Dover Little Theatre still struggling

A cry for help went out in December.

The Dover Little Theatre, housed in a building that was once a morgue and is said to be haunted by the ghost of its founder, needed money to survive.

Patrons and friends rose to the ocassion and averted the immediate crisis but an ondoing need for money persists. The 108-seat community theater, which is in its 83rd season, faces obstacles that include more entertainment options, its location in a residential neighborhood and the changing demographics of the town in which its based.

“We are a non-profit, but we still have bills to pay, for when you have a brick and mortar building, you still have utilities, electricity, phone bills, oil bills in these terrible winters, and have insurance to pay and without steady income its hard to survive between shows,” said Joanne DeCarolis, secretary on the theater’s board.

The theater relys on the profits from an average of four shows per season to pay 12 months worth of bills, she said.

The theater was founded in 1933 by Ruth Beth Watts, a schoolteacher who came back to her hometown of Dover to care for her ill parents, said Noreen Walsh, the theater’s president from 2009 to 2012.

“The building used to be a morgue believe it or not,” DeCarolis said. “People also say that the founder [Ruth] still haunts the theater, which is pretty cool.”

Walsh has been involved with the theater since 1987, taking on various roles, including acting, directing and holding the member at large board position, Walsh said.

The financial situation has been, “an ongoing battle as the building is from the 1800s, and upkeep on a building like that creates astronomical [debts],” Walsh said.

The theater has been a cash-flow problem for years and has been trying to raise money by coming up with new ideas, she added. A PayPal account has been recently set up on the website and the theater is using social media including Facebook and Twitter.

Some of those ideas include having special events as well as renting out the theater for parties, conventions, weddings, concerts and dance recitals as filler on the weekends when there are no productions, DeCarolis said.

“It’s tough for community theaters to make it when it’s run by volunteers, nobody gets paid, we’re all doing it for the love of theater, all doing it around full-time jobs and families, there’s only so much we can do,” DeCarolis said.

Grants may be another source of funds, according to Walsh, who added the company also could establish a board of trustees, as other theaters do.

“The theater has a lot of ideas, it’s just having the time and resources to pursue them all, “ DeCarolis said.

“This has been going on for a long time now, not having just financial problems but a combination of things. I don’t think people go to as much community theater as much as they use to and the location has always been an issue because it’s in a residential neighborhood,” Walsh said. “(That) has been a problem from the get go,” Walsh said.

Additionally, the demographics of the Dover community have changed since the theater opened, DeCarolis said.

“The demographics of Dover are not really theater-going people and so we need out-of-town people to come in and see the shows,” she said.

Finding new avenues that reflect the culture of the community would be beneficial, Walsh said.

“The most important thing is that people need to come and see these shows, we put so much effort and it’s disappointing when you work so hard on a show and then you don’t have the audience coming to see them as much as you would like,” DeCarolis said. “The best way to donate is to come and buy a ticket and see the show to get something for your money.”

The current show, “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest,” runs until Jan. 30. Tickets are $17. Dover Little Theatre is located at 69 Elliot St.