The Vault – TrueBlood-Online.com

Brentwood Theatre is delighted to be auctioning, as a fundraising venture, the SFX Vampires Special Edition magazine which has been signed by Stephen Moyer and Anna Paquin when visiting London shortly before their engagement was announced.

Stephen is the Patron of Brentwood Theatre, having been born in Billericay, a few miles down the road. As a supporter, his awareness of the community theatre has generated a huge fan base which has generated around £10,000 in donations from international fans of True Blood.

Further details of Steve’s support for the Theatre can be found at www.brentwood-theatre.org and also at independent community radio station www.phoenixfm.com

For authenticity, photos show the sought-after magazine being held by Brentwood Theatre Company actor STEPHEN GUNSHON who met Steve and Anna at last Christmas; production of FANTASTIC MR FOX when he appeared in the title role.

Steve and Anna are delighted that all proceeds from the sale of this exclusively signed magazine will be supporting community theatre in Brentwood.

The Ebay auction for this unique collecters item was opened today and will last until October 28. The item ships world-wide, so fans from all nations can participate in the bidding.

For more info and to place a bid visit the Ebay page by clicking here.

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In honor of Stephen Moyer’s birthday on October 11, the True Blood fansite TrueBloodNet.com started a fundraiser for the Brentwood Theatre in Essex (UK) of which Stephen is the first patron.

The Brentwood Theatre

The goal of the fundraiser was to raise enough money to pay for several coaches that would bring the children of local schools to the theatre to watch the special Christmas show ‘The Twits’.
Local newspaper the Yellow Advertiser took notice of this wonderful initiative and published the following article:

THREE local schools will get to see Brentwood Theatre’s Christmas show – thanks to an American vampire and his fans.

US fans of Stephen Moyer – the actor patron of Brentwood Theatre and star of the international TV hit series, True Blood – have donated £1,500 to the theatre to mark his 40th birthday.

The gift will pay for coaches to bring pupils from cash-strapped schools to see The Twits, in December.

Stephen, who was born in the borough, was in the UK promoting the American series over his birthday weekend. The show has just launched on Channel 4.

US fans liaised with Brentwood Theatre administrator Mark Reed to e-mail greetings and cash pledges to the actor, to mark the event.

Mark said: “The idea was to do something to celebrate Stephen’s birthday and I spent all day Saturday on the computer, collating messages and cash gifts.”

This is not the first time Stephen’s fan club has raised money for a Brentwood Theatre project – it also chipped in to support the appeal to build new dressing rooms.

Stephen plays vampire hero Bill Compton in the TV series, which is set in a small town in Louisiana, populated by humans and vampires, who live on synthetic blood.

The show is about to start filming a third series, and has been a winner with its American audience.

Last year, True Blood won an Emmy – the TV equivalent of an Oscar.

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Stephen Moyer celebrates his 40th birthday this Sunday October 11th with family and friends in England. In honor of his birthday the ladies of Truebloodnet.com are organizing a fundraiser to support The Brentwood Theatre in Essex, UK of which Stephen is the patron.

The fundraiser aims to help both the theater and children around the UK and give you a way to SEND YOUR BIRTHDAY WISHES TO STEPHEN! Brentwood is producing ‘THE TWITS‘ over the holidays but because of the economy  their ticket sales are a bit slower than usual AND less children are actually able to come because the school programs which normally send them have been cut.  The key problem is transportation as the schools can’t afford to hire them this year.

So we’d like all you True Blood and Stephen Moyer fans to step up and help both the theater and these kids have a great holiday.

And just to show how well received the idea is, the first person donating is Stephen’s mum!  When she heard about the campaign she contacted Brentwood immediately remarking, “What a lovely idea!”.

More information about the fundraiser and on how to participate visit Truebloodnet.com.

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reported by Brentwood Weekly News

Brentwood Theatre, Brentwood, Essex, England should have no problem filling seats at this year’s Christmas show after it got an award-winning artist to design the artwork.

Brentwood Theatre Company struck it lucky when Karen McInnis, an American artist and animator whose work has won her an Emmy award, agreed to design the artwork for its Christmas production of Roald Dahl’s much loved story, The Twits.

Mark Reed, from the community theatre, which is in Shenfield Road, explained it was thanks to the theatre’s patron, a former Brentwood boy, Stephen Moyer, that the artist came on board.

He said: “One of the American fans of our patron, Stephen Moyer, offered her services as a professional designer and created this wonderful unique art work for us.

“This is in addition to over £6,000 which has been donated by our international friends, which has been a huge boost to the theatre.”

