About Us
Our Mission
Take A Bough Productions' primary goal is to provide members of the communities in and around Monroe and east Snohomish County with the opportunities to participate in and enjoy the performing arts. To that end, Take A Bough (TAB) has overseen several community performing arts groups, and is also working to create a community performing arts center so that the performing arts can be more readily accessible to the citizens of east Snohomish County.
Company Profile
TAB sponsors one of three community theatres based in Monroe: the Pine Nut Players. It also founded east Snohomish County's only community orchestra (1991), community choir (1997), and non-school affiliated community youth jazz combo (1993). Between 1991 and 2000, members of the community orchestra also formed the area's only community dixieland band, theater orchestra, 40's big band, and several smaller instrumental ensembles.
TAB's Founder
Diane Wilson-simon , Artistic Director 1991-2002
Award Winning Theatre
At the 12th Annual Community Awards hosted by the Monroe Chamber of Commerce, the Monroe Play House received the Ed Utterback Revitalization Award for Downtown Historic Monroe. This award is presented to an organization whose support and commitment to community vitality has made a significant positive economic impact.
Over the past 9 months, there have been many changes at the Monroe Play House. When our production team first took over in June 2002, we were faced with many challenges, including problems with our facility. We were able to tackle several of these head on, removing unsightly debris from the back alley of the building, bringing our exit lighting up to code, finishing up the restrooms and installing new carpet in the lobby area. None of these things could have happened without the hardwork and dedication of many volunteers. It has been exciting to welcome the Monroe community into our cozy theatre to see what we've done and what we're continuing to do. We've come a long way, but there is still room for improvement. We will continue to target and complete necessary tasks to make our theatre its very best!
Since last June, we've also enjoyed several successful shows at the Play House, and we appreciate our talented actors, musicians, technicians, and especially audiences, without whom there would be no shows! We have also enjoyed opportunities this year to bring our theatre out into the community--in September, we brought School House Rock, Live! to Chain Lake Elementary School and shared that informative musical with the students. We had a lot of fun writing and performing a skit for the Monroe Centennial Celebration at the Fairgrounds in December--what a memorable event that was! Just this past week, we were invited to bring our knowledge of the theatre to the YMCA After School Program at Frank Wagner, Chain Lake and Maltby Elementary Schools. We had a great time with the kids, playing theatre games, encouraging them to develop good reading skills as the basis of acting, and trying a few songs and skits. We look forward to sponsoring the Evergreen Youth Jazz Ensemble this summer. We are really enjoying being able to develop and offer our performing arts resources to everyone in the Monroe area, and we certainly appreciate the support of the community.