[View ALL News Press Releases] Elizabethtown Community and Technical College's Toy Box Theatre will present a children's play, In One Basket, on Tuesday, April 28th at 7:00 PM in the Science Auditorium on the Elizabethtown campus. Admission is $2.00. The performance is open to the public.

Directed by Katrina Eicher, professor of communication and theatre, the play brings to life seven stories of pampered princesses, noisy neighbors, marrying mice, and a vast variety of other silly people. Children from the audience will interact with the actors, and adults will have plenty to entertain them. The production lasts about 40 minutes.

The Toy Box Theatre was started at Elizabethtown Community and Technical College in 1998 by Ms. Eicher. The cast is comprised of college students, many first-time actors, who enroll in the class to gain performance experience and reach out to our community. Many area elementary schools travel to the campus to enjoy a performance during a field trip during the daytime performances; in the ten shows presented thus far, the Toy Box Theatre's actors have played to over 6,300 people. Eicher says the whole idea of Toy Box Theatre is "to encourage imagination in our young audiences. We use common household products and toys for our props to show the kids that, by using your imagination, you can make theatre magic anywhere, with anything."

Any questions can be directed to professor Eicher by calling 270-706-8536 or by emailing her at katrina.eicher@kctcs.edu.

Biographies of "In One Basket" Cast and Production Crew

Megan Bender is a first-year member of the Toy Box Theatre. She went to Larue County High School and is currently studying to be a radiologist. Megan has a daughter, Kloey Stout, and is having fun doing In One Basket because acting is one of her passions.

Tiffany Michelle Cooke is a 2007 graduate of Nelson County High School and is studying to be a registered nurse at ECTC. This is her first year in Toy Box Theatre, and she plans to be back because she loves acting so much. In addition, Tiffany loves to dance and was on her high school dance team her freshman year.

Erin Davidson lived in Washington, Germany, Tennessee, Louisiana, California, Kansas, and Hawaii before moving to Kentucky, where she attended VanVoorhis Elementary, Walker Intermediate, and Fort Knox High schools. Erin is majoring in philosophy and says, "I have no earthly idea of what I want to be when I grow up." But she is enjoying her first year in the Toy Box Theatre, and is taking acting to build self-confidence. Erin is the proud mother of a three-year-old hedgehog named Peach Elliot who loves to play in the backyard and eat yogurt.

Kolbe Disselkamp began openly expressing her love of the arts when she joined West Hardin Middle School Lakeside Singers in 2000. This led to Central Hardin High School Show Choir and concert choirs. Kolbe also acted in Peter Pan with Youth Theatre of Hardin County and is now beginning to perform with Hardin County Playhouse. When it comes to Toy Box Theatre, Kolbe says, "I love performing for kids; they make the best audience." Kolbe plans to attend WKU to double major in Performing Arts and Journalism.

Danielle Estanislao joins the Toy Box Theatre for the first time. In the past, she has attended Woodland and New Highland Elementary, Bluegrass Middle, and John Hardin High schools. Danielle currently doesn't have a major, but is thinking about going into early childhood care and education. For now, she is just enjoying her time with the Toy Box Theatre because she loves performing for others.

Scott T. Fremming is experiencing his first year with the Toy Box Theatre. He moved to Kentucky from the far away land of Germany and graduated from John Hardin High School. Scott's current major is Political Science; he is hoping to work as an International Peace Keeper. His reason for taking acting is because he feels that it will help him deal with situations where he must act a certain waymaybe pretending to be someone he isn't! A couple of fun facts about Scott are that he practices Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA and still watches lots of cartoons.

Amanda Fulkerson is 24 years old and is in her second year with the Toy Box Theatre. Amanda earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and is currently working on her Master of Arts degree. Amanda attended Clarkson Elementary, Grayson County Middle, and graduated from Grayson County High School, where she participated in the Drama Club and performed in school plays. Amanda loves to make children laugh and says, "I am taking this acting class because it is fun to play someone else...and it builds imagination."

William Bryan Christopher Gilmore, from Hardin County, joins the Toy Box Theatre for his first year. Will is majoring in radiology and would like to minor in music/dance. His talents are singing, dancing, rapping, writing poetry, and playing sports. Will is taking acting class to branch out his talents and abilities and to see what he is capable of doing on stage. Mrs. Heinderich, Will's high school choir teacher, encouraged him to continue his acting study in college.

Anthony Hayes, from Hardin County, is also a first-time Toy Box Theatre member; he always wanted to act but had other responsibilities. Now Anthony is happy that he can "finally focus on the things that I want to do." He would like to work in music in the future and says, "I can't see myself doing anything else besides musicwhether it's singing, producing, writing, etc; that is what I want to do."

