At some point when I was doing plays at Encinal High School I began to take whatever show money was leftover- after covering essential expenses like t-shirts and a cast party- put it in an envelope, and drop it off for Cindy Houts, former director of The Alameda Food Bank. Our production costs were minimal, we’d had fun doing good theater, let’s help out the community as well. So then jump ahead several years to me having retired, looking for a project, all of us coming out of quarantine, and a bike ride I took to the West End of Alameda. I pedaled past a space I vaguely knew- it was once a parking lot of minimal significance- and saw tables and chairs set before a lovely outdoor stage. A stage, I thought, hmmm, I could do plays on that stage! And it could be fun, and thriving, and we could have all of the proceeds go to the Food Bank. And what quickly followed were two things: how we’d do this and what we’d call this.

We’d be an all-volunteer company, from director to actor to crew, making plays because we could, and loved the joy of it- and we’d do it all for free. And (like the legendary SF Mime Troupe), at the end of each show we’d pass the hat for donations, all of which would go to help those experiencing food insecurities in our town. The name came easy- The Foodbank Players- as did the first step, reaching out to Tara Pilbrow from the West End Arts District who not only said why yes of course, but gave us a small grant to help us with our first production, Sylvia, done in September of 2021. That show was the perfect prologue to who we’ve become: an earnest, talented cast, overcoming obstacles (bad air), actors stepping in last minute, but in putting our hearts out there for this essential cause, the audience was appreciative and generous. We did only 2 of a planned 4 shows yet raised over $2,000 for the Food Bank. We just recently finished our 12th production- The Great Gatsby- and have now raised over $40,000 for the AFB. It’s not normally polite to talk about money (not that most actors ever make much and noting the recent closure of Cal Shakes and other Bay Area theater companies), but the food bank formula is that for every dollar donated they are able to provide $7 worth of food, which means from our humble efforts $280,000 worth of groceries have been made available to our neighbors. Hallelujah.