After 10 years of shows, Readers Theatre Plus’ board of directors recently announced it made the decision in December to disband the nonprofit.
Since its inception, volunteers ranging from amateurs to seasoned stage actors performed an array of play readings, musicals, comedies and more and donated nearly $120,000 from these many shows to local nonprofits and high school graduates’ scholarships in Sequim and Port Angeles.
“We’re all at peace with the decision,” said chairman Sue Valnes. “It doesn’t mean we’re all happy. Things change and that’s what happened here. No regrets. It’s just the time has come.”
Board directors shared the announcement via a letter saying they’ve been discussing options over the past year.
Jim Dries, a founding and current board member, said the decision was made mostly due to a lack of manpower but not a lack of community support.
Dries said they couldn’t recruit enough board members due to scheduling and other factors, and find people willing and/or able to do heavy lifting in and out of venues.
Both Dries and Valnes said viewership remained strong including their group’s last events “A Nice Family Gathering” in November 2016 and a celebration in August 2016 for volunteers and a commemoration of the late musical director Dewey Ehling who led music for many of the group’s shows.
Beginnings
Readers Theatre Plus dates its first show to a reading of excerpts of Rebecca Redshaw’s novel “Dear Jennifer” on Sept. 21, 2006, at Unity in the Olympics in Port Angeles, benefiting Planned Parenthood, formerly Family Planning of Clallam County, and Sept. 22, 2006, at Sequim High School benefiting Parenting Matters.
Redshaw said it was her suggestion to Carol Swarbrick Dries, another founding board member, to use her story, which with help of other original board members led to the creation of Readers Theatre Plus.
A part of their vision was to perform simply with music stands and microphones with proceeds benefiting local charities, she said.
Over the years, the group performed many of Redshaw’s original plays and the group hosted dozens upon dozens of shows in and around Sequim and Port Angeles with the intent not to have a permanent venue so that more ticket revenues would support local charities, group members said.
Dries said shows were done in Olympic Theatre Arts’ old facility and in the Port Angeles Community Playhouse but never with the intention to compete.
“(Readers theater) was something nobody was doing,” he said.
Swarbrick Dries said in a previous interview that they chose the platform because it allowed people with limited time, difficulty in memorizing lines and/or people who have never been on stage before an opportunity to perform.
Early on, organizers said they paid rental fees and productions costs out of the box office but later Gilbert and Sullivan shows served as summer fundraisers along with silent auctions to help the organization stay afloat and help other nonprofits.
Swarbrick Dries said one of the most memorable parts of Readers Theatre Plus was the generosity and positive attitude of the community.
“Readers Theatre Plus wouldn’t have lasted two years without this community,” she said.
She felt the collaborations between the group and Ehling and the Peninsula Singers is what helped accelerate the group and its support of the community and bring more awareness to local businesses that would in turn donate to auctions and locals to attend shows.
She also loved giving out annual scholarships to local students going into the arts.
“What a feeling,” Swarbrick Dries said. “It’s just a reassurance to say you excelled and you’re being honored and appreciated.”
Reflection
Valnes said the appreciation event in August was a memorable event for her and many others as they honored Ehling who died Aug. 7 of pneumonia.
“There wasn’t a dry eye in the place,” Valnes said.
“It wasn’t just a sadness but more about his giving. He touched so many people. I think that’s what Readers Theatre meant. It was the sense of touching the community. We benefited greatly from what he brought.”
Dries said their musicals always had support of the community.
He also appreciated that the group did smaller shows that might not have brought in bigger audiences such as “When the Rain Stops Falling,” which he said was “a bit more challenging and those who saw it loved it.”
Overall, Valnes said the group has been about camaraderie.
“People are thrilled to see other people they know,” she said.
“We don’t think of this as a door closing. We think of it as an opportunity to help other people. It’s all pretty fresh for us. We’re kind of searching the community to see how we can contribute small, medium or large. Doesn’t have to be theater. We’re just searching.”
The group has funds still available and will make a decision on possibly making donations later this year, Valnes said.
To read more on Readers Theatre Plus, visit http://readerstheatreplus.com.
Reach Matthew Nash at mnash @sequimgazette.com.
Performers, from left, Barbara Wilson, Sandi Lockwood, Barbara Hughes, Ric Munhall, Jeff Cool, Alexandria Edouart, Mary Griffith and Erika van Calcar made up the cast of the Readers Theatre Plus’ “Murder Most Fowl.” Submitted photo
“The Christmas Bench” from November 2015 featured, from left, Barbara Drennan, Ric Munhall and Teresa Pierce. Photo courtesy of Readers Theatre Plus
The women of “The Mikado” make their grand entrance in colorful costumes in Readers Theatre Plus’ Gilbert & Sullivan show in the Dungeness Schoolhouse. Sequim Gazette file photo by Matthew Nash
