Dear Lee and Nancy,
I cannot express how wonderful your cast and crew (of “The Altos”) were last Thursday (May, 7, 2009) evening for our Awards Banquet for the UMGMA at Deer Valley!! Everything went according to plan and the show was extraordinary! The actors were so engaging and entertaining that people were still talking about it after the show. It was fun, in good taste, and the performers were all so talented.Thank you again and please don't hesitate to contact me if you need any kind of reference.
Kathi NewmanWasatch Pediatrics/Utah Medical Group Managers Assoc.
“The Altos” Feb. 14, 2009 – The performance was wonderful! … All of the actors were wonderful!! I enjoyed their interactions and they had great stage presence!! I would definitely come to see any one of them in another performance here or anywhere!! I was there with my sister and we both thought that this dinner theater was a great treasure to find and experience! So much fun! … We enjoyed the actors sitting down with us and socializing like we were really part of the atmosphere! Thank you! … The movement of the actors weaving around the tables and interacting in every part of the room was a great way to include everybody! Nice job! Sincerely grateful for a wonderful experience and memories forever!!
Teresa
“The Altos” Feb. 13, 2009 – The performance was excellent … we’ve recommended Hunt Mysteries to many friends and family. Patti
“The Altos”Feb. 13, 2009 -- The actors were very professional. Each did a great job in their particular role, and the audience participation was just right. I already have recommend Hunt Mysteries Dinner Theater to others. It was such a fun night out!
Tricia
“Godfather of the Bride” at The Castle May 9th was “AWESOME.” My 12-year-old said he’d rather go to the mystery dinner than LAGOON!!! The Bride was amazing – so cute and funny. But everyone was great!! And the audience participation was just right! We’ve recommended Hunt Mysteries Dinner Theater to many of our friends.
Guest – Sherry Marchese
Our evening with Hunt Mysteries Dinner Theater at The Hilton Garden Inn on April 22nd “was perfect.” My family had a fantastic time! Each one of the actors did a fantastic job of staying in character, and my son thought Trixie was “hot!” The amount of audience participation was just right and the quality of the sound system was very good. We have already recommended Hunt Mysteries to others. “Thanks for a memorable experience and a good evening!”
Guest – Kimberly Hunter
“I liked all the actors” in “Godfather of the Bride” April 22nd at The Hilton Garden Inn. “Of course, we thought our son Allen was superb. I really liked Harry and Carla. I wish she had had more of a part and that there had been more interaction between the two of them.” And the audience participation was enough but not too much. We will be recommending Hunt Mysteries to our friends and associates.
Guest – A. Smith
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
Salt Lake Newspaper Editors Give Me Heartburn!
Yes, I have always had a chip on my shoulder when it comes to coverage by the Salt Lake daily newspapers.
Here are some of my favorite peeves:
1. We are theater – but a different type, and Deseret News and Tribune fail to recognize that.
2. Why do the Deseret News and Tribune review seedy rock bands, lousy movies of all ratings, review all types of musical groups and unusual acts that come to town but refuse to ever check us out?
3. We’re more than community theater – more than 100 shows each year for the past past several years.
a. And, yes, we pay our actors at least $40 each and more depending on travel, etc.
4. We’re not like Pioneer Theater or Hale Theater or even Desert Star -- but we’re still a theater option that many people enjoy on a regular basis.
a. We are a different type of entertainment that features numerous key elements of theater: musical numbers, dance numbers, comedy, mystery, scripts and even improv.
b. It's interesting that even improv groups receive a higher billing that Hunt Mysteries Dinner Theater.
5. We have a following of more than 13,000 guests who have signed up to be on our mailing list and more than 5,000 who have signed up to be on our email list.