Kyle Kennedy is pleased to make his debut in the Toy Box Theatre. He attended St. Benedict, St. Aloysius, and St. Joseph schools before graduating from Bethlehem High School in Bardstown. Kyle has no idea what he wants to be when he grows up and is trying a little bit of everythingwhich is one reason he is enrolled in acting class. (Plus, he loves performing arts!) Prior to In One Basket, Kyle was in plays at Bethlehem, the Little Colonel Theatre, and at Springhill Winery. He has two younger sisters named Haley and Hannah who attend St. Joseph, a girlfriend named Olivia at Bethlehem, and a dog named Rocky whobeing a dogdoesn't go to school and likes to eat.

Brittany Michelle Lamb is 19 years old and grew up in Jefferson County. She currently lives in Bonnieville, KY, and attended TK Stone Middle before graduating from Hart County High School. Brittany is the oldest of five children and has a cat named Ozzy and a dog named Koda. She is majoring in nursing and wants to become a pediatrician because she loves to help others. As a first-year member of the Toy Box Theatre, Brittany loves the feeling of being on stage and getting to play different roles and characters.

Taylor Milks went to Morningside Elementary, TK Stone Middle, and graduated from Elizabethtown High School. He is currently the assistant coach of the EHS speech team and is participating in Toy Box Theatre for his first time.

Tony Miller attended HW Wilkey Elementary in Leitchfield where he discovered the joys of pizza and corn in the same meal. Tony found that he loved pizza and corn so much that he couldn't live without them, and he is now pursuing a teaching degree so he can spend every lunch hour in the school cafeteria. This is Tony's fifth show with the Toy Box Theatre, and he's also done voice acting and sound effects in Vested Theatre Company's Old Time Radio shows.

Randi Robey attended Sonora Elementary, East Hardin Middle, and Elizabethtown High schools. She loves theatre and has been acting since she was very young. However, this is Randi's first experience with the Toy Box Theatre, which she loves because she gets "to be goofy and make kids laugh." When she's not acting, Randi also enjoys singing, painting, crocheting, going to church, and spending time with her wonderful boyfriend, Sam. She says that someday she would like to be a missionary.

Kala Robinson attended Western Elementary, West Hardin Middle, and Central Hardin High schools, and is currently majoring in elementary education at ECTC. Kala started acting in middle school when she played Tessie the orphan in Annie Junior. She currently resides in Eastview with her mom, dad, little brother, and two dogsGordy and Daisy.

Megan Elizabeth Thomas, from Hardin County, is in her first year with the Toy Box Theatre and loves every moment of the experience. She was homeschooled and is now a sophomore in college, where she is studying to be an historian/archeologist (step aside, Indiana Jones!) and dreams of visiting Egypt, Greece, and Italy one day. Megan loves children and is going to the Dominican Republic this summer to help teach at a mission school. With nine brothers and sisters, Megan enjoys drawing, sports, playing the piano, and, of course, acting because "I can be somebody different. It's my playground where I can create whatever character I want. When acting, anything is possible."

Crystal Townsend, from Hardin County, was homeschooled through elementary, middle, and high school and hope to one day have children of her own to home school as well. When she finishes college Crystal would like to go into children's ministry and work with kids full time. One of her passions is sharing Jesus' love with children every day. Though this is Crystal's first year of Toy Box Theatre, she enjoys it because it is not only teaching her how to have fun with kids through acting, but it also gives her an opportunity to inspire kids to use their imaginations.

William Donald Vest III (Don), from Hardin County, returns for his eighth Toy Box Theatre show, 10 years after his first experience! This time around Don is enjoying the opportunity to direct two of the In One Basket stories: The Three Wishes and The Needle. Don also owns the Vested Theatre Company in E'town and has directed plays on stage and on the radio.

Katrina Eicher is the director of the Toy Box Theatre. She has a daughter, Brenna Sherrill, who is a junior at Elizabethtown High School, and a very needy cat named Maci. Katrina went to school in New Jersey, Ohio and Nebraska, where she graduated from high school, college, and graduate school. She loves directing the Toy Box Theatre because she believes that "children are the best audiences in the world."

Judy Akers is the production assistant of the Toy Box Theatre. She has two daughters, Lindsey and Ashley, who are both students at ECTC. Judy went to school in Germany before graduating from Elizabethtown High School, Elizabethtown Community College, and Western Kentucky University. Judy's real job is Assessment Center Director at ECTC.