Being such a big fan of Stephen’s US hit series True Blood, when she heard about the theatre, Karen offered her services.

She said: “Jean visited the theatre earlier this year and told me how much she loved Brentwood.

“When the guys started asking people what sort of image should be used to promote this show, I sketched out some ideas.

“They fell in love with my designs and, several adjustments later, we came up with this picture.

“I am so pleased to be supporting the theatre in this way and wish them the best of luck.”

Karen has worked in the graphic department for major US television networks, including CBS, and has also designed book covers, album art, and magazine illustrations, as well as having her work displayed in New York galleries.

Tickets are already on sale for the show, which runs from December 7 to 30.  For more information visit the theatre site: Brentwood Theatre.

The Vault and the Billbabes continue to provide their support to the Brentwood Theater by selling True Blood related merchandise in the Billsbabe’s shoppe.

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The fan based fundraiser for the Brentwood Theatre in Essex, has been a huge success. Fans of the theatre’s patron Stephen Moyer have donated thousands of dollars through the “Buy A Brick” campaign. Most of the fans have received their certificate signed by Stephen, good news for those of you who are still waiting: I heard Stephen is flying to the UK this week for only a couple of days but he will do his best to sign the last certificates.

Sunday July 12 the wall of bricks was revealed by the theatre’s chairman Sam White. All the fan bricks have been grouped together on their own special wall. I see many familiar names on this wall.

click to enlarge

Of course we are very proud that the two bricks of the Billsbabes are side by side, thank you Mark and Jean for the pretty letters.

Mark P. Reed, Administrator of the theatre sent out the following message:

Dear All,

As promised here are some pictures from Sunday’s ‘unveiling’ – actually there was no actual cover to remove, but a group of over fifty regular supporters – mainly those who had contributed to the final bricks – came along for a very social afternoon and a wander around the new building.

It was a great day.

In this Smilebox are a few pictures of the completed ‘UK’ wall and the brand new ‘American’ wall outside The Audrey Longman Studio. If you want a close up, you can go to our website at www.brentwood-theatre.org where high quality files of these two walls have been uploaded.

True Blood is about to launch in the UK, on satellite/cable so I guess I will have to wait until it goes on Channel 4 in the autumn. Steve (and Anna!) are all over the papers and we are sure that the UK fans will be clamoring for a piece of the action too!

Thank you once again for everything. If you are on Facebook, I have a group called ‘The OFFICIAL Brentwood Theatre Trust Group’ so if you want to keep in touch, please join. And, especially for our Christmas production of the TWITS, we have set up a Twitter called BrentwoodTheat.

Keep in touch!

Best wishes
Mark

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Article on Courier-Journal.com by Tamara Ikenberg

If and when I meet Stephen Moyer, the gorgeous British actor who plays lead vampire Bill Compton on HBO’s “True Blood,” I shall be wearing a pink “Sired by Bill” T-shirt and will offer him a teddy bear clad in a tiny “Glamoured by Bill” T-shirt.

I predict his fangs will retract, and he’ll run away screaming.

The super-sweet and cheesy “True Blood” merch available at Billsbabe’s Shoppe on cafepress.com celebrates the show’s sexy leading men, and sharply contrasts with the show’s trademark gore and guts. But buying the crazy stuff helps a good artistic cause, the Brentwood Theatre in Essex, United Kingdom.

Visit the shoppe at www.cafepress.com/billsbabe.

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Mark P. Reed of the Brentwood Theatre in Essex has sent out another update on the progress of the building of the backstage facilities of the theatre of which Stephen Moyer is patron.
The Vault and the Billsbabes are happy to support to fundraiser and we will continue to do so.

Mark P. Reed, Administrator of the Brentwood Theatre:

Mark P. Reed

“We are delighted to have recently received a further donation of USD351 from the fans of our wonderful Patron, Stephen Moyer, who have been selling a series of t-shirts – and donating the profits to Stephen’s favourite Theatre thousands of miles away in Brentwood, Essex.

Through the Golden-Globe winning TRUE BLOOD, the Billericay-born actor has earned a legion of fans who have backed his call to support Brentwood’s unique community theatre. Many of them have purchased engraved bricks – shortly to be officially unveiled – raising over £5,000 of the final £400,000 raised in the past four years to ensure that proper backstage facilities, an  office and, most importantly, a new multi-use space, The Audrey Longman Studio, were completed.

The first gift from America was made by Jean Armitage who was inspired to donate having heard Stephen’s interview on Phoenix 98 FM – which is still playable here.

