By Jeremiah Yonemura
For The Signal
About 40 racers and walkers gathered at West Creek Park on a recent Sunday morning for the inaugural Dig Deep Dash 5K to support the Dig Deep Theatre’s upcoming performances.
The group raised about $2,000 to fund its future endeavors of inspiring actors and making the world more compassionate through theater.
Event organizer Shawnee Badger chose a 5K as a fundraiser because of the fun of race day.
“Getting a medal and just feeling that sense of accomplishment, being outside and feeling the wind through your hair as you run — I find it to be just a really fun way to spend your morning,” she said.
The course followed the San Francisquito Creek Trail out and back the same way. Badger encouraged participants to dress up for Halloween as their favorite TV, movie or play characters. Costumes included Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz,” The Three Musketeers and Superman.
The first three places of each gender and the participant with the best costume received 30 days free at Gold’s Gym. All finishers received a medal and a day pass to Top Out Climbing. Lizzy Whitney, a California Institute of the Arts student, designed the medal with various icons significant to Santa Clarita.
The top male racers were Peter Schiavelli, 38, of Encino; Everette Webber, 49, of Santa Clarita; and David Vargas, 28, of Calexico. The top females were Lucia Pelayo, 44; Rachel Edelstein, 24, of North Hollywood; and Skylar Townsend, 32, of Burbank.
Charlotte Smith, who walked the course with her mother Michelle, won the best costume award as Dorothy.
“I thought it was a blast. We had a great time. Everybody was really supportive, and it was a lot of fun,” Michelle Smith said.
Schiavelli, who acted in the theater group’s performance of “The Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams, joined to support Badger. He enjoyed running the course in the sunshine for the cause.
“It’s a lovely course. It’s right by the creek. The weather was perfect. Time was perfect. So just a really nice morning run,” Schiavelli said.
Stuck at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, Badger founded Dig Deep Theatre by reading different plays over Zoom. The group performed “Barefoot in the Park” by Neil Simon as its first in-person show at The Main in Old Town Newhall in 2022.
Badger’s plan for Dig Deep Theatre is to create more opportunities to unite the artistic community, such as performing more than one show per year and showcasing newly written plays.
“That’s what we hope, that our past shows and our future shows will be able to do is change hearts and minds, make people think, make people grow and hopefully create a more compassionate world,” Badger said.
Dig Deep Theatre’s next performance — “You Got Older” by Clare Barron — is scheduled to be performed in August 2026.
More information about the theater is available at www.digdeeptheatre.com.
