On with the Show

by Polly Campbell

About 3,000 miles from New York City’s Broadway marquees in a century-old movie house, actors are rehearsing a scene from Charlotte’s Web.

This theater in Forest Grove, an Oregon community of about 17,000, is about as far off Broadway as it gets. But neither the actors nor volunteers at the Theatre in the Grove care about comparisons. They aim to produce professional, quality shows and preserve the theater tradition in their hometown.

Audiences here are eager to experience the words of Shakespeare or songs from South Pacific in live theater, and a ready troupe of area actors are willing to provide them.

Theatre in the Grove, like the 7,000 other community theaters scattered across the country, is the core of community culture, providing a place for artists to act and for audiences to see shows without high-ticket prices and long commutes into a large city.

“Everybody is so supportive here,” says Jeanna Van Dyke, 50, a board member who has acted and directed Theatre in the Grove productions for 17 years. “This is a non-competitive environment and an ideal opportunity to do theater. The fact that we don’t get paid doesn’t mean we don’t put on professional productions.”

Everyone has a chance

“Theater is something that people just kind of need,” says Julie Angelo, executive director of the American Association of Community Theatre, based in Lago Vista, Texas. “If there isn’t something in the community, usually people will just create it. Then it continues because the community wants it.”

Such is how Forest Grove got its live theater. A creative group of friends with a desire to act pulled together a musical 32 years ago and performed it on a grade school stage. Forest Grove residents responded overwhelmingly, and Theater in the Grove was born