Hey, where is everyone?
Yesterday, I was feeling a little down as I left the Carmel Community Playhouse because we only had a few volunteers show up. It was a Saturday. After all, I gave up my Purdue football tickets and missed Homecoming to be there.
But as I drove home, I began to think about all of the volunteers that HAVE helped over the past couple of months. They are the unsung heroes. They are the ones that don’t need to be in the spotlight, have their names in the program, or expect a big fanfare every single time they show up.
Some were working. Others were visiting family out-of-town or catching up on yardwork. Everyone has lives outside of Carmel Community Players – at least that’s what we hear! And, no, the world doesn’t revolve around CCP.
In this amazing journey to transform a 4,500 sq. ft. retail space into a 130-seat black box-style theater over the past 10 weeks, volunteers have logged well over 1,000 hours and possibly more like 2,000. Some putting in a 40+ hour week in addition to their real jobs and family obligations. Others have squeezed in an hour here or there. And that’s okay. As Ken Klingenmeier, the director of our first show “Rabbit Hole” said to me, “That’s why they are called ‘volunteers’.” And, yes, every minute of time they give is precious and greatly appreciated.
The Monumental Task
Maybe even more important than building out a new performance space was completing the monumental task of moving the Carmel Community Players warehouse space. Volunteers worked tirelessly day and night sorting through 16 years worth of C-R-A-P. There were costumes, flats, furniture, props, tools, lights, pianos, and stuff we had absolutely no idea what it was or why it was there. It came down to something like choosing teams in grade school for kickball – what did you want on your team and what could you throw/give away? So a couple of industrial dumpsters, sore backs, and hundreds of volunteer hours later, CCP did what some people said couldn’t (or shouldn’t) be done. It cut its space and warehouse cost in half. That volunteer effort will save CCP $36,000 over the next three years. Everyone deserves a standing ovation for a job well-done.
Preparing a New Space
Then, we get to the new Carmel Community Playhouse at Clay Terrace. It’s like watching an ant farm at times. Volunteers are building a stage, making curtains, painting walls, washing windows, organizing new offices, re-wiring the circuits, hanging lights, painting sets, and rehearsing for the first show. Then there is the marketing and promotion with poster designs, graphics, photographs, media interviews, a new online ticketing system, new websites, cleaning up the database, writing checks, managing finances and anything else that’s needed. All volunteer hours. And lots of them.
So, in the five minutes it took me to drive home, I began feeling better. So what, if just a handful of people showed up to volunteer. Today, there may be more or there may be less. Many of them will be the workhorses that have the passion and time to help. Others will just find an hour or so. And that’s okay. Because it IS a volunteer effort.
We Welcome and Appreciate You
If you have an hour to spare or want to jump into CCP with both feet, we welcome you. Your efforts are greatly appreciated. And that’s what makes Carmel Community Players a class act in my book.
