When you think about theater groups, it’s natural to think of the volunteer opportunities that go along with putting on a show. There are actors, stage hands, costumers, set construction crews and all the others whose efforts are necessary to bring up the curtain.

What too many people forget, though, is that most local theater is produced by community benefit organizations that have a need for volunteers year round, even when there isn’t a show going on. These are the jobs that keep the doors open and the lights on, making it possible for the organization to prepare for the next show.

Wausau Community Theatre (WCT), Oasis Theater Ensemble (Oasis), Central Wisconsin Children’s Theatre (CWCT), and The Everest Academy of the Arts (The Academy) are all registered non-profit groups and all have on-going opportunities for volunteers who are needed just to keep the organizations going. And yes, "on-going opportunities for volunteers" is really thinly veiled code for "desperate need for volunteers", though all of the wonderful folks running these groups are far too brave and far too optimistic to ever put it that way.

Each of these organizations holds fund raising events, sends out mailings and maintains a website. WCT and CWCT each own a building. Anyone who has visited either of them knows that they aren’t exactly "new construction." Old or new, buildings have roofs that periodically need repair, gutters that need to be cleaned, walls that need painting, sidewalks that need shoveling, parking lots that need patching, grass that needs cutting, bushes that need to be trimmed.

So you want to support the arts, but you’re a little intimidated by the idea of getting on, or even near, a stage. Or maybe you’re already someone who works on shows, but you want to go that extra mile to help support the organizations that you have so much fun with during productions a couple of times a year. Well, the Wausau area theater groups have great news for you!

YOU can actively contribute to the arts if you have, or are willing to learn, any of these vital skills:

• Grilling a brat
• Putting a brat into a bun
• Putting a letter into an envelope
• Mowing a lawn
• Answering a phone (Note: Actual voice calls here, not text messages. Different skill set.)
• Making a phone call (See Note above.)

If you’ve ever thought to yourself, "I wish I could do that," or "I wish I could do more," maybe now is the time. All of the principal theater groups in town have contact information on their web pages, and you can get to all of their websites through the "Theater Group Links" on the sidebar of this page.

Click a link. Make a call. Make a difference.