'Curtain Call for a Cause' rises

Vincent Insalaco, Argenta Community Theater co-founder and artistic director, is Gayla Jungmeyer's neighbor. Which is the primary reason she's in charge, for the fourth straight year, of "Curtain Call for a Cause," Arkansas Enterprises for the Developmentally Disabled Auxiliary's annual dinner theater-themed fundraiser, Thursday at the community theater on North Little Rock's Main Street.

"This was the first event the theater held after it opened," explains Debbie Grooms, development coordinator for the private, nonprofit organization, which provides services to children and adults with developmental disabilities and to preschool-age children with developmental disabilities or delays in 17 Arkansas counties.

"He told me, 'If you don't do it, I don't do it,'" Jungmeyer adds.

Four years ago, Grooms says, she and members of the auxiliary were scratching their heads to come up with an idea for a spring fundraiser, looking for something that nobody else was doing. "And we thought, 'Dinner theater! Everybody loves Murry's Dinner Playhouse; let's do something with good food and a good show.'"

The event starts at 6 p.m. with a cocktail reception, followed by a sit-down dinner put together by Catering for You -- chicken piccata, salad, roasted vegetables and a "wonderful chocolate dessert," Jungmeyer says. If you're sitting in the VIP seats -- $200 above the basic $100 ticket price -- you get filet mignon. (Proceeds benefit AEDD's art and drama programs, available to more than 400 area children and adults with developmental disabilities.)

There will also be a silent auction of original artisan pieces, including artwork, pottery and handmade jewelry -- one-of-a-kind items, Jungmeyer explains, "anything related to the arts."

The list includes a couple of jewelry pieces contributed by Jungmeyer's co-chairman, Kathleen Kennally.

It also includes some paintings by talented AEDD clients, Grooms notes. One such painter, whose name she would only give as "Jackie" to protect his privacy, has a piece on display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington in a gallery devoted to works by artists with disabilities.

The show follows dinner, starting with ACTS in the Rock, AEDD's adult drama troupe, which will perform a skit written and acted by clients with developmental disabilities.

Next will be a live auction, which includes a week's stay in a private home in the Cayman Islands and a four-day pheasant hunt, everything included, in South Dakota (valued at $2,500), followed by a Broadway-style variety show produced by Insalaco.

It will feature Julie Mayberry's "I Can Dance" team (it's boys this year, Jungmeyer says; last year it was autistic girls) and dancers from the Arkansas Festival Ballet and North Little Rock High. Alan Storeygard, a Jacksonville doctor and jazz pianist, usually plays and Jungmeyer also expects a sneak preview of the theater's late-July musical, Fiddler on the Roof.

Jungmeyer, a past auxiliary president, joined when Grooms put together the auxiliary in early 2009 and a mutual friend invited her to the first meeting. She's also the incoming president of the board of the Thea Foundation, headquartered next door to the theater.

"I'm here because of Gayla," Kennally says. "I've attended past fundraisers and always donated; six months ago she invited me to join. I'm really good at asking people for money."

She has chaired auctions for other organizations, including CARTI Kids, and she and her husband coach a team in the Miracle League, consisting of baseball players who are "physically and mentally challenged," according to the league website. Her link to AEDD came when she discovered that adult teams are using the same field, part of the Junior Deputy complex on Cantrell Road.

Organizers are hoping to bring in $25,000, a 20 percent increase over last year's take. It's one of two annual fundraisers the 48-member auxiliary puts on; the other, "Hawgs for a Cause," takes place in October.

It's a big help to Grooms. "AEDD is a large organization," she explains. "We're in 17 counties; we serve more than 450 people, and it spreads all over the state."

Founded in 1971, funded in part by the United Way and Medicaid reimbursements, the nonprofit also operates the Lacy Landers Skills Training Center, an 80,000-square-foot production facility in southwest Little Rock that offers work opportunities, adult development, skills training and therapies. And it also provides early intervention and preschool learning for children of all abilities at the Sammie Gail Sanders Children's Learning Center in North Little Rock.

The auxiliary also donates money toward AEDD's annual camps for kids and adults at Camp Aldersgate and pitched in to help a client family who lost their Mayflower home to the recent tornado. They also supplement the needs of AEDD staff members, including serving them the occasional lunch.

"They're so much more important than just fundraisers," Grooms says.

High Profile on 05/25/2014