Written by Denise Gary
It was the day before Halloween when two intrepid KNTR members, Erin Casey and me, hopped into the Ninjamobile and left Phoenix, driving through the endless desert to Los Angeles, all the while being stalked at every stop by an unshaved poodle! He had to be following the smell of our delicious Christie Cookies; at least that was the hypothesis presented by one of our Twitter followers. We were met in Los Angeles by a third KNTR member, Colleen Harkins, who had traveled up from San Diego.
Colleen Harkins, Denise Gary and Erin Casey © Mad Russian
The trek was made to express the gratitude of our foundation to Whedonopolis for their Dr. Horrible/The Guild 2nd Annual Halloween Charity Screening, which benefited Kids Need to Read this year. Incredibly, the event raised over $5,000 for KNTR! There will also be a future eBay sale of one of the event theater posters signed by the attending stars, as well as a copy of The Softwire: Wormhole Pirates on Orbis 3, signed by PJ Haarsma, Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk. This sale will benefit KNTR, too.
© Damon Wellner
The festivities took place at the Regency Fairfax Theatre, which was completely sold out.
© Damon Wellner
Many of the cast members from The Guild showed up, as well as a few from Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. Suzanne “The Button Lady” Eggebrecht sold hundreds of handmade buttons to benefit KNTR.
Sandeep Parikh, The Button Lady and Felicia Day © Mad Russian
Before the show, Whedonopolis President Marsia Powers and Editor in Chief Kelly Amor introduced Kids Need to Read to the audience, as well as me, followed by Dr. Horrible/The Guild star Felicia Day.
Denise Gary and Marsia Powers © Damon Wellner
I was able to speak to the audience about Kids Need to Read, expressing how the foundation uses its book donations to create a culture of reading for children who are often living in poverty.
© Damon Wellner
Felicia introduced the night’s showings, and the screenings got underway. The audience was extremely enthusiastic – laughing and waving the items found in their interactive Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Bag in the air. No one was more fun than actor Vincent Caso, throwing out hilarious quips throughout the show.
Vincent Caso and Michele Boyd © Damon Wellner
One of the highlights for me was when a live version of “Grrr Arg” crossed in front of the theater screen at the end of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.
© Mad Russian
After the showing, the drawing prizes were awarded and the evening was capped off with early morning dining at Canter’s Deli. “World famous” pickles! Yummy shakes and floats! KNTR gave out copies of its 2010 Wall Calendar as thanks to all of the hard-working Whedonopolis crew.
© Mad Russian
We would like to thank all of the folks at Whedonopolis, who treated us like royalty. You could not ask for a more gracious and welcoming group of people. We had so much fun at the event, but more importantly, we were so grateful for the opportunity to spread awareness for our mission. We believe very strongly that the carefully selected books KNTR provides to children help them understand that they live in a world without limits. This is the true power of our gifts and we were happy to be able to share that message with those who were supporting us at the screening.
Thank you all for an event that was great in every way!
See video of the event at the Girl Gamer website and The Guild YouTube page. (Thank you Crix Lee and The Guild!)
See more photos of the event at the Whedonopolis website.
