The Roving Players, a local theater production company, has made its final curtain call and is reforming as the Kingston Repertory Theater. This month, it begins a fund-raising drive to raise $15,000, of which $10,000 will be matched by an ‘angel’ donor and allow the group to renovate its building on Highland Road into a performance hall.

“We don’t want to rove anymore,” said Brad Camp, who will serve as production coordinator.

Camp announced in November that the Roving Players voted to dissolve and recreate the organization to better serve the growing Kingston area and take advantage of the building known as “The Barn,” built in 2002, that’s zoned as mixed, commercial multi-use. It’s located across Highland Road from Wolfle Elementary School.

Currently at 2,400 square feet, the plan is to expand it to 3,500 square feet by adding a wing, and and making room for a scene shop, bathrooms, catering kitchen, lobby, small office and green room. The project is estimated to cost $25,000. The building, which has provided storage for scenery and costumes and served as a rehearsal space, will be reconfigured into a theatre to seat an audience of 70 comfortably with room for up to 99, Camp said. That’s comparable to the Indianola Clubhouse where the Roving Players has held productions in recent years, and similar in size to the Jewel Box Theatre in Poulsbo.

“We want to tie in and be more a part of the community,” said Scott Snively, vice president of the new repertory theater group. “We want to be an asset to the community and hopefully the community can be an asset to us as well.”

An infusion of assets

The group is beginning the permitting process with Kitsap County. They already have a pool of people offering to donate labor and heavy equipment for the project.

Luck and good timing came into play with the plan to create a performance hall when a Port Orchard theater group folded and contacted the Roving Players, offering to give them 70 cushioned folding seats, risers, sound and special effects equipment, lights and shop tools.

Camp said when a non-profit organization dissolves it must donate its assets to another non-profit group. Kingston Repertory Theatre was happy to help them comply.

“Essentially it is a ‘theater in a box,’ an infusion of assets,” said Snively. “We just need to hustle and get our building up to snuff for a public space – a home-based North End theater – very close to reality … We’re almost like a start-up company with regards to our place in the community.”

Snively recently rejoined the Kingston theater group after being away for a decade, living for a time in Maine. He’s been a professional equity actor, director and producer for 25 years. He’s worked in movies, television, narrating audio books, and earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Alabama Professional Actors Training Program. He and his family live in the Kingston area and he’s branch manager for Bank of America in Poulsbo.

“We’re leaning in towards classical and family shows,” Snively said of ideas for future KRT productions. “It’s much easier to do theater when it’s a family affair.”

Camp has been with the Roving Players since 1992 and his wife, Mary, currently serves as treasurer. Though he took four years off after their two children were born, now ages 4 and 9, he said his kids are old enough to participate in the theatre and hopes other area children will get involved, too. Camp is an award-winning photojournalist for the Kitsap News Group that includes the Kingston Community News and has a professional photography business, Brad Camp Images.

He’s helping reorganize the board of directors from 11 members down to six to make it more manageable. The president’s position is currently open, and the theatre company is looking for “new people, new ideas, new talent.”

The new board will also work to establish a staple of 12 to 15 actors.

“We lost a lot of our acting pool when we were inactive due to construction of building on Highland Road,” Camp said. In its prime, the Roving Players had over 20 actors involved.

“Kingston has grown so much – they’re ready for their own theatre company,” Camp said. “We want to show consistency and quality in our productions, and use our building as was part of the original plan.”

Building a new vision

KRT will be sending out letters and postcards to former members and patrons of Roving Players and other businesses and individuals whom they hope will help meet their fund-raising goal.

Camp said KRT plans to put on three productions per year and he looks forward to “getting back to basics.” Snively said they hope to get students at Spectrum Community School and Kingston High School involved in productions, and will get the youth acting workshops up and running again.

The first production will tentatively be “Harvey” in March 2008, according to Camp, and performances will most likely take place at the Kingston Community Center, as renovations won’t yet be complete. He anticipates that the theater will be ready for a production of “A Christmas Carol” in December 2008.

The Roving Players began in the 1980s, incorporating as a non-profit group in 1996, and producing Shakespeare and original scripts. It founded Poulsbo’s Renaissance Nights in the Park, and lived up to its name, producing plays in Kingston and Indianola. An improv group also formed, and dinner theatres and the Children’s Creative Dramatics Workshop were added.

“It will take a little while to jump through all the regulatory hoops for us to get into the new space,” Snively said. “We’re building the foundations of a new vision.”

For more information on supporting and getting involved with the Kingston Repertory Theater, call (360) 297-4751 or write to P.O. Box 1336, Kingston, WA 98346. A new Web site is in the works that will provide information on fund-raising progress and upcoming productions. Use the old e-mail address for now at to contact KRT at rovingplayers@hotmail.com.