Show business: Community theater thrives in Columbus for half a century

Editor’s note: This story originally appeared in Columbus magazine, published by The Republic. Copyright 2025

By Rebecca Berfanger | For The Republic

For more than 56 years, starting with “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “Bye Bye Birdie” at the Historical (and now demolished) Mill Race Playhouse in the summer of 1969, the Mill Race Theatre Company has provided not only a consistent source of lively entertainment for audiences around Columbus with more than 100 shows over the decades, but also a sense of community and creativity for its performers, crew and other members of its all-volunteer organization.

Their winter show, “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe,” will be performed at Columbus East High School Auditorium Dec. 5 at 7 p.m., Dec. 6 at 2:30 p.m. and Dec. 7 at 2:30 p.m.

President of the board, Lisa Earnest, who works full-time for Cummins as an engineer, has been involved with theater since middle school and high school as a pit orchestra performer. In college at Purdue, she played in band. When she moved to Columbus, she played in the City Band and eventually started volunteering with Mill Race with her husband. His parents would put on a summer children’s theater program in Rensselaer in northwest Indiana.

Their first show with Mill Race was “Wind in the Willows,” in July 2014. They’ve been involved ever since in various backstage roles, including technical and musical directing.

“It’s such a great community that it’s really hard not to just start doing more and more,” Earnest says of being involved with Mill Race. “A lot of people start on stage, and then they start doing something backstage, and then they’re volunteering for various tasks. It’s a really great community.”

When she was asked to join the board, which she started in February 2023, “My friend more or less told me I needed to do it, and I said, ‘where do I need to be and when?’” Earnest recalls.

While she hasn’t performed with Mill Race – “in truth, I’m probably not talented enough. There are so many talented musicians in Columbus” – she has been active with backstage work.

“Most commonly, I help if there are kids in the production,” she says. “It’s like an assistant stage manager role, dedicated to taking care of the kids. I’m making sure they have all their props and go on at the right time, things like that.”

Director and performer, Stephen Planalp, has been highly involved after he started with Mill Race in 2011 on two shows that summer, “Merry Wives of Windsor” in July, and “Cinderella” that August.

As of press time, Planalp was gearing up to direct “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe,” a show he had done before in the role of Aslan.

While his full-time job is at Hotel Indigo, he has a theater degree from Huntington University.

“I loved storytelling and performing and always thought of wanting to be involved in that in some way,” says Planalp.

When his brother was a student at Huntington, he visited the school and observed a rehearsal and a dress performance for their production of “Beauty and the Beast.”

“I remember walking away from that show and saying this is what I want to do when I grow up. I just turned 17. Seeing them perform, I got that spark.”

Given Planalp’s experience in a different production of “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe,” at Huntington, he has wanted to direct it for Mill Race for many years.

“Part of my research for this was going to see how other theaters performed this script and this show. I found there were little things you can borrow from, such as a budget-friendly Centaur, how to just dress up the top half and hope the audience buys in when it’s on stage. For the character of Aslan, which I played on stage, so I was in the costume, there were parts of the costume I didn’t like, and parts of it I liked,” he says.

“Also, there is the practicality of these animals and creatures. They have to also be mobile for actors to move around. They have to be heard and understood. I sat down with our costume mistress to talk about whether we would use masks or design with makeup,” which he says is better than masks for the performers to be able to show their emotions to the audience.”

For Mikki Maurey, performer, director, and current past president and chair of the season selection committee for the current running season, she’s also a teacher of fine arts for Columbus Christian School. She founded the school’s theater program in 2012.

“‘Bye Bye Birdie’ was my first musical and I really fell in love with the idea, especially the creative side. I’ve always been a creative person. I enjoy being in character and developing things on my own. In our church, I did some children’s Christmas programs, including directing. My husband and I are from Brazil, Indiana, and we were involved in community theater there as actors,” she says.

They moved to Columbus in 2009, and her first show with Mill Race was in 2014.

“In theater, when you work hard and you’re creative, it’s just like any [sports] team you’d play on. Everyone has a job, and every job is important,” she says, adding she appreciates when she can be on stage for Mill Race, a different skillset than directing everything in her teaching role.

