FOR A GOOD CAUSE -- Jan Hanly

-- Story by Young Chang, photo by [tk]

Jan Hanly humbly says that her volunteer responsibilities at the

Trilogy Playhouse in Costa Mesa require no talent.

She calls patrons to tell them about upcoming shows, helps color sets

when the backdrop doesn’t need fine touches and shuttles buckets of

paints and other equipment for the crew hard at work. Sometimes, she

plays a bit of the mom role with armloads of ice water and cookies.

Hanly may not have any theater experience and her duties as a

volunteer may not require brilliance onstage, but her tasks are ones that

need to get done. And Hanly does whatever she can to help the cozy

playhouse reach out to children.

That’s what first brought her to the Costa Mesa stage. Hanly’s young

daughter, Alanna, enrolled in Trilogy’s Children’s Theater Workshop

months ago. She loved it, and within a few weeks had noticeably gained

confidence.

“Then we found out they have family theater there, and then we took

the kids to see the Winnie the Pooh Christmas show,” Hanly said. “We were

just finding out it was there, and there are so many neat things to do.”

So the Santa Ana resident decided, last summer, to help others

discover what lies within the Trilogy’s walls.

She calls frequent visitors to the playhouse, who are considered more

like Trilogy’s “friends.” They appreciate personal notices in addition to

receiving mailed announcements about upcoming shows. Hanly visits the

playhouse about once a week to help in person -- her most recent

set-painting efforts were for “Frankenstein” -- and often she brings her

volunteer efforts home.

“Like I said, I’m not an actress. It’s not much that I do, but I try

to help out with what I can do,” Hanly said. “Whatever they need me to

do, I would do.”