Since the late 1970s, The Oak Street Playhouse has been providing family entertainment and cultural enrichment. Located on the second floor of First-Centenary at the corner of Oak and Lindsay Streets, The Playhouse has become what June Hatcher, former Entertainment Editor of the Chattanooga Free Press, wrote, "A gem of a theater in downtown Chattanooga," which includes a spring play and a popular December Dinner-Theatre that draws audiences from across Tennessee.
Upcoming Shows
Volunteer Opportunities
The Oak Street Playhouse is looking for enthusiastic volunteers to join our team! From helping behind the scenes to welcoming guests at the door, there are plenty of ways to get involved and support our productions throughout the year. Whether you have a passion for theater or simply want to lend a hand, your time and talents can make a big difference. Come be part of the magic of live performance!
Opportunities include:
SET WORK: Work up to four times a year (across several Saturday mornings) at the theater with the managing director, show director or set designer to build or paint sets for each show. Volunteers can be expert woodworkers or anyone willing to do minor tasks like holding boards or walls while someone screws them together, or anywhere in between. Volunteers are welcome as frequently, or infrequently, as they are willing.
HOST INDIVIDUAL SHOW: Arrive approximately 45 minutes before performance to greet guests and point out restrooms. Put out refreshments (cookies and water) for guests before intermission. Straighten up and leave after guests return to the theater. Volunteers can do this several times during the run of a show and up to four shows per year.
RUN TICKET SALES: Generate a list of pre-paid patrons from ticketing website and check in patrons for show, hand them programs and direct them to the theater. Learn how to use the church's easy Square Reader system when patrons not on the list want to pay by credit card. Volunteers may be needed once or twice during the show's run for up to four shows per year.
MAINTAIN OAK STREET PLAYHOUSE EMAIL LIST: Update after each show and then prior to each subsequent show send out emails to people on the list for auditions, shows, and reminders about the first and second weekends of the show. Each email is customized for its intended purpose. (We are currently using Vertical Response, which is not the most user friendly program, but it is the cheapest most basic program and suits the needs of OSP.) The volunteer also would answer general emails from persons on the list.
MAINTAIN TICKETING WEBSITE: Set up On The Stage ticket website for each show (appx. two hours four times a year). This includes creating a custom code that can be included on the postcards and other advertising.
OBTAIN INFORMATION FOR SHOW POSTCARDS AND PROGRAMS: Communicate four times a year with managing director and play director to obtain information to give to Clair Harrison, who requires a 10-day turnaround to process.
MAINTAIN OAK STREET PLAYHOUSE WEBSITE: Ideal volunteer would have knowledge of website building and would update current website four times a year with photos Clair Harrison or others take from each show, and, as time allows, create new website pages from previous shows.
MANAGE OAK STREET PLAYHOUSE SOCIAL MEDIA: We currently use only Facebook, but we'd love to branch out if someone more media savvy could establish our presence on other sites such as Instagram, Tik Tok and similar outlets.
COMMUNICATE WITH TELEVISION, RADIO, AND NEWSPAPER: Coordinate cast appearances on TV and radio, or feature stories in newspapers, four times a year to promote individual shows.
MANAGE PROP ROOM: Coordinate with the managing director or show director four times a year to pull props before shows and return them to their proper place after the show's run.
MANAGE FURNITURE CAGE: Coordinate with the managing director, show director or set designer four times a year about furniture and other items needed from the cage (in the basement area) and then make sure they are efficiently stored after the show's run.
MANAGE WORK ROOM: Coordinate with the managing director, show director or set designer four times a year to be sure supplies are available in the work room and maintain the work room in a need and orderly fashion.
RUN LIGHT BOARD: Be trained to run light board for one to four shows per year. Requires attending multiple rehearsals and all performances of a show.
RUN SOUND CUES: Be trained to administer sound cues for one to four shows per year . Requires attending multiple rehearsals and all performances of a show.
