The Woman Behind the Curtain: Hannah Combs on Theatre Management and Community Arts

Meet Hannah Combs - House Manager And Director Of Community Theatre

Hannah Combs is the welcoming smile at the door and the creative force behind The Lincoln Theatre's theatrical heartbeat. As House Manager, she's the one solving problems before they reach the executive director—from injuries to broken glass from baby bottles to disgruntled patrons. But what sets Hannah apart is how she views these challenges as her "me time," a contained environment compared to her expansive creative responsibilities.

The heart of our conversation reveals Hannah's groundbreaking work with the Appalachian Echoes Community Theatre program. Their first production, "The Possum Trap," is an Appalachian murder mystery parody inspired by Agatha Christie, showcasing local talent—including a lead actor returning to theatre after a 20-year hiatus. Hannah's philosophy shines through: "So many people think they can't do things just because they have never had the chance to try." By creating free, accessible theatre opportunities, she's opening doors for community members to discover hidden talents.

Beyond the Lincoln, Hannah's commitment to Southwest Virginia runs deep through her nonprofit organization Appalachian Echoes. Her mission stems from personal experience—feeling behind her peers in college simply because she grew up in a region with fewer creative opportunities. "I never want anyone to feel that they should be ashamed that they are an Appalachian," she shares passionately. Through poetry showcases, fashion shows, and her work with Mount Rogers' "Creating Connections" program supporting mental health through creative writing, Hannah is building bridges within her community.

Join us at The Lincoln Theatre to experience Hannah's warm welcome, watch community theatre blossom, and witness how one dedicated individual is transforming Appalachian arts one performance at a time. Follow us online at TheLincoln.org or visit us at 117 East Main Street, Marion, Virginia, to be part of this vibrant community.

To learn more about The Lincoln Theatre visit:
https://www.TheLincoln.org/
The Lincoln Theatre
117 E. Main Street
Marion, Virginia 24354
276-783-6092

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to On Stage with the Lincoln Theatre, where
history and entertainment stealthe show.
Dive into the rich legacy ofthis iconic Mayan revival
theatre, from its 1929 debut toits starring role in Marion,
virginia's entertainment scene.
Guiding us through this journeyis the man in the spotlight,
our executive director, bobWatkins.

(00:23):
Spotlight, our executivedirector.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Bob Watkins.
She's the welcoming smile atthe door and the creative force
behind the community'stheatrical heartbeat.
Get to know Hannah Combs inthis episode filled with
hospitality and heart.
Welcome back everyone.
Skip Monning, co-host, slashproducer, back in the studio
with, typically, bob Watkins,executive director of the
Lincoln Theater.

(00:46):
But today we have a veryspecial guest with us, ms Hannah
Combs, who is the house managerand director of Community
Theater.
Hannah, how's your weekend sofar?

(01:07):
Well, it's been wonderful We'vehad some wonderful shows here at
the Lincoln and I'm alwaysgrateful to be able to work here
and experience all thedifferent bands and performances
that come through Awesome,Awesome.
Well, I'm excited for this onetoo.
Hannah, I hear you're such avital thread in the fabric of
the Lincoln.
So, as the house manager anddirector of community theater,
tell us about yourself and whatyou do at the Lincoln.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
So I am house manager and director of the community
theater, as you said, and Ibegan my role here at the
Lincoln as house manager, and sothat means that when you come
through, I'm the one that istaking your tickets and I'm the
one helping the ushers make sureyou get to your seats and if
there's an issue, I'm the onethat you come to help solve it,
and I love doing that.
I love getting to see all thedifferent people that come

(01:48):
through, all the various peoplethat come from all different
walks of life, and it's just,it's amazing who you're going to
see walk through that door andall the different opportunities
for conversations and friendsthat I've got to make from
working here at the Lincoln.
And so, yeah, absolutely yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
How did you happen to become the house manager?

Speaker 3 (02:12):
My best friend, kate, is the film curator here, and
she told me that the positionwas available and so I applied
and talked to Bob, the director,about working here, and ever
since it's been smooth sailing.
I've gotten plenty of storiesto tell along the way from my
job here, and plenty ofsurprises too, but I'm grateful

(02:35):
for every single moment of it.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
Wow, so the house manager, I mean you're basically
on show night, you're Bob'sright hand.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
Yes, I am, I am and I'm the one that usually tries
to handle problems before theyescalate to Bob so injuries,
broken glass from a baby'sbottle, any disgruntled patrons,
they all come to me.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Wow, what?
How do you balance thepractical responsibilities of
managing the house with all theother creative demands that you
have in this role?

