All The World's A Stage Fundraiser

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Saturday, February 7th, 2015
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Crystal and Samantha Cashmore are from Nanaimo, BC and are currently in their final year of their Bachelor of Fine Arts Degrees at the American Musical & Dramatic Academy (AMDA) in Los Angeles, California. As some of you visiting this page may not know them, I will give you a small background on each of the girls.

They are both graduates of Dover Bay High School in Nanaimo, BC and studied voice/singing lessons with Andrea Bertram of Andrea Bertram Studio in Nanaimo and Joanne Hounsell of Salt Water Productions in Victoria, BC. They also enrolled in many acting classes/sessions with Jacqui Kaese of Spotlight Academy...all of whom are mentors and friends to both of them. Since participating in the Upper Island Music Festival 11 years ago, they both were selected by the adjudicators to represent the Upper Island to the Provincial Level (Crystal for Classical Voice and Samantha for Musical Theatre) every year they participated-approx 8 years.

Crystal, 26, has been singing long before she could walk. She started singing lessons when she was 5 years old. It came about after she performed "Can You Feel the Love Tonight", "A Whole New World" and "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" (the groom used to be a semi/professional baseball player) at her Aunt's wedding at the Belhurst Castle in NY. After she sang we were approached by an agent as well as the band that played for her made a huge deal over her little voice so we thought we should look into it and she hasn't stopped singing and training since. Locally, she was involved in many musicals and plays for Qualicum Beach's Echo Players (Gigi in "Gigi", Martha in "Scrooge, The Stingiest Man In Town", Abby in "When Dreams Have Wings" and Edith in "Blithe Spirit") and was Martha in Bard to Broadway's "Tom Sawyer". She was also Nanaimo's only Nanaimo Idol in 2006! After winning Idol, Crystal often would attend events to perform (for free) as entertainment for charities and events like the Child Development Centre's "Opening Doors", Dragon Boat Festival and even had the chance to perform at a Red Carpet Movie Premiere for our very own local celebrity, Cameron Bright in "Thank You For Smoking".

Samantha, 23, caught the singing bug from her sister at the age of 7 and though in the early years her lessons were more about "fixing" her voice she has come a long way and developed into the powerhouse she is today. She was in the Arts Alive performances of "Seussical, The Musical" and "Copacabana" and Echo Players' musicals- Madame Laverne in "Gigi" and ensemble in "When Dreams Have Wings". Samantha was a Nanaimo Ambassador and did many volunteer hours within our community as well as an extended role as a Princess/Mermaid for the Nanaimo Bathtub Society where she also volunteered within the community. After finishing high school she discovered AMDA in her research for colleges to attend and fell in love. Before I knew it, both of my daughters were on a mission to be able to attend the school for their Bachelor Degrees and started working 2 jobs each. They both auditioned and were both accepted and immediately started working 2 jobs to help us pay for their tuition at the private, elite College.

For the first two years, they came home for Christmas break started working 2 jobs again within days of arriving in Nanaimo and did this from October until they returned to school in February. Without this, we would not have been able to afford to keep them at the school. However, after their second year at the school, they were offered a higher scholarship but the agreement was that they had to do the final 2 years back to back with no break. It meant that they no longer had to work the 2 jobs so we accepted the terms.  What we didn't realize was, during the 5 months they were off was the time we, their parents, were able to save up for the next school year ourselves and catch up on our bills at home as well.

Fast forward to today and they are now one month away from graduating with their Bachelor of Fine Arts Degrees but with the soaring exchange rate we have found ourselves with a shortfall of tuition.  With no resources left as my husband hasn't been able to return to work since after their second year and them not taking breaks giving us time to catch up and save for the following year, we are having to reach out to the community, our family and friends.

I have included this very personal background so you understand that this isn't a case of not working for our goals on the part of my daughters or us.   Asking for help is new territory for me.  I, myself, am not the best at asking for help-specially financial - I am usually the one helping people or teams raise funds for their needs. That being said,  I will do anything for my children and so we have arranged this beer and burger and are also collecting bottles at the bottle depots in Nanaimo until February 8th. For more information on the bottle drive (I will gladly pick up) message me.

My daughters have worked very hard, they are maintaining 4.0 gpas at school and are model students. The school has gone so far to say that "they both embody the principals of what the ideal AMDA student is, not just academically, not just their talent but also the way they carry themselves, behave and treat others on and off of school property".

Please join us at the Beer and Burger and help keep their dreams alive.

I assure you, every cent of the money raised at the beer and burger will go directly to the school...I will even post the exact amount raised and the receipt of payment (which will be the exact amount raised less the exchange rate on the day it is transferred) from the school on their facebook event page.

We have some fantastic auction items.....$20 gets you a beer and burger and the opportunity to get some wonderful items and at the same time, help out 2 young women from our community live their dreams.  Great gift items for Valentine's Day which is just a week later!!

Tickets are not available for purchase at the door as per pub policy....please call 250-585-7551 or email [email protected] for tickets, thank you