The Westford Academy Theater Arts (WATA) program has always been very self-sufficient when it comes to gaining funds to organize their multiple exuberant productions. However, with the recent resurrection of the Supporting Theater Arts in General Education (S.T.A.G.E.) Crew, Westford theater now has a helping hand when it comes to anything from advertising to fundraising.
Originally created a few years after WATA was formed, in 1999, S.T.A.G.E. Crew, known then as S.T.A.G.E Boosters, has made a comeback. After falling out in the early 2000s, the Boosters were not on any track to return. That is, until S.T.A.G.E. Crew staff representative, Maggie Sulka, WATA artistic director, Michael Towers, and S.T.A.G.E. Crew President, Vicki Murphy, started brainstorming new ways to increase funding for the department.
S.T.A.G.E. Crew is now a registered non-profit organization with many goals to help Westford theater prosper and grow for years to come. Before officially starting back in August, Murphy had reached out to people who she thought may be interested in joining the S.T.A.G.E. Crew board. After Murphy got in touch with many people, especially WATA parents, the board positions were quickly filled and the members were ready to get started.
“The amount of expertise in the room was overwhelming. [We’re so] appreciative that jobs were just divvied up and people stepped right up and volunteered for stuff […],” Murphy said. “It [was] amazing.”
With Katrina Munichiello as Vice President, Jodie K. Holway as Secretary, and Stephanie Trethaway and Seema Pusalkar as Co-Treasurers, the main board was established. All members work equally together, sharing ideas and creating advertisements, fundraisers, and volunteer opportunities. Working with the main board are the members at large, Christina Pelta, Rachael O’Toole, Michelle Metivier, and Kat L’Esperance. Alongside the main board members are also two student representatives that bring student voices and perspectives into S.T.A.G.E. Crew, junior House Coordinator Lacey Fraser and senior WATA President Maeve O’Toole.
“I thought that it was a great idea having some sort of parent organization to help us because we’re a very student run department,” O’Toole said. “I think it was nice to have that support, especially doing Harry Potter, because it’s so big and we need so much help with so many things [and] having S.T.A.G.E. Crew has been super beneficial to us.”
Within the board there are also many subcommittees that have been formed and are assigned to different tasks. These tasks can be anything from developing the playbills to selling tickets and flower bouquets. The subcommittees help S.T.A.G.E. Crew separate and put their full concentration on a task instead of everyone trying to do everything. All subcommittees are incredibly helpful with the efficiency that the organization has quickly become known for.
Through the process of creating the non-profit organization, they also had to come up with an eye-catching logo. To do this, they reached out to Class of 2024 graduate Aamir Kapasi and senior Ruby Davis. During the development of the logo, Kapasi and Davis threw many different ideas out for the text, picture, and formatting of the logo. However, the final product, created by Davis, was the one that was most appealing to all of S.T.A.G.E. Crew and picked out of many other drafts.
“This organization is really important and they’re working so hard to help fundraise and promote the importance of theater within our community of Westford,” Davis said. “They’re shedding light on why we do what we do, and we saw it as a perfect opportunity to incorporate a light as a focal point of this logo.”
So far, S.T.A.G.E. Crew has solely set their minds toward helping WATA’s production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Currently, one of their fundraisers is selling flowers that can be bought for a specific student involved in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and will be given to them, or picked up by guardians, after the opening and closing performances. S.T.A.G.E. Crew strongly suggests people pre-order the bouquets on their website as there will be a limited number actually being sold at the performances. All of these bouquets are unique and will have an assortment of decorations that correspond to something within Harry Potter including sorting hats, wands, and house colors. The S.T.A.G.E. Crew board are still looking for more orders to help make opening and closing night even more magical for the students.
Since S.T.A.G.E. Crew is so new, they have many smaller goals that they are working toward accomplishing first. According to Murphy, they would love to get more volunteers in order to help WATA if they host a theater competition in the upcoming years, hopefully making it more exciting and interesting to the students.
S.T.A.G.E. Crew is also currently working on their goal of being more known around the Westford community. They have created a Facebook and Instagram account, @stagecrewwestford, that they use to post important information for upcoming fundraisers or productions. They are not only advertising themselves but also advertising the upcoming WATA production, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, by putting up flyers inside WA and all around town in hopes of gaining people’s attention.
Even though they are just getting started, they have big plans for the future. S.T.A.G.E. Crew would love to get more involved in activities that can promote their organization, such as Westfest or the holiday bazaar. They hope to have a table at the holiday bazaar this year so that they can better inform people about their non-profit and the opportunities they have for others to get involved.
Another huge future plan of S.T.A.G.E. Crew’s is eventually expanding outside of WATA and getting involved in more theaters across Westford. Murphy spoke about one long term goal that would involve getting the middle schools more involved. Aside from Summer School for the Performing Arts (SSPA), which Towers runs out of WA in the summers, Murphy would love to mix the middle school and high school students together.
“We are 100% in support of any arts advocacy. I would love to see theater being offered at the elementary schools [and] at the middle schools more consistently,” Towers said. “So, anything that can [help with] some advocacy and awareness and finances, if necessary, straight through our entire community is something that we are absolutely in support of.”
S.T.A.G.E. Crew also has many volunteer opportunities for people outside the board to get involved in. The organization is always looking for more people to sign up and have made this simple by creating a mailing list. In the mailing list, anyone can be informed about all upcoming shows, different sorts of offers, and volunteer opportunities. Some possible volunteer opportunities include helping with concessions and ticket sales at various WATA performances.
The non-profit also has many other options for people to help out if they are unable to give their time. They have a donation tab on their website and they are greatly appreciative of any amount people are willing to give. With the money they have raised, they have sold advertisements to various companies that will be put in the playbills of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
“I know that they embrace and are at the center of their mission, which is to generate funds for and awareness of the great work that this community, Westford Academy Theater Arts does,” Towers said. ” [So] to continue that, expand our audiences and membership [and] to be as inclusive as possible […], we hope that this is an organization that is sustained.”
