SEQUIM – The timing is apt, if nerve-wracking.
Olympic Theatre Arts, the community theater group whose playhouse was shut down Feb. 28, is preparing to host a 20-member volunteer crew called Carpenters for Christ.
The workers from across the United States are slated to arrive Wednesday to join local volunteers in a kind of barn-raising, three days after Easter.
The carpenters will stay for two weeks and work on OTA’s main stage and auditorium, from concrete footings to seats to roof.
They’ll work for free, and OTA board members are busy recruiting people to cook for them.
The problem: OTA’s building at 414 N. Sequim Ave. has a “Do not occupy” notice in its front window.
OTA manager Lee Harwell is one of the only people permitted to work inside.
And while it’s impossible to curb Harwell’s enthusiasm – he’s directing OTA’s May show, “The Fantasticks” – the community theater group’s near and distant futures hold much uncertainty.