Theatre Workshop of Owensboro (TWO) is the newest home to a free little library, joining the long list of stations across the city.
One would not immediately link a free little library with life insurance, but that is exactly what allowed Jody and Sarah Hulsey to make the project at TWO.
“My wife, Sarah and I have life insurance through Thrivent Financial, and they give you $250 dollars a year to do a project in the community,” Jody said.
Inspired by other book boxes around town and his passion for Theatre Workshop of Owensboro, Jody had the idea to create a free library that looked like the historic Trinity Center in which Theatre Workshop calls home.
Jody held onto the idea for about two years when his financial representative pushed him to make it happen. Jody enlisted his dad, Don Hulsey to create the library.
“Dad is an actual renaissance man, a true creative type,” Jody said Jody.
Replicating a historic building down to the size of a mini library was no small task. After taking multiple pictures of the building, Don utilized a computer program to redraw the building to keep it to scale with accurate proportions. He also replicated the intricate brick pattern from the Trinity Center by using an engraving machine.
“One hundred and twenty-one hours and four months later, we got it done,” Don said.
With an additional donation from Modern Welding for the library’s post, the Trinity Center little library cut the ribbon on the library Sunday in a small ceremony.
Theatre Workshop plans to add a theatrical element to expand the project.
“This beautiful replica of our building is one way to reach out to our community, we want to go further and incorporate theatre by having our actors read some of the books out-loud,” said Board President Lauren Calhoun.
The theatre group will partner with Tinker Tone Records to create videos of local actors reading some of the books inside the library. The selected books will then contain a bookmark with a link to the Youtube video of the actor reading the book.
“We want make sure everybody knows it is for the community,” said TWO Executive Director Todd Reynolds added “
To unveil the library to the public, Theatre Workshop of Owensboro will host a block party on Thursday at 5 p.m. The celebration will be complete with snacks and activities.
“We have a great garden and we want the community to utilize it,” Reynolds said.
