When area residents attend the annual Kiwanis Kapers 60th anniversary show, they’ll get a bigger bang for their $5 general admission fee with a vintage photo display in the lobby of the Bradford Area High School auditorium.
The display will complement a similar PowerPoint presentation of photos that will be shown on an overhead screen in the auditorium.
The 60th annual Kiwanis Kapers show, titled “60 Years in the Spotlight,” will be staged this week at the Bradford Area High School auditorium. The 2017 production, sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Bradford, will celebrate six decades on stage. The variety-style show will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday. A number of old favorite acts and actors will return for the show, directed by Kristin Asinger and co-directed by Shelley Wright.
Nancy Dryden, who is in charge of costumes for the show, also co-coordinated the display of the vintage photos in the lobby.
“Jerry Harvey and I have been working on a pretty big display for the lobby,” Dryden said. “The most interesting will be the 4 x 8 feet panels with vintage photos, clippings and program pages. We are covering fronts and backs of eight panels, so there will be 16 sides.”
Dryden said there are individual 8×10 photos, but also some large poster board displays with many photos or clippings on each. T-shirts from past years will also be displayed on cubicle dividers.
In addition, Dryden said the organization will sell duplicate programs from past years as well as black and white photos similar to ones currently displayed in Northwest Bank.
Dryden explained how the display grew from plans of setting out a few old photos to the larger set-up. She said it started out with Kiwanians Randy Durner, Dean Bauer, Ron Yeager and herself sifting through boxes of Kiwanis archives in the organization’s warehouse.
To their pleasant surprise, they found copies of almost all of the programs and posters for the past 50 years.
“First we thought we could make some kind of table display with a few easels,” Dryden recalled. “Then we opened envelopes of 8×10 black and whites, maybe from The Bradford Era” dating back to the 1990s and before, she said. “So we knew we definitely should show them, too.”
Dryden said they also asked for photos from fellow Kiwanians and cast members and received several from Al Vanderpoel and Kim Hallock. Additional photos were provided from other club members, and digital photos from recent shows were printed.
“The high school art department graciously loaned us eight large display boards,” she added.
For his part, Durner, who is president of the Kiwanis Club, said the posters from past Kapers’ shows not only highlight the 60 years of the organization’s association with the community, but also are “reflective to a large extent of its history and creative talent.”
“The Kiwanis Club is an integral partner and stakeholder in the Bradford community,” Durner said. “Through its efforts with Kiwanis Kapers for 60 years, with the cooperation of patrons, advertisers and faithful audiences, the club has invested over $ 750,000 in both the youth and the community of Bradford.”
Durner said the Kapers shows also illustrate the “highest community service and leadership precepts of Kiwanis International, as well as the club’s devotion to the Bradford area.
“These posters from past Kiwanis Kapers reflect positive credit on Kiwanis as a service organization that holds the community of Bradford and its youth in high esteem,” Durner said.
