The Controversy Over Local Theatre

Hey, there's an interesting story in today's Herald-Dispatch that brings up some interesting points:

The Tri-State will experience a couple of starry nights this week.

A Starry, Starry Night cabaret fundraiser will take place Friday and Saturday, April 17-18, at the Renaissance Center, 900 8th St., Huntington. Proceeds from the event will benefit the local organization Arts Resources for the Tri-State.

Dinner will begin each night at 6:30 p.m. with the show following at 7 p.m. Tickets are $30 for dinner and show and $15 for the show only.

For reservations, call 304-733-2787.

The cabaret show was in part organized by WSAZ meteorologist Marina Jurica, who is a veteran performer and a proponent of performing arts in the community.

“We just wanted to raise money for ARTS,” Jurica said. “I think any musical theatre is important. The problem with H.O.T. (Huntington Outdoor Theatre) is that it’s only in the summer. And the problem with 5th Avenue Theatre Company is that they only do one or two shows a year. ARTS is trying to do four or five musical productions a year. Huntington doesn’t seem to have a lot of arts like Lexington, even Ashland or Charleston. I’m playing the lead in South Pacific for the Charleston Light Opera Guild now, and it’s incredible how much money and interest they have. It’s just a good thing for the community to build up the arts.”

Jurica said the funds from this particular show will go towards helping ARTS fund a fall musical.

This cabaret show will feature a dozen performers, including Jurica, Melanie Shafer, Dave Benton and Ryan Hardiman along with some of Jurica’s friends from Lexington, Ky., and the University of Kentucky Opera.

“Melanie is a church singer who wanted to help,” Jurica said. “Dave worked with H.O.T. some, but has taken a couple of years off. I just asked him for this favor. It was the same with Ryan and my friends from Lexington. They were all willing to help.”

The show will include a wide range of songs from Broadway musicals. It will feature solos, duets and group numbers with choreography.

The show’s opening number will be “Masquerade” from Phantom of the Opera.

“It’s basically all Broadway songs that will span a lot,” Jurica said. “We’ll go from the classic Phantom of the Opera to the more popular and contemporary like Rent. We’re going to span the spectrum of Broadway.”

For more information about ARTS, visit the Web site at www.733arts.org.

This article makes some interesting points about community theatre in Huntington. It's true, for example, that community theatre in Charleston is more active than what you'll find in Huntington (although it tends to fluctuate here - some years have seen as many as seven community theatre groups putting on shows, while other years there have been as few as three).

Of course, I'd also argue that Charleston has been at it longer, and has better funding. Where Huntington's groups tend to make their own way, Charleston's theatre groups banded together years ago and made their way through the funding maze to acquire the kind of grants and facilities to make regular theatre possible.

It's a puzzle Huntington's theatre groups have, with some exceptions, not been able to solve. Most groups live on "the gate" (ticket sales), and that's not always a reliable way to build a successful organization.

When you get down to it, the two cities are very different. Charleston has several active (and excellent) community theatre groups, but it lacks the kind of professional-level productions Marshall University presents, and it doesn't have a summer outdoor theatre group.

What Marina Jurica is pointing out (quite correctly) is the shortage of productions for and by adults, since most of Huntington's shows are focused on young performers - Marshall's student actors, First Stage's young performers, and even HOT has relied on (mostly) young casts for the past few years.

It would be great to see a group presenting "grown-up" shows to challenge our many talented adult performers in the community - but someone has to make it happen.