It’s that time of year again and the Bethel Players have a new play for you! It’s mooving and riveting! Please join in the fun and entertainment as the Bethel Players present As The Butter Churns! Want to attend one of the performances? Call or email to reserve your seat…Make sure you give your name, contact info, and what performance you’d like to attend. Someone will reach out to you to confirm. Payments are by check and Venmo. When we receive your payment you are good to go! Thank you for supporting us!!
We also gladly accept the traditional snail mail contributions (5658 N Denver, Portland OR, 97217, attn: blue envelopes).
Scenes from last seasons play of The Codfather
Great cast and crew from The Codfather:
Star Trip: The Wrath of Kazrool!
Here are a few pictures from the February 2023 production:
Want to see a past performance? Never fear, it’s recorded here!
About the Bethel Players
The Bethel Players are comprised of BLC congregates and members of the community. Historically, each year in November The Bethel Players come together to put on a local production to fundraise for the Bethel Youth Drop-In Center and Bethel Lutheran Church.
During the pandemic, our Drop-In-Center, has been on hiatus. Therefore, donations are going the Bethel Angel Project and our Houseless outreach programs.
Beginning back in 1983, the Bethel Player productions have become a fun annual tradition, known for shared laughs, fellowship and delicious food rather than a high production values. The plays are original works written by members and friends. Some of our Bethel friends aren’t even Lutheran (but they put up with the lutefisk jokes). We continue to be amazed and so deeply grateful for the fun and fellowship.
Previous Fundraiser Facts
Improvements to the church come from the proceeds from admission tickets fund and scholarships for children attending the YDIC summer camp come from“blue envelope” donations.
The Bethel Players provided these improvements:
- New dishwasher for the kitchen
- Handicapped access funding (the lift and bathroom renovations)
- New furnaces
- New roof
- Annex windows
- Fellowship hall floor
- Kitchen renovations
Recent Bethel Player Productions:
- 2023 Star Trip: The Wrath of Kazrool
- 2021 Omlette
- 2020 Clerical Errors
- 2018 Reanimated – The Bride of Frankenpastor
- 2017 Desperate Churchwives
- 2016 Soul Over Beethoven
- 2015 ZILCH
- 2014 Return to corpuscle castle ~ or ~ Iron Chef: Transylvania
Bethel Players History
“Something New: Bethel’s First Annual Sweetheart’s Banquet and Extravaganza is now being planned!
From the February 1983 Beacon:
WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 12 at 6:30 P.M.
WHERE: Bethel
WHO: You and your sweetheart
WHAT: A delectable five course gourmet banquet catered by Portland’s five star chefs extraordinaire, Mildred and Martha.
Followed by entertainment you will not soon forget (you may try to forget it but to no avail). All of this plus a night out without the kids for only $8 a couple.”
This was followed in 1984 by the second annual Sweetheart’s Banquet. By 1985 they figured out that all the fun people were single.
Mildred and Martha were the two Crouse brothers who liked to cook. Erik Ingebretson was the mad genius behind the entertainment. Cast members were drawn from that first audience (with little warning).
The Fundraiser Begins
And so a Bethel tradition began. A couple years in we realized that we could actually make money — what a thought! Aren’t you glad we don’t have to do dishes by hand? Thank the Bethel Players. You can also thank them for the majority of handicapped access funding (the lift and bathroom renovations); new furnaces, new roof, annex windows, fellowship hall floor, kitchen renovations… and probably more that I’m not remembering. Bethel Players admissions money goes a long way toward keeping the physical plant in one piece.
A few years later we realized that not only could we have multiple performances and invite in about a thousand of our closest friends — we could make them bus and break down tables and ask them for extra contributions to help fund the Drop In Summer program. It’s been a roaring success — Bethel Players donations (in excess of admissions money) fund about half of the summer day camp for kids in our neighborhood.
Years have passed and changes happen: we lost Erik in 1993, but new playwrights and song writers arose. You do know that the plays are all original works written by members and friends, right? We have many new cast members and friends. Some of them aren’t even Lutheran (but they put up with the lutefisk jokes). We continue to be amazed and so deeply grateful for the fun and fellowship.