Millbrook Board of Directors Honors its Best at Royalty Dinner

The Board of Directors are announcing Millbrook's annual Royalty Dinner to be held at Haywood's on the Green on June 15th, 2019.

Each year Millbrook must pay fees to secure the rights to perform the various shows offered to the community. These fees, which total more than $30,000 this year, are called royalties, thus the Royalty Dinner. This year's event will be held on Saturday, June 15 at Haywood's on the Green in Mill Hall. The evening begins with hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar at 6pm followed by dinner, entertainment by the Mamma Mia Cast, and a few honors for some special Millbrook folks. Our Board Members work very hard and contribute to the Playhouse in various ways. This year we've chosen to recognize Martena Rogers as our Honored Board Member for her many years of dedication and hard work at Millbrook Playhouse. Carl and Carol Watkins are the recipients of the first Millbrook Patrons Award. Each year they sponsor a show, including this year's show The Million Dollar Quartet. Their generosity helps us to continue to bring live theater to central Pennsylvania. Each year Ray McGill and Ute Rich of Nittany Travel organize a fundraiser cruise. Over the past several years, they have helped to raise over $20K for the Playhouse. They will be receiving the Philanthropy Award. Lastly, this year there will be a special surprise Spirit of Millbrook award as well. At 8:30, DJ Kline Williams will get us movin' and groovin' with a disco dance party. Wear your business casual or your disco best- whichever you prefer!

In October 1988, Ray purchased Nittany Travel and then expanded offices throughout Pennsylvania and Delaware. He was operating up to 6 locations simultaneously and had grown the business from that Matchbook advertisement to sales of 10 million dollars in just a few years. Today, Ray has rolled all the locations into one and the agents work with customers all over the world. They continue to maintain about 4 million in sales.

Ute Rich and her husband, John, were on the Millbrook board and with the financials, always trying to raise money; Ute came up with a fun way to raise money, which was the idea of a fundraiser cruise that Carnival had advertised. Between Ute and Ray, they have been running these fundraiser cruises since 2005.

Carl and Carol Watkins; Carl went to Lock Haven High School and earned a BS Degree in Accounting from Penn State University. Carl served our country in the Army as an Airborne paratrooper during the Vietnam era. Upon his honorable discharge from the Army, Carl married Carol L. Cattoni from Mill Hall, PA and moved to Sterling, VA. Carol also went to Lock Haven High School and earned her degree in Education from Lock Haven University. Carl started his own IT company in 1973, and Carol worked within the Pennsylvania and Virginia School Systems. Carl is the CEO of his IT corporation (CWI) and a horse rancher (CW Ranch), while Carol now devotes her time to managing their children and grandchildren. Carl & Carol generously support the Lock Haven University, Millbrook and many other local charitable, religious and political organizations.

Martena Rogers has served on the Millbrook board of directors since 2012 and is a retired teacher with degrees in Music Education and Theatre. She has worked with several local arts organizations including the Community Theatre League of Williamsport, the Community Choir of Renovo, just to name a few. Martena has directed and music directed several shows for these organizations. Most recently, she directed the Radio Active Players in Williamsport. Some of her favorite shows include; Forever Plaid, My Vaudeville Man, The Marvelous Wonderettes, and Life Could Be a Dream. Martena's diverse talents have enabled her to take on not only directing but performing duties. In 2016 she played Vera in Smoke On the Mountain, and Stephanie Crawford in last year's production of To Kill A Mockingbird.

Tickets are on sale now! You may participate at three different price levels: King/Queen- $100/person; Prince/Princess -$75/person or Duke/Duchess- $50/person. We hope you'll be as generous as possible to help make our 56th season the most successful yet! Please RSVP by calling the Millbrook Playhouse Box Office at (570) 748-8083 or at www.millbrookplayhouse.org.