FOOTLIGHT CLUB
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Mission Statement
The mission of The Footlight Club (FLC) is to present the best in non-professional theater to a broad-based audience, and to preserve and maintain Eliot Hall as a community resource. The Club has been part of the cultural fabric of Jamaica Plain since 1877. FLC takes great pride in the fact that for 138 years, the organization has been self-sustaining and has been operated by the efforts of the hundreds of volunteers each year who manage production and building operations, perform on our stage, provide technical or artistic support for the productions, drive fundraising, and provide stewardship and maintenance for our historic gem, Eliot Hall. In 1878, FLC moved into Eliot Hall. In 1889, FLC members collectively purchased the building to save it from demolition. In 1927, FLC was incorporated as a non-profit organization; and its members retain ownership of Eliot Hall today. In 1988, Eliot hall was listed in The National Register of Historic Places.
About This Cause
Since 1878, Eliot Hall has been a place where Boston neighbors and visitors can enjoy an affordable, quality theater experience as well as a place where theater artists can use their skills in performance and production. Each season there are five main-stage productions with particular attention paid to a balance of plays that have appeal to a wide audience—contemporary and classic plays, as well as musicals—and plays that offer opportunities for diverse casting. In addition, a Club member whose family has been involved for over 40 years, produces an annual original musical revue, A Carol Christmas, as a fundraiser for the Eliot Hall Restoration Fund. The Footlight Club also offers the 7A Series that encourages and challenges directors, performers and audiences to explore classics, new works, and original adaptations. These productions are bare-bones productions initiated and produced by FLC members in the Parker Room—a first-floor space that provides an accessible and more intimate performance setting. Each year the Club has an audience of 4,000 to 6,000 theatergoers of all ages. More than 770 people a year are involved in the productions, as members, and in various volunteer roles. The Club provides low-cost space rental for a weekly children’s theater class taught by a long-time member and a Suzuki violin instructor. Eliot Hall serves the local visual arts and artisan community by opening the building for artists participating in JP Open Studios weekend (thousands coming through Eliot Hall just during that weekend each year), by offering rotating exhibits of their work in The Parker Room throughout the year, and offering free meeting space. Eliot Hall is also available to the community through special events like JP Reads run by the Jamaica Plain branch of the Boston Public Library. In the fall of 2013 the public was invited to read Drown by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Diaz, and Mr. Diaz spoke to a full house at Eliot Hall on October 25, 2013. FLC provides free tickets to a number of nonprofits working with underserved local community members so that they may enjoy a live theater experience. Organizations include the Hyde Square Task Force, Bikes Not Bombs, Shattuck Hospital, English High School, Hernandez K-8 bilingual public school, and many other local groups over the years.