Oregon City Children's Theatre: Show Funds Stolen

OCCT est. 2005 is a non profit community theatre with a "cast all" policy. Meaning we cast everyone who registers, experienced or brand new to performing. OCCT has since mounted 33 full stage productions and multiple summer/ winter camps for kids, and now adults, of all ages.

 

On Sept 15, 2021 our humble bank account was compromised and scammed out of 5K.

All of which made up our production fund for our current show: Peter Pan (opening Nov 12, 2021) in addition to funds raised, during our camps this summer, for the new storage building being built on the property we perform out of (the Beavercreek Grange). Although we have filed a fraud claim the bank has informed us there is less than a 1% chance that money will ever be recovered.

 

We are a show-to-show organization and the funds we have for our productions are made up of the registration fee families pay to participate, our production fundraiser and what we make back in box office sales for performances. All funds go directly into the costs of that production and anything left over goes toward the royalties (the copyright fee owed to do any show) for the next one!

 

The founder and director, Michelle Leigh started this organization at the request of her nine year old daughter, Beth, when she discovered her mom used to work in theatre professionally before she moved to Oregon and became a registered nurse. Michelle runs OCCT, alongside her 20 year career as a nurse, out of her passion for theatre and strictly as a volunteer. It was never her goal to make money, but instead create a program that would benefit the youth of our community the way it did for her as a child and her daughter.

 

Our Non Profit organization is unique in that 93% of our staff is entirely volunteer and community based. It varies from show to show as to whether we need to bring in a professional in a particular field ie. fight choreographer, choreographer, set artist and set designer. But even these folks work for much less then they normally charge, because of who and what we are.

 

Every penny is precious. Money is hard earned and we don't take that lightly. Anything and everything is appreciated. One dollar goes a long way when everyone can chip in! We can't thank you enough for supporting our kids in this program and our mission to continue!

The 5K, if raised, will pay for the remainder of our production costs for Peter Pan. Anything made above the costs will be put toward the next show, property upgrades and the 10K our group is allotted to pitch in toward this new storage building on the property.

 

Visit our website for more information about us, our history and our current production!

 

We realize "Go Fund Me" takes a 2.9 percentage of every donation to pay for their own overhead, so if you would like to make a donation that is 100% donatable to OCCT you can mail a check to our PO Box or donate through Paypal. Information for both can be found on our website.