Volunteer Spotlight: Glenda Kalina

What OCP Means to Me

For many, the Omaha Community Playhouse feels like family. Staff members, volunteers and audiences alike walk through our doors as strangers, and leave as so much more. We strive to transform our building into a theatre where you can grow and learn; a place that feels like home. No one knows this better than Glenda Kalina. Glenda has previously served as a production volunteer, and currently volunteers in OCP's administrative offices.

"Our fondness for the Omaha Community Playhouse began in the late seventies when our daughter, Carla, was a violinist with the pit orchestra for My Fair Lady. It was followed by our other daughter, Kelly, who danced and sang her way through a few musicals in the eighties, and traveled with the Nebraska Theatre Caravan as "Lucy" in A Christmas Carol two different years. It was when she was in the "Ballroom" that I had the opportunity to play keyboards for the onstage band. That was a fun thing for me as a mom to be in a show with one of my daughters. Joanne Cady (beloved OCP choreographer from 1974 to 2003) asked me to play for her dance classes, and even let me bring along our German Shepherd, Zach, who would make himself comfortable under the grand piano and watch the dancers practice their moves."

Glenda's involvement only grew from there. Glenda is one of over a dozen dedicated volunteers who work two-hour shifts one day a week answering phones and assisting with projects in the OCP administrative wing.

Volunteers Oskar and Glenda

"About eleven years ago, I began my final contribution to OCP by volunteering on Tuesday mornings in the administrative offices helping answer the phones. Again, I brought my dog, only this time it was a big yellow lab named Oskar. He soon became everyone's therapy dog, you might say, as folks would stop and Oskar would get a pat or two. Oskar just brightened everyone's day. These weekly visits down Henry Fonda Drive brighten my life with so many friends, both new and old, and make me feel like I am doing something worthwhile in my retirement years. My hat's off to OCP that they feel their patrons deserve to be greeted with a real person and not a machine during office hours!"

When asked how OCP impacted her, Glenda put it best.

"How lucky are we to live in Omaha, a city that possesses such a fine community theatre to influence the lives of our children and grandchildren. From my husband, Larry, and me we say thank you, Omaha Community Playhouse. Thank you for making Omaha the kind of community that is easy to call home. Thank you for all you have done and are still doing to enrich the lives of our family."

It's a family we are proud to be a part of.

Volunteer Spotlight: Sarah Ebke

What OCP Means to Me

"As an actor, I enjoy being on stage for all sorts of reasons: telling stories, wearing the beautiful costumes, singing the powerful music, becoming a family with the people I share the stage with, and just getting to become another person for a few hours. All meaningful reasons, but ones that culminate to the most significant of all - affecting the audience in some way. Making them laugh, making them cry, making them think...just making them feel...something. My experience with Mamma Mia! and the audience reactions after the show have been quite a unique one. As much as I want to touch their hearts and give them a positive experience, they have been giving me just as much love back. And it has been positively overwhelming.

Our cast has been getting all sorts of incredible feedback in the receiving line after the show, and I wanted to share some of my favorite moments with you. Some people want to shake my hand, look me in the eye, and tell me just how much they enjoyed the show. Some people come up as excited groupies/fans and want their picture taken with the Dynamos (with disco points included, of course). They have huge smiles on their faces and sometimes even jump up and down and scream! Some people come up to me with tears in their eyes and share how much a particular song or scene moved them. And then they want a hug - it always brings me to tears as well. Every. Time.

There was one woman in her 50's (I'm guessing) that said this was the first musical she had ever seen and that she was so glad it was this production. There have been many younger children coming through the line saying it was their first show as well...talk about feeling honored being part of their first experiences that may inspire them to see (or even be in) more!

Mamma Mia! certainly brings the die-hard fans, whether of the stage show, the movie, or ABBA in general, and I have been trying to remember some of the specific kind words we have heard through their hugs, giddy screams, and even tears. Here are just a few that I can remember:

"I have seen this show on three continents, and this is just as good as any I have seen."

"I have seen this show ten times, and this one is my favorite!"

"I never need to see another version again. Nothing could be better than this."

"You broke my heart."

"I didn't expect to feel so many emotions..."

"The storytelling in this production was just so much more than past ones I have seen."

"I'm going to go home and dig out my ABBA soundtrack. It has been too long!"

"This was a better production than the Broadway one."

"I'm hoping all three of you are best friends in real life, because you look like it on stage!"

Talk about bursting with pride to be part of a live experience that can create this many heartfelt, pure, and sincere reactions. I personally have never had this kind of feedback from an interaction with an audience. They have touched my heart, made me smile, just filled my soul, and yes, even made me cry, too. That's what is so special about live theater - the giving and receiving between the performers and the audience. It can be touching, it can be loving, and even electric and wild. I will remember so much about my first experience on the mainstage here at the Omaha Community Playhouse, but what will remain in my heart forever is the impact our cast made on all the human souls that came expecting to have a good time with a jukebox ABBA musical, and left with so much more. As the show says:

"Thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing. Thanks for all the joy they're bringing. Who can live without it, I ask in all honesty. What would life be? Without a song or dance what are we?

