Today we’d like to introduce you to Donna Longfellow
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
WOLF CREEK PLAYERS – BRINGING LIVE THEATER TO THE COMMUNITY ~~ HISTORY
Wolf Creek Players is a community theater established in 2005. We began our life as the Norton Community Theater Project for the first few years. A handful of people wanted to bring live theater to their hometown. Two more people joined to direct the first show, and the theater was born!
After a couple of years, it was decided we needed to bring it up a notch. We were no longer a “project.” We were the real thing! So, in 2007, we got ourselves a board of officers, a 501© 3 Nonprofit status, and the name Wolf Creek Players. We used the name Wolf Creek Players to represent we weren’t solely a Norton venture.
We presented one show in the Fall for the first 4 years. Then in 2010, we added a children’s show in the Spring. We had a Children’s Education Outreach Program whose mission was to educate kids about live theater and to share our passion for the performing arts with them. Not only did we do the 2 public performances at the community center, with admission for children free with a paying adult, we also have taken the shows on the road, and performed for the 3 elementary schools in Norton– Norton Primary, Norton Cornerstone, and Grill, and 5 Wadsworth Elementary schools– Isham, Valley View, Franklin, Overlook, and Lincoln. The shows “The Princess and the Porcupine”, and “Cucumber Phil” were performed at Norton High School for the Norton school shows, and at O.J. Work Auditorium for the Wadsworth shows. We reached almost 2,900 kids in total each year.
Unfortunately, due to our giving back, and being a new troupe, we sustained financial losses and had to pull away from the children’s program. Our third show of the season is now referred to as “Director’s Showcase” as in “anything goes”. Whatever the director is looking to bring to the public, we try to accommodate. This could be comedy, drama, or a little of both, such as “Love Loss and What I Wore” and “The Dixie Swim Club”.
Several of our members are former Norton High graduates that were very active in speech and drama. Acting, backstage, music, technical design ~~ it is amazing the local talent upon us. Wadsworth locals have joined over the years, and in recent seasons we have had people from Akron come and audition with us! We continue to grow. We are always looking to welcome new people to join in the experience of a Wolf Creek Player show.
Charlie Shook has opened Houston Hall as our home for most all our productions. Without having our own building, Houston Hall has become an amazing theater house with some imagination and a rented stage. We have had veteran theater people tell us we stand up right with the Weathervanes and Canton Players Guilds of the world……just without the “real” theater home.
As mentioned earlier, we are a 501© 3 organization, and we have since 2011 given scholarships to Norton grads (and one Wadsworth senior that volunteered with us) who are looking to use their experience in the speech and drama activities at the high school in their future endeavors.
During our production of Cinderella in 2011, which was also our first production incorporating children, (2010 was a children’s show performed by adults), we had the most tragic event occur.
Bob Yavorsky, a very dedicated member of WCP, was in all but the last school performance of Cinderella. He was feeling ill and could not do the afternoon show. Sadly, he died the evening before our Saturday performance for the community. That cast and crew of children and adults experienced more about life than they signed up for. Both young and old came together with strength and resolve to perform in honor of Bob….and the show went on.
From that moment on, we knew we would refer to the scholarship as the Wolf Creek Players Robert W. Yavorsky Memorial Scholarship Award.
We presented 3 @ $250 in 2011; 3 @ $300 in 2012; 4 @ $500 in 2013 with the help from a grant from the Verna E McKibben Foundation that continues to this day; 4@$500 in 2014, 2015, and 2016; 2@$1,000 in 2017; 4@$1,000 in 2018; 5 scholarships @$1,000 in 2019;
2@$1,000 in 2020; and this year, 2021, we awarded 3 @ $1,000 but we added an additional scholarship in memory of another member of the Wolf Creek Family, Bill Rose. So we had 2 for the “Performance” scholarship in memory of Bob, and 1 for the “Technical” scholarship in memory of Bill. More on the Bill Rose Memorial Scholarship after the list of shows. 2022 and 2023 $4,000 and this year, $5,000. Through 2024, we have distributed $38,650 in scholarship funds.
LIST OF SHOWS
Season 1:
Fall 2005 The Folly of Live
Season 2:
Fall 2006 Thurber Carnival
Season 3:
Fall 2007 Fig Leaves, and Forbidden Fruit
Season 4:
Fall 2008 Evening of Neil Simon
Season 5:
Fall 2009 Barbecuing Hamlet
Spring 2010 Incantation: The Story of the Frog Prince
Season 6:
Fall 2010 Here We Sit
Spring 2011 Cinderella and the Absent-Minded Fairy Godmother
Season 7:
Fall 2011 Kill Me Deadly
Winter 2012 My Fatal Valentine – murder mystery
Spring 2012 Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Season 8:
Fall 2012 The Curious Savage
Winter 2013 Bernard, Marion, and Phil, An Evening of Satire
Spring 2013 The Princess and the Porcupine
Season 9:
Fall 2013 Dearly Departed
Winter 2014 The Wedding from Hell – murder mystery
Spring 2014 Cucumber Phil
Season 10:
Fall 2014 The Phantom of the Soap Opera
Winter 2015 Other Desert Cities – Director’s Showcase
Winter 2015 Wake the Dead – murder mystery
Season 11:
Fall 2015 Christmas Belles
Winter 2016 The Curse of the Hopeless Diamond – murder mystery
Spring 2016 Confessions from the Ladies’ Room – Director’s Showcase
Season 12:
Fall 2016 Dearly Beloved
Winter 2017 Reality Bites – murder mystery
Spring 2017 Love, Loss and What I Wore – Director’s Showcase
Season 13:
Fall 2017 The Lottie and Bernice Show
Winter 2018 The Pajama Party Murders – murder mystery
Spring 2018 The Dixie Swim Club – Director’s Showcase
Special Event: Summer 2018 Crossroads and Fertile Fields/Norton Bicentennial
Season 14:
Fall 2018 Leaving Iowa: A Comedy about Family Vacations
Winter 2019 Dead and Deader – murder mystery
Spring 2019 Kalamazoo – Director’s Showcase
Season 15:
Fall 2019 Play On!
