Since the Newtowne Players moved into their latest home at Three Notch Theatre in Lexington Park the volunteers have been hard at work renovating the old library.

The community theatre group is a non-profit in the extreme sense of the word. No one gets paid, not even founder and director Wendy Heidrich. Their stage is constructed from hours of volunteers’ labor, and from wood donated by a local business. The programs, advertising for the plays, costumes, sets, and even the tickets are produced by volunteers. Some money from ticket sales is used to cover the cost of utilities, but the proceeds from many of the performances are given right back to the community – to groups such as the Boys and Girls Club.

The building itself remains county property, as it was when it previously served as a library. It’s the regulations specified in their lease that are now causing problems for the Players.

Since they began occupying the building last year, director Wendy Heidrich has been concerned about an antiquated air-conditioning and heat system, which seemed to be on its last leg. Heidrich had an offer from a local business to upgrade the old unit (as a donation) some months ago, but this proposal was rejected by the county commissioners.

Finally, in the run up to their current play, The Real Inspector Hound, things began to get truly sticky, and the handler to the air-conditioning breathed its last. The County Commissioners agreed that repairs needed to be made, but they said the improvements must be done by the county’s personnel, and under their supervision, and – as the lease stipulates – the theatre group occupying the building will be the ones to pay the bill.

Heidrich told The Bay Net that the restriction on who carried out the work means that they cannot use any of the many supportive businesses in the community who would fix the handler free of charge (and receive tax benefits for donating to the non-profit). Instead the theatre is now reeling from the cost-estimate generated by the county’s team – $185,000.

“I don’t want to appear ungrateful,” Heidrich told The Bay Net. It’s hard to look a gift-horse in the mouth, and the county has agreed to lease the building to the Newtowne Players for the bargain rate of a single dollar. “The trade-off is we have to pay for all of the upkeep of the building,” said Heidrich.

The group is now sweating it out under fans, and wondering where they are supposed to come up with nearly two hundred thousand dollars. Heidrich already looked into financing or getting a credit card for the organization, but they were rejected. So far the county has prohibited them from using privately donated labor and equipment to fix the problem

Last weekend the theatre received $1,000 in donations from audience members. “It was great,” said Heidrich, “We’ve never had anything like that happen before.” However, $184,000 of the tab remains.

The steep cost to pay “the county guy” to fix things seems a stretch of the rule to upkeep of the building. “We’re not going to do a capital improvement on a building we can’t keep,” concludes Heidrich. And yet, she notes, something has to be done. The Real Inspector Hound ends this coming weekend, and the next play is scheduled for October. Then the question is going to be heat. “We can’t do witho