Actor Ben Kingsley (of ‘Gandhi’ fame) once said, “You can throw away the privilege of acting, but that would be such a shame. The tribe has elected you to tell its story. You are the shaman/healer, that’s what the storyteller is...”
If something doesn’t happen soon, Coeur d’Alene is about to throw away the privilege of acting for some of its storytellers.
For 48 years, the Lake City Playhouse has been, in conjunction with the High Schools and groups like CYT North Idaho, the only true COMMUNITY theatre this side of Spokane. True, we are blessed with the eye-popping professional productions staged at Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre each year when temperatures rise, but much of their highly skilled talent comes from outside of this area. Spokane also has some wonderful theatre groups, but for those who cannot afford to both volunteer their time and talent for the stage AND pay for gasoline, the privilege of acting becomes a hardship.
That’s where the Lake City Playhouse has come in. Local actors, singers, directors, musicians and technicians at all stages in training have, year after year, volunteered time, money, talent and heart to stage shows that some might think too large for the humble stage of the old, converted church on Garden Avenue. Patrons have braved the winter snows and have been thrilled to not only laugh and cry with characters on the stage, but have also felt a sense of pride to know that those characters were brought to life by friends, coworkers and family members. With the Huckleberries program that Lake City hosts and sponsors, children have learned firsthand the amount of hard work and dedication it takes to put on a show that audiences will deem worthy of paying for and spreading the word so that others will come and see it.
This tough economy has counter intuitively brought with it an increase in the number of ticket sales over past years - a testament, no doubt to the increasing quality of the shows. Larger audiences however have not translated to the ability to offset the costs of production, so even more tickets need to be sold. For those of you who have chosen to attend our shows and fundraisers, we thank you. Please tell your friends about us and have them tell their friends. For those who have given of their time to usher, take tickets, clean up the gently aging facility, run the sound board, be a stage mom, or a hundred other ways you’ve been involved - words cannot express the gratitude of those who’ve been involved in running the Playhouse.
Frankly, all of our collective efforts have still not been enough recently. The harsh reality is that it still costs a lot of money to run a ‘not-for-profit’ business. Board members and associates have been racking their brains and giving tons of time on ways to keep the playhouse open. The theatre staff has donated countless hours of hard work with little reward, and continues giving of themselves even in these hard times.
The phrase ‘community theatre’ obviously consists of two parts. ‘Theatre’ sounds glamorous to some and yawn inducing to others. It is definitely the stressed word in the phrase. It is, however, not the most important word. ‘Community’ is the crucial element to making ‘community theatre’ work. This theatre is now asking in as tactful a way as possible if this community wants to be joined with it anymore.
If the answer is ‘yes’, the response must be immediate. The action required by individuals in the community is to call the theatre (at 208-667-1323 or 208-277-7616) and order season tickets - use them yourselves, give them as gifts, donate them to your favorite charity - but order them. You can also affirm your commitment to community theatre by attending one of our fund raising events. This Saturday, October 24thth, Lake City Playhouse will present the first annual ‘The Northwest has Talent’ finals. Entrance is only $25 and includes dinner! The event will be held at the Coeur d’Alene Inn (506 W.Appleway). Doors open at 5 pm, dinner starts at 6 pm and the show gets underway at 7 pm. There will also be a silent auction to benefit the ‘Lake City Playhouse’.
‘The Northwest has Talent’ finals will showcase a wide variety of local talent who are competing for a voucher toward travel and lodging for next year’s ‘America’s Got Talent’ regional auditions. Finalists include vocal soloists (Candice Deaton, Jenner Davis, Aaron Baldwin, Martin Herford and Sadie Russell), guitar/vocals (Marshall Matlock, Jesen Korver and Thomas Vigil), an original dance soloist (Eddie Andrade) and a family of Bluegrass instrumentalists (Panhandle Polecats). Come out and cheer for your local favorites!
The Lake City Playhouse 2009 season officially begins with the October 29th opening of ‘Dracula’. Come once, come twice, bring friends and enjoy a bloody good time seeing Bram Stoker’s classic villain come to ‘life’ on the local stage. There is a lot at ‘stake’ this season and we don’t want all our hard work to be in ‘vein’ (okay, I’ll stop). Seriously, though, we hope to scare up some much-needed funds with this high quality production that is meant for audiences age 14 and up. I hope to see everyone at the Lake City Playhouse on Halloween night for the show and then stick around for our ‘Scary-oke’ fundraiser afterward.
Local businesses of the community can also pair with theatre by sponsoring a show or a season. Please contact the theatre for a schedule of values. Please visit the website: www.lakecityplayhouse.org and give us a call at (208)277-7616 or (208) 667-1323.
If Ben Kingsley was right and actors really are somehow shaman/healers, then not only will you be saving community theatre with your help in this matter, you will also be contributing to health care.
