Season’s Greetings from Tecumseh Center for the Arts!
 
We are halfway through our 42nd season at Tecumseh Center for the Arts; with just a few weeks remaining of 2022. It's been an incredible year for us as the theater – 2022 saw a return to a more normal calendar of events. We completed our HVAC project, made progress on our new coat room, and began raising funds for the new outdoor music park. In addition, we have a full schedule with a six show National Touring Season, an exciting lineup of Special Events, and most of our renters returning this season. The theater staff is also back at full capacity including four staff members, six high school student technicians, and a growing volunteer usher corp. It fills our hearts with joy to see the TCA family back together again.
 
The Tecumseh community and our loyal patrons from around Lenawee County and beyond, continue to inspire us. Your commitment to this theater, your support of the performing arts, and your passion for its future is incredible. It’s this spirit of community and collaboration that propels us forward and allows us to be creative in our programming. For that, we thank you! As the holidays approach, we are excited to share the stage with Tecumseh Youth Theatre, Tecumseh Pops Orchestra & Community Chorus, the TCA Big Band & VocalAires, Tecumseh Players, Tecumseh Public Schools, and MST Dance Center.
 
If you are unable to attend an upcoming event but would like to support the TCA; we have options available to you.

• Gift Certificates make a wonderful stocking stuffer.
• Discounted tickets to the last four remaining National Touring Shows can still be purchased as a Season Ticket holder. Individual tickets can also be purchased!
• During December, you can purchase an engraved nameplate on an auditorium seat as part of our Take A Seat Campaign. Normally $250, you can purchase this gift for just $100 during the holiday season.
• We are also kicking off our new Take A Seat – Outdoor Bench Campaign. Individuals can have their family’s name engraved on an outdoor bench in our Art – Sculpture – Music Park; to be unveiled in 2023. Each of the six benches will be a unique, custom designed wooden bench by a local woodworker.
• Last, you can support us as an annual donor. We have a goal of raising $10,000 this holiday season from individual donors to help support the theater’s season. To date, we’ve raised just over $5,000. This money allows us to employ six high school students on a part-time basis, and offsets our overhead costs from snow removal to advertising and building maintenance.

 
Information on our upcoming events and these fundraising campaigns can be found on our website. If you’d like to support the TCA this season, simply visit our website at www.TheTCA.org/donate to make an online donation.
 
We hope you have a wonderful holiday season, and we look forward to seeing you soon at the TCA!
 
Cheers,
 
 
Kelly Jo Gilmore
Director | Tecumseh Center for the Arts | [email protected]

Tecumseh Center for the Arts, in collaboration with Tecumseh Players and the TCA Big Band & VocalAires, presents the WTCA Radio Show, A Christmas Carol.  Back by popular demand, the show harkens back to the days of the Golden Age of Radio, with great swing-era music, drama, comedy, sound effects, local commercials - both current and past, and “news of the day.”  With a nod to "Sister Station" and WTCA Radio Show sponsor, WLEN - 103.9FM, it all adds up to a truly unique experience for audience members and performers alike!

Based on radio shows of the 1940’s, the WTCA Radio Show, A Christmas Carol tells Charles Dickens’ classic tale of Ebenezer Scrooge and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. Under the Artistic Direction of Joyce Lancaster, and Musical Direction of Mark Felder, 40 cast members, 25 TCA Big Band members, and 4 live sound effects artists will bring Scrooge and friends to life on the TCA stage.

In addition to the radio drama, A Christmas Carol, the TCA Big Band & VocalAires will perform such classics as White Christmas, The Christmas Song, Home for the Holidays, Winter Wonderland, Jingle Bells, and many more.  The group, which features a full big band compliments of 5 saxes, 4 trombones, 5 trumpets, 4 rhythm, and 6 vocalists, will pay special tribute during the performance to Big Band great, Glenn Miller, lost over the English Channel in 1944 with the song, American Patrol.

There are three opportunities to see and hear this holiday classic performed live on the TCA stage – Saturday, December 10 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., and Sunday, December 11 at 2:00 p.m. Tickets for the WTCA Radio Show, A Christmas Carol, are priced at $15 each and are available through the TCA Box Office.  Call 517-423-6617 or stop by the Box Office in person at 400 N. Maumee, Tecumseh from 12 (Noon) – 5 p.m. to pick up your tickets.  You can also go online at www.TheTCA.org 24-hours a day and make your purchase. 
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Doors open 1 hour prior to each performance, with concessions available for purchase in the lobby. Special thank you to this year’s sponsors including Vision Performance Group and WLEN 103.9 fm. With a multi-generational cast, backed by the TCA Big Band & VocalAires, and members of the First Presbyterian Church Bell Choir, the WTCA Radio Show, A Christmas Carol promises to bring all your senses to life.  See you at the theater!

Tecumseh Center for the Arts (TCA) has partnered with Elizabeth Ruthruff Wilson Foundation to provide a free Veterans Day concert for the community in honor of local veterans and their families on Friday, November 11 at 7:00 PM. The free event includes guest speakers City of Tecumseh Mayor Jack Baker and City Council Member & United States Marine Corp Veteran Austin See, prior to a musical performance by the Dodworth Saxhorn Band (DSB).
 
Today’s Dodworth Saxhorn Band is modeled after the Dodworth Band of New York City, which was the premier brass band in the United States from the 1840s to the 1880s. The original Dodworth Band was directed by brothers Allen and Harvey Dodworth who were among the most highly respected musicians and bandmasters of the 19th Century. In 1985 musical instrument collector Alexander Pollock created the modern DSB as a living history project.
 
In keeping with its living history origins, the DSB uses only brass and percussion instruments that were built in the 1800s. The antique horns are conical-bore instruments commonly called “saxhorns.” These handmade saxhorns are pitched higher than modern 21st Century brass instruments and produce a uniquely mellow tone. This class of brass instruments was invented in the early 1800s by Belgian instrument maker, Adolph Sax.
 
The DSB has a year-round performance and touring schedule. Past performances include Ken Burns’ ten-part PBS documentary “Baseball” and a subsequent performance for “An Afternoon of Baseball” at the White House at the invitation of President and Mrs. Clinton. The DSB was also heard in Ken Burns’ series “Jazz” and “the Roosevelts.” The band has performed at the Great American Brass Band Festival, Danville, KY; The Tall Stacks Festival, Cincinnati, OH; the Victorian Ball for the centennial of the Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island, MI; Greenfield Village/Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, MI; Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library, Fremont, OH; plus, many more.
 
The band performs 19th century music including compositions and arrangements from the Smithsonian Institute, the Library of Congress, private collections, and university libraries as well as a few new arrangements by musicologists who are experts in 19th Century brass band style and instrumentation. Their library contains over 420 arrangements.
 
This is event is FREE, with general admission seating available until capacity (572 seats). Doors open 1 hour prior to performance on Friday, November 11 at 7:00 PM. Special thank you to this year’s sponsors including Vision Performance Group and Radant’s Electric LLC. Special thank you to Elizabeth Ruthruff Wilson Foundation for making this annual event possible.

​For more information, visit www.TheTCA.org or call 517-423-6617, Tuesdays-Fridays between noon and 5 pm.