As a 501(c)(3) organization, ShenanArts in Staunton relies on tax-deductible donations to fund rights to perform theater productions.
After an anonymous donor during the Thanksgiving 2024 holiday promised to match up to $5,000 in donations for the next three weeks, the nonprofit’s 2025 Season Fundraiser raised $5,000 online within one week.
At $13,020, ShenanArts is nearly halfway to its goal of raising $28,000 by the end of December 2024.
ShenanArts‘ goal is “to foster a culture of excellence an inclusivity” in theater. An average theater season costs between $25,000 and $30,000 just to secure licenses for theater shows. The nonprofit also spends $1,000 to $3,000 per show for costumes and set design.
“Starting the season with the cost of the rights already secured would take a huge financial burden away, allowing us to focus on producing the shows,” the nonprofit’s fundraising page states.
Donations are welcome online to help ShenanArts pay for the rights to shows performed in its 2025 season. As a nonprofit organization, all donations to ShenanArts are tax deductible.
Tickets are still available for Friday, December 13 and Saturday, December 14, 2024 performances of ShenanArts‘ current production, “The Homecoming,” adapted by Christopher Sergel from Earl Hamner Jr., creator of the 1972 to 1981 TV series “The Waltons.” “The Waltons” were an autobiographical depiction of Hamner’s family life growing up in Schuyler in Nelson County, Virginia. Oldest son “John ‘Boy’ Walton” represented Hamner‘s role in his family.
After the Great Depression in the 1930s, Hamner’s father, Earl Hamner Sr., lost his job and found work as a machinist at DuPont in Waynesboro, approximately 30 miles from home. Hamner’s father lived in a boarding house in Waynesboro during weekdays and traveled home for weekends. After taking a bus from Waynesboro to Charlottesville, Hamner Sr. would walk six miles to the family’s home. His walk home on Christmas Eve 1933 inspired Hamner Jr. to write “The Homecoming,” a novel published in 1970, which was later made into a TV movie.
Hamner died in Los Angeles in 2016. A bronze statue of him was erected in Nelson County just before what would have been his 100th birthday in July 2023.
ShenanArts is at 300 Churchville Ave., Staunton.
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Rebecca Barnabi
