ABBY BENDER SCHMANTZE THEATRE
stay tuned for more info, including more video to come!
"MEMBERSHIP DOWN!"
A live, variety, fundraising game show series
​
NEXT SHOW: Tuesday, Dec. 9th at the PA Club at 7pm. No tickets
necessary. Support strongly encouraged at the door and throughout
the show! Contestants: Bella Morais, Johnny "Showtime Tiernan",
and Haley Hewson compete!
​​
February, March, April , 2018 at the Oak Bluffs Public Library
April, May, June, December 2019 at the Oak Bluffs Public Library
February, 2020 at the Oak Bluffs Public Library
February, 2021 on Zoom
April, 2022 at The Cardboard Box in Oak Bluffs
February, 2023 at The PA Club in Oak Bluffs
January, 2024 at The PA Club in Oak Bluffs
January and March, 2025 at The PA Club in Oak Bluffs
​​​
Cousinfriends Abby Bender and Molly Coogan, spearhead Membership Down! (a tip of the hat to the beloved adventure novel Watership Down.) It's a series of live variety game shows that originated in collaboration with Nate Luce at the Oak Bluffs Public Library. Three contestants compete to win funds for the local charity of their choice. Membership Down! is free, with suggested donations that go towards the players' selected non-profits. Each show features original interactive games and loads of goofy entertainment. Well over $8,000 has been raised for local charities so far! Past contestants have included Shelagh Hackett, Alex Wright, Mac Young, Arielle Faria, Glenn Gaskill, Charlie Davol, Katherine Reid, Lagan Love, David Mintz, Hannah Burbidge, Ian Chickering, Molly Purves, Danielle Mulcahy, Brian Ditchfield, James Jennings, Andy Dickerson, Jane Loutzenhiser, Jannette Vanderhoop, Tim Dobel, Jesse Keller Jason, Gordon Healy, Caroline Derrig, Rob Myers, Sharon Strimling, Claire Gross, Xavier Powers, Holly Pretsky, Brian Dowd, Michael Barnes, Rizwan Malik, Brent Alberghini, Jefferson Munroe, Meredith Aldrich, Leah Crosby, Scott Hershowitz, Sara Ahren, Timothy McNerney, Sakiko Isomichi and Alton Sterling and Sidney Morris, who are both dearly missed. Other participants include guest performers Darby Patterson, Alise Eve and the MV Fly Girls, Jessica Francis, Sophie Hiller, Lizzy Kent and co., and drag queen Reina del Taco. Guest judges have included Anna Barber, Heather Beeman, Walker Roman, Rueben Fitzgerald and Allyson Malik as well as several former contestants. The show has included DJ,Jordan Bullinger, and 'membershipmates' Xavier Powers, Katie Federowicz Perez, Molly Purves, Lexi Willett, Flo Alexander, Nina Moore, Grace Hall, and Henry and Gus Coogan.
​
Membership Down! has been supported, in part, by the Library Friends of Oak Bluffs, Anthony Esposito, Pizza di Napoli at the Loft, The Barn Bowl and Bistro, The Cardboard Box, Dion's and the Martha's Vineyard Cultural Council
Read the piece from the MV Times HERE
This program is supported, in part, by a grant from the Martha's Vineyard Cultural Council, a local agency that is supported by The Massachusettes Cultural Council, a state agency.
