Show will benefit youth who needs kidney transplant

A performance of "Coppelia and the Dancing Dolls," a comic ballet, is planned to help the family of Cesar Hernandez pay for the kidney transplant he requires.

The show will be 7 p.m. July 1 at the Bob Boldrick Theater in Carson City. Tickets will be available at such locations as the Brewery Arts Center and City Cafe and Bakery, and cost $20 each.

Heather Costella, board president of the Reno Dance Company, the nonprofit group putting on the benefit, lives in Carson City. Her daughter, also named Heather attends Carson High School with Hernandez.

"I read a newspaper article about him," Costella said. "It really touched my heart."

A lot of teens and young adults involved with the dance company are also from Carson. People with the performance are going to work for free that day.

"One-hundred percent of the proceeds are going to him," Costella said.

This is why Costella asked whether they could have the fee waived to use the city-owned theater: These types of productions can cost at least $35,000 to stage.

There aren't provisions to allow a discount when an out-of-town group wants to use the theater to benefit a resident, however. Carson City supervisors last week asked for a review of charges and discounts for rental of the theater.

Hernandez's kidney transplant could cost $135,000 if the procedure is done in Nevada, and the ballet "could be a substantial fundraiser" for the family, said Mayor Marv Teixeira.

"We're dealing with the heart," Teixeira said.

The current 25 percent discount helps local groups afford to continue providing performances, such as the Cowboy Poetry reading, an annual fundraiser for the Carson Tahoe Regional Healthcare Auxiliary, and to Western Nevada Community College, because the groups and their offerings are of benefit to residents, said Roger Moellendorf, the city's parks director.

Dropping the discount was discussed by supervisors last year because of budget concerns but they decided to continue it because community groups have no other theater of its size - 800 seats - in the city.

"The theater is busy virtually all the time," Moellendorf said. "There are very few days where we don't have anything going on."

Pricing to use the theater isn't always cut-and-dry. If a group can provide a large number of volunteers who are skilled - or trainable - in techniques required to run a theater production, that's also taken into account.

The supervisors allowed the Reno Dance Company a 50 percent discount for use of the theater. And volunteers are stepping up to help with production, which would help the city keep its cost down, Moellendorf said.

City employees, however, are still needed at the theater to help the renters if a problem should arise, which is why fees can't be waived entirely for any group using it, he said.

And rental fees for use of the theater must cover the city's operation costs, according to rules approved in 1995 by the supervisors. Like it or not, that means "there's a point where we have to say 'no,'" said Supervisor Shelly Aldean.

You can help

To charge tickets to this dance ballet helping to pay for Cesar Hernandez's kidney transplant, or for event information, call the Reno Ballet Company at 324-7288. Tickets are also being sold at Carson City locations, including the Brewery Arts Center and City Cafe Bakery.

If you go

WHAT: "Coppelia and the Dancing Dolls," a comic ballet

WHEN: 7 p.m. July 1

WHERE: Bob Boldrick Theater, 851 E. William St.

• Contact reporter Terri Harber at tharber @nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111, ext. 215.