Arts Alive! Center for the Arts is hosting another fantastic dinner and auction fundraiser at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 6 in the Enumclaw Expo Center fieldhouse.

Frank Thompson will be the master of ceremonies and Sheila Shannon will be the auctioneer. The theme this year is Beam Me Up Enumclaw and should bring in some great costumes, which are always optional. It’s a time to come forward and support our brilliant arts community in Enumclaw and hold the flame of inspiration and creativity high.

I really love this event and haven’t missed one in years. In an exciting atmosphere of fun bidding and delicious food, one gets to mingle with fellow art supporters who range from authors, actors, sculptors, musicians, vocalists, dancers, photographers, water and oil paint artists and more. I’m always excited to see fellow artists along with so many of our wonderful supporters. Our supporters blow the breath of life into our ability to display our creativity through their generosity. We cannot express enough how much we appreciate them!

Speaking of creativity, as I write this I am involved with a wonderful cast in Stage Door Productions double feature presentation of “Black Comedy” and “The Real Inspector Hound,” directed by Luke Amundson. By the time this column hits the paper the run of this show will be over. I did, however, want to share some highlights I’ve experienced as I have played the part of Miss Furnival in “Black Comedy.” As cast members we were given a choice to act in one or both plays. I chose to be in just “Black Comedy.” I didn’t want to press my luck, swim too far from the shore and get in over my head. This also gave me an opportunity to help in the properties department as well.

This is the first time I have performed in a nonmusical with Stage Door. This is also the first time I’ve had more than four lines! It’s been extremely exciting. It’s such an honor to be on stage with such fine performers. Miss Furnival’s character is/was great fun to play. “Ferny” was an English spinster/teetotaler, who tended to look at life from a bittersweet standpoint as she often quoted her dearly departed, minister father. She was afraid of the dark and most things in general until she was accidently passed an alcoholic beverage in a blackened room due to a blown fuse. You might say Miss Furnival loosened up toward the end of the play, before the fuse was repaired. Doesn’t that sound like a fun part for a newcomer to play? I’m thrilled and a bit wide-eyed to share the stage with the likes of Jen Ankrum, Nathanael Brown, Phil Folan, Steffanie Foster, Alex Mitchell, Kristen Mitchell, Jefri Ellen Peters, Eric Reed, Frank Thompson, Seth Tribble and Blake R. York.

So what is all this fun about? It’s about creating an illusion of fantasy that will entertain and capture an audience’s imagination that will carry them through to the other side of the story and leave them feeling as though they had just fed a hungry part of them that needed attention.

When the play is over I’ll be heading back to my watercolor lessons under the guidance of Lorrie Maras at Arts Alive! in Enumclaw. I will have wonderful moments to cherish stemming from the front of the stage to behind the scenes. Thank you, Luke Amundson for your fine direction. Thank you to Stage Door Productions, Arts Alive! and White River School District for being there for all of us on the Plateau.