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I spent most of Friday on the phone
and the Internet trying to locate director
David Dubin and members
of cast and crew of The Island Repertory
Theatre Company's production of
"Six For The Show,"
Fire Island's first one-act play festival. It was touch and go for most of
the day. One moment it was a go, the next it was a no-go. Cast and crew
members were having a hard time getting out of New York City. About 2:30
pm everything seemed to indicate a go. People were finding their way out to
The Island. I assumed that those I hadn't heard from were not going to
have a problem getting to our performing space at
The Island Club in Fire
Island Pines.
It was decided that we would drop one of
the plays and director Dubin and another actor would fill in (scripts in
hands) for the missing absent one. After all, the audience would still see six
out of the seven one-acts that made up the evening. Besides, actor/comedian Shlomoh Sherman
was making his acting debut with the company at that performance, as was Dubin. At 6:30 pm, one and a half hours
before curtain, another disaster struck when two other
actors called to say that they would not be available to perform that evening.
On top of that, our stage manager would not be there, either. What to do!
Be still, my aged heart!
We all love our Island Club space
and Rep members traditionally work as a family.
Because it also serves as a disco later on in the evening, we must set up
and break down stage set and audience seating every night. The breakdown
must take no more than twenty minutes and it's essential that everyone
involved in the show lend a hand. With several people absent, Friday's
quick changeover was particularly difficult but it did happen. (Carrying
chairs up a flight of stairs at my age is not exactly doctor's orders,
but, hell, I'm an old gypsy at heart.)
The next day, I woke up exhausted
from the previous night's effort (hey, I'm 67!) and dragged my ass to The
Pines to try and sell tickets for the Saturday night show. After a nap, I
got my stuff together and left for the theatre. Unfortunately, house
manager Big Nacho Man
was attending a family reunion upstate and also not available to help.
He is an important member of the team and I felt a bumpy night was in
store. I was right. . . The Island Repertory Theatre Company
is (except for paid stage manager and technical director) an all-volunteer
effort. In our fourth season (our second at the Island Club) we
had accomplished miracles by mounting two major productions that had been
well-received both artistically and by the audience. In the second
production, some of our actors had roles in world premiere productions --
quite a distinction.
Although the Saturday night show
went reasonably well (playwrights Tony
Finstrom and
John Van Ness Philip had come to see their
respective plays), the energy and willingness was just not there to
facilitate a satisfactory setup and breakdown and I knew that it was time
to cancel the last two weeks of the run. Board Chairman
Richard Fenn,
administrative director Peter Downes
and I had talked about that possibility the week before, but at the time I
was unwilling to do so even though the show was losing approximately two
hundred and fifty dollars per week -- not unusual in true non-profit
theatre situations. We had actually done better than we thought we would
this summer and I felt that it was important to complete the run. I fought
for longer runs for the shows, because I felt it was important for our actors
to do enough performances to grow in their roles. After all, we are an
acting company. However, Saturday night convinced me
that it was time. . . I think if the blackout had not sapped so much of
our energy, we would have been fine. But it did . . . so, I announced the
closing to everyone and that was it . . . To paraphrase something they say at Bingo Night at
the Community House in Cherry Grove: "No set up, no show."
Not everybody who comes out here is
interested in attending legitimate theatre plays that demand a certain
amount of concentration from the audience. We've always known that and
designed our company with that in mind. We project that our losses will be supported by contributions.
I would love to eventually find corporate sponsors and give away the
tickets a la Shakespeare in the Park in New York City. It will
happen. Just wait and see . . . When
Peter Downes, Richard Fenn
and I decided to found Island Rep, we agreed that we wanted it to be a
model theatre company. We have learned a lot from our first
full summer theatre season. Hopefully, next year we will have more
volunteers to work on our backstage production and house staffs and
lighten the work load. But all involved should expect to be asked to help
do what has to be done. That's just the way it is. Getting involved is not
everybody's cup of tea. . . you gotta love it.
Although
"Six For The Show's" run was cut
short, we have decided to tally up the ballots that we have and give jury
and audience awards based on three performances. Since only five plays
were performed last Friday night, the audience was not invited to fill out
ballots. The winners of both one-act play
festival audience and jury awards will be announced at an event in
mid-September at The Island Club
on September 13th. We hope you'll attend and meet the
winning playwrights, members of Island Rep's board of directors,
acting ensemble and volunteer staff. We're already working on next
summer's play schedule. So, if you think you want to get involved
in any capacity, please let us know. We are in contact with each other
through the winter. |
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Photos by Judy Freedman
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. . . . AND
THAT'S THE WAY IT IS TODAY IN THAT GREAT EXPERIMENT SOME PEOPLE
CALL CHERRY GROVE AND THE PINES.
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