The Center is pleased to announce that Betsey Schrock, Office Manager/Bookkeeper, has recently been elected president of Stagecrafters, a large community theatre organization located at the Baldwin theatre in Royal Oak. Stagecrafters recently celebrated 50 years of providing quality performances to children and adults in the southeast Michigan region. Each year, Stagecrafters presents five productions on its 372-seat Main Stage and three contemporary productions on its more intimate 100-seat 2nd Stage. Stagecrafters is unique among community theatre groups because it owns the building where it performs and where, later this year, the Baldwin is expected to be awarded Michigan Historic Building status.
Betsey joined Stagecrafters in 1996 after being involved as the wife of an actor and the mother of two budding theatre aficionados. She began her involvement as producer for several Stagecrafters Youththeatre productions (SYT). From there, Betsey also experienced producing on the Main Stage and more recently the 2nd Stage. Other experiences include manning the box office, ushering, house managing, and working on such committees as human resource, membership, production, and budget.
Betsey is most proud of the SYT which presents two productions per year. SYT is theatre for youth and by youth. Children ages 8 – 18 can join SYT for a small fee and can be involved in a production, from acting, to set building, to painting, ushering, and even producing or directing, all of which are supervised by caring and experienced adult members of Stagecrafters. Some of our youth have gone on to professional acting, including the popular Kristen Bell! More importantly, the youth have the opportunity to work with adults and feel comfortable around adults who are valuable role models. Whether on-stage or backstage, one can see how involvement at Stagecrafters helps youth develop their interests and their confidence, which are useful later on in life.
Betsey’s term as president is two years. During these two years, she plans to help Stagecrafters celebrate SYT’s 40th year and to seeing to fruition a multi-year campaign to fund and renovate the theatre’s restrooms.
"There’s always something we can do to make Stagecrafters even better." Betsey