Heather Muller Black Box Theatre appeals for donations after canceled fundraisers

The coronavirus pandemic knocked two of the biggest events of the year off the calendar for the Heather Muller Black Box Theatre.

Its main fundraiser, at the end of July, is normally a silent auction with a buffet and drinks that raises about $25,000 for the nonprofit youth theater. Its summer show, which was supposed to be a Beatles revue, was also canceled.

“We break even and that’s pretty much it,” producing director Kelly Wonestler said. “We’re left with zero operating budget for the season.”

So the theater is turning to the online fundraiser GoFundMe — www.gofundme.com/f/heather-muller-black-box-theatre — for financial assistance so it can stay afloat. Two weeks into its roughly month-long fundraiser, the theater has reached $10,700 of its $25,000 goal online, and contributions outside the site brings the total to about $14,000, Wonestler said.

“We’re very encouraged that in less than two weeks we’ve raised that much,” she said.

People may also contribute by calling the theater at 316-262-2282 or going to the website, wctdc.org.

The donations are needed to keep the theater alive, Wonestler said, because its young performers are starving for a creative outlet.

“We feel like the young people need us now more than ever, because it’s basically teenagers — junior high, high school, a few of them in college — and they basically have to study remotely this year,” she said. “They’re having very little interaction at home or online. They’re begging us to get something up and going.”

Wonestler, who has been part of the theater since it began in 2004, said she was touched that many of the contributions so far have come from former performers at Heather Muller.

“It’s been very fun to see that our alumni, some of them just out of college and don’t have big-paying jobs yet, are giving something because of what this theater meant to them and how they want to see it continue,” she said.

The contributions have ranged from $10 to $2,000, she said.

The Heather Muller Black Box Theatre is under the umbrella and in the building of the Wichita Children’s Theatre & Dance Center, 201 S. Lulu, although it operates as a separate nonprofit.

Unlike some other theaters, Wonestler said, it does not charge its young performers fees for auditioning or performing.

“We’re allowing kids from all socioeconomic backgrounds to participate,” she said. “We feel that’s very, very important.”

The theater usually produces three to four productions a year and has staged shows such as “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Cheaper by the Dozen,” “Nunsense” and “Arsenic and Old Lace.” About every other year the theater will produce an original show, and a Beatles revue was in the works for 2020 under the direction of Kyle Vespestad, who alternates with Wonestler directing the shows.

The theater hires professional directors and technical personnel to give the performers an education in theater, she added.

Working at Heather Muller, Wonestler said, has given a boost to the performing aspirations of many youth during its 16 years.

“We have had hundreds if not thousands of young people go through there and literally perform,” she said. “Many have gone on to be professional performers across the country. Some of them are news anchors, lots of various things, but very successful alumni.”

Productions will return to the 65-seat theater later this month, with “Scared Silly,” a series of vignettes of scary stories, scheduled for Oct. 23-25. Because there are few performers in each scene, she said, social distancing can be accomplished.

A friend suggested to Wonestler to try GoFundMe for the theater, which she found as an economical alternative to fundraising.

“Because it utilizes social media to promote itself, it was able to reach a lot of our alumni who live across the country,” she said. “It also saved us overheard where you’re paying for postage and printing and that type of thing. You set it up online and with the push of a button, someone can donate.”

The theater is named for Heather Muller, a Kapaun Mount Carmel graduate and veteran of Music Theatre for Young People, Children’s Theatre and Music Theatre Wichita, as well as a founding member of the Wichita Children’s Theatre & Dance Center. She died in 2000 at age 25.

“In 2000, many of her friends who performed got together and decided to do something to ensure that shows would continue in that space and that young people would have the same experiences that they had, because they had formed lifelong friendships,” Wonestler said.

This story was originally published October 4, 2020 at 8:00 AM.