Boosters say if the Fort Mill Playhouse wins, the whole town gets a bigger stage

Imagine what the weekend nightlife in Fort Mill would look like with an extra 100 to 150 or so people wandering the streets of downtown:

Coffee lines at the Mud Puddle increasing along with the laughter at Hobo’s and folks raising their glasses at the new brew pub; the downtown corridor extending beyond the tracks and to the right to lead to Walter Elisha Park, or to the left toward the Fort Mill Community Playhouse’s new stage on Spratt Street.

A larger stage for FMCP would mean, in essence, a bigger downtown for Fort Mill, theater supporters say.

As it stands today, the theater traffic helps everyone, area business owners say. Olive’s Art Gallery’s Debbie Whitsett often looks up from her pottery table before a show, to see coffee drinkers forming lines at Mud Puddle.

Regan Molloy, the manager at Hobo’s down the street, gets to entertain many of these same people later in the evening. After the show is over, the laughs have been had and it’s time for cocktails, Hobo’s is happy to host.

FMCP is currently holding down a tiny corner of Main Street, nestled under a green awning between Fort Mill Barbershop and Gym at 214 Main. Some think it’s perfect where it is: Actors love the pureness of the black box theater. The small stage and limited audience capacity allow human interactions to take precedence over technical ones, they say. Audience members love the cozy, intimate feel of being so close to the actors as they perform.

But those who have been part of the FMCP family for years know this: If they only had room to grow, the Playhouse, and downtown foot traffic, could be so much more.

If the FMCP wants to continue to flourish, the next step would be to cross over the tracks at the edge of Main Street and make a new home around the corner on Spratt Street. Children’s workshops, dinner theaters and rental space are in reach if the Playhouse is able to move to the 13,440 square-foot building currently occupied by eSale Rugs.

“That is huge to us. We could have everything under one roof for the first time,” said Martha Ferguson, President of the Playhouse Board of Directors.

What will it take?

The one thing standing in the way of a 200-person audience on a weekend evening at the theater? Oh, only about $750,000 more.

FMCP is feverishly trying to raise that money, yet they’ve found themselves stumped at about a quarter of their $1 million goal. The eSale Rugs building owner has agreed to hold the space and the asking price through the end of the year, so it’s a race against time.

Does the town actually need a bigger playhouse? For 37 years, actors have been making it work in a variety of spaces, including under a tent at Leroy Springs Complex at its inception in 1980. The eSale Rugs building is huge, with two levels of room after room of what is currently decor showroom space.

In addition to a lobby, storage space, a bigger stage and more audience capacity, the new space would allow for more teaching opportunities, according to Ferguson.

“The possibilities are endless,” she said.

As it continues fundraising efforts, FMCP will host classes in its current space in November. Due to the size of the conference room and the stage, the writing courses are limited to 10 students, and the audition techniques and character building/scene study classes are limited to 12, teacher Erica Owens said.

"Fort Mill Community Playhouse is doing everything they can to bring in additional income in order to purchase a permanent home,” Owens said.

“We hope that by adding these courses, we show our community that we want to be a central part of their lives. We simply want to stay a part of Fort Mill and with the ever-changing landscape, we need to secure a permanent facility in order to make that happen.”

Building a Downtown Corridor

As the Playhouse is expanding, it’s not alone. So is downtown Fort Mill. The town is creating what will be known as the “Downtown Corridor,” according to Mayor Guynn Savage. Walkability in the town’s center no longer has to be limited to one strip of shops.

“We don’t want to isolate our efforts and our fun just to Main Street,” Savage, a one-time Playhouse actor, said (for the record, she was in “The Music Man” at A.O. Jones High School).

In addition to being able to walk to the eSale Rugs building, Savage said that with the town’s efforts, pedestrians will easily be able to access Walter Elisha Park and beyond. It’s time for downtown to extend its connectivity, she said, and she welcomes the Playhouse’s efforts to expand alongside.

“I think Fort Mill as a whole has become extremely desirable to those that are moving to the area because we have maintained such a wonderful sense of community. We have a lot of people here and a lot of growth, but we’re still a small town because we’re connected,” Savage said.

“Our downtown has seen a renaissance of sorts,” Savage said, with new restaurants, retail and a brewery coming. “It’s a fun place to go again.”

Olive’s owner Whitsett said that in her business, activity is everything, and 200 people at the theater is better than 67 people at the theater.

“It might mean that we don’t die as a downtown like a lot of the old downtowns die, because the traffic is really important. That’s the people that come and buy things and keep us alive,” she said.

This story was originally published October 30, 2017 at 4:27 PM with the headline "Boosters say if the Fort Mill Playhouse wins, the whole town gets a bigger stage."