Runaway Theatre Company brings fresh vision to local theater

The theater world in Knox County has been growing by leaps and bounds.

That excitement, and the feeling there is an area of theater that might be missing, led Christopher Hartman and Mary Harris to create Runaway Theatre Company.

“We decided we wanted to do a little more,” Harris said. “The opportunities that we had here in Mount Vernon to do theater and to create were kind of limited to a certain type of theater, like the big Disney musicals and American classics. We wanted to do things like Shakespeare and international works, original works. Things that people in this community may not have the opportunity normally to see or do.”

Harris and Hartman grew up in that theater world, performing with the Bruce Jacklin & Company, MTVarts, Mount Vernon Players and even at the Renaissance in Mansfield. They both went to college for theater, Harris majoring in arts management at Ohio State University and Hartman majoring in musical theater at Ohio Northern University. They returned home to Knox County after school and have been actively involved in performing, directing and even teaching future actors.

The idea of starting their own theater company has been on their minds since college and has been a real work-in-progress for about a year. They recruited a full board to help them along the way, finally receiving non-profit status recently.

Now comes the hard part — raising money and finding a home.

They are using a couple of different Kenyon College locations for their classes this summer. Acting classes will be offered for preschoolers all the way through older adults – anyone who wishes to learn how to perform on stage. They will also teach prop making, crew and stage management and music theory.

The long-term goal is to put on their own productions – from Shakespeare to original plays from local writers.

“We have some students that have done some original works. There’s one play in particular that a student wrote that their work was like — at first we were only thinking let’s do Shakespeare and international plays — and then we read their play and went, ‘this is really good.’ We thought we should put on original works,” Hartman said.

“We've read a few plays that our students have written and every time I do I go this is this is really great like we should celebrate that and if we can put them on as full productions then great. If it's not a full production and it's more of a staged reading I think, either way, it's getting their work out there and celebrating it.”

Acting and theater management classes are first on the agenda for RTC. Classes for preschoolers, early elementary students and even middle school and high school students will begin in June. There will also be a class for crew/stage management, prop making and music theater. All of these classes will be held at various locations at Kenyon College.

RTC has set up a fund-raiser on social media to cover costs like renting venues, marketing materials and other operational funds. Information about the group can be found on the website runawaytheatrecompany.com or on Instagram (@runawaytheatrecompany). They can also be reached at runawaytheatrecompany@gmail.com or via mail at P.O. Box 1028, Gambier, OH 43022.