We’re spending 2023 highlighting some of the local businesses and organizations you voted the best! Last year Church Hill Theater was voted ‘An Organization That Makes Our Community a Better Place.’ We talked to Chairman Kathy Jones to learn more about what goes into putting on a play, plans for the future and more!

What is your role? How did you get involved? I am chairman of the board of directors. I first walked through the doors of the Church Hill Theater in 2012. I had been acting in a program at Chesapeake College that was coming to an end. Church Hill Theater was holding auditions for a musical, and I auditioned and got the part. It’s funny; when I got the part, my son said “you’ll be running this place one of these days!” After participating in about 20 shows, they asked me to sit on the board, and a few years later I became chairman.

What goes into putting on a play? The year before, the programming committee meets. They read the plays and then debate what would be good. Something a lot of people don’t know is that you don’t just decide to do a show, you need to apply for rights and sometimes you can get denied. One of the biggest reasons you’d be denied is if it’s being performed within a 100 miles of your location. We actually applied for a musical last year and were really excited, but it was on tour and coming to a nearby city so it was back to the drawing board. The cost of rights depends on a lot of factors, but it’s a lot more expensive than people think. And then after that you have to put together a production team, do auditions, rehearsals, set design, lighting, sound sometimes hire a band. There are a lot of moving parts, but the more people don’t see that the better. It often looks easy, and we think it is better when it looks easy, but it is a lot of work. 

I understand you all did some renovations in the last couple years, what did you do? COVID was a blessing and a curse for us. It was a financial struggle. We depend on people in seats, donations and so forth. We were dark for 22 months which gave us the time; we would not have been able to do renovations between shows. We put up new art deco style fabrics on the walls. We also got all new seats. The seats we’d been using were leftovers from Queen Anne’s County High School. They were actually the seats I had sat in when I was in school! Now we have fabulous new seats, as well as all new curtains.

Do you all have any acting programs? BASK (Basic Acting Skills for Kids) teaches kids the basics of acting. It is running for first through eighth graders on Saturdays from the beginning of February to March. During the summers our Green Room Gang summer camp teaches kids of all ages in two different groups, and at the end they put on a show. One of our goals is to get children more involved and prepared for acting. They are our future. In Summertree (CHT’s currently running play), there is a pretty big part played by a young boy. He had never been on stage before in his life and is doing a wonderful job. It is amazing. 

What shows do you all have coming up? This weekend is our last performance of Summertree. Starting on weekends on March 17th we are putting on Sense and Sensibility, based off of the Jane Austen novel. After that we are doing Matilda the Musical. In the summer Green Room Camp puts on a production. In the fall we do Harvey, which is a classic. We’re finishing out the year with God of Carnage and the Christmas Carol. 

Do you need people who aren’t actors? Yes! There are hundreds of things that can be done: backstage, lighting, sound, working in the office, stuffing envelopes, making phone calls. There is so much to do. I just read an article that really struck me. It talked about something called the “third place.” There’s home, there’s work, and then you need that third place. It’s the place where everyone knows your name, where you feel comfortable, where everyone is there for one purpose. People, especially now, need that third place. Churchill Theater is my third place, and I think it’s the third place for a lot of people. With the exception of two of our office staff, we are an all volunteer organization. We all do it for the love of theater. We are like one big family. 

If you would like to learn more about Church Hill Theater’s upcoming shows, order tickets, or sign up for one of their programs you can go to their website at: https://churchhilltheatre.org.