The Edwardsburg Lions and the Leos participated in a work day at the newly purchased home for the Barn Swallow Theatre in Edwardsburg.
Barn Swallow Theatre has been performing plays since 1985. The first plays started “in the round” on a barn floor with four bales of hay placed by four large posts marking the perimeter of the stage area. Birds, cats and raccoons were sometimes visitors in the barn.
A tragic fire destroyed the barn in 2004. The Barn Swallow members desperately looked for different sites to continue their plays, musicals and children’s performances. The members were approached with an opportunity to purchase a building in Edwardsburg. The structure was a church that belonged to the Hope United Methodist Church and it was decided this would be the perfect home for Barn Swallow.
Now the task of converting the church into a performance theater was before them.  The Lions Club invited a couple of the Barn Swallow members to a meeting as guests to tell the Lions about the project that they were undertaking. Dr. Thomas Rae and Pam Boepple came and talked about the history of the theater and the need for help to convert the church into a theater.
The Lions became very interested in signing up for a work day.  Lion Amy Anderson, adviser of the newly formed Leos Club, suggested having some Leos come and work. As seen in the picture the Leos are working on cleaning the pedestals of the theater seating that was donated to Barn Swallow. The Leos carried all the theater seats from the downstairs up to the theater room but each chair had several parts to the row of theater seating.
The theater will hold 98 seats in the raised platform style theater. The Lion members built shelving around in one room downstairs for the many costumes.
Barn Swallow President Mike Morgan and Vice President Lois Owen were very excited to see so much accomplished within the first work day.
Many more work days will be scheduled to completely renovate the church into the perfect setting for the quality performances coming in the future.
The theater is looking for volunteers for inside and outside work, like landscaping, on the theater.
Go to www.barnswallowtheater.com for the history and contact information.