Theatre on the Move!

Capital Campaign Has Name, Architect, Committee Members

Key City Players has selected Theatre on the Move! as the name for its capital campaign to raise funds to build a state-of-the-art, 150-seat theatre in uptown Port Townsend.

Chairing the Theatre on the Move! Committee is board member David Parris -- photo at left -- 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 Jumping Mouse Children’s Center’s  recent capital campaign and is a grant project accountant for the City of Port Townsend; Micheal and Judy Cavett, owners of FairWinds Winery; Patricia Earnest, who has worked as a professional actress and assistant director in theatre, 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, long-time 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 theatre; 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 of the committee.

“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,” says 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. But his roots in the theatre run deep. For more than 20 years, Parris was involved in the Waukesha Civic Theatre in Wisconsin as an actor, director and board president. (Interestingly, fellow KCP boardmember and capital campaign committee member David Hundhausen later worked on that theatre’s successful capital campaign.)

Key City Players recently hired theatre architect Andrea Wickham of Seattle to draw up preliminary plans for its new theatre to be constructed at 1128 Lawrence Street.

Planning documents for Key City Players’ facility will be completed in early summer. The new theatre 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,” says Artistic Director Winter. “It also reflects our growth. Our productions are reaching larger audiences every year and a new theatre 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 you can get involved, visit www.keycitypublictheatre.org, or call the theatre’s administrative offices at 360-379-0195.

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