March 19, 2020
Dear Theatre Patrons and Community Members,
Aumsville Community Theatre dba Spotlight Community Theatre needs your help. We need memberships, gift certificate purchases, and monetary donations.
We started Aumsville Community Theatre in 2011, performing our first production in the community center. We had no stage and our spotlight was a high powered flashlight that someone held while standing on a ladder. We are a dedicated and determined group that has come a long way since 2011.
Five months ago, we made the decision to make Stayton our permanent home and moved into an amazing venue in Historic Downtown Stayton located in the Dietrich Building. It was a big leap of faith for us. We changed our name to the Spotlight Theatre and began to increase our audience base with several successful productions of stage plays and staged radio shows. All was rainbows and unicorns until the current COVID-19 virus hit.
Having to cancel four events has been devastating. Like most other theatre groups, we depend on our performances to carry us from month to month. We have an amazing board that has jumped into action and are brainstorming ways to get through this. We don’t have a solid plan yet, but we will come out strong when the bans are lifted. In the meantime, we will use revenue from our production of Little Women to get us through April.
After that, we are hopeful that, with community support and some innovative ideas, we will make it through. We will start our membership drive early, encourage our patrons to purchase gift certificates now that they can use for future productions, and launch an ad campaign to raise funds to “Raise the Stage.” We were in the process of preparing to build a new raised platform stage, but now we will have to use those funds to pay rent.
We will continue our outreach to our elderly patrons by providing recorded radio shows for them to enjoy at local nursing facilities.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to our community and all those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Please stay safe and stay healthy.
Board of Directors
Aumsville Community Theatre
dba Spotlight Community Theatre