ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
Valentine’s Day is near, and for the fifth year in a row, Liberal’s Rainbow Players is giving lovers a fun way to celebrate.
This Feb. 14, the community theater group will present its fifth annual “An Evening of Romance” at the Friends Family Center at 1650 N. Western Ave. in Liberal.
Rainbow Players Board President Maddy Sander said she and others are thrilled to put on the event, which she said will be very similar to the event’s first four editions.
“For those of you who have been there before, we’re excited to redo the magic, and we’re excited it landed on Feb. 14 this year,” she said. “We will be having catered food with live jazz music. We will have a live auction with different items for future dates or gifts for your loved one, and the Boy Scouts of America will bring you a three-course meal. We’ll top it off again with music and love. We’re excited to bring this back to Liberal for the fifth time.”
Sander said “An Evening of Romance” is one of her favorite events she gets to participate in as a performer.
“It’s such an intimate and beautiful event we’ve been able to put on and bring to the community,” she said. “The last four years, we have been so blessed with the turnout from the community and the ability to share art with Southwest Kansas.”
Sander said the event has done well in its first four years, and Rainbow Players is grateful to its community partners who help put on the event, which helps fund the theater group’s summer musical.
“This has been really instrumental in making some of those bigger shows happen,” she said. “We were able to do ‘The Sound of Music’ and ‘Willy Wonka’ rather than a smaller show in the past, and it’s due directly to being able to have fundraisers like these and the support of the community.”
With the success of the first four editions of “An Evening of Romance,” Sander is confident of the event continuing its run in Liberal.
“It’s something we’ve been able to do that’s been so successful,” she said. “We’ve had wonderful feedback from those who’ve come. I love getting to do these type of things where you see the same people coming back and some new faces as well, being able to grow it from year to year.”
Sander has been involved with Rainbow Players for 13 years, with many of those as a board member, and she said she is still seeing new faces getting involved in community theater.
“A lot of the time, you see the same faces show up, and there’s a beauty to that, but last year, we had so many new people come to audition and come to support Rainbow Players,” she said.
Among those new faces are many high school students getting involved in the summer production, as well as some new board members.
“We have a bit of a transition, but an exciting one,” Sander said. “You’re going to see familiar faces, but we’re bringing in new people on to the stage you haven’t seen before.”
Sander said she likes seeing new people make connections with theater.
“We have an opportunity for growth, for new faces or bring back people who maybe haven’t graced the stage in a while,” she said. “Rainbow Players is in a good place, and part of that is due to fundraisers like this.”
Sander said she could not be more pleased with the impact “An Evening of Romance” has had on the funding for Rainbow Players.
“We are at this point where we get to show off our talents and partner with the community, with both trying to be mutually beneficial,” she said.
As the Rainbow Players group loves making art in the community, Sander said they too want to support the community.
“We’re not only taking, but we’re also giving,” she said. “When we get to do events like this where we feature some of these really cool products or these cool experiences from businesses we have in the area you can bid on, we can showcase them.”
Sander said Rainbow Players also wants to be mutually beneficial partners.
“It’s not just something where we’re asking for money, and you don’t see it,” she said. “We’re hoping we can help too. Both partnerships get to see that benefit, reap that reward, and it’s a fundraiser like this that makes that possible.”
As for what this year’s summer production will be, Sander would not say, but she did say those who attend “An Evening of Romance” can find out this information.
“This is where we reveal it,” she said. “We have done a really good job this year of not leaking anything.”
“An Evening of Romance” typically takes place on the second Saturday in February, and for the first time in the event’s history, that day is Valentine’s Day this year. With both Valentine’s Day and Saturday night’s ties to date nights, Sander said this makes this year’s event the perfect date night for lovers.
“You get all of the flash and the glamour of this beautiful event,” she said. “From a date night standpoint, Valentine’s Day’s finally fallen on that Saturday. I could not think of a better opportunity for a couple or even a group of friends, treat yourself and know every dollar you spend turns into future entertainment. It’s perfect. It’s such a romantic evening.”
Tickets for “An Evening of Romance” are $35 for singles and $65 for couples and can be obtained through a link on the Rainbow Players/Liberal Community Theater Facebook page or by calling Trina Fosdick at 620-655-5934. That price includes a meal with a choice of chicken or steak.
Sander said all of the money raised goes into creating art and to a non-profit.
“We turn every single dollar back to the community through the creation of music, art, entertainment and theater,” she said.
“An Evening of Romance” starts at 7 p.m. Feb. 14, with the doors opening at 6:30 p.m. at the Friends Family Center. Sander said those who come are in store for a romantic evening
“It doesn’t have to be a date night situation, but this is the perfect date,” she said. “You’re in for the soft lighting, the mood music. It’s delicious food. You’re getting to see these young leaders come out and serve the community, serve your loved ones with laughter and music and art and community. It’s absolutely decadent.”
For more information about “An Evening of Romance” or to get involved with local community theater, call Fosdick, visit the Rainbow Players Facebook page, or see Sander at the Saints Bookstore at Seward County Community College.
“Come talk to me, and I would love to point you in that direction,” Sander said. “We can work with the college’s theater as well and make those connections and make that happen.”
Sander said this year’s edition of “An Evening of Romance” is not to be missed.
“We can only have a certain amount of people in that space,” she said. “The earlier you get tickets, the better. We do have to have those numbers in by Feb. 9. Because of the fact we cater this out, we can’t have people come in at the door and be able to serve them.”
Sander said she is absolutely thrilled for what will take place this Valentine’s Day at the Friends Family Center.
“This event means a lot to me and those of us at Rainbow Players who’ve been putting it on,” she said. “It’s something we look forward to. The closer it gets, the more the excitement builds. We have been building up to this pinnacle for the last five years. We’ve enjoyed the support of the community.”
Sander said she feels a more perfect opportunity for romance cannot be found in the area.
“This is special,” she said. “I am beyond thrilled to be able to be a part of it, to continue to get to perform with it, to get to create it and to be a part of this organization that is so welcoming and so wonderful. It’s a bunch of people who love art and want to create it, and there’s nothing better.”
