave, Santarelli said.

“I think people have respect for the Kirby Center,” the executive director continued. “besides, if you’re a 15- to 20-year-old person coming to a rock concert and the person who takes your ticket is a white-haired, 80-year-old usher, what are you going to think?”

Hmm. that Grandma is here so you’d better behave?

That’s right, Santarelli agreed with a chuckle.

“Some of them are a little raucous. they like to get up and dance in the aisles, but they don’t do any harm,” said Kirby volunteer Alice Teufel, a Kingston grandmother who has been ushering people to their seats for at least eight years. “you meet the coolest people.”

“It’s a great way to serve the area, and there’s also the camaraderie. Plus, of course, the wonderful shows,” she said, explaining she hopes to see Diana Ross later this month.

“There are so many good shows,” she said, admitting a particular preference for the Philharmonic’s holiday show with its Christmas tunes and March of the Toy Soldiers. “It’s just so right. you think, yes, this is perfect.”

The volunteers do wonderful work, Santarelli said, and her staff consists of “silent heroes.”

“They’re here from 6 a.m. on the day of a show to 1 o’clock the next morning,” she said, adding the group couldn’t work so hard if it didn’t “live and breathe for the arts.”

And bringing the arts to everyone is what it’s all about.

“when we see a child, maybe someone who came here for the first time, leaving here with a smile from ear to ear,” Santarelli said, “that’s our reward.”

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Their Aunt Lauren will treat 5-year-old

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