Speaker 3 (03:09):
I like to consider when I am house manager.
I like to consider that me timeand then all the other creative
things like they can't get inthe way of that time.
So, honestly, working as housemanager is more of a break from
everything else I'm in charge of, because all those like it's
all contained, all the issuesthat could happen are all
contained within one building.

(03:31):
But with my other creativepursuits I mean, like the
community theater, all thosethings can go in a thousand
different directions, but whenit's house manager, it's all
right here.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
You mentioned the community theater.
Tell us about that.
That's a fairly to be in andaudition.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
We don't charge for anything and we are doing our
first performance, which is thePossum Trap, which is a murder
mystery.
Appalachian parody.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
The Possum Trap Now.
Is that loosely based around adifferent movie or play?

Speaker 3 (04:26):
Yes, so it's based upon the works of Agatha
Christie.
So she is, of course, a veryfamous mystery writer and very
famous and prominent inbasically setting up the genre
of mystery as we know it, and soa lot of the Possum Trap is
inspired by the kind of twistsand characterization that you

(04:46):
would see in her works.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
Did you write it?

Speaker 3 (04:53):
I hesitate to say I wrote it as much as I pieced it
together by those inspirationsand taking what I know from
living here in Marion and takingthe inspiration of Akatha
Christie's just very clevertwists and putting them together

(05:14):
and creating Possum Trap.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
The Possum Trap.
Love it Very Appalachian-like,for sure.
Well, tell me more about thecommunity theater and what your
plans are, what you guys areshooting for.

Speaker 3 (05:30):
Right now.
So we have a small cast rightnow and we are currently in our
final tech week for ourperformance on Saturday and
Sunday and we're all veryexcited and it's just been such
a wonderful process to seepeople who haven't acted Our
lead has stated that she's notdone a play in over 20 years and

(05:52):
to get back into theater and tohave those opportunities again,
because so many people thinkthey can't do things just
because they have just never hadthe chance to try.
And that has been the pushingforce between creating the
community theater and makingsure that we are providing those
opportunities again and forthat reason, we plan to have

(06:13):
more plays in the future, suchas Two Gentlemen in Verona,
which is a Shakespeare play, andsome other Shakespeare works
coming on in the future.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
Wow, Shakespeare.
I'm impressed.
What challenges do you facebuilding a cast and crew from
the community, and how do youget past that?

Speaker 3 (06:33):
There's a lot of people who are willing if you
look for it.
There's help all around ifyou're just willing to reach out
for it.
But the biggest thing that wehave faced is, of course, our
time constraints, because whenyou're an adult, the reason why
children and teen communitytheaters can thrive so well is

(06:53):
because they tend to have lessto do than adults, who have to
balance working and adult livesand looking at that
responsibility and see if that'ssomething they can take on.
So that's been one of ourbiggest challenges is making
sure we're honoring everyone'sschedule and also making sure we
practice enough to be able todo a great performance.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
What did?
Do you hold casting calls likerunning out in the paper?

Speaker 3 (07:24):
Yeah.
So with this performance we hadto handle things a little bit
differently, since we werestarting from scratch and no one
had ever heard of theAppalachian Echoes Community
Theater program before.
So basically what we did washold an interest call and then
we built our cast and crew fromaround that.
In the future, moving forward,we are going to be having more
standard casting calls where wewill be holding auditions.
But considering this is ourgroundwork performance, it was

(07:48):
very much a come as you are andwe'll see what we can do from
there.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
I hear you Well, you got to start somewhere right.
It was very much a come as youare, and we'll see what we can
do from there.
I hear you Well, you got tostart somewhere right.
Well, what's been your mostfulfilling moment, working with
local performers and volunteers?
I guess this could apply toeither house manager and or
community theater.

Speaker 3 (08:06):
I think my most fulfilling moment is really more
of a conglomeration of all themoments that I've gotten to see
people grow into themselves andto find that confidence to do
things that they haven't everdone before.
And I'm really honored to beable to witness that and to
encourage that, especiallyamongst both my cast and also my

(08:30):
ushers, who sometimes are alittle bit nervous, and just to
really see everyone step intothat role when they have the
opportunity.

Speaker 2 (08:38):
Well, I was just there this past weekend and I
was incredibly impressed witheverything, but especially the
ushers that I was reallyimpressed with.
How professional they are they.
You can tell they're having agood time too while they're
doing it.

