Chillicothe Players Theatre—A Short History
Oct 29, 2022 06:22PM ● By Mary Ellen Milem, Director
Chillicothe Players Theatre, formerly Chillicothe Summer Theatre, began in the 1990s as the idea of a student of Bob Howell, an IVC teacher who had directed many high school plays. Bob directed community theatre summer shows at the high school.
Currently, our children’s productions are performed at the high school and our adult productions are performed at Shore Acres Clubhouse. Past performances have included a full dinner or beverages with snacks/desserts. Any refreshments are part of the ticket price, but donations are gratefully accepted.
Community members interested in learning more should like us on Facebook and visit our website at chillicotheplayers.org. We advertise for directors and make audition announcements in both locations. Not interested in directing or acting? We need help with building/painting sets, taking tickets on show nights, serving concession items, and many other activities.
We hold auditions 10 weeks prior to a show and rehearse for 8 weeks. Rehearsals start at 2–3 evenings each week and increase to 5 evenings as we move closer to opening. Move-in day at Shore Acres is about 2 weeks before opening and involves building the set and loading in any furniture/props/costumes for the performances.
The theater owns some furniture, props, and costume pieces. Other items are brought by the actors, borrowed from other theaters/friends, or bought/made for the production. Since the largest part of our budget is used for rights to shows and renting our venue, we try to minimize what we buy for each show.
The process of making this art we love ends on the day of the last performance when it’s time to “strike” the show. After our Sunday matinee, we pack everything out of Shore Acres, return items to storage, return borrowed items to their homes, and clean up the mess we made while we lived there for 2 weeks.
After those weeks together, our cast and crew become part of our families and finishing a production is always a little sad even though we are always ready for some rest. Many of us stay friends long after the show and would be honored for the readers of this paper to join us as castmates, crew members, in the audience, or on our theatre board.
Our next production is Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol, November 10–13 at Shore Acres Clubhouse. Tickets are on sale now for $20 and can be bought online at chillicotheplayers.org.