“Building community through theatre.”

Lakewood Playhouse will return to mandatory masking for Patrons for all performances
Patrons, as part of our artistic community, play a vital role in keeping our actors, and the greater community safe from exposure to COVID and other respiratory illnesses.  We shall evaluate the need for masking for future shows as required.

---

Happy New Year
Please Make Your End-of-Year Donation Today!

 Dear Theatre Artists,
​
 The end of 2022 marks the beginning of change at Lakewood Playhouse. We have a lot to celebrate, starting with a new board of directors. We recently held successful performances with LIT students. We have money in the bank, despite recent challenges. We have more clarity about the overall challenges we face and a newly expressed mission that compels us to “Build Community Through Theatre.” This mission does not take away from our ongoing purpose of creating great theatre. Rather, the creation of great theatre, process over product, intrinsically informs a more focused vision of creating a diverse community of artists.

Today marks my first three months leading this historic organization. I am humbled by the progress that has been made, and better understand the challenges we must meet. Before naming those challenges, I want to name six core values that have the potential to empower this artistic community: Accountability, Empathy, Collaboration, Respect, Resilience, and Joy.

Accountability: Being accountable means that the safety of each individual depends on the accountability of every person engaged in our mission. It means informing our community about the kinds of behavior that cannot be tolerated. Accountability is an essential part of theatrical collaboration. Accountability as an organization begins with clear policy and transparent communication.

Empathy: Empathy drives theatre experiences and needs to drive our professional and community interactions. Our world needs more empathy and theatre is a perfect tool to teach it.

Collaboration: Theatre is a collaborative art in which individual artists can work toward a greater goal. As an organization, collaboration is facilitated through simplified processes, cross-training, and nurturing individual talents.

Respect: One cannot collaborate without understanding the importance of open-mindedness and respect. As members and leaders in our artistic community we must foster a culture of respect, fueled by open-mindedness, for all the theatre artists we serve. We must demonstrate respect in everything we do and celebrate the diverse artists in our greater community.

Resilience: We are creating theatre in a turbulent and changing world. Our response to this turbulence requires empathy, collaboration, accountability, respect, and appropriate planning. Organizationally, we need to prepare for a new era of theatrical engagement – one that requires all of us to hold our entire artistic community accountable and to understand the value of our mission to build community and of each person’s relationship to that mission.

Joy: Joy nurtures self-esteem, authentic artistic expression, and a stronger community. The core values expressed above are the essential elements we need to bring joy to the artistic community we serve.

Naming the Challenges
The way forward has many challenges.  We need to do a better job of managing the threat that COVID, and other infectious diseases, have on our mission and our ability to create.  We need to build trust with artists who reflect the global majority. We need to build trust with the many artists in our community for whom trust has been betrayed. We must acknowledge the trauma that has been allowed to fester for years. Perhaps our biggest challenge will be communicating this new vision to the artistic community we serve.

While our technical stage infrastructure is quite excellent, the interior and exterior of the playhouse is in need of some strategic upgrading:

• The backstage areas are bordering on unsafe. They are cramped, hard to clean, and do not reflect the level of respect we want to bestow on our valued artists. 
• There is electrical work to be done onstage.
• The back wall of the theatre space needs to be rebuilt to provide a safer area for everyone.
• We will soon need a new roof on the building. 
• We need hot water in our upstairs lobby bathrooms. 
• We need to improve our processes to foster better understanding of our operations as a whole.
• We also need ongoing fund development to mitigate the effects of COVID on our bottom line and help us with facility upgrades. 

