{"id":39960,"date":"2024-08-13T14:24:04","date_gmt":"2024-08-13T18:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/?p=39960"},"modified":"2024-08-13T14:24:04","modified_gmt":"2024-08-13T18:24:04","slug":"my-turn-home-made-theater-the-next-40-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2024\/08\/my-turn-home-made-theater-the-next-40-years\/","title":{"rendered":"My Turn: Home Made Theater: The Next 40 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_39961\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-39961\" style=\"width: 240px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-39961\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/08\/my-turn-karla-buettner-headshot-240x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/08\/my-turn-karla-buettner-headshot-240x300.png 240w, https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/08\/my-turn-karla-buettner-headshot-768x960.png 768w, https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/08\/my-turn-karla-buettner-headshot.png 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-39961\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Karla Williams Buettner, Esq; secretary &amp; past board president of Home Made Theater.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>By Karla Williams Buettner<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Forty years ago, two theater lovers named Jonathan Foster and Susan Miller founded a company that, ever since, has been committed to presenting affordable theater in Saratoga Springs. Over the past four decades, that group \u2013 Home Made Theater &#8212; made a name for itself, not only in the Spa City, but in the Capitol Region and beyond. How? By producing quality community theater, but with a professional edge.<\/p>\n<p>Because we\u2019ve used locally sourced actors and hundreds of volunteers, both behind the scenes and backstage, our shows have made all involved feel like part of a family. That doesn\u2019t always happen in community theater. Often, the people involved in these types of productions become friendly for two to three months and then lose contact with one another. Home Made Theater is different.<\/p>\n<p>Our family ties have bound us to do the same thing that Mr. Foster and Ms. Miller intended for Home Made Theater, namely, presenting quality theater at affordable prices. Over the past 40 years, Home Made Theater has produced over 175 plays and musicals, including regional premieres, and has held performances at Caffe Lena, the Spa Little Theater at Saratoga State Park, the Dee Sarno Theater at Saratoga Arts, the Saratoga Music Hall and The Mansion Inn, among others. It has afforded hundreds of young actors the chance to gain experience through its highly successful and well-regarded Youth Conservatory and Summer Camp. We have also offered plenty of youngsters the chance to see live theater via our school field trip programs.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\"><span class=\"\"><b><span class=\"s1\"><span class=\"s2\"><!--more--><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span>We are inclusive too. We were the first in the region to designate at least one performance to be sensory friendly, so all affected by sensory processing challenges can enjoy the same entertainment in a comfortable environment.<\/p>\n<p>Home Made Theater has also had a presence in the life of the community.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>We have participated in the Victorian Street Walk on Broadway, \u201cArt in the Park\u201d at Congress Park, the Fall Festivities hosted by the Saratoga Downtown Business Association, and the Saratoga Book Festival Literary Marketplace, just to name a few.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>We believe in playing this important role in the community because, according to the group Americans for the Arts, 86 percent of Americans believe arts and culture is important to their community\u2019s life and 79 percent of the American public believe that the arts are important to their community\u2019s businesses, economy and local jobs.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>COVID taught us that; how many of us were glued to our televisions or computers or phones, aching for entertainment that would help us forget, just for a little while, the fact that we were living in an unprecedented global pandemic? <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>While the community-at-large may realize how crucial the performing arts are to a fulfilling life during these post-pandemic times, we recognize that everyone\u2019s discretionary income is at a premium and this has caused a financial issue for many theater companies, including us. As a result, in May of this year, the Home Made Theater Board of Directors made the difficult decision to let go of its paid staff and change its business model to an all-volunteer-run company. We were faced with a choice &#8211; dissolve this beloved, decades-old and highly regarded company or change the business model.\u00a0 The vote was unanimous \u2013 we were not going to let Home Made Theater fall by the wayside.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Since July 1, 2024, the Board and many of its family of volunteers have stepped up to keep this theater not only alive, but producing quality events and shows. Has it been easy? Absolutely not. \u00a0Is it worth it?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Absolutely.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>We are resolved to never abandon the mission entrusted to us by our founders.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Where are we now? To kick off our \u201c2024 Mini Season,\u201d Home Made Theater is thrilled to present two performances of a brand-new murder mystery entitled \u201cHigh School Reunion 2024: Burying the Past: A New Life for Grinnen Barret High\u201d at The Mansion Inn in Rock City Falls on Saturday, October 19th. Afterwards, on December 6th, 7th, and 8th, we\u2019re ringing in the holiday season at the Saratoga Music Hall with \u201cA Holiday Cabaret.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>All information on auditions and tickets, as well as ways to donate, is on our website www.homemadetheater.org.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>With the help of the public, we look forward to another 40 years of Home Made Theater. As we\u2019re often fond of saying, nothing is better than homemade!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Karla Williams Buettner\u00a0 Forty years ago, two theater lovers named Jonathan Foster and Susan Miller founded a company that, ever since, has been committed to presenting affordable theater in Saratoga Springs. Over the past four decades, that group \u2013 Home Made Theater &#8212; made a name for itself, not only in the Spa City, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":39961,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-reports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>My Turn: Home Made Theater: The Next 40 Years - Saratoga Business Journal<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2024\/08\/my-turn-home-made-theater-the-next-40-years\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My Turn: Home Made Theater: The Next 40 Years - Saratoga Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Karla Williams Buettner\u00a0 Forty years ago, two theater lovers named Jonathan Foster and Susan Miller founded a company that, ever since, has been committed to presenting affordable theater in Saratoga Springs. 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