CULTURE CLUB: Third Avenue PlayWorks

by AMY FRANK
Managing Director, Third Avenue PlayWorks

At Third Avenue PlayWorks (TAP), we know that the arts create a sense of community, belonging and joy, and this season, we’re excited to highlight and support some of the many incredible organizations across Door County through our Community Partners Program.

TAP will partner with local organizations for each of our five shows this season, providing thematic learning opportunities through special talkbacks, programs and initiatives for each production. The first performance of each show will be a pay-what-you-will benefit, meaning that our partners will be the beneficiary of any proceeds for that performance. 

The goals of the Community Partners Program are to enhance the audience’s experience for each show while offering our partners the opportunity to reach more people and build awareness of their work in the community.

TAP is excited to partner with these organizations: 

Lakeshore CAP

Slow Food by Wendy MacLeod centers on a vacationing couple who can’t get service in a restaurant, thanks to a slightly neurotic waiter who inserts himself into their lives. 

For Slow Food, TAP is partnering with Lakeshore CAP, an organization that, among many things, works to provide food to those in need. TAP and Lakeshore CAP will work together to bring awareness to the variety of needs in our community, the programs that Lakeshore CAP provides, and how community members can get involved. 

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and the Door County Library System

The Book Club Play by Karen Zacarias is a fast, fun comedy about books and the people who love them. 

TAP will partner with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and the Door County Library to further spread a love of books in the community. 

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book-gifting program that mails free, high-quality books to children from birth to age five, no matter their family’s income.

Community libraries within Door County have been promoting literacy since 1866. In addition to the main library in Sturgeon Bay, there are also branches in Baileys Harbor, Egg Harbor, Ephraim, Fish Creek, Forestville, Sister Bay/Liberty Grove and Washington Island. During the run of this show, we’re also inviting members of local book clubs to gather at TAP for their meetings. Contact us for more details.

TAP High School Scholarship and the Steel Bridge Creative Foundation

The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown is a beautiful, poignant, contemporary musical about a young couple’s relationship and an emotional tour de force through 14 songs written by one of theater’s greatest contemporary songwriters. 

TAP is thrilled to announce the creation of a scholarship for local students who want to pursue a career in theater, and it is also working on a collaboration with the Steel Bridge Creative Foundation on a project to be announced soon.

Open Door Bird Sanctuary and Crossroads at Big Creek

Birds of North America by Anna Ouyang Moench depicts the relationship between a father and his daughter over the course of a decade. As children grow up and parents age, they discover that the world changes, too, as the birds they watch in their backyard slowly disappear. 

TAP will partner with Open Door Bird Sanctuary and Crossroads at Big Creek to inspire a closer connection to the natural world and the birds in Door County. Open Door Bird Sanctuary is a 34-acre sanctuary that provides homes for unreleasable birds of prey. Crossroads at Big Creek is a beautiful, 200-acre nature preserve that serves the community through environmental efforts, educational programs, recreational opportunities, celebrations and a commitment to addressing current community needs. Watch for several talkbacks and programs during the run of this show.

Feed My People/Clothe My People

Christmas Carol: A Live Radio Play by Joe Landry is a new twist on an old classic, in which the Charles Dickens tale is performed by live radio players who bring each character to life through their voices and sound effects in an authentic 1940s radio experience. 

For this production, TAP will extend the Christmas spirit of generosity by partnering with Feed My People/Clothe My People, which seeks to provide sustenance to local residents in need. In addition to providing the revenue from the pay-what-you-will preview performance, TAP will collect food and clothing donations at every performance, and other programming opportunities are being planned as well. 

Great theater inspires collaboration with the larger community. In the worst of times, the arts create all of that and more – and most of all, the arts create hope. Third Avenue PlayWorks is your hometown theater. We’re excited to share more with you this year about the organizations that are working to make our community a great home for all of us.