Justice Theatre Auditions, 1/26-1/27

The Justice Theatre Team is gearing up for its 8th annual production! This year’s show will take place on Friday and Saturday, March 27th and 28th, and the team will be staging 12 Angry Jurors, a play by Reginald Rose that will be directed by Sarika Rao. Proceeds from the production will go to the Campaign to Support Equal Justice in Oregon, a legal aid organization that provides free civil legal services to low-income and senior Oregonians.

Auditions will take place on Monday and Tuesday, January 26th and 27th at 7pm at the UUFC. NO experience is necessary to try out for these productions, and it’s a great way to make social connections while lending your talents to a great cause. Auditions will consist of reading excerpts of the script with other actors, and it will be low-key and lots of fun!

These auditions are for an unpaid, amateur performance opportunity. For maximum accessibility, this is a memorization-optional production—actors will have the option to carry some or all of their lines in a notebook or on a clipboard prop if they so choose.

If you have any questions about the team, the production, or the audition process, please reach out to justice.theater@uucorvallis.org.

About the play

A 19-year-old man has just stood trial for the fatal stabbing of his father. “He doesn’t stand a chance,” mutters the guard as the 12 jurors are taken into the bleak jury room. It looks like an open-and-shut case—until one of the jurors begins opening the others’ eyes to the facts. “This is a remarkable thing about democracy,” says the foreign-born juror, “that we are notified by mail to come down to this place—and decide on the guilt or innocence of a person; of a man or woman we have not known before. We have nothing to gain or lose by our verdict. We should not make it a personal thing.” But personal it is, with each juror revealing their own character as the various testimonies are re-examined, the murder is re-enacted and a new murder threat is born before their eyes! Tempers get short, arguments grow heated. The jurors’ final verdict and how they reach it t will electrify the audience and keep them on the edge of their seats.

About this year’s beneficiary

Learn more about the supported organization, the Campaign to Support Equal Justice in Oregon, by CLICKING HERE: https://cej-oregon.org/

About the Company

Justice Theatre @ the UUFC is a community theatre venture aimed at staging small-scale productions with pay-what-you-will performances supporting social justice causes. Past beneficiaries have included the ACLU, the Corvallis Cold Weather Mens Shelter, CARDV, and the Mid-Willamette Trans Support Network. Our mission is to create theatre that fosters discussion about the world around us, to make theatre that is completely open and accessible to audience members of any income level, and to use performance to generate donations for good causes. The company is part of the Fellowship’s larger commitment to justice work under the auspices of the Justice Council. Organized by the Justice Theatre Team, the Fellowship generally stages one production every year or so with amateur actors who donate their time (which helps to maximize profits for donations!), and these productions are intended to comment on something going wrong in the world while raising money to help right that wrong.

Childcare is available!

Free childcare can usually be arranged for any Fellowship event by using this link 1-2 weeks prior to the event.

First day of Postcard Writing to Voters, 1/4

Get your pens ready! Join the Democracy Action Team in writing to prospective 2026 election year voters. Sunday, Jan 4th is the first day of our first writing project in 2026.

WHAT: News Boosting Postcards to Georgia to educate voters about the impact of the “Big Beautiful Bill” on rural hospitals. You can see the postcards at Informed Voters of America initiative website at https://www.informedvotersus.org/.

HOW: We have 200 postcards to write and mail by Feb 5, 2026. We will distribute them in packets of 10 (with addresses, stamps, and instructions) at the Democracy Action Team table in the Social Hall after Sunday worship (which starts at 10 AM) – starting on Jan 4. Look for us there! Take the supplies and follow the instructions!

Or – you can get the supplies from Claire Montgomery.

Or – you can sign up with Postcards to Swing States at https://secure.ngpvan.com/NPCPSG0VaUqaLw7w6AbNDg2 and have them mailed to you directly. You can choose where to write (Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina) but the minimum order is 100 postcards.

Contact Claire Montgomery (UUFC Democracy Action Team) for more information.

Do hand-written letters and postcards increase voter turnout? YES. Randomized Controlled Trials demonstrate statistically significant increases in voter turnout of 1-3%. That may not seem huge – but swing state elections are close and that could be more than enough to tip the scale. Check out Vote Forward experiments at https://votefwd.org/impact (click on “See Our Tests”) and Progressive Voter Turnout Project experiments at https://turnoutpac.medium.com/a-gateway-to-activism-postcards-win-close-elections-5bf7f45da15a.

Happy writing!

Jaclyn Moyer Reading, 1/18

Corvallis resident Jaclyn Moyer will read excerpts from her book On Gold Hill, a 2025 Oregon Book Award winner. Moyer’s story combines food and culture. In raising wheat and vegetables on a 10-acre California farm, she discovers her Punjabi ancestry and the origins of organic agriculture.

