Guest post by Jenny Estill, director of Narnia:

Narnia was my first show with the Kitsap Forest Theater. (I was eight.) I remember spending most of the experience looking up—either in conversation with cast-mates twice my size, or else lost in wonder at the grandeur of the space around me. To an eight year-old, the Kitsap Forest Theater was Narnia. It was a space of incomparable beauty, of grand adventures, and of great challenge—a space in which I was required to work hard, be kind, and give deeply to something greater than myself. It was a space where magical happenings were most definitely a possibility.

Little has changed in the intervening years. For me, the Kitsap Forest Theater is Narnia still, and I am thrilled to have the chance to direct here again. It is a perfect setting for C.S. Lewis’ epic tale of adventure, fantasy, courage, and redemption. The immutability of the space requires an audience to use its imagination even more than does a traditional and more flexible theatre. This, in turn, requires a director and her designers to create images of exceptional beauty and creativity in order to tell the story effectively. Our wonderful production team is already hard at work figuring out how to do this, and marvelously creative solutions are emerging in every department. This is very exciting. All we need now is a cast of intrepid theatrical adventurers who are up for a truly unique artistic experience…

Tod and Deb Harrick, along with their girls, Jasmine and Eliana, had been attending shows at the Kitsap Forest Theater for years - telling all of their friends to join them in this great experience. This past year they decided to audition for Fiddler on the Roof and all four of them were cast in the show. Read why they decided to jump "to the other side of the ferns" - as we encourage other families to audition as a family for our next spring show: Narnia, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Guest blog post from Tod & Deb Harrick:

"Kitsap Forest Theater is a magical place. It has been full of delightful surprises from the moment we first saw it. You’ve got to start with the sheer beauty of the place that gives an expansiveness to the experience of theater. Watching shows here, under open sky and in the midst of ancient trees, your emotions soar. It is a true temple of the heart. But there’s so much more: the photos going back to 1923 that always remind us this is a real Puget Sound institution; dreamy walks through massive rhododendrons hung with decorations from each show’s story; and performances with a level of quality that frankly shocks us by matching or exceeding anything we’ve seen in professional theaters in Seattle, Los Angeles and New York. Small wonder we’re dedicated audience members.

Several things inspired us to try to make the move from audience members to company members of Kitsap Forest Theater.  First of course was the quality of the performances we saw there. But just as important were the friendliness of the cast members when we met them after performances (not just to us but to our children as well), and the genuine sense of joy they expressed when describing their own experiences.  We love live theater, doing things together as a family, and enjoying the outdoors - deciding to try out for Kitsap Forest Theater was a way to unite these three very important elements of our own lives and be with others who share them as well.

How many high-quality theaters do you go to where the actors not only come out to talk with you after the show, but gladly bring you backstage to check out their dressing rooms?  Where they talk about weekend-long performances with as much excitement as about the performances themselves? Where they talk fondly of their kids, running through the forest after rehearsals and, “growing up with the theater?” The Mountaineers Players have accomplished the unlikely feat of creating a first-class theatrical troupe that is also a real community. We are thrilled and honored to be a part of it, and we only hope we can live up to the standards it has set and give to it a fraction of the joy it has provided us"

Thank you, Tod and Deb, for sharing your experiences - and your family - with the Players' community. Please see our audition page for more information on how you, too, can become involved.

Once the floor was installed in the yurt, it was time to think about lights and electricity. Volunteers Scott & Martha Eby and Brian Lindvall started the wiring process, but once they encountered some obstacles, it was time to call in a professional. But where to find help when our budget was almost depleted?

After a few phone calls, we found Greg Fairley, Spectrum Electric, who came to the rescue - donating expertise, ideas and lots and lots of time to our project. 

Our first challenge was deciding what type of light fixtures to put in the yurt. We wanted to preserve the beautiful lines of the inside of the roof while providing general lighting for the entire space. We had been stumped until Greg game up with the idea of using track lighting on the rafters. It was a brilliant solution and we are thrilled with the results.

This project took many more hours than originally estimated, and Greg worked 12 hours that first day to make sure that we had lights working for the Yurt Open House that started Memorial Day Weekend for the opening of our spring show, Fiddler on the Roof. 

The work was completed in July and we now have lights and electricity in the yurt shed as well as the yurt. Greg was helped by Steve Hamilton in completing this project, and we thank both of them for their many hours of volunteer labor on this project. If you need any electrical work done at your home or business, we recommend Greg Fairley and Spectrum Electric very highly. Not only was the work top-notch and professional, Greg's good humor and willingness to tackle all of the challenges with a "can-do" attitude was very much appreciated. Greg, you rock!!!

As an added bonus, after volunteering many hours on this project, Steve applied for and was chosen as the caretaker for the Kitsap property. We are thrilled to continue our working relationship with him.

The Mountaineers Players use the Kitsap Cabin kitchen during many weekends of the spring and summer show season. Volunteer cooks cook delicious meals for hungry cast and crew (who are very appreciative). We had noticed that there was water damage to the floor and that it was soft in many areas. After receiving grant money from the Mountaineers Foundation, this project was tackled. As is typically the case, when you delve into a project, it can become more extensive that first imagined. Volunteers removed the main items from the kitchen and more experienced help was called in to deal with the floor removal.

Jim Hamilton spent three long days removing three layers of floor and repairing some damaged floor joists. Volunteers Craig McCoy, Brian Lindvall, Gardner Hicks, Olivia & Trenton Hickerson and I spent days getting rid of the huge pile of debris that was created by this demolition. In addition, Scott Baker spent a day finishing the details that had to be completed before we could call in the tile professionals, including rebuilding the cut-off pantry wall that had been water damaged.

We appreciated the volunteer help of Ezra Pergam and his team from Lile North American who spent several hours removing our old refrigerator from the cabin and transporting some wood debris from the theater to the dumpster - it took much of that time just to take apart the refrigerator to get it through the narrow cabin door. They were a great help!

Mark McNeill and his team (McNeill Tile & Stone) attached the hardie board backing and the tile - they did a beautiful job and the kitchen looks stunning. This floor should last for many decades, and we are planning on replacing the leaky plumbing, water heater and refrigerator to stop any further damage from occuring. By the time next play season starts in the spring, we should have a beautiful functioning kitchen for our volunteer cooks!