Every year, now for the last 26, the Friends of the Audi have gotten together prior to the start of the performance season for a little cleaning and shining, painting and organizing.
It’s called the Pitch In and since that first year in 1991, when the Audi was completely overhauled and turned into a place where people actually wanted to catch some live entertainment, it’s been a tradition where the Friends and whoever else wants to help, spruce the place up over three days in August.
Last year, I wandered around the city- (and citizen-) owned theater, talking to volunteers about why they pitch in. But this time around I wanted to be part of the action. Now the first day is always the big push, when people come out of the word work to lend a hand and it typically carries over to day two.
But day three – when the final touches need to happen – that’s the one I wanted to be a part of. Also, I was kind of hoping all the tough jobs had been tackled by that point.
For most people, volunteering at the Pitch In means a three-hour shift, but unfortunately the busy schedule of an Insider doesn’t allow for that kind of time. So longtime Pitch In coordinator Joye Olson was nice enough to condense mine into one hour.
I had told Olson to just give me a job – one she thought could be completed in an hour. Since I had no idea what to expect, I brought some grungy clothes just in case.
Her original thought was helping to give the pit a fresh coat of black paint, but with the chandeliers in the lobby needing a good dusting, it was up the ladder for me.
Armed with a couple multicolored clothes and aforementioned ladder, I had to wipe off all the cobwebs, clean the bulbs and get all the dust out of the candle discs. Not a hard job by any means, but there were standards to be met. This had been the project of Allwynne Fine’s for 20 years, but after a recent medical procedure, she couldn’t go up the ladder this year. This would have been a golden opportunity to say, “Never fear, the Insiders are here.”
There was no cleaner involved, just some good ol’ fashion dusting.
Now the lobby area is where people gather before and after shows, as well as at intermissions. They eat cookies and drink punch, so I had to make sure the chandeliers were well dusted.
I did all 10 that I could reach (they want me back for when the big ones come down next month), including four that were bigger and had 12 candles. The rest had six.
I finished with time to spare, and after I ate a brownie (or two), I moved on to the wall mounted candle lights and cleaned 17 of them.
Now they were hoping I’d have to change a few light bulbs while I was cleaning, but not a single one was out. Then just as I was about to leave for my next story, one went out. I think they somehow did it on purpose, unfortunately there’s no proof. It’s okay, I changed it.
The great thing is that mine is one of just 100 or so stories from the three-day extravaganza.
Next year, why don’t you volunteer (yes you) and let’s get that number even higher.