Sunday, January 18, 2026, 12 noon – 1 PM in the Sanctuary.

Childcare is available!

Free childcare can usually be arranged for any Fellowship event by using this link 1-2 weeks prior to the event.

Visibility Brigade Bannering Event, 1/2

Visibility Brigade Bannering for Women’s Basketball Pre-game Traffic

Friday, January 2, 2026
5 – 6pm PST

Gill Coliseum at OSU
660 SW 26th St
Corvallis, OR 97331

Join us to deploy our first banner of the New Year before the January 2 Beaver home game from 5-6 pm. Our banner will read “RESIST ICE” and since there will be a lot of foot traffic, we also will provide a QR code or small flyer for those who want more information. We will be test driving our new banner with lights. Each person will hold a letter shaped from Xmas string lights to spell out the message. Help spread the message of ICE resistance!

The Benton County Visibility Brigade was sourced from the UUFC Democracy Action Team and is now also a part of Benton County Indivisible. The Brigade broadcasts messages in support of democracy by carrying out high visibility actions, including bannering from I-5 overpasses and in high traffic locations in Corvallis. We are totally committed to non-violence in word and deed and very safety conscious. Best of all, we have lots of fun! If you experience despair over the current state of democracy, check us out as a great antidote. For more information, email visibilitybrigadebc@gmail.com.

Justice Theater – 12 Angry Jurors

The Justice Theatre Team is gearing up for its 8th annual production! This year’s show will take place on Friday and Saturday, March 27th and 28th, and the team will be staging 12 Angry Jurors, a play by Reginald Rose that will be directed by Sarika Rao. Proceeds from the production will go to the Campaign to Support Equal Justice in Oregon, a legal aid organization that provides free civil legal services to low-income and senior Oregonians. 

Auditions will take place on Monday and Tuesday, January 26th and 27th at 7pm at the UUFC. NO experience is necessary to try out for these productions, and it’s a great way to make social connections while lending your talents to a great cause. If you have any questions about the team, the production, or the audition process, please reach out to justice.theater@uucorvallis.org.

Childcare is available!

Free childcare can usually be arranged for any Fellowship event by using this link 1-2 weeks prior to the event.

Community Readiness Training (ICE / Migra Watch and Know Your Rights), 12/14

We stand with immigrant families sign
We stand with immigrant families sign

Join the Democracy Action Team on Sunday, December 14 from  12 – 2 p.m. in the UUFC Sanctuary for a practical ICE‑Watch/Human‑Rights Observer training led by local attorney Lorena  Reynolds. The session will equip you with clear, actionable steps for responding if ICE shows up, going beyond basic rights information. It’s a free, community‑focused workshop—please RSVP via this secure form so we can confirm attendance. Come help strengthen our UU community and learn how to support others safely.

If you cannot attend this training but still want to learn how to respond, here is a list of other instances of this same training around our Community:

December 7th 11:30am | Friends Meeting House 3311 NW Polk Ave All

December 10th, 6:00pm | Reynolds Law Firm 555 NW 5th St

December 11th, 6:00pm | Reynolds Law Firm 555 NW 5th St

Fifth Annual Street-Tree Planting, 1/10

On the morning of Sat. 10 Jan., UUFC, through the Climate Action Team, will do our fifth annual collaboration with the City of Corvallis to plant street trees. In the past, we have twice planted along NW Conifer Blvd and once each in Willamette and Avery Parks. This year we will plant eight deciduous trees along the north side of SE Goodnight Drive, between Collins Pl and Aldrin Pl.

We need a dozen volunteer tree planters, no prior skill or knowledge required. Please email treasurer@uucorvallis.org to sign up for a couple of hours of fellowship and righteous physical labor on the morning of Sat 10 Jan, rain or shine.

Childcare is available!

Free childcare can usually be arranged for any Fellowship event by using this link 1-2 weeks prior to the event.

Microshelter at the museum

The Corvallis Museum is hosting an exhibit on homelessness. Step inside our Microshelter Exhibit for a rare opportunity to see what life is like in a tiny, transitional home. In partnership with Unity Shelter, this exhibit shows that while a roof and four walls provide safety and shelter, it’s far from luxurious. The exhibit offers a firsthand look at the challenges and realities faced by those experiencing homelessness. Explore the shelter and connect with the everyday realities of those without permanent homes.
On exhibit at the Corvallis museum, during museum hours, until early spring.
Learn about Unity Shelter and support their efforts!
https://bentoncountymuseums.org/exhibits/microshelters/