From: Theresa Gregory
Columbus
I miss The Crump Theater and its rich history.
It’s more than an old building or boarded-up theater from the past — it represents our roots in the arts. The theater was presented to our community by a founding family.
The theater was once magnificent, with distinctive hand craftsmanship worked into every detail.
Now, it’s dark, lonely, and heartbreakingly desolate.
Is the community’s love of art dying with the growth of technology? The past performances on the stage, a time before Smart TVs , mobile phones, and computers, were a time when we used imagination and talent to entertain ourselves. Families anticipated their night out to see a live show.
Working at the Crump from age 13 until high school graduation, the theater grabbed a part of my soul.
I remember families attending the Saturday matinee, laughing and discussing the show as they leave, and the boys spending the extra 50 cents a ticket for balcony seats hoping for their first kiss.
The Crump was a family venue.
Whether it was featuring a movie or another performance, there was always one focus: spending time together as families.
The Crump represents generations of families supporting the arts in our community. It represents the dedication and hard work of our forefathers, in a very rugged time, bringing us elegance, beauty and entertainment.
I wonder, watching my childhood place of peace crumbling, if our sense of community is shattering too.
Is our loving, caring family-oriented community becoming cold and crass as the larger cities so focused on technology? Are we losing our small town’s unique charm and forgetting the arts? Is our dedication to the arts dying with our philanthropist forefathers?
I’m guilty for not doing my part, but am intending to change that.
A call from Carla Clark got me thinking.
We have an amazing, passionate community member, Jessica Schnepp, trying to save the Crump. If you have a fond memory, please help support her. Whether it’s a few hours of muscle or a small donation, please use your talents to help raise funds for materials and labor expenses.
If you would love the Crump’s stage brightly lit again, and to hear the chatter of nervous artists preparing for their performance in the basement dressing rooms, the excitement of families awaiting the show, please help. I remember mothers actually using the "cry room" with a testy child while enjoying the performance, couples holding hands strolling the stairs to the balcony.
The Crump, with its size, could be an awesome venue for catered dinner shows. It would also support the restaurants of our community.
This unique building does have the room for social distancing if the reality of COVID-19 haunts us for years to come.
Ghost hunters would also be thrilled, as they could do overnights for research.
The Crump has so many possibilities — her only problem is that we have to care.
If you’re feeling a need for a sense of community, Schnepp could use your help.
