FAIRMONT– A new community theater group is starting this summer under the name of Martin County Players. It’s planning its first performance, of “Arsenic and Old Lace,” to be held this August and auditions will take place later this week.

Alex Young-Williams said he and friend Helena Johnson wanted to do a community event this summer.

“I worked on the Fairmont Area Community Theater (FACT) production of “Mamma Mia!” as stage manager… and I directed “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in the bandshell in the spring of 2022,” Young-Williams explained.

He said that while FACT used to do more community theater, recently it’s focused on the summer production, which no doubt has to do with the Fairmont Opera House’s current building state.

“We thought in this area, there’s more room for community theater than just one show,” Young-Williams said.

Johnson had worked on a production of “Arsenic and Old Lace” in her childhood, which is why they settled on that specific show.

Young-Williams said they got excited about the play and then saw how much it cost to license it and realized they would need to raise money somehow.

“In my non-profit brain, I thought we should apply for a grant,” he said.

They had the idea in March and, using Project 1590 as the fiscal sponsor, applied for and received a $2,500 grant from the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council.

“For my previous work, I applied for a grant though Prairie Lakes, an arts and cultural heritage grant, that was for $8,000 to pay the artists to paint the hog statues in the very first round,” Young-Williams said.

Now that the play is decided on and funded, the community is invited to audition. About 14 people of various ages can be a part of this cast.

“The more, the merrier. If we have to make some difficult decisions, that’s a good problem to have,” Young-Williams said.

Auditions will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. this Friday and from 9 to 11 a.m. this Saturday.

“The Martin County Historical Society has allowed us to use its pioneer parsonage building for auditions, rehearsal and performances,” Young-Williams said.

MCHS’s executive director, Lenny Tvedten, said they have rented out the renovated 1930s era home in the past for birthday parties, graduations, bridal parties and business meetings, but that it hasn’t gotten a lot of use recently.

“It’s a beautiful facility but we haven’t had a lot of rentals recently, so we thought it was an opportunity for them to use the space and it will help us get the word out about it,” Tvedten said.

The parsonage was very recently resided and reshingled and Tvedten said it can comfortably fit anywhere from 25 to 50 people. He’s looking forward to having the Martin County Players’ first performance there.

Young-Williams stressed that this theater group does not want to take away from any existing groups, but add to the community.

“This gives people a second opportunity to be in a community theater show this year,” Young-Williams said.

“Hopefully from the success of this we’ll be able to do more productions in the future as well.”

The performance will take place on August 8 through the 10. More information on the Martin County Players can be found on the group’s Facebook page.