Night at the Rep moves north, crossing the River to Argenta

Wolfe Street Foundation volunteers Allen and Ashley Engstrom are selling seats for Big River at Argenta Community Theater.
Wolfe Street Foundation volunteers Allen and Ashley Engstrom are selling seats for Big River at Argenta Community Theater.

Finding out the theater at which your nonprofit was planning an annual benefit canceled the show for which you were selling preview tickets: Really stressful.

Having another theater step in and agree to host your fundraiser: Priceless.

The Arkansas Repertory Theatre on Little Rock's Main Street had hosted the Wolfe Street Foundation's "Night at the Rep" for more than two decades. And the foundation had already sold tickets to a June 5 preview performance of Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage.

Then the Rep announced in late April that it was in a major financial hole, that it was suspending operations and that it was canceling its 2017-18 season-ender. No show, no preview, no benefit.

That was a kick in the proverbial pants for the Little Rock foundation, billed as Arkansas' largest nonprofit resource dedicated to recovery from alcoholism and addiction.

"This special preview night has consistently made a significant contribution to our annual fundraising budget and an evening many look forward to each year," Executive Director Caroline Ford told patrons in an email blast.

Enter, stage right, the Argenta Community Theater. The venue on North Little Rock's Main Street venue stepped up to host a July 19 benefit preview of its big summer musical, Big River. (Roger Miller wrote the music and lyrics; William Hauptman adapted the book from Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.)

Foundation board member Allen Engstrom, who works for CFO Network, a North Little Rock accounting firm, may have made the connection -- his office is just around the corner on Maple Street. Or it may have been another board member who did the heavy lifting. Neither Engstrom nor Ford is quite sure. They are sure that somebody at the foundation emailed somebody at the theater and the deal got made.

The Argenta theater seats about 180, as opposed to the 300-plus seats they could have filled at the Rep. And the benefit is taking place six weeks later than originally planned. "But it's still worth doing," says Ashley Engstrom, Allen's wife of 22 years.

Ashley Engstrom, an interior designer and decorator, operates her own company, Design With Style. She and her husband have been volunteering for the foundation for about five years.

The Engstroms, Ford says, have been heavily involved in just about everything the foundation does, "from serving on the board to patron parties to fundraisers to selling tickets for birthday parties." They chaired the foundation's biggest fundraiser, the Oscar-night Red Carpet Gala, in 2017.

And, says Ashley Engstrom, "we've been getting our kids [sons Jackson, 17, and Mason, 14] involved in the Greek Food Festival," of which the foundation is a perennial beneficiary.

"I'm really passionate about Wolfe Street," she explains. If there's a chance she can support awareness about the addiction and alcoholic community, "I just jump right in and do it." Ford, whom she calls a best friend, "hasn't ever made an unreasonable request."

The Engstroms and Ford all say they're not familiar with the musical itself, and were surprised to learn that Huck Finn's father in the show is a drunk, which they admit is a bonus for a foundation that supports recovery programs for alcoholics. "That only shows that every family has had some encounter" with addiction, Ashley Engstrom says.

She passionately adds that the recent suicides of celebrities and the increasing opioid addiction crisis show that "addiction crosses every [socio-economic] barrier," and that it's long past time to stop treating addiction as a moral failure and start treating it as a disease. "The veil has to be ripped off," she says. "Because people are dying."

The foundation isn't on Wolfe Street, by the way -- it's at 1015 Louisiana St., a 12,000-square-foot center that's open 16 hours a day, 365 days a year, offering daily meetings for clients committed to 12-step and other treatment plans, plus outreach and educational programs and workshops and corporate training for individuals and companies.

The event will also feature a silent auction and a raffle for a trip to Nashville, Tenn. The Argenta Community Theater box office will honor any June 5 tickets patrons have already bought; those who for one reason or another can't or won't attend Big River can consider donating their tickets to others -- say, the volunteers who work in the foundation's office and bookstore.

Ford says they've sold a couple of corporate sponsorships but more are available and of course people are welcome to make donations above the $30 ticket price. The theater's concession area will sell food, wine and beer. "Just because we don't drink doesn't mean nobody else can," Engstrom explains.

If the Repertory Theatre raises the money it takes to resurrect itself for a 2018-19 season, will the foundation once again hold its annual benefit there next spring?

"One day at time," Ford says.

Big River, a Special Preview Night for Wolfe Street Foundation, 7 p.m. Thursday, July 19, Argenta Community Theater, 405 Main St., North Little Rock. Doors open at 6. Tickets are $30. Call Call (501) 372-5662, email [email protected] or visit the website, tinyurl.com/bigrivertix.

photo

Allen and Ashley Engstrom seek serenity in the Serenity Garden at the Wolfe Street Foundation.

High Profile on 06/24/2018

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