It was natural to sign Jean, a former fundraiser for a university in NYC, as Volunteer Fundraising Co-Ordinator to lead the fan-based effort. Hundreds of American and international fans responded, each receiving a personal thanks from Stephen.

Brentwood Theatre

Jean wanted to ‘meet’ the yellow and blue theatre, and joined the team at Brentwood for a three-week holiday. ‘I had such a good time meeting all the volunteers and staff and seeing lots of different shows, as well as seeing the completion of the building works. Brentwood Theatre is an amazing venue for a variety of presentations : top-notch tech, flexible staging and seating, and yet an intimacy that provided the audience with a first-rate experience.

‘It was a joy to get my good friend Mark to take some time off to show me the beautiful county of Essex!! As a ‘thank you’ for helping to get the fundraiser underway, many of the Theatre’s Trustees treated me like royalty opening home and hearth, as well as taking me to visit its many attractions. I was especially taken with Ingatestone Hall, the ancestral home of Sir William Petre, who served as Secretary to four Tudor monarchs. Lord Petre’s son, Dominic, welcomed me into his home where he and his family live within the ancient walls.

‘I also went to Billericay (to see about their connection with The Mayflower), Cressing temple, Maldon, Colchester and, of course, David Z’s great narrow boat and enjoyed a trip down the canals of Chelmsford.

‘We rounded off the holiday with a trip to see the West End production of Wicked – a treat to see the evolution of a show from when I attended opening night on Broadway to the joyful show it is now. And it was great to meet Caroline Keiff who attributes so much to Brentwood Theatre where she performed regularly as a youngster, winning a Brent for her performance in Anne of Green Gables, and who was playing Nessa Rose.

I made many friends.’

Do look out for True Blood which is going to be shown on UKFX imminently and is due to start on Channel 4 in the autumn. Stephen can also be seen late nights on Channel 4 playing the lead on NY-LON, currently being repeated.
In TRUE BLOOD, Stephen Moyer plays a vampire opposite co-star Anna Paquin who won an Oscar as a child for her performance in The Piano and recently the Golden Globe for her outstanding work as the telepathic waitress in True Blood. For more details click here www.hbo.com/trueblood.

The t-shirts – there are many to choose from and all with reference to the characters in TRUE BLOOD can be purchased from www.trueblood-online.com – and, of course, your favourite theatre benefits too!”

Mark P. Reed

The T-shirts and other True Blood related merchandise can be found in the Billsbabe’s Shoppe.
A few examples:

Read more about the Billbabes.

Read more about the Brentwood Theatre

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Right after the Paley Fest last Monday night, three of the Billsbabes who were present at the event dashed off to the Arclight bathroom to exchange their “Billsbabe” t-shirt for an outfit more appropriate for the attendance of a movie premiere. A taxi brought them to the theatre where the premiere screening of Anna Paquin’s latest movie “The Courageous Heart Of Irena Sendler” was taking place.

The Vault’s special reporter Gretchen attended the whole event. Her full report can be found here.

Billsbabe Debbie met Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer and Sam Trammell and had a chat with them.
Stephen took this opportunity to thank the Billsbabes for their on-going support for the Brentwood Theatre in his native Essex. He became Patron of the theatre in 2007 and supports their campaign to help fund the completion of the backstage facilities renovations.
When Debra asked Steve to sign her Billsbabe t-shirt, he replied “Dahling, I would love to sign your shirt.”

Debbie handed him the shirt and sharpie. He then curiously took a plate from the table next to them. She asked him what the plate was for and he responded “Dahling, I want to sign the shirt properly”. He  slipped the shirt over the plate so the sharpie ink wouldn’t bleed through to the other side. While Steve was over at an empty table to sign the shirt, Anna told Debbie that one of our Billsbabes had given Carrie Preston a Billsbabe shirt (The Vault’s reporter Janet gave Carrie Preston a t-shirt at the Macon Film Festival earlier this year). Carrie subsequently gave the shirt to Anna  and she revealed that she had worn it a couple of times.  Debbie told Anna that she was the “REAL Billsbabe” …Anna agreed!

click photo to enlarge

The original Billsbabe shirt and more t-shirts are available in our Billsbabe’s Shoppe.

With every item purchased a small charitable donation will be made to the Brentwood Theatre in Essex, United Kingdom.

Enter the Billsbabe’s Shoppe

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The staff of the Brentwood Theatre has sent out a press release to inform us that the backstage facilities are about to be completed, with the builders moving back on site on 23 February, and this final phase of the fit out is due for completion at the end of May.