COSTUME DESIGN: Work with show director four times a year to help select costumes for performers, or sew and create new ones.
MAINTAIN COSTUMES (could be combined with costume design): Maintain costumes four times a year, including laundering them (or taking them to cleaners) after a show's run, and doing minor costume repair.
For more information, contact oakstreetplayhouse@gmail.com. To sign up, please fill out the form below and we will reach out to you about the opportunity!
Opportunities include:
SET WORK: Work up to four times a year (across several Saturday mornings) at the theater with the managing director, show director or set designer to build or paint sets for each show. Volunteers can be expert woodworkers or anyone willing to do minor tasks like holding boards or walls while someone screws them together, or anywhere in between. Volunteers are welcome as frequently, or infrequently, as they are willing.
HOST INDIVIDUAL SHOW: Arrive approximately 45 minutes before performance to greet guests and point out restrooms. Put out refreshments (cookies and water) for guests before intermission. Straighten up and leave after guests return to the theater. Volunteers can do this several times during the run of a show and up to four shows per year.
RUN TICKET SALES: Generate a list of pre-paid patrons from ticketing website and check in patrons for show, hand them programs and direct them to the theater. Learn how to use the church's easy Square Reader system when patrons not on the list want to pay by credit card. Volunteers may be needed once or twice during the show's run for up to four shows per year.
MAINTAIN OAK STREET PLAYHOUSE EMAIL LIST: Update after each show and then prior to each subsequent show send out emails to people on the list for auditions, shows, and reminders about the first and second weekends of the show. Each email is customized for its intended purpose. (We are currently using Vertical Response, which is not the most user friendly program, but it is the cheapest most basic program and suits the needs of OSP.) The volunteer also would answer general emails from persons on the list.
MAINTAIN TICKETING WEBSITE: Set up On The Stage ticket website for each show (appx. two hours four times a year). This includes creating a custom code that can be included on the postcards and other advertising.
OBTAIN INFORMATION FOR SHOW POSTCARDS AND PROGRAMS: Communicate four times a year with managing director and play director to obtain information to give to Clair Harrison, who requires a 10-day turnaround to process.
MAINTAIN OAK STREET PLAYHOUSE WEBSITE: Ideal volunteer would have knowledge of website building and would update current website four times a year with photos Clair Harrison or others take from each show, and, as time allows, create new website pages from previous shows.
MANAGE OAK STREET PLAYHOUSE SOCIAL MEDIA: We currently use only Facebook, but we'd love to branch out if someone more media savvy could establish our presence on other sites such as Instagram, Tik Tok and similar outlets.
COMMUNICATE WITH TELEVISION, RADIO, AND NEWSPAPER: Coordinate cast appearances on TV and radio, or feature stories in newspapers, four times a year to promote individual shows.
MANAGE PROP ROOM: Coordinate with the managing director or show director four times a year to pull props before shows and return them to their proper place after the show's run.
MANAGE FURNITURE CAGE: Coordinate with the managing director, show director or set designer four times a year about furniture and other items needed from the cage (in the basement area) and then make sure they are efficiently stored after the show's run.
MANAGE WORK ROOM: Coordinate with the managing director, show director or set designer four times a year to be sure supplies are available in the work room and maintain the work room in a need and orderly fashion.
RUN LIGHT BOARD: Be trained to run light board for one to four shows per year. Requires attending multiple rehearsals and all performances of a show.
RUN SOUND CUES: Be trained to administer sound cues for one to four shows per year . Requires attending multiple rehearsals and all performances of a show.
COSTUME DESIGN: Work with show director four times a year to help select costumes for performers, or sew and create new ones.
MAINTAIN COSTUMES (could be combined with costume design): Maintain costumes four times a year, including laundering them (or taking them to cleaners) after a show's run, and doing minor costume repair.
For more information, contact oakstreetplayhouse@gmail.com. To sign up, please fill out the form below and we will reach out to you about the opportunity!
