Stepping Stone Players returns to the stage

The curtain has not fallen on the Stepping Stone Players.

After months of financial instability, the community theater group is plotting its return to the stage, but in the meantime, it plans to spend the rest of 2015 bulking up its bank account.

The cost for putting on a major production can tally between $50,000 and $60,000 after paying for royalties, the performance venue and the costumes for the actors.

So Kimie Renshaw, treasurer of the nonprofit, said the group will take a hiatus this year to get its finances in order to put on a show next year.

“Without that seed money… we can’t move forward with booking a show,” she said.

On Saturday, group members will host their first fundraiser of the year, in a series called “Encores!” in which they will welcome anyone of any age to perform in a talent show at the Boy Scouts of America Hall in Glendale, where there will also be wine, soda, snacks and a request for a $20 cash or check donation.

Members involved with Stepping Stone Players, including Tom Allen, Caitlin Gallogly and Elaine Hammel, will also perform during Saturday’s event, which begins at 7 p.m.

A silent auction will feature a week of “Broadway Boot Camp” by Jaxx Theatricals, and dinner for four at Carousel Restaurant, among other items.

Suse Sternkopf, who will help direct Saturday’s event, came up with the idea for the series, Renshaw said.

“She said, ‘We’re all performers. Why don’t we don’t have a showcase?” Renshaw added.

There are already plans for similar events in June and August, seeking poetry and monologue readings.

Stepping Stone Players was established in 2000 by a group of more than10 mothers who had attended their children’s talent show and balked at what they experienced.

“Kids were lip-syncing to Britney Spears, and they said, ‘There has got to be more than this in this community,’ and they started the Stepping Stone Players,” Renshaw said.

The group has since put on summer productions including “Wizard of Oz,” “Footloose,” and “The Music Man,” with live orchestras and as many children as they could involve, along with amateur and professional adult performers.

Last year, however, with rising budget concerns, the group scaled down and put on a smaller production, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.”

In a new undertaking to become financially stable, Renshaw said, “We just decided to stay dark and get ourselves together for next year.”

Saturday’s event isn’t only about fundraising, Sternkopf said, but also expanding Stepping Stone Players’ reach and welcoming new talent of any age.

“One of the things I would like to do is make this as inclusive as possible,” she said. “We’ll provide the music, we’ll provide the lead sheets. Just come and sing. This is an opportunity to gather around the piano and come and have a good time.”

Sternkopf is also intent on attracting more people to the Stepping Stone Players, whether they are kids or adults, with experience or not.

“You get to an age where part of your job as a human being is to pass on what’s good and valuable to you... I’m a big proponent of theater as an idea. I believe in entertaining people, in finding that joy and spreading it around. Community theater is where you start, not where you finish,” she said. “If we can give kids an opportunity to find that voice, and find that presence... we’re in the right place at the right time.”

For more information, visit steppingstoneplayers.com.