CENTERVILLE—Alana Woodbury loves to perform, she also wants to give back to the community, so she found a way to combine the two with Charity Play. Charity Play is a group of actors who put on a production for other charities to help them raise the funds they need.

“I’m a performer,” said Woodbury. “I wanted to find a more meaningful way to use that. My sister and brother run to fight cancer. My mother died of cancer. Running does not sound fun. I’d love to support a cause or charity but I don’t want to run.”

That’s how Charity Play started. “We use their facility and work with them,” she said. “We’ve found the best place to do it is on their home turf.”

The charity already has supporters, Woodbury said. “We put on a production for them and provide them with a good time so they feel like they get something out of it (donation).”

Charity Play is based in Centerville and has its first production at the Spotlight Performing Arts Academy on Pages Lane Sept. 2. “We’re putting on ‘A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder,’” said Woodbury. “It’s brilliantly done and brilliantly written. It’s a hilariously fun show. Every time I go to rehearsals I laugh the whole time. It’s not so much a ‘who dun it’ but how does he do it eight times? It won a Tony for the best musical in 2014.”

The actors are all volunteers, she said. “They are extremely competent actors. We have 150 years of collective experience performing on that stage. These are people that I know and trust that they can put on a fantastic show.”

Woodbury said she was inspired by the Hopebox Theatre in Kaysville. “It represents people who are battling cancer. It’s a really noble cause. I thought ‘what can I do to help other organizations as well?’”

Carnegie Hall puts on a fundraiser every year. “Charity Play is Hopebox meets Carnegie Hall,” she said. “We want to reach a more diverse group of charitable organizations and still let performers do what they love.” 

Before rehearsals start the actors come together and get their scripts, said Woodbury. “Then they go home and memorize it and come back in four weeks. Then we hit it hard and fierce for a few weeks and get it done. The actors all love that because in other shows they rehearse for three months, that's a quarter of their year.”

Anyone can come, not just donors, she said. “Once production costs are met the organization gets the rest of the proceeds. The more support we get the more we can give back to the charity.”

Woodbury’s goal is to do several productions a year. “We’d like to go to southern Utah, northern Utah, do shows for juvenile diabetes, the YWCA, any organizations that are looking for extra money. We want to get through this one and then find our next charity.”

This is a labor of love, she said. “Our vision is to create something fantastic and do some good.”

“A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder” will be performed on Sept. 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10 at 7:30 p.m. at Spotlight Performing Arts Academy, 54 East Pages Lane, Centerville. Tickets are $22 and donations are optional. A link to purchase tickets is on Charity Play’s Facebook page. λ