6. Our professionalism is shown in the numerous comments from happy guests and clients.
7. Why does Deseret News refuse to look at us as legitimate but different theater?
a. I was told once by an editor that it was because we weren't legitimate theater -- whatever that means! Actually I think he meant to say mainstream theater. But theater has always been evolving, with new and different forms always being added. Mainstream theater to the Greeks were the classic tragedies. Shakespeare was ahead of his time in the circles of mainstream theater.
b. The editor said that when Hunt Mysteries had its own theater, then Hunt Mysteries would be legitimate. So Hunt Mysteries lined up a facility where we partnered in doing shows on a regular basis, and the Deseret News editors still ignored us.
8. Isn’t the definition of theater broad enough to include our style of dinner theater, which is even different from most other murder mystery groups around the country because ours are more like musicals?
9. Why doesn’t Deseret News or Tribune recognize how much Hunt Mysteries has grown, adapted and matured since Hunt Mysteries was formed more than 18 years ago -- not to mention survived?
a. Maybe because no one has done any type of review of our performances since the first year Hunt Mysteries was formed.
8. Hunt Mysteries has had favorable reviews from other publications, including City Weekly, Daily Herald, Ogden Examiner and Logan Herald Journal.
9. The Tribune editor once said in the first months of Hunt Mysteries' formation that she wouldn't give Hunt Mysteries "free" coverage because Hunt Mysteries wasn't legitimate.
a. And yet both newspapers are happy to now accept thousands of dollars from Hunt Mysteries for advertising but still won't do a review.
b. I was told once that I better stop pushing the editors to review any Hunt Mysteries shows or the paper would stop covering us altogether.
10. Once I noticed a rather lengthy commentary about a group’s great Web site, so I determined that Hunt Mysteries would create the best Web site we could. Hunt Mysteries has received many favorable comments from others, and even that editor complimented me personally on that fact. But not surprisingly, he made no mention of it in print.
a. Why not a paragraph about how great Hunt Mysteries Web site – how it lists all its shows, how you can buy tickets right off the Web site, how it has hundreds and hundreds of photos and even video of Hunt Mysteries shows and actors, including dozens of actors and actresses that win his praise when they appear in community theater or Desert Star, etc.
11. It used to be that every time Hunt Mysteries did a show, even if it was once a month, there would be a paragraph in the Deseret News Sunday arts drama story of our upcoming shows. But when Hunt Mysteries started doing shows more than once a month, the Deseret News cut back announcements about the shows to a few generic lines in Getting Out section that Hunt Mysteries does shows regularly and contact informtion.
a. The News refuses to list any details about the name of the show, specific locations, name of actors, etc. Yet almost everytime a competitor's group was mentioned, the owner's name was included and ususally with mention of his other achievements. Why is that? Elitism?
12. What makes the editors of the two Salt Lake newspapers think that a murder mystery on a train is the same type of theater as Hunt Mysteries Dinner Theater performed in a nice dinner setting, with musical numbers, professional sound and lighting systems -- plus a comedy murder mystery.
13. I felt being an employee of the Deseret News was much more of a curse than a blessing as far as Hunt Mysteries was concerned.
14. What’s the big deal about non-profit theater groups? They get funding left and right and pay their owners or bosses big salaries, like Hale Theater. Hunt Mysteries is considered a for-profit theater, but the owner, now my son Jared, doesn’t get any salary and in fact doesn’t get paid anything.
a. Virtually everything made goes back into the business. There is no special funding for Hunt Mysteries, and it can’t get a fair shake even from the local media.
Here are some of my favorite peeves:
1. We are theater – but a different type, and Deseret News and Tribune fail to recognize that.
2. Why do the Deseret News and Tribune review seedy rock bands, lousy movies of all ratings, review all types of musical groups and unusual acts that come to town but refuse to ever check us out?
3. We’re more than community theater – more than 100 shows each year for the past past several years.
a. And, yes, we pay our actors at least $40 each and more depending on travel, etc.
