Drive to raise funds for pay for play faces tight deadline — $4K needed in coming days

By Holly Dillemuth, Ashland.news

A crowdfunding effort to fund a spring play at Ashland Middle School has raised more than $1,000 — 20% of its $5,000 goal — to ensure that the show will go on, but there is still $4,000 to raise by the end of the week if fundraisers are to meet their goal. The play’s GoFundMe page had collected $1,050 as of mid-day Wednesday, March 19. 

The effort started amid a transition of staff and budget constraints at Ashland School District. Theater teacher Meg Fischer will oversee the production, contingent on raising the funds needed to do so. Participation is open to middle school students from AMS, TRAILS Outdoor School, and Willow Wind Community Learning Center, according to the GoFundMe page, which will distribute funds through the Ashland Schools Foundation.

The $5,000 will cover the director’s stipend, custodial coverage, and any other staffing required, in addition to paying for the rights to the show, which include royalty fees required to legally put on a play, according to Fischer.

Ashland parent Elizabeth “Liz” Gettelman Galicia created the fundraiser and also spoke with Ashland.news about the effort last week.

Gettelman Galicia’s daughter, who is on the costume crew at Ashland Middle School, recently came home talking about how she and her peers were told the district would not be able to put on a middle school play. 

The crowdfunding effort started initially with the idea for a bake sale to raise funds.

“So as parents we sort of said, ‘Well, the quickest way to do a ‘bake sale’ of this size is to throw up a (GoFundMe) page,” Gettelman Galicia said.

“They are really advocating for this,” she added, of the students. “The parents ended up starting a fundraiser because, if it is going to take community support, we want to see if we can make it happen.”

One Ashland family, with two AMS students — sixth-grader Koby Boyd, 11, and eighth-grader Draysen Boyd, 13 — spoke with Ashland.news about the effort and why they believe it’s important to help students get on stage this spring.

“Middle school theater can kind of prepare middle school actors for high school,” Koby said. “Middle school acting is still pretty important.”

Koby and Draysen’s mom, Jamar Boyd, is a 2004 Southern Oregon University Theatre alumna who, along with her husband, is raising a theater-centric family. 

Jamar shared about the importance of finding confidence for middle schoolers at that stage of their lives.

Jamar echoed that middle school can be a difficult time to learn to work as a unit.

“A lot of kids get that through sports,” she said. “They learn how to work on a team (in theater).”

“Middle school’s just tough and kids are going through a whole lot,” Jamar added, noting theater can be a place to find their people.

Her two sons were both cast in “Newsies JR.,” a previous AMS production, and have experienced a significant impact by being involved in the program, including establishing new friendships and gaining confidence.

The brothers hung out on their couch in the family’s living room last week with their 7-year-old family dog, Pancho, a “Panamanian street dog” they adopted while the family lived in Panama. 

It was in Panama that Koby got started in acting. His mom, Jamar, taught math and her sons were able to dive into numerous electives, including drama, before the family moved back to Southern Oregon.

Draysen found theater a bit later, but has been able to play some fun roles.

“Definitely one of my best theatre experiences,” Draysen said, of “Newsies JR.”

Jamar is hoping the middle school can continue to provide this outlet for her kids and their peers with a play this spring.

“We were hoping for (Draysen) to have one more chance so he can really kind of dive in a little more, feel a little more confident before going to high school,” Jamar said, “and then auditioning with the upperclassmen.”

While “Newsies JR.” was a “big production” and she believes her kids were lucky to have that opportunity. But she knows with budget constraints that even a smaller production would be meaningful for them and other middle schoolers.

“They can have something simpler and smaller and cheaper and easier to manage and it’s still fun,” she said.

Joining them midway through the interview was their enthusiastic 7-and-¾-year-old sister Everis Boyd, who proudly announced that she wants to do theater, too.

Watch out world, for the Boyd theater family

The Boyd children each shared their passion for theater, showing how important theater can be for youngsters at any age.

For Koby, he would like to one day be cast as Orpheus in “Hadestown,” Seymour from “Little Shop of Horrors” and/or as Lafayette in “Hamilton.”

For Draysen, he’d love to play Hades in “Hadestown” and/or Professor Callahan in “Legally Blonde.”

Everis told Ashland.news she hopes to star as Eurydice in “Hadestown” and/or “Jack” in “Newsies JR.”, if it is produced again at AMS, and would one day like to play “Will Turner” or “Jack Sparrow” in “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

If funding goals are met, AMS plans to hold a play this May, and the students at AMS welcome any and all financial support.

Email Ashland.news reporter Holly Dillemuth at hollyd@ashland.news.

March 20: More information added about how the $5,000 fundraising goal would be spent.