As we all head to the supermarket this week to buy supplies for our Thanksgiving feasts, may we ask you to pick up a little something extra for Help of Ojai?
Again this year OACT is pleased to support Help of Ojai‘s efforts to fill-up their food pantry by providing a drop-off location for donations of non-perishable food and cooking staples for their annual holiday food drive. The need is not limited to food. Help of Ojai welcomes kitchen staples like cooking oil, sugar, baking items, and even laundry detergent! Theater patrons are encouraged to bring donations when they come to enjoy Elf The Musical. The donation barrel will be in the lobby and Ojai ACT volunteers will make sure they make it to the food pantry.
“Last year’s drive was a great success,” recalled Kelly Hollis, a performer in the 2021 holiday show who was among the volunteers who delivered the donations. “We had to wheel the boxes over on dollies!” Help of Ojai anticipates an increased need for food distribution this year, and Hollis, who is also appearing in Elf, hopes this year’s audiences will be as generous.
Elf The Musical opens Friday, November 25—the day after Thanksgiving—and runs weekends through December 18. Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm, and matinees Saturdays and Sundays at 2 pm. For Ticket information and group sales call 805-640-8797.
Now let’s introduce some other members of our cast!
We learned from Ryan Firestone on Tuesday that working with family is the best part of his theater adventure. Although the Cravens, mother and sons Kara and Christopher, made that discovery more than a decade ago, they’re making their first appearance in Ojai with Elf. Here’s how Kara explained it:
“The entire Craven family has been very involved with community theater since 2009 at KMC Onstage in Kaiserslautern, Germany. KMC Onstage is a part of the American Association of Community Theatre (AACT) Region 10 and we participated in many events associated with them. After being involved with more than 25 shows, it was time for the family to move back to the States and we began to look for another theater home. I had added two years to my AACT membership but found that most theaters in the area are not members of this group. Then, Karen Mathey from AACT suggested I contact Herb Hemming because Ojai ACT is a member theater. That’s when we discovered Ojai was about to have auditions for Elf, a show we did the Jr. version of in Kaiserslautern. Christopher and I auditioned and are grateful to be a part of this show. We feel very welcomed and have found a new place for our creative outlet!”
Thank you, Kara. More to come on our dedicated cast members in the coming weeks. In the meantime, tickets for Elf are on sale now. And don’t forget…you’re invited to the opening night party after the performance on November 25.