This means that the fundraiser for the Brentwood Theatre “Reaching Out, Building on” has come to an end.

Mark Reed, the administrator of the theatre, tells us that they will carry on fundraising as the theatre needs a few thousand pounds a year to keep going, and he has plans to extend the front of house/bar area.
A date for the bricks has not been set yet, but Mark assures me that he will let everyone know as soon as it happens.

Jean Armitage, Volunteer Fundraising Coordinator, adds: “Bricks have been ordered, but being held until April or May, since there is no place to store them safely.  For anyone who ordered a brick late in December or during the extended period of January, Steve will be signing the next batch of certificates in April or May as well…”.

Brentwood theatre with the added on dressing rooms at the back

From the press release and related email

We delighted to announce that ALL of our backstage facilities are about to be completed, with the builders moving back on site on 23 February, and this final phase of the fit out is due for completion at the end of May.

We cannot believe that this project is coming to an end. The fundraising was only launched in September 2005, and less than four years later, we have raised around £400,000 which will have been efficiently spent providing outstanding facilities for the local community.

We reopened on 1 November, as planned, to a complete sell-out with the kids from BOSSY performing FAME, which was supported by the Theatre’s Patron, Stephen Moyer, currently in America from where he sent this message :-

‘I am currently in LA filming the second series of TRUE BLOOD for HBO. True Blood was nominated for two Golden Globes, one for best dramatic TV series and one for best Actress, which Anna Paquin won for her role as Sookie Stackhouse. And, the American Cinema Editors (ACE) just presented TRUE BLOOD’S Michael Ruscio and Andy Keir with the 2009 Eddie Award for ‘Best Edited One-Hour Series For Non-Com Television.’ We cannot wait until the show launches in April in the UK when I hope to dash back to see how this final phase is progressing.’

We are honored beyond words that fans of TRUE BLOOD from America and all over the world – including author CHARLAINE HARRIS — have contributed nearly FIVE THOUSAND POUNDS in the past three months, which has also ensured that we had enough money to go ahead with this final phase!!

Productions will continue without interruption during the final fitting out, with the builders working around rehearsals and performances to bring into use a new theatre office, washroom facilities, a galley kitchen, and a multi-use space which will be able to be used as a dance studio (with full mirrors), rehearsal area, overflow dressing room, or even a forty-seat studio theatre.

Read more about the Brentwood Theatre

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The fan based fundraiser for the Brentwood Theatre in Essex, is a success story with almost £4000 donated in only two months by Stephen Moyer fans throughout the world and is expected to be a continued success when True Blood will air in the UK in april on the FX Channel.

These kind gifts to “Stephen’s Fund” will be invested in the completion of the community facilities at the theatre. The final fitting-out, including a new multi-purpose community room, should be completed by Easter.

The Brentwood Theatre

Stephen Moyer, born in Brentwood and raised in the Essex area, became patron of the theatre in 2007, his initial effort as Patron is supporting their “Reaching Out, Building On” campaign to help fund the 2008 completion of the backstage facilities renovations. Inspired by the first gift from the USA in his honor, the idea to appeal to ALL FANS of Stephen or “True Blood” soon became a reality!

The Brentwood theatre opened it’s doors just 15 years ago, it is a very small theatre seating about 100 people and is used by over forty local drama and musical groups who struggle to pay all the costs of putting on a show, and currently have over 16,000 people buying tickets every year. They have only three or four staff plus loads of volunteers to run the place.

Before hitting the big-time, Steve was directed by Gaynor Wilson, who now runs youth group BOSSY, the first group to perform after the rebuilding with “FAME”, which Stephen came to see in November 2008.
BOSSY is the youth acting section of the Brentwood Operatic Society, comprised of boys and girls between the ages of 11-16 years who audition for participation. They are among forty-plus non-professional organizations that call Brentwood Theatre home.

The special offer “Buy A Brick”, which has been a huge success, has almost come to an end. If you want your name on this wall, you will have to be quick and make your donation before the end of January as the wall is nearly complete and they will be ‘closing it down’ in the next couple of weeks.
You can buy a brick with 2 lines of inscription for £50 and you will also receive a certificate personally signed by Stephen Moyer.
The wall with all the new bricks added will be revealed in April.

If you prefer to make a smaller donation, you are more than welcome to do so. If your donation is for £25 or more however, Stephen will PERSONALLY SIGN a ‘thank you certificate’ as his gratitude for your donation.

You can easily and safely make a donation using PayPal.

More donation options are listed on the Brentwood Theatre Website

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