By Darrell Kirk
Weekly contributor
In a world increasingly divided, a small theater company on Lopez Island is proving that creative collaboration, inclusivity and the simple joy of storytelling can bring a community together in powerful ways.
The Lopez Original Theater, now in its second season, is breathing new life into the island’s theatrical tradition while breaking down barriers for first-time playwrights, actors and directors. The company presents 12 original one-act plays — six each weekend — with Friday and Saturday evening performances at 7 p.m. (Nov. 14, 15, 21 and 22) and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. (Nov. 16 and 23).
A theater for everyone
“It feels really important to be getting experience acting, whether I end up doing more writing or directing,” says San Juan Island resident Carrie Weaver, who is assistant directing, acting and has written a play being produced this year — all after just one year with the company. “I have experienced it as a low stakes, high support environment.”
Weaver’s play, “Please Hold,” explores two siblings dealing with family loss and potential terminal illness. Both main characters are non-binary, or trans non-binary — a representation Weaver finds essential. “It’s not about that, but it is important to me to just write queer characters,” Weaver explains, using they/them pronouns.
The play has already resonated deeply with audiences during a staged reading last spring. “People keep coming up to me and thanking me for writing it,” Weaver says. “I don’t necessarily know in what ways it has impacted people, but they tell me that they keep thinking about it and that it has meant something to them.”
For Weaver, the message extends beyond the stage: “Queer and trans people have always existed and will always exist and to just keep telling our stories. And keep representing that we’re here.”
From void to vibrance
The company emerged from what Daniel Alexander describes as “a void created when the previous director retired a couple years ago.” Richard Carter, a longtime high school teacher and theater director on Lopez, had run a production company for years, focusing primarily on Shakespeare and working extensively with youth and families.
“It takes a village, it takes a lot of people to make something like that move, and it just was a little bit of a zeitgeist where the right few people got together, brought in a few more people, and everybody was on the same page, and just started moving things forward,” Alexander explains.
The new direction emphasizes original works and broader participation.
“Richard focused on Shakespeare and larger works. We got together, decided that we wanted to bite off a little bit, so we did a number of one-act plays last fall,” Alexander says. This year, they expanded further: Out of 12 plays, 10 are from San Juan County playwrights.
The company welcomed about 36 script submissions from across the Salish Sea region — from Concrete to south of Tacoma.
Alexander himself is among those first-time playwrights, inspired by what he witnessed in the company’s inaugural season.
“I probably wouldn’t have done that if it wasn’t the experience last year of seeing that as being possible,” he admits.
Moments that transform
For Alexander, the most memorable moment came during the lead-up to opening night last year.
“Within the last, I guess, week before the curtains were going to come up, there was just a lot of buzz around the community, and that felt great because I knew we were having a good time and doing good things.”
But the real impact came from audience members afterward. Alexander acted in “The Bench” by Rodney Humphrey, playing an agoraphobic character — a condition he’d never experienced himself. “A few people with that affliction, you know, just coming to theater was a challenge for them, and they shared that with me and felt represented in a way and felt heard in a way that I just didn’t see as … that’s not what I was necessarily going for, but to be able to be part of that was just touching.”
Last year, Weaver acted in “Crazy Quilts,” a play about quilters who help survivors of domestic violence through vigilante justice. One line particularly resonated: “Sometimes bad things happen on little islands.”
Roseamber “Rosie” Sumner, who has lived on Lopez for 47 years, brings deep perspective to the company’s significance.
“I fell in love with community theater,” she says. “I’d been involved with college theater and professional theater, and I thought community theater was sort of a step below that, only to find that what’s amazing and powerful about community theater is people don’t get paid. They do it for the love and passion of art and also as a gift to the community.”
Sumner has played major roles over the decades, including Prospero in “The Tempest.” Accessibility remains paramount.
“If people feel they can’t afford it, they can just come. They can just walk in and say, I don’t have the 20 bucks, 25 bucks for a ticket. But I sure would like to see the show. And we are welcoming anybody to come,” she emphasizes.
In an interview with the Islands’ Weekly, San Juan County Council member Jane Fuller announced that the Council recently voted to allocate $8,000 in lodging tax funds to Lopez Original Theater for 2026.
“Both the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee members, as well as council voted in favor of allocating $8,000 to that really new, exciting organization,” Fuller says. The funding, collected from lodging entities to promote tourism, recognizes the theater’s role in drawing visitors while enriching island life.
