Lakewood Playhouse announcement.
It has been an exciting few weeks at Lakewood Playhouse and we have several announcements to make. We’ll start with a wonderful story of generosity and community support.
We were recently left an endowment by Grace and William Meikle. As you may already know, our theater was in hard financial straits coming out of our covid closure. We were able to keep all of our staff paid through that period, but did not have the reserves to keep everyone past our 83rd season. As we contemplated how to offer an 84th season we realized we needed a level of investment far beyond a simple fundraiser. The monies left to us by the Meikles was exactly the angel funding we needed and arrived when we most needed it.
The Meikles came to Washington when Bill was stationed at Lewis-McChord, and chose to retire here. In addition to being patrons of live arts, the Meikles were active in the outdoors, enjoying crabbing, fishing, and raising sheep and chickens on their Puyallup property. They’re remembered fondly by friends and neighbors for always being willing to help anyone in need, happy to lend a hand and frequently volunteering.
There aren’t words impactful enough to express our gratitude for their gift. It has truly made the difference in our being able to move forward as an active theater with an engaging theater education program. If you ever wonder how much your gift means to a community organization, let us assure you that there is little to match the impact of such charity. Because of this gift we will be bringing you more news of a very positive future at Lakewood Playhouse. We’d like this moment, though, to be special in sharing our deep appreciation for the Meilkes and focusing on how their gracious giving has made all the difference to live theater in South Puget Sound.