“When I did ‘Shrek’ at Mill Race, I was in the ensemble. It was so nice to just go out and do my thing. I knew my lines, my steps for my choreography, without all the stress,” of being backstage. “I’m more nervous as a director than I ever am as an actor,” she adds.

She recently directed the July 2025 production of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” It was her second show she’s directed for Mill Race — after “Seussical” in July 2023 — and her first where both her son and husband were in the cast. Her son played an Oompa Loompa, and her husband was Mr. Salt.

“It was really exciting to have that connection. For them to be on stage together is really special for us and our family,” she says, adding her son would sometimes come up to her with notes.

Even with a show of more than 100 roles, she says, “We had a blast. It was fantastic and whimsical. There is so much talent in Columbus. I’ve seen a lot of shows, and I’ve been to a lot of theater. Our talent level is really high. We pull these shows together in six weeks, four days a week, and that’s a true statement to the production staff and level of talent we’re able to whip through things. It’s awesome.”

“To go to an audition where 60-some adults prepared and planned and spent their time to do their best,” she adds, “I feel really honored by that. And that’s what makes Mill Race stand out above the rest I feel.”

“I feel like there is something about Columbus that is unique,” Earnest adds, “where it’s cyclical when it comes to the arts. If you invest in the arts at a young age, then you have good artists at upper ages. And because there are professional musicians here that the kids are watching, they want to be involved, and then they stay involved longer. You create a great culture around the arts. In a town of 40,000, you wouldn’t expect it to have what it has.”

Other than the people willing to give their free time, over and over, to this community, all three shared the same commons challenges for Mill Race: keeping up with funding for space rentals and finding a consistent performance space to call their own.

“One thing that hasn’t happened is a local playhouse,” Earnest says. “The high schools and the middle school even have great theaters, but we don’t have a space of our own, so we have to rent from the school system.”

Mill Race shows have been performed all over the city – The Commons, the schools, the former North Christian Church, and The Historical Crump Theatre. But not every space is appropriate for every show.

“The Crump was condemned for a long time and they’re trying to bring it back. We did one performance there, but it’s hit or miss. Another space, the formerly North Christian Church, the congregation gave the building to the city, and the library took control of it as an art center. But you’re performing in a sanctuary. That works really well for some things, but not for all shows,” Earnest says.

However, being in different spaces also has some advantages, for instance, there is no overhead, Earnest says, including maintenance and other costs of owning or renting a space.

Planalp quipped that they are like a wandering theater troupe, looking for places to rehearse and perform.

“The dream space is plenty of theater seats and a true green room and storage facility where we can do the technical space that we need,” Maurey says. “Even though we perform in lots of places, we make it work.”

She adds that it would also be helpful if they could hire paid staff, given the level of engagement that is required of their current volunteers and board.

For now, however, they are looking for more people who want to get involved.

“We are doing a big push to get more staff on the production side,” she says. “Production managers, stage managers, costumes, props, lights and sound. We have plenty of people who want to audition after we’ve built up our constituents [of performers].” She adds they have also built up the amount of show proposals they receive year over year.

To get involved, she says to check out the “Get Involved” link on their website, millracetheatre.org/get-involved.

There are opportunities to support financially and otherwise, Planalp adds. “We have support from business owners and local nonprofits. Like donating money or donating locations for rehearsal space or meetings, or just giving your time. You can come in on a Saturday afternoon and help build a set, or help paint this thing, or move a spotlight for a weekend. Because it’s all volunteer, there’s a sense of camaraderie that builds. People are there because they genuinely love it.”

The next show will be performed in late February, “Power Play,” which will include various scenes from Shakespeare plays on the theme of power dynamics and produced by different directors. In early May, they’ll perform “Alphabet Adventure,” as part of First Friday for Families. From May 8 to 10, they’ll present “The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals,” a StarKid production that has been described as a tribute to B-movies – sci-fi and horror – where a meteor hits a small town that causes everyone to sing.

For more details about Mill Race, visit millracetheatre.org.