Theater Masks for Life

At Flat Rock Playhouse the prevailing attitude these days is “Keep calm and the show will go on!”  So, although public performances are not currently possible, the staff and volunteers at the Playhouse continue to find ways to contribute to the life - and health - of our community.

Playhouse employees Ashli Arnold and Adam Goodrum are spearheading a Playhouse effort to provide protective face masks for local health care providers at Pardee Health Care and Advent Health.  Utilizing the materials and machinery available in the Playhouse Costume Shop, Ashlie, Adam, and other Playhouse volunteers have produced roughly 300 masks for local health care providers in the past two weeks.

Adam, Playhouse Production Manager, learned of the idea through an online forum of production managers.  Discussions focused on the efforts of theaters around the country to put their idled shops, employees, and materials to good use through the production of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) for the people on the frontlines of combating the COVID-19  - a crisis that has brought theaters and the rest of the country to a virtual standstill. 

Adam Goodrum

Adam knew immediately that Flat Rock Playhouse needed to participate. “A lot of my friends and family are CNAs or are registered nurses,” says Adam, “They are on the front lines, and they are running out and having to make their own type of PPE, which is just scary. I knew the Playhouse just had a mission to try to fix this.”

Ashli, Resident Costume Designer, and Costume Shop Manager, embraced the idea immediately as a win-win for the Playhouse and the community it serves. “The Playhouse was thrown into limbo,” she says. “We still had employees, and we suddenly didn't have shows to produce. This is a good way to do a community project, keep our staff busy, and keep our minds off of things. We feel like we were really doing something useful.”

Adam and Ashli meet once a week to do the actual assembly of masks. “We're going to make probably between 75 and 100 masks today, and we've already made about 200 last week,” explained Ashli. The process uses cotton scraps and remnants already available in the costume shop.

The value of their efforts is more and more obvious with each dire news report about shortages of PPE for nurses and doctors. The masks produced at the Playhouse are supplemental, and not intended as replacements for the N95 masks used by health care workers in direct contact with coronavirus patients. 

“Our masks can be used by workers that aren't on the front line of this crisis, or they can be used over the top of the N95 mask to extend the life of that mask,” says Adam. The masks can also be washed and reused multiple times - thus reducing the demand for disposable face masks. And the need for this type of mask is staggering, according to Ashli.  "The CDC recommends that health care workers change them every half hour, which could mean somebody working an eight-hour shift will need up to 16 masks in a day.” 

Ashli Arnold

Like everything the Playhouse does, the masks are not just functional but also small works of art. Ashli smiles and explains, “Currently we're working on masks with a teal woodgrain print. We've also got a very stylish 1950s diner pattern with bacon and eggs on it. We’ve also made some with Japanese cherry blossom print”.

Ashli, Adam, and the Playhouse will keep making the masks as long as supplies of the necessary materials hold out. There is plenty of fabric, but the supply of elastic and cotton twill tape will be a limiting factor if they continue to produce masks.

“Elastic is something that we're going to run out of. All the suppliers that we've reached out to just don't have it because everybody bought it up quickly,” says Ashli. She would welcome donations from anyone in the community that could help fill that void. “We need cotton twill tape or 1/4” to 1/2” elastic.”

Although their work fills an obvious need and helps keep them productive, Adam and Ashli also feel a very personal connection to the crisis. “I watched all my friends in the entertainment industry lose their jobs in the last two weeks with very little protection from their unions or their employers. But the Playhouse has gone above and beyond to make sure that they can continue to employ as many people as possible and assure that we have a job and some part of our normal paycheck.”

For Adam, the Playhouse is family in more ways than one. ”My wife is the Playhouse's Finance Director so she's dealing with the money side of this crisis. She goes to work some days and pays bills, writes the checks, figures out how we're going to swim through this and then I come to work and help Ashley out.”

For decades, Flat Rock Playhouse has delighted theatergoers. Now they are taking that energy and creative spirit and working to literally save the lives of many of those same people. Adam is grateful for the chance to help the people who put themselves at risk every day. “This is about the people on the front lines.  They all need our help now. I think part of our responsibility as storytellers and playmakers is to insert a little bit of joy.”

“This will affect everybody in some way because everybody has somebody who works in the healthcare industry or in-home care,” explains Ashli. “The local community has supported the Playhouse so much over the years. We want to do whatever we can to support the community and give back in a time like this. Our normal way of giving back and giving joy to people has been cut off. This is one way we continue to give back.”

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Learn more about how you can support the Flat Rock Playhouse here.