4/25/2007 12:09:00 PM Key City Players sets 'Theatre on the move' capital campaign theme
Key City Players has selected "Theatre on the Move!" as the name of its capital campaign to raise money to build a state-of-the-art, 150-seat theater in uptown Port Townsend.
Chairing the Theatre on the Move! committee is board member David Parris, a retired corporate financial officer with fundraising experience in the arts.
Members of the committee, which continues to expand as new volunteers step forward, are Cindy Hill Finnie, a Washington State arts commissioner, and Joe Finnie, a former city councilor who with Cindy owns the Bishop Victorian and Swan hotels; Michelle Sandoval, deputy mayor and owner of Windermere Real Estate Port Townsend; Randy Pendergrass, who served as board president during the recent capital campaign for Jumping Mouse Children's Center and is a grant project accountant for the City of Port Townsend; Michael and Judy Cavett, owners of FairWinds Winery; Patricia Earnest, who has worked as a professional actress and assistant director in theater, film and television in New York and Los Angeles; Nancy Koch, who retired from a management career at Boeing; Catherine McNabb, a past KCP board member, longtime actor and grantwriter for the City of Port Townsend; Susan Yawman, a past KCP board member with numerous acting credits; David Hundhausen, KCP board member and a retired professor of theater; and Ian Keith, KCP board president, contractor and former city councilor. Former mayor John Clise and KCP Artistic Director Denise Winter are serving as ex-officio members.
"Key City Players is fortunate to attract committee members with such a breadth of experience as well as strong enthusiasm for the Theatre on the Move! project," said Parris. "We look forward to the challenge of building a new performance venue that will better serve our community and make us proud."
Parris became involved with Key City Players shortly after moving to Port Townsend in 2005, when he directed "The Threepenny Opera" and joined the KCP board. He is a former chairman of the board of the La Jolla Symphony in San Diego, where he most recently served as CEO of Newton Learning Corp., an organizational consulting and personal development firm. His roots in the theater run deep. For more than 20 years, he was involved in the Waukesha Civic Theatre in Wisconsin as an actor, director and board president.
Key City Players recently hired theater architect Andrea Wickham of Seattle to draw up preliminary plans for the new theater to be constructed at 1128 Lawrence St.
Wickham received her bachelor of arts in drama from Kenyon College in 1989 and her master of architecture degree from Yale University School of Architecture in 1996. She has designed performance spaces for the Dodger Stages Off-Broadway Theatre Complex in New York City and the New York University Tisch School of the Arts.
Planning documents for Key City Players' facility will be completed in early summer. The new theater will feature a thrust stage, a lobby with box office and restrooms, a rehearsal room, dressing rooms, a light and sound control room, a scene shop, a costume shop, storage for furniture and props, and administrative offices.
"Theatre on the Move! describes how Key City Players is becoming a major arts force in Port Townsend," reported Winter. "It also reflects our growth. Our productions are reaching larger audiences every year, and a new theater will increase participation opportunities, stimulate businesses, and provide expanded resources for the community's arts groups."
To learn more about Theatre on the Move! and how to get involved, visit www.KeyCityPlayers.org or call the theater's administrative office at 379-0195.
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