4. We’re not like Pioneer Theater or Hale Theater or even Desert Star -- but we’re still a theater option that many people enjoy on a regular basis.
a. We are a different type of entertainment that features numerous key elements of theater: musical numbers, dance numbers, comedy, mystery, scripts and even improv.
b. It's interesting that even improv groups receive a higher billing that Hunt Mysteries Dinner Theater.
5. We have a following of more than 13,000 guests who have signed up to be on our mailing list and more than 5,000 who have signed up to be on our email list.
6. Our professionalism is shown in the numerous comments from happy guests and clients.
7. Why does Deseret News refuse to look at us as legitimate but different theater?
a. I was told once by an editor that it was because we weren't legitimate theater -- whatever that means! Actually I think he meant to say mainstream theater. But theater has always been evolving, with new and different forms always being added. Mainstream theater to the Greeks were the classic tragedies. Shakespeare was ahead of his time in the circles of mainstream theater.
b. The editor said that when Hunt Mysteries had its own theater, then Hunt Mysteries would be legitimate. So Hunt Mysteries lined up a facility where we partnered in doing shows on a regular basis, and the Deseret News editors still ignored us.
8. Isn’t the definition of theater broad enough to include our style of dinner theater, which is even different from most other murder mystery groups around the country because ours are more like musicals?
9. Why doesn’t Deseret News or Tribune recognize how much Hunt Mysteries has grown, adapted and matured since Hunt Mysteries was formed more than 18 years ago -- not to mention survived?
a. Maybe because no one has done any type of review of our performances since the first year Hunt Mysteries was formed.
8. Hunt Mysteries has had favorable reviews from other publications, including City Weekly, Daily Herald, Ogden Examiner and Logan Herald Journal.
9. The Tribune editor once said in the first months of Hunt Mysteries' formation that she wouldn't give Hunt Mysteries "free" coverage because Hunt Mysteries wasn't legitimate.
a. And yet both newspapers are happy to now accept thousands of dollars from Hunt Mysteries for advertising but still won't do a review.
b. I was told once that I better stop pushing the editors to review any Hunt Mysteries shows or the paper would stop covering us altogether.
10. Once I noticed a rather lengthy commentary about a group’s great Web site, so I determined that Hunt Mysteries would create the best Web site we could. Hunt Mysteries has received many favorable comments from others, and even that editor complimented me personally on that fact. But not surprisingly, he made no mention of it in print.
a. Why not a paragraph about how great Hunt Mysteries Web site – how it lists all its shows, how you can buy tickets right off the Web site, how it has hundreds and hundreds of photos and even video of Hunt Mysteries shows and actors, including dozens of actors and actresses that win his praise when they appear in community theater or Desert Star, etc.
11. It used to be that every time Hunt Mysteries did a show, even if it was once a month, there would be a paragraph in the Deseret News Sunday arts drama story of our upcoming shows. But when Hunt Mysteries started doing shows more than once a month, the Deseret News cut back announcements about the shows to a few generic lines in Getting Out section that Hunt Mysteries does shows regularly and contact informtion.
a. The News refuses to list any details about the name of the show, specific locations, name of actors, etc. Yet almost everytime a competitor's group was mentioned, the owner's name was included and ususally with mention of his other achievements. Why is that? Elitism?
12. What makes the editors of the two Salt Lake newspapers think that a murder mystery on a train is the same type of theater as Hunt Mysteries Dinner Theater performed in a nice dinner setting, with musical numbers, professional sound and lighting systems -- plus a comedy murder mystery.
13. I felt being an employee of the Deseret News was much more of a curse than a blessing as far as Hunt Mysteries was concerned.
14. What’s the big deal about non-profit theater groups? They get funding left and right and pay their owners or bosses big salaries, like Hale Theater. Hunt Mysteries is considered a for-profit theater, but the owner, now my son Jared, doesn’t get any salary and in fact doesn’t get paid anything.
a. Virtually everything made goes back into the business. There is no special funding for Hunt Mysteries, and it can’t get a fair shake even from the local media.
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