~ Scott Campbell
Artistic Director
​

Donate Today

**Tickets on sale now**

Performances
​​Friday, March 3 @ 7:30 pm
Saturday, March 4 @ 7:30 pm
Sunday, March 5 @ 2:00 pm
Friday, March 10 @ 7:30 pm
Saturday, March 11 @ 7:30 pm
Sunday, March 12 @ 2:00 pm
Friday, March 17 @ 7:30 pm
Saturday, March 18 @ 7:30 pm
Sunday, March 19 @ 2:00 pm
Friday, March 24 @ 7:30 pm
Saturday, March 25 @ 7:30 pm
Sunday, March 26 @ 2:00 pm
**
PWYC - March 16th @ 7:30 pm (tickets not sold online)
**
$29 Adults
$26 Military Discount
$26 Senior Discount (60+)
$23 Student and Educator Discount
**
Our Cast
Glenn Guhr - Leonato
Frank Thompson - Antonio
Amylena Figueroa - Friar Francis
Amanda Kemp - Beatrice
Marisa Peredo - Hero
Olivia Nymeyer - Margaret
Stephanie Huber - Ursula
Jamie Pederson - Don Pedro
Gavin Moore - Claudio
Ryan Holmberg - Benedick
Shawn Torrey - Balthasar
Jenifer Gillis Rifenbery - Don John
Darrel Shephard - Conrad
F.K. Jenkins - Borrachio
Maggie Savage - Boy
Noah Goucher - Dogberry
Curtis Beech - Verges
Simone Jolly - Watch One
Mya Knichel - Watch Two
Nigel Kelley - Oatcake
Jackson Androski - Seacole
Angie Shephard - Sexton

Purchase Tickets

---

Meet our new Artistic Director

---

Welcome Scott Campbell,
​our new Artistic Director

Read more about Scott, below

About Scott

---

Announcing our 84th Season

Our production of August Wilson's "Fences" will be announcing new performance dates later in 2023

**ALL Evening performances begin at 7:30 pm**

We were recently left an endowment by Grace and William Meikle. As you may already know, our theater was in hard financial straits coming out of our covid closure. We were able to keep all of our staff paid through that period but did not have the reserves to keep everyone past our 83rd season. As we contemplated how to offer an 84th season we realized we needed a level of investment far beyond a simple fundraiser. The monies left to us by the Meikles was exactly the angel funding we needed and arrived when we most needed it.

The Meikles came to Washington when Bill was stationed at Lewis-McChord and chose to retire here. In addition to being patrons of live arts, the Meikles were active in the outdoors, enjoying crabbing, fishing, and raising sheep and chickens on their Puyallup property. They’re remembered fondly by friends and neighbors for always being willing to help anyone in need, happy to lend a hand and frequently volunteering.

There aren’t words impactful enough to express our gratitude for their gift. It has truly made the difference in our being able to move forward as an active theater with an engaging theater education program. If you ever wonder how much your gift means to a community organization, let us assure you that there is little to match the impact of such charity. Because of this gift we will be bringing you more news of a very positive future at Lakewood Playhouse. We’d like this moment, though, to be special in sharing our deep appreciation for the Meilkes and focusing on how their gracious giving has made all the difference to live theater in South Puget Sound.

​​​For the safety of our patrons and performers:
Lakewood Playhouse will return to mandatory masking for Patrons for all performances of JACOB MARLEY'S CHRISTMAS CAROL. 
Patrons, as part of our artistic community, play a vital role in keeping our actors, and the greater community safe from exposure to COVID and other respiratory illnesses.  We shall evaluate the need for masking for future shows as required.​​​

---

Organization Sponsors:

This program is supported, in part, by a grant from the Washington State Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.

---

Donate while you shop:

Click the AmazonSmile logo above to donate to Lakewood Playhouse while you shop.

​​The AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price from your eligible AmazonSmile purchases.

Proud Members:

email newsletter:

LPH Newsletter Signup

Stay up to date on events and special announcements from the Lakewood Playhouse by joining our Constant Contact email newsletter list. Please click the button above.

To join our Lakewood Institute of Theatre newsletter and updates list, please click the button below.

LIT Newsletter Signup

---

A Special THANK YOU to This Season's Sponsors:

Lakewood Playhouse acknowledges that the land on which we stand today is the traditional home of the Coast Salish people, the traditional home of all tribes and bands within the Puyallup nation. Without them, we would not have this space to gather and produce performing arts.
We thank the original caretakers of this land.