The Oak Street Playhouse Puppets
Fred Arnold, creator and producer of the puppet theater at First-Centenary, decided in 2010 it was time to retire his puppets and his shows after a nearly 30-year run. He had retired several years earlier as director of the shows himself. Many of his puppets were sold and the profits given to the church.
His show "The Blue Bird" is now owned by onetime puppeteer Colleen Laliberte, who has produced the show. He has continued to work with Colleen and has produced a new show for the stage on Signal Mountain.
Our History
In the 1970's, when people in Chattanooga were flocking to the suburbs, First-Centenary United Methodist Church took a giant leap forward with a decision to expand their facilities to become a more viable force in downtown Chattanooga. In the plans were blueprints for a theater, suggested by Flo Summitt, a church member. Senior Minister Dr. Ralph Mohney envisioned a drama ministry and in 1978, with the completion of the new wing, the theater was a reality. Located on the second floor, the theater was really only a large room: a stage with just one entrance and no curtain, a long wall banked with stationary picture windows that extended up to the stage, and a limited number of stage lights. But it was a theater!
The first play presented in 1980 in the newly named Oak Street Playhouse was The Trial of Pontius Pilate, an interesting choice in which a jury, selected from the audience each night, decided the fate of Pilate. The director was Nancy Lane Wright, a member of First-Centenary and artistic director of the Dance Theatre Workshop in Chattanooga. Flo Summitt became the producer and Robert Smartt designed the lighting and sound. The play ran two nights and there was no admission charge. The following year, Fred Arnold came on board as set designer and as creator/director of the Oak Street Playhouse Puppet Theatre.
Now, years since it's beginning, like an acorn, Oak Street Playhouse continues to grow with its mission of providing outstanding family-style entertainment and cultural enrichment.
The first play presented in 1980 in the newly named Oak Street Playhouse was The Trial of Pontius Pilate, an interesting choice in which a jury, selected from the audience each night, decided the fate of Pilate. The director was Nancy Lane Wright, a member of First-Centenary and artistic director of the Dance Theatre Workshop in Chattanooga. Flo Summitt became the producer and Robert Smartt designed the lighting and sound. The play ran two nights and there was no admission charge. The following year, Fred Arnold came on board as set designer and as creator/director of the Oak Street Playhouse Puppet Theatre.
Now, years since it's beginning, like an acorn, Oak Street Playhouse continues to grow with its mission of providing outstanding family-style entertainment and cultural enrichment.
Throughout ensuing years, helped by generous donations and efforts of the Playhouse volunteers, carpeted risers were built, windows were closed in, a stage curtain hung and new lights and light board installed. Suzanne Smartt became the Artistic Director in 1992. The Playhouse produces a variety of productions: dramas such as Ibsen's A Doll's House, classic comedies like Harvey, musicals such as My Fair Lady and 1998's season's run-away favorite, The Moving of Lilla Barton, winner of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival Southern Writer's Competition.
The Playhouse today has become what June Hatcher, former Entertainment Editor of the Chattanooga Free Press, wrote, "A gem of a theater in downtown Chattanooga," which includes a spring play and a popular December Dinner-Theatre that draws audiences from across Tennessee.
The Playhouse holds open auditions with casts of actors from both Tennessee and North Georgia. By invitation they performed Camelot before thousands at the 1989 International Methodist Men's Conference held on the Purdue University campus and their production of The Rainmaker competed at the Southeastern Theatre Conference in 1991.
The Playhouse today has become what June Hatcher, former Entertainment Editor of the Chattanooga Free Press, wrote, "A gem of a theater in downtown Chattanooga," which includes a spring play and a popular December Dinner-Theatre that draws audiences from across Tennessee.
The Playhouse holds open auditions with casts of actors from both Tennessee and North Georgia. By invitation they performed Camelot before thousands at the 1989 International Methodist Men's Conference held on the Purdue University campus and their production of The Rainmaker competed at the Southeastern Theatre Conference in 1991.