Speaker 3 (08:51):
Yes, we're very lucky .
We had a training programrecently, and many of our ushers
come from a retired background,and so they're the kind of
people that you would expect tobe more hesitant to learn new
things and be open to learningnew things.
But our ushers continuouslybreak that stereotype and that

(09:12):
belief that old dogs can't learnnew tricks, and they're always
very willing to step out oftheir comfort zone and to
embrace the communication thatour ushers need to have.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
They did an amazing job when I was there, so I
understand you're also involvedin some other community
organizations as well.
Why don't you tell us aboutthat?

Speaker 3 (09:36):
My organization, appalachian Echoes, was founded
on the idea of empowering andhighlighting creative voices.
In Southwest Virginia we have aspecial focus on free education
opportunities like the communitytheater program, and so we have
been able to work very muchwith the Lincoln Theater in the
past about providing thoseopportunities.

(09:56):
So we've done poetry showcases,we've done a fashion show,
we've done history talks andjust a lot of different things
that have all been centeredaround that goal of giving back
to the community and helpingthem feel like there isn't that
gap between Southwest Virginiaand Northern Virginia.

(10:19):
Because I was inspired to dothis, because when I went off to
college I felt like I was yearsand years behind my peers and
it was simply just because ofthe place I was born, like they
had film internships and theyhad screenplays they had already
done and things of that natureand all this experience because
they were born in an area thathad those opportunities.

(10:41):
And for that reason I want tomake sure that my local
community has those sameopportunities, because I never
want anyone to feel that theyshould be ashamed that they are
an Appalachian.

Speaker 2 (10:56):
Absolutely not.
I'm with you on that.
Appalachian Echoes is that anonprofit?
Yes, oh, okay, and how longhave you been doing that?

Speaker 3 (11:05):
About three years now .
We started with poetryshowcases and we've been doing a
variety of things ever since.

Speaker 2 (11:12):
Are you the director?
Oh, very good.

Speaker 3 (11:15):
Wow, you're a busy lady, well, and I think Bob told
me that you're also involved infrom mental health struggles to
build bonds with fellowcommunity members and do
creative writing and do othercreative outlets and, you know,

(11:44):
help build those bonds and helpthem see that they are a valued
member of our society and somuch of mental health and
addiction is based on.
The idea is that you are alone,and that's what creating
connections is hoping to combat.
We don't want anyone to thinkthat they're alone, that there's

(12:04):
always somewhere you can go,like the cheer song where
everybody knows your name.
And that was creating.
That is creating connections.
That was the goal behindcreating creating connections.

Speaker 2 (12:14):
Wow, so is.
Is that organization, what youdo there, affiliated with any
other recovery?

Speaker 3 (12:20):
That one works.
That is a Mount Rogers sponsorprogram and we have just been so
honored to be able to do thatwork and to help so many.

Speaker 2 (12:33):
Very good.
Well, that's awesome thatyou're doing that and the fact
that you even have time to bedoing that is amazing.

Speaker 3 (12:43):
Getting back to community theater what are your
hopes for the future ofcommunity theater at the Lincoln
exist and grow and to bewelcoming of the people that
need those opportunities most.
And I just want the communityto be able to have that outlet

(13:10):
and to be able to perform thosestories and build that
confidence and I hope that withthe plays that we continue to do
we'll see that grow.

Speaker 2 (13:21):
Absolutely Well, hannah, big thanks to you.
Can't tell you how much Iappreciate you taking time out
of your really busy schedule totell our listeners all about
what you do and to our listenerscheck out the possum trap.
Got other Shakespearean workcoming up later this year.
Keep your eye on the communitytheater and, as a patron of the

(13:44):
Lincoln, look for Hannah to takeyour ticket or help clean up
your mess or whatever needs tobe done.

Speaker 3 (13:51):
Whatever emergency comes up, that's what I'm here
for.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
There you go, there you go, there you go, all right,
well, hannah, thanks again somuch, and we'll have to have you
back on the episode again onetime, maybe when we can kick bob
out of the office.
Absolutely, thank you so muchall right.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
thanks for tuning in to on stage with the lincoln
theater.
Want more of mary andvirginia's entertainment scene?
Visit us online atthelincolnorg yes, that's
thelincolnorg or drop by ourtheater at 117 East Main Street.
Let's keep the arts alive andkicking together.