Anne Laughlin and Ted Price announced today that Miracle Theatre has just made its biggest donation ever to a local charity. The professional theatre’s recent production of The Birds and The Bees raised $106,265.04 for The Children of Prince George Fund.
“It means a lot to us it’s now that Miracle Theatre’s efforts have been especially fruitful,” said Producer Anne Laughlin. “With the present health crisis there are some hard times ahead. We know the funds will be put to good use by local charities helping children in need.”
The fund is for children dealing with serious difficulties involving such things as health, neglect, abuse, and sufficient food.
The Children of Prince George Fund is an endowment under the trusteeship of the Prince George Community Foundation. The foundation asked Miracle Theatre to establish the fund in 2019 by donating last year’s production of “Halfway There.” That play launched the endowment with a donation of $84,036.45.
Price and Laughlin decided to also donate this year’s production of “The Birds and The Bees” to the Community Foundation with the goal of increasing the Children’s Fund to at least $150,000. Price, director and designer of the productions said, “we felt that goal was achievable but never dared hope to exceed it by over $40,000. With every production it comes home to us what a remarkably supportive and generous town this is.”
As well as community support, the two long-time theatre professionals attribute the success of the project to several additional factors. They believe the script and cast were especially strong with the play being extended twice for a total of 28 performances. In 2017 Price and Laughlin were hired by Victoria Playhouse on Prince Edward Island to direct and stage manage “The Birds and the Bees.”
“We had already ‘field tested’ the script and were sure it would speak to our Prince George audiences,” said Price. “And for our production we made the extra investment of hiring from all across Canada to put together the strongest cast we could find.”
Laughlin and Price also give a lot of credit to the theatre’s team of Prince George volunteers. Although all of the performing arts have a volunteer component they believe it is rare to get people as capable and committed as those who have rallied around Miracle Theatre. “These people are exceptional,” said Laughlin. “It’s uncanny how many of them could have made a career of what they do for us if they had wanted to.”
Since 2016 Miracle Theatre has donated a total of $334,669 to Prince George Charities including Northern BC’s Breast Cancer Clinic, Salvation Army Food Bank, United Way, Prince George Community Foundation and The Children of Prince George Fund. Price and Laughlin are now planning their next production.