Lawrence color guard places in competition

The Lawrence Unity Color Guard finished in second place at the Mid Continent Color Guard Championships April 5 in Springfield, Mo.

It was Unity’s first appearance at the competition. The group, formed last fall, consists of 10 members from Lawrence High School, Free State High School and Southwest Junior High School.

Pictured here are front row, from left, Britany Saylor and Devon Brieta, middle row, from left, Linda Green, Sarah Guerich, Candace Coleman, Kodi Goodrich and Stephanie Batten and back row, from left, Jenny Green, Emily Willis and Sarah Hillyard.

The Mid Continent includes groups from Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Illinois. Unity competed primarily against colleges from Missouri and independent groups from Illinois. Unity finished 2.05 points behind the champions from Northwest Missouri State University.

Brad Simon is director of Unity. Other instructors are Greta Danner, Shelly Henderson and Jane Vachal.

Summer Youth Theatre to hold late-May auditions

The Lawrence Arts Center is gearing up for another summer of expanding children’s imaginations while teaching them the art of theater.

Auditions for the center’s Summer Youth Theatre are May 18. Tryouts for children in grades 4-7 are from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Auditions for children in grades 8-12 will be from 2:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Students should prepare a two-minute monologue and 16 bars of a Broadway song. Materials for tryouts are available at the Arts Center, 940 N.H.

Children in kindergarten through third grades don’t need to audition.

June programs will perform “Jump & Jive: Swing and Do-Wop Songs,” “Charlotte’s Web” and “Funny Girl.” July programs will perform “The Poems of Shel Silverstein,” “Bye-Bye Birdie” and “Macbeth.”

To enroll, call the arts center at 843-ARTS.

Arts Commission awards community arts grants

Ten Lawrence organizations will split $5,383 in grant money awarded by the Lawrence Arts Commission for its 2003 Community Arts Grants.

Awardees were selected based on proposal clarity, budget accuracy and financial need, benefit to the community and value as an art project. The grants are intended as start-off money for projects or special community art-related ventures with a particular focus on encouraging the arts in the Lawrence community.

The recipients are:

• The University Theatre, $550.
• Music Access, $283.
• The Vintage Players of Lawrence Community Theatre, Inc., $700.
• Douglas County Rape Victim-Survivor Service, $550.
• The Bowery Dancers, $550.
• Lawrence Committee for the Advancement of the Visual Arts, $550.
• Lithography Press repairs for artist use, $550.
• East Lawrence Neighborhood Assn., $550.
• Lawrence Children’s Choir, $550.
• 2003 Lawrence Poetry Series, 219 Press, $550.