So I say thank you for the music, for giving it to me." 

Thank you, Sarah.  Thank you.

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Would you like to continue to support the productions and programs of the Omaha Community Playhouse? Donate Now! Make your donation go further with your employer’s matching program!

What’s YOUR story? Do you have a story to share about how OCP has impacted you? If so, we’d love to hear it! E-mail Emily Andres, Development Director

Cast of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Cast                          

Dennis Stessman - Ransome Foster

Sydney Readman - Hallie Jackson

Isaac Reilly - Bert Barricune

Chad Cunningham - Jim Mosten

Christopher Scott - Marshal Johnson

Brennan Thomas - Liberty Valance

Chris Berger - Narrator

Aubrey Fleming - Ensemble

Gary Williams - Ensemble 

Production

Jeff Horger – Director

Gabi Rima – Stage Manager

Jim Othuse  – Scenic and Lighting Designer

Amanda Fehlner – Costume Designer

John Gibilisco – Sound Designer

Christina Rohling – Fight Director

Vince Krysl – Music Composer/Arranger

Darin Kuehler - Properties

Greg Scheer – Production Coordinator 

An Actor's Perspective

By Marcus Benzel, volunteer actor

Christmas time.  It’s a time of celebration, a time of laughter, and a time to give back to your community.  So how does a social media recruiter like myself give back to his community during the holidays?  I do so by acting!

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I know, I know; acting isn’t the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about volunteering, however, there is a 41-year tradition in Omaha of families from all over bringing their loved ones to the Omaha Community Playhouse to get that sense of Christmas spirit, and it can’t happen without lots of volunteers.

Over the years, there have been different casts and different directors but one thing that hasn’t changed at all is the hard work and dedication that everyone onstage and behind the scenes puts into the show.

You know, I should clear that up a bit more, because when I say “hard work and dedication”, I feel that that doesn’t do justice to what goes into putting on a show for the community. For most of us, this whole process starts way back in August for auditions, and from there we begin the rehearsal process.  We are talking about six days a week from 6:30-9:30 P.M. (heck sometimes even 10 P.M.!) where actors are learning music, blocking (stage directions), choreography or even how to use a proper British dialect.

Finally, after all those long hours of rehearsal, we have one final week to put on the finishing touches: trying on costumes and wigs, working with set pieces and props, practicing on the stage with the lighting and sound as well as discovering last minute connections with our characters to make them feel special to us.  In the theatre world, this is what we call “tech week”, and once that’s all said and done we put on six shows a week (two on Sundays) for five weeks in a row.

That’s a lot of time and energy that a cast of 35 puts in.  Like I talked about earlier, we do this to give back and to share our passion for theatre.  A lot of us like myself have jobs during the day, and some of our younger cast members come straight from cramming their brains all day at school and school-related activities.

via GIPHY

To give you an idea of what a show day looks like for a volunteer actor, I wake up at 5 A.M. every day to do some dishes and pack my meals that I prepped on Sunday. I’m usually at work from 7:30 A.M.-5 P.M., and from there I go straight to the gym to make sure I get my workout of cardio kickboxing or resistance training in.  Around 6:30, I run like crazy to make sure I get over to the Omaha Community Playhouse so I’m able to make it to vocal warm-ups and grab a quick bite to eat before the show.  After I scarf down my delicious chicken, green beans, and potatoes (a meal that I’m known to eat every night), I gear up for the show by getting into costume and getting into place for opening curtain.

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After the 2 and a half hour performance, I take some time to thank the community for coming and supporting the Playhouse (which is something I love because you can see them getting into the Christmas spirit right in front of your face). I tend to get home around 10:30 P.M. every night, take a quick shower, and finally hope to be asleep by midnight.  Then the next day I wake up and do it all over again!

via GIPHY

This is just one story of one busy person who does this show, but everyone has their own story about how busy they are and still find time to show up and perform.  Even though my life gets very hectic and I may be losing out on lots and lots of this thing called sleep, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. We do this for the community, because for a lot of people out there, this is something special that has become a family tradition.

I honestly didn’t fully understand the impact that A Christmas Carol has on the community until I was halfway through my first run of the show last year. To me, it was just another show I was doing because I love being on stage and performing for others, but after talking to generations of families who told me how important it was for them to come here (because they don’t feel like it’s truly Christmas until they have seen us jump around the stage doing the polka for the 200th time) I realized how many people this show has impacted.

Our community made me see that performing this show isn’t about the performance, but instead taking every chance we have to share the Christmas spirit with others. Now it’s your turn! Share in the comments below what A Christmas Carol has meant to you.