It’s cold and drafty in Old Town Lansing’s under-renovation
Temple Building. But Chad Badgero still manages to radiate energy and enthusiasm.
It’s hard to find anything to dim his dynamic nature, not even the pounding and sawing of scenery construction for what will turn out to be a successful run of “
Altar Boyz,” a play produced by
Peppermint Creek Theatre Company, which Badgero created and oversees.
“There’s no way any one of us would do this—run a theater company—if it weren’t for the fact we really love it,” he says. “We love theater, we believe in our mission and the message of our company. None of us get paid.”
Badgero, 32, fulfilled his goal of being a working actor in New York City (he keeps a list of 40 goals to achieve before he’s 40), but says he has “a real heart for Lansing.”
And it shows. Badgero founded the Peppermint Creek Theatre Company as a teenager in Mason, later taught in Williamston and left for the bright lights of New York. He was busy there, working in children’s productions musicals and smaller shows.
It was while on tour with the children’s show, “
Anastasia Krupnik,” that he said he realized he preferred small towns to cities.
He returned to the Capital region and made Peppermint Creek, now in its seventh season, a top priority. He also started a career as an
AmeriCorps volunteer for the
Old Town Commercial Association (OTCA).
Capital Gains: Why AmeriCorps?Chad Badgero: It just hit me at the right time in my life. It was all about community service, and it was about Old Town, and I love Old Town. And it was about revitalizing the district down here.
I didn’t really even know a ton about it. It’s been wonderful. It’s exposed me to a kind of community service I didn’t know.
CG: What do you do with the OTCA?CB: My days are so varied. In the morning, I’ll be doing a ribbon cutting with the mayor for our community playground, and in the afternoon I’ll be in our community garden planting, or writing press releases for our festivals, or writing our newsletter.
There’s day-to-day stuff just, like dealing with people who come into our office and say, "Hey, I want to start a tanning salon in Old Town. Do you have any locations for us to look at?" Then we show them around to look at vacant buildings.
It’s a whole lot of things, advocating for all the businesses down here, and why it’s important to be a member.
The two passions in my life are really theater and education, and I think that I always fall into those two realms. This job, through AmeriCorps, has taught me how community engagement can really be a form of education.
CG: You’re obviously optimistic about this area. What makes you so optimistic?CB: I guess that I have an optimism about humanity. I really believe that people are good, and they want to see the world succeed. They want to see themselves, their families and their friends succeed. I think at heart we’re all good people.
My dad (Doug Badgero) was the head of the
Michigan State University (MSU) horticulture gardens my whole life, until he retired last year. And I felt like I grew up in the gardens. I think that gave me a sense of land and the community. You do honest work to make plants grow.
I feel that same way about community. If something needs to get done, you do it.
Since I’m from here, it’s the ultimate cliché, but it’s an honest sense of hometown pride. Because I’m from here, I believe in this area.
A community succeeds if each of its individuals believe in it. Because I love and I’m from this community, I feel that’s my job.
If I’m from here I’m part of the piece of that puzzle and I have to make my part of it work.
CG: Having lived outside the area, what do you think are the challenges this area faces?CB: I think a big one is morale. There’s so much talk given to keeping young people and I think that’s true. But even more than that, it’s about keeping people and saying, "We can do this."
Friends of mine who want to move, they’re always like, "There’s no opportunity for photographers," [let's] say. And that’s how Peppermint Creek got started. My mentality is always like, "Well, then make some." If there’s no opportunity, then make some opportunity. That’s how the theater got started. . . . One summer, there wasn’t anything going on. Naively, I just said, "I guess I’ll just direct my own show."
CG: What are the assets of this area?CB: I think there are two things: Creativity—I think we have a really awesome creative set of people in the Lansing/Greater Lansing area that have tremendous talent.
The second one is the land. We live in a beautiful state. I think that’s inspiring. I get choked up at those
Tim Allen, ‘Love Michigan’ commercials.
I grew up in the country, in Mason. Whenever I come home from visiting New York, I am that nerdy guy—I’m driving and, "Oh, my God, look at that beautiful field." "These trees are so gorgeous today." "And the way the sun hits the water!" And I think that’s inspiring.
CG: What do you want to see for this area?CB: I would love to see more people walking around, more camaraderie amongst neighborhoods and government.
I would love for the everyday citizen to just become more involved in the community.
I would love to see more arts and entertainment. I think that we need a common performing arts center.
I would love to see more restaurants. . . . I would love it if you could walk down a street and have like 10 tiny, amazing places to eat.
I would love there to be more open spaces devoted to gardens and flowers and lakes and ponds.
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John Foren is a former newspaper editor who is enjoying writing again.
Dave Trumpie is the managing photographer for Capital Gains. He is a freelance photographer and owner of Trumpie Photography.
Photos:
Chad Badgero at the Temple Building in Old Town
All Photographs © Dave Trumpie