Cardinal Mooney High School’s “PAWS for the Planet” Program Partners with The Players Theatre and Hazeltine Nurseries

Sarasota, September 28, 2009 –The Players Theatre’s parking lot received a much needed landscape makeover on Saturday, September 26, 2009, with the assistance of Cardinal Mooney High School students and Hazeltine Nurseries. In 2008, with a grant from The Community Foundation, The Players was able to repave, repair and repaint the parking lot, and a new marquee was put up that allows neon, moving lettering that announces upcoming events. Staff Scenic Arts Manager John C. Reynolds and Technical Director Matthew Nitsch created and installed anniversary medallions and The Players new logo on the front of the theatre in celebration of the new season, The Player’s 80th.

“The building has a new look, a wonderful marquee, a fresh and easy-to-navigate parking lot, but felt that the exterior still looked unfinished with the bedraggled, overgrown landscaping,” said Michelle Bianchi Pingel, Managing Director. “I knew that partnering with Cardinal Mooney High School and Hazeltine Nurseries would make a huge difference and that everybody involved would benefit from this collaboration.”

Cardinal Mooney High School requires each of their students to perform a volunteer community service every year. “We believe in the ideal of forming our students to become ‘people for others’ and at the same time, we want to give our students opportunity to heighten their sense of social responsibility,” states Diane Buhler, a science teacher and facilitator of the landscaping crew. “Plus, the students who make up our ‘PAWS for the Planet’ group got to spend a day in the sun making a little part of Sarasota even more beautiful.” Pizza for the students was provided by Ken Prokop of Prokop P.A. Property Management, and ten cases of bottled water were provided by Callahan Water.

Michelle Hazeltine of Hazeltine Nurseries in Venice, Florida, also helped organize the project with the delivery and donation of several bags of river rock, red mulch, white shell, two pallets of sod and colorful crotons. In exchange, The Players proudly promotes the nursery in its Broadway Series program book.

The Players Theatre offers year ‘round entertainment and is Sarasota’s only community theatre with more than 600 volunteer participating each season. In addition to the beautified exterior, the performance schedule celebrates 80 years with a stellar line-up from musical classics including Fiddler on the Roof, The Who’s Tommy, and a Rodgers and Hammerstein revue, to powerful dramas like Letters to Sala, and a must-see concert series featuring bands like “Sarasota Gold” and “Willie and Lobo.”