Winter 2020 Honeymoon from Hell! – murder mystery
Covid pandemic hits…cancellation of season 16
Season 17:
Fall 2021 Steel Magnolias
Spring 2022 All My Murders – murder mystery
Season 18:
Spring 2023 The Death of Dr. Disco – murder mystery
Season 19:
Fall 2023 The Farce Day of Christmas
Spring 2024 The Reunion at Hippie High – murder mystery
Season 20:
Fall 2024 Then One Foggy Christmas Eve
Spring 2025 Murder in Black and White – murder mystery
My husband, Tim Longfellow, Joe Kernan and myself are the only members that have been involved since year one. I have be the acting President and Producer since we became Wolf Creek Players in 2007. — we continue to strive to bring live theater to the community. I am proud to make it happen in my home town. I have been doing theater since I was in elementary school in Norton. Over 50 years.
The Bill Rose Memorial Scholarship – Backstage, Technical, House – inception 2021
In 2021 we dedicated a new scholarship in the memory of another member of the Wolf Creek Players family that was so vital to our group. Bill Rose did EVERYTHING that was needed behind the scenes. No matter what we asked of him, what prop could he make, an extra hand in building the sets, all with a smile that lit up the room with laughter and support. He was a calming force among the chaos. And yes, we did manage to get him to make a cameo appearance on stage from time to time. Bill left this earth in September 2020 from cancer, but he is with us in our hearts forever. This scholarship has been created for those, like Bill, who bring magic to each show, covering all the bases behind the scenes.
January, 2025
D. Longfellow
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The absolute biggest struggle over the years is not having our own brick and mortar building. We need to scramble for rehearsal space for every show, however, the Norton Community Center has been so welcoming for letting us use space there, we are grateful. Also, the fact that our shows are only for one weekend, as we cannot close down the banquet hall at Houston Hall for more than a week. We had growing pains as some people that have come and gone tried to get us to go in a direction the community was not interested in. There are so many wonderful theaters in the area, from well known musicals, to edgy, dark dramas. I spoke to many people in the area myself, and our audience is looking for humor and fun loving, feel good comedies, or stories. They told me real life is hard enough, they want to get away from their own problems for an evening of laughter and joy. Our murder mysteries are literally back each year on demand. I would like to go back to children’s theater off and on, but at this point, we are doing 2 shows a year. Our season is November to March/April. Since Covid we are slowly building back up our audience numbers. Sadly, we have lost both members and audience groups due to illness and death. We are unusual, as we have no box office, or building, but the caliber of the show is as professional as we can make up. We were 100% volunteer for several years, but we needed to expand our directorial pool, and so now we offer a stipend for the Director, Stage Manager, Tech and Music Directors to show appreciation for all of their hard work. Getting the word out is also a challenge, we use Facebook, and a local newspaper, flyers, and are back to using an online ticket service as well as selling them at the Houston Pub, Again, we are in our 20th year, and some people still say they never heard of us….(On the other hand, we are getting name recognition in the theater community here there.). This is all a labor of love, as all of us have careers outside of theater to pay the bills. — We participate in the annual Norton Cider Festival parade, and have a booth as the Festival to meet and greet the community to let them know who we are.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My “day” job is as a Vice President — Wealth Management at UBS Financial Services, in Montrose. As of March 3, I will be celebrating my 45th anniversary. I have worked in every position from cashier, wire operator, assistant operation manager, registered client service associate and a financial advisor now since 1993, when my mentor and boss passed away, and I took on his job and found a partner. It’s been quite a ride. And all of it stems from my ability to give the best client experience possible. I go the extra mile for people. They are relationships, not just numbers. So many over the years compliment me and my team for going above and beyond, which as time has gone on, and more and more rules and regulations, is not an east task. The job has changed, but helping people has not.
This crossed over to the theater aspect of my life. My husband Tim is a professional musician, (we knew each other in high school, but got reacquainted working on a project in 1994) and is well known in the area. We work together as much as possible, and I enjoy supporting all of. his endeavors. (He is an article in himself). At Wolf Creek we always add the “Wolf Creek Twist” to all of our shows. And the usually is an added bit of humor, and also incorporating music into all of our shows, which aren’t musicals. Tim is our “secret weapon”. Many people come to hear him as much as seeing our performances. It’s all about the people;. Our actors that have joined in recent years truly enjoy our theater family and return, and the audiences appreciate the “extras” we look to provide. We do so much we so little, and still reward our audiences with quality.
March 27-29 is our next show, Murder in Black and White by Eileen Moushey, Dinner theater, audience participation, murder mystery.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Hmmmm, it’s mostly from personal experience and networking with others, asking for opinions, Again, Tim is quite the podcast guy, I research the internet mostly, looking for shows, and ideas and then talk to the close personnel that will be working on the shows, for their thoughts.
Pricing:
- $47.00 for our Murder Mystery Dinner Theater
- $16-18 for our Fall Comedies
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.wolfcreekplayers.org
- Email: wolfcreekplayers@gmail.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wolfcreekplayers
