CALUMET – There are a lot of ways people can entertain themselves, and many of them are electronic, but for the members of the Calumet Players, the play is still the thing.

Erin Kauppila and Debra Aubin, both members of the Calumet Players Board of Trustees, are typical of the people making up the acting troupe.

Aubin said she was one of the original members of the Calumet Players, which became an official organization in 1979. Before that, there were members of the community who would occasionally get together and do plays.

“They had such a good time, they decided to incorporate,” she said.

In 1979, Aubin said the Calumet Players, as they named themselves, became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

From the beginning, Aubin said the Calumet Players have performed at the Calumet Theatre, and in the early days of the group, they would use the back of the upper balcony to store their supplies. They would build their sets on the top floor of what was the village fire hall and is now the Copper Country Firefighters History Museum directly across Sixth Street from the theatre.

Now, the Calumet Players are headquartered in the building on the corner of Sixth and Elm streets kitty-corner from the theater. That building was offered to the group by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, and Aubin said it has some restrictions on it.

“Even though we own it, we can’t sell it,” she said.

If the group decides to leave the building, Aubin said they must offer it to the village of Calumet.

Although most of the group’s plays were performed in the Calumet Theatre, Aubin said not all of them were.

“We have also gone offsite a few times,” she said.

In fact, Aubin said the group sometimes performed as far away as Escanaba.

It took a while for the group to get to the point where people wanted to see them, Aubin said.

“Up until 1984, when we did our first musical, nobody knew who we were,” she said.

Aubin said she has been doing plays since she was in high school. After graduating in 1972, she performed intermittently until she joined the Calumet Players in the late 1970s.

“It’s been much more steady with the Players,” she said.

However, she said she’s winding down from that aspect of the Players. She hasn’t acted in three years.

Kauppila said she started acting about 20 years ago when she was 12, and she hasn’t really stopped.

Because of her experience with many venues, Kauppila said she very much appreciates the fact the Calumet Players get to use the Calumet Theatre.

“I’ve done community theatre all over the country, and nobody has a stage like this,” she said.

Kauppila said the Calumet Players are a very egalitarian organization.

“Everybody does all kinds of things,” she said. “Nobody does just one thing.”

The members build, set up and take down sets, and some act as directors, Aubin said.

The members of the Players are a diverse group, Kauppila said, and include teachers, engineers, Michigan Technological University students, writers, advertising executives, parents, high school students, government workers and retired professionals.

Kauppila said she doesn’t really have an interest in acting for a living.

“I have a lot of friends who are actors,” she said. “It’s a difficult life. It’s an uncertain life.”

Aubin said the Players usually do plays by well-known playwrights. Most of the plays they do require paying a royalty to the company which owns the rights to the the plays. Musicals cost more than plays, and it can cost as much as $10,000 to $11,000 to put on a musical.

“It really gets to be a lot of money,” she said.

The Players will occasionally do plays, which involve the audience, and Kauppila said that can lead to some interesting interactions.

“People were so great,” she said. “They really responded to that.”

Kauppila said there are about 100 active members in the Calumet Players, but not all of them act.

Aubin said the Calumet Players appreciate being able to perform in the Calumet Theatre, and the people running it appreciate them, also.

“They’re so nice to work with,” she said. “We are so blessed to have that theatre.”

Kauppila said despite all the ways people can entertain themselves, now, she still thinks there’s a place for plays.

“I think there’s an audience for it,” she said.

Aubin said she thinks there is a future for the Calumet Players, and they’ll fight to keep it going.

“We’ll go tooth and nail,” she said.