I am Elizabeth Nelson, Executive Artistic Director of First City Players in the small island town of Ketchikan, Alaska where it rains often and everyone knows each other. I arrived in the 1980s thinking it would be a short stop. Decades later I am still here because island life teaches you that we are in it together. You cannot drive to the next town for a different theater or a better venue. You create it yourself, and you take care of each other.
First City Players is that place. I keep a clock that reads, “In this room it is impossible to fail; Go ahead, try it.” My job is to make the room so safe that anyone can try, learn, and belong. We talk about a “third home.” For some people the third home is church. For others it is sports. For me, and for many here, it is theatre.
Inclusion is practical here. Casts often mix business owners, fishermen, teenagers, elders, and diverse political affiliations. If you want a show to happen, you learn how to work side by side. We also remove barriers. No family is turned away from our programs because they cannot pay. Generosity will not kill you. Our multi-generational show puts kids and adults on equal footing, creating a shared experience rather than a teacher and a pupil. Summer arts camps let young people discover their voice and find community.
What keeps me going is story. Theatre helps us listen. It opens conversations that feel impossible anywhere else. I have watched people see something on stage that resonates, then talk to a neighbor they could not speak to before. I have watched a shy child find friends and a voice. I believe theatre is part of every human culture for a reason. It lets us explore who we are and it opens us to the wider world.
I do this because I love stories and the ensemble work that brings them to life. Without places like this, I do not know how we would endure the dark months or the divisions that follow us inside. FCP gives people a third home, and it reminds us that listening can change what we think we know.
First City Players is that place. I keep a clock that reads, “In this room it is impossible to fail; Go ahead, try it.” My job is to make the room so safe that anyone can try, learn, and belong. We talk about a “third home.” For some people the third home is church. For others it is sports. For me, and for many here, it is theatre.
Inclusion is practical here. Casts often mix business owners, fishermen, teenagers, elders, and diverse political affiliations. If you want a show to happen, you learn how to work side by side. We also remove barriers. No family is turned away from our programs because they cannot pay. Generosity will not kill you. Our multi-generational show puts kids and adults on equal footing, creating a shared experience rather than a teacher and a pupil. Summer arts camps let young people discover their voice and find community.
What keeps me going is story. Theatre helps us listen. It opens conversations that feel impossible anywhere else. I have watched people see something on stage that resonates, then talk to a neighbor they could not speak to before. I have watched a shy child find friends and a voice. I believe theatre is part of every human culture for a reason. It lets us explore who we are and it opens us to the wider world.
I do this because I love stories and the ensemble work that brings them to life. Without places like this, I do not know how we would endure the dark months or the divisions that follow us inside. FCP gives people a third home, and it reminds us that listening can change what we think we know.