'Tis the Season... 10/19/2010
…The 2011 SPTC Mainstage season, that is. We’re finally ready to announce next year’s programming, and it’s going to be another exciting, entertaining, educational, and provocative lineup. This gives me a good opportunity to explain something I think a lot of people don’t know much about: our season selection process. The first thing you have to understand about SPTC’s season programming, and something that differentiates us from some (though certainly not all) of our fellow community theaters in the area, is this: we’ve got an artistic director. I’ve spent time working in various segments of the Ventura County nonprofessional theater scene, and I well understand that the artistic director paradigm is not to everyone’s taste. But man, I’ve gotta say, it really seems to work for us. For the last fifteen-plus years, the position has been filled by David Ralphe, a veteran of stage and screen in both the domains of acting and theater management, with a resume that stretches for decades and encompasses both the New York and Los Angeles scenes. David is a striking figure, with a weathered face, a thick mane of white hair (which spent many years threaded into David’s signature ponytail, when such a style was more fashionable), eyes both probing and mischievous, and that voice. Years of life experience, theatrical training, and cigarette smoking (again, when such a thing was more fashionable), commingle in a voice both booming and gravelly, forceful and yielding. When David speaks, it is not uncommon to feel you are the only other person in the room, and that David is one of the most interesting people you are likely to meet. One day he may tell you the story of performing in the original cast of Nuts, and coming this close to being in the film, and another day he may regale you with the pros and cons of sharing an apartment with Edward Albee. This isn’t bluster – the richness of his experience is readily seen in the plays he directs, which unfailingly demonstrate grace, insight, and wit. So what, then, does David do for us? If you believe David himself at his most wry, one of his principle jobs is to say “no” a lot. (“Why do artistic directors get fired?” he asks, before answering his own question: “Because it’s their job to say ‘no,’ and after a while, when everyone’s pet project has been shot down three or four times, they start to say “to heck with him.”) The whole truth, of course, is very subtle. With substantial assistance and input from our tireless managing director, Frederick Helsel, David carefully assembles seasons that must be responsive to many variables. What are the costs of a given show? (This is not a simple issue. You’re dealing with royalties, set requirements, costume requirements, expected audience turnout based on name recognition and whether that offsets other costs, etc. etc.) What are the acting requirements? Can we get enough actors, can we get the right types, is it worth pulling an Equity Guest Artist Contract if we get just the right person? What’s the likelihood that a pro company in L.A. wants to do this or that show and will have the performance rights restricted in our area? Can the show fit, physically, onto our stage? Arguably the most important thing David strives for is to achieve seasons that are balanced, and that fit our general artistic mission. It’s worth talking about both of these issues in more depth. Balance is probably the more difficult issue to address, though the easier one to explain. What is the ratio of comedy to drama? Accessible pieces to challenging ones? Old works to new ones? Big casts to small ones? As far as SPTC’s artistic mission, I don’t know that anyone has it written down in so many words, but David has worked to craft a consistent message over the years, and I think our regular attendees understand it pretty well. We focus to near exclusivity on nonmusical theater. We concentrate on theater of the last 120 years or so. We do a mix of new work and classics (though again, most of our selections aren’t classical). We occasionally program larger-cast works but tend to focus on pieces of more restrained dimensions. We do a mix of comedy and drama. We ensure inclusion of a couple of very family-friendly works (with one guaranteed during summer and one guaranteed at Christmastime), but we likewise ensure at least one really adult, challenging piece a year (sometimes more). While we frequently draw material from the British Isles, continental Europe, and even Australia, we always focus on doing at least a couple of great American pieces. And we have some go-to playwrights to whom we oft return, including Agatha Christie and Connor McPherson. So how does the 2011 season hold up in light of all these issues? Really, really well, if you ask me. I’m beyond excited about the coming year. I suspect I’ll take time to address each selection in more depth in the future, but for now here’s the rundown with my own brief commentary and impressions. Amadeus by Peter Schaffer. A thousand times yes! I might be slightly giddy about this choice. Can I get an “amen” from the Schaffer fans in the house? On the slim chance you’re unfamiliar with the Oscar-winning film adaptation, Amadeus is the highly speculative, but utterly compelling re-imagining of the relationship between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his contemporary Antonio Salieri, court composer of Austria. Buried Child by Sam Shepard. David felt the time was finally right. Our audience is getting increasingly sophisticated, and we’ve given them some real challenges over the last couple of years. This season alone we gave them both Mamet (who we’d never before presented) and Albee (who hadn't figured in an SPTC season since our first show in 1985). Sam Shepard is another great American playwright with bite. Black Coffee by Agatha Christie. As I said above, we love her, and so, in our experience, does our audience. Black Coffee was the first work Christie wrote for the stage, and so represents a truly seminal moment in twentieth-century theater. The Seafarer by Connor McPherson. A relatively new work from the playwright of The Weir and Shining City, both of which were produced at SPTC with great success. The Seafarer continues McPherson’s philosophical explorations of modern Irish culture. Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kessering. Which needs no introduction. A tasty chestnut at Christmastime. Appropriate, no? I think SPTC’s 26th year will be one of the best yet. See you in the House, I hope. Comments10/19/2010 3:32pm
Well written, Peter, and quite informative. And you've described the commanding presence of David quite well (when I first met him years ago, I kept calling him "Ralph"). Rosalee Calvillo 02/27/2011 12:25pm
I attended Amadeus last night. My husband and friends and I enjoyed the show very much. This is the third of your performances we have attended. Leave a Reply | AuthorPeter Krause ArchivesApril 2011 CategoriesAll |
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