From the old high school auditorium in 1979 to our very own campus today, take a look back at over 40 years of storytelling, laughter, and community.
(moved to 830 Columbia Ave)
(COVID reduced season)
(COVID reduced season)
(moved to the American Legion Post 193)
Chapin Community Theatre, Inc performed its first play in October of 1979 – You Can’t Take it with You, in the old auditorium of the original high school building at the corner of Columbia Ave and US 76 – at the railroad tracks. We have been continuously operating since that time. Initially we were a program of the Irmo-Chapin Recreation Commission (ICRC), but we separated from them in 2006 and established ourselves a 501c3 non-profit when they moved from the old school to their new location at Crooked Creek Park. In 2007, we went to a season with a calendar year instead of a school year calendar. The old school auditorium was leased from the Lex-Rich 5 (LR5) School District by ICRC. We picked up that lease until the school district asked us to leave in 2009 because their insurance underwriters would no longer insure the building. LR5 allowed us to perform our last show in that building – Cheaper by the Dozen in January of 2010.
When we were told that we no longer had a space to perform, we were in rehearsals for Southern Belles. A decision had to be made whether to cancel the show, postpone the show or find another venue to perform. The show must go on! We found a place to perform in Prosperity in the fall of 2010 at their Town Hall building. But we knew it couldn’t be a permanent home. About that time, Harbison Theatre at Midlands Tech Irmo campus was being completed. Midlands Tech was happy to have their new performance space utilized. We were able to start performing in that space at the end of 2010 with A Nice Family Gathering. Harbison Theatre was our home for the next 5 years. In 2013, we started doing business as Chapin Theatre Company (CTC).
As the rental rate for Harbison continued to rise, we started using the Old Firehouse in Chapin for a few off seasons shows. We performed Almost Maine at the Firehouse in the middle of July. This was a show set in the blistering winter of Maine. The actors had heavy coats for their characters, and it was 100 degrees outside in Chapin. Did we mention there was not any AC in that building. So, we rented a commercial diesel power generator and a large portable AC. It was so loud; we could only turn it on during the different scene changes during the show and at intermission.
The Town of Chapin leased the Old Chapin Firehouse at 102 Lexington Ave to the American Legion Post 193 and we started to sublet it from the Legion. In 2017, we moved all our regular season shows to the Firehouse Theatre in Chapin. However, we were able to negotiate with Harbison Theatre to continue performing our summer family shows at their Irmo Campus.
We continued to perform 3-4 shows at the Firehouse Theatre and one show at Harbison Theatre from 2017 until 2022. During our years at the Firehouse, we held a youth summer camp that culminated with a 4-show performance. We started an ongoing teen group called The Headliners, which performed at various events including the Lights before Christmas at Riverbanks Zoo with song and dance performances and an interactive skit each night along with traveling holiday characters for several years. As with every theatre in America, everything stopped in 2020 with covid. We were in rehearsals for Clue. We tried continuing using Zoom to rehearse but Covid turned out to last a lot longer than anyone imagined. We were able to meet our bills and stay solvent during that time. The publishing companies allowed us to put our royalties on hold (we had paid for the entire year of shows). We started performing again in the Firehouse finally bringing back Clue in April of 2022.
From the time ICRC left the old schoolhouse theatre in 2006, we started looking for a permanent home. In 2008, Ken and Jondy Loveless donated 1.86 acres of land just outside of Chapin to CTC as a place for us to build a new home for our theatre. Over the next 10 years we raised about $150,000. This was nowhere near the amount needed to break ground on a new building. In 2019, the board of directors decided to finally clear the property to show some progress. We used our architecture plans and had the land engineered - preparing for the new Theatre. This included all permits needed with Lexington County. We later further regraded the property, seeded it and put in an irrigation well. We spent close to $50,000 and we now had a – Field of Dreams – as we liked to refer to it. But we still did not have the funds to start.
The good news is the property had a value of approximately $250,000. Since we could not afford to build the $2.5 million-dollar 220 seat theatre of our dreams, we started looking for a more realistic plan. That is when we found a building sitting on 6.25 acres that had been vacant for a couple of years. It was meant to be. The property was originally owned by Jim and Julia Haack - long time patrons of CTC. Julia passed and Jim moved into a retirement home. The current owner of the property - Poochie Demars - ran a successful equine medicine business (Vet-Med). The Hoover building he built to run that business was perfect for an intimate theatre space with 95 seats. The Haack’s old home was perfect for our costume and prop storage and a classroom/rehearsal space. There was also a large 25’x40’ garage that became our shop. All of this and we still have over 3 acres for future use. As one of our directors said - we now have a theatre campus.
Thanks to some initial drawings from Ezra Pound - our lights and sound consultant, that intimate theatre space emerged. We went in search for a construction company that would work with us and help us manage the costs. We found Spring Hills Construction and Walt Shealy. Instead of $2.5 million dollars to raise, we were looking at $850,000 to raise. Not only did our board see that as attainable - so did our patrons. We had the Loveless property as an asset. Over 250 patrons contributed from $50 to $25,000 and with a bank loan ($250k), and we had the funding.
After that capital campaign to help buy the property and renovate it into a theatre space, we now have a HOME OF OUR OWN. Our new home allows us the space to put on all our season shows, (except our big Summer Musical which is still staged at Harbison Theatre), offer classes for all ages and other various arts programming. We continue to make improvements on our new home to provide a better experience for our patrons and participants. So yes, the fund raising never stops but the shows can now go on...
