Volunteers keep opera house open, house revenue keeps village independent

CLIFTON – The pluck of guitar and banjo strings warming up for a night of bluegrass echoes through the 120-year-old building. Those gathering at the Clifton Opera House find shelter from the wind and rain outside.

But rain isn’t the only thing dripping. Coffee – both decaf and regular – brews in two carafes at the concession counter as opera house volunteers prepare to serve the crowd that is looking forward to an evening of music in the historic Clifton, Ohio, building.

"Patrons need to feel welcome and feel like you're here to serve them,” says Brenda Walter, opera house manager for over three years. “And really, we are, and we want it to be a very pleasant experience for them because they're going to keep the doors open. If they keep coming, our doors will stay open."

And Walter says the opera house’s doors wouldn’t stay open without the volunteers that help sell tickets, manage concessions and clean the building. Just as the volunteers enable the opera house to stay open, the funds the opera house raises for the village are important in keeping Clifton independent, village clerk and treasurer Sue Chasnov says.

Bluegrass is the genre usually performed at the opera house.

Before Walter started managing the opera house in 2009, the facility only had performances on Saturday and only from April to November. Walter added a Friday night show and extended the performances to be almost year-round. To keep this full schedule, Walter says she needs at least two people to work each performance.

Walter, who lives in Clifton and is paid by the village for managing the opera house, says she has tried working nights by herself but that it gets hectic.

“You really need two people,” Walter says. “That way the patrons get the attention they need, too.”

Carol Walker, who has been volunteering with her husband Bill since September, says that those who come to an event such as those at the opera house expect to be served.

“It’s part of the whole ambience,” Walker says. “You need to have a ticket person. You need to have popcorn. You need to have soda pop, and you need to have people to sell that.”

According to the October opera house financial report, the opera house had brought in $9,538.07 in net profit for the year so far. Sources of revenue include concessions, the $7 ticket fee and what the opera house gets when they rent the facility to people for special events. Treasurer Chasnov says she hopes the opera house will bring in over $10,000 dollars by the time the year is over.

And while taxes are the main source of revenue for Clifton, the money from the opera house helps to make up for decreases in funding the village of Clifton receives from other governments, such as the state and county, Chasnov says. This funding is expected to be around $5,000 in 2013, Chasnov says, which is about 10 percent of the total revenue the village brings in from all sources. In 2011, total village revenue was $57,000, Chasnov says.

What opera house volunteers do is important because the money raised is helping to keep the village independent, Chasnov says.

“I think without the opera house fund, that wouldn’t be the case,” she says, saying without the money the village may be taken over by the township or county and cease to be independent. She says the reason she volunteers is because the village needs the money. This money goes toward expenses such as village building utilities, repairs and maintenance to the opera house and the old Clifton Union School building, and more.

Despite the benefits opera house funds provide for the village, Walter has had trouble finding enough volunteers. She says she has had people say that they might show up, but she can’t depend on this.

“For the most part, it’s a commitment,” Walter says. “People have to make a commitment when they volunteer to actually show up and hang in for the evening.”

The Clifton Opera House is home to Friday and Saturday performances all year.

Walter has toured the opera house in South Charleston, and she says she was told the reason that venue does not have a busier schedule is because of a lack of people to work at events.

As far as the Clifton Opera House is concerned, two former volunteers used to work every Friday and Saturday night but those volunteers moved away, Walter says. Most current volunteers are actually from areas outside of Clifton.

“Clifton only has a population of 152,” Walter says. “There just aren’t that many people interested in the arts in Clifton.”

Volunteers Carol and Bill Walker are from Jamestown.

“You step out and say, ‘What do I want to support in my community?’” Carol Walker says. She and Bill both enjoy volunteering at the opera house.

While the Walkers are relatively new to volunteering at the Clifton Opera House, not everyone is. Belle Bennington started volunteering at the opera house about 40 years ago.

“They don’t have much of a crowd here like we used to,” Bennington says. She says when she started, she volunteered to help in anyway she could and did not expect any pay in return.

Bennington, who does not volunteer much at the opera house anymore, says she used to bake pies and sell them at the performances. All of the money went to the opera house.

Such pies have not been forgotten.

“They used to have wonderful pies,” says Pat Cain, an opera house patron whose husband plays in the Springfield Banjos & Brass Band that performs at the opera house. “Remember? Oh, the pies.”

Other current volunteers include Walter’s husband, Michael Smith, and her son, Matthew Brown. The two usually take care of certain tasks at the end of each show, including taking out the trash and removing the signs advertising the performances.

Carol Walker says volunteers are the lifeblood of organizations such as the Clifton Opera House. She says all the opera houses in the area, such as Clifton’s and the one in Cedarville, are historically important.

“They’re vibrant pieces of the fabric of the area,” Walker says.

Manager Walter says for the opera house to be open and successful, it needs volunteers who are dedicated.

“If it was closed, it would be a very sad thing for Clifton, for the county, for the state,” Walter says. “There aren't very many little opera houses like this."