Library Theater for Fun and Profit

An event like this requires a lot of advance planning. Finding creative, talented people to be part of the planning process was absolutely critical to our success. Most of our volunteers came from our Friends group, but we also had members of the community and library staff helping. Even the mayor and chief of police made cameo acting appearances.

When looking for help during our first fundraiser in 2015, I was surprised to find just how many people wanted to be involved. In fact, most of the previous year’s volunteers signed up for this event as well. Our Friends started planning about a year in advance (although five or six months would be workable). They organized most of this year’s event, although I organized most of our first year’s program. I will say that having a number of people that can step up into leadership roles helped me out immensely.

The first step of the process was brainstorming. In 2015, we had a murder mystery dinner theater-type event, and the question was whether to do something similar or try something different. One of our local historians had done some research on trials in the late 1800s and had been considering converting transcripts of an actual trial into a play. He was also willing to write it (our previous year’s play was also written by a local resident). This was a good choice, as it provided local interest and much of the dialogue was already available from transcripts. It was decided that a ticket would cost $15. This was considered inexpensive enough that most people could attend, but still enough that we could hopefully raise a fair amount of money.

The next step was to find people to fill roles; a writer (our historian), actors, organizers and behind-the-scenes folks for things like set-up and costumes. This was not a one-person job! It was determined that the group would meet once a month to discuss updates and new business. The first part of the year focused on ideas. The middle part was when logistics were worked out, such as partnering with the township to use their larger room, determining room layout and placement, and deciding on details (like if refreshments would be served). The last part of the year was spent mostly on rehearsals for the actors and myriad little details. Actors met twice for a read-through, twice for rehearsal and once for a dress rehearsal. A team of three people (and occasionally me) met when necessary to discuss everything from costumes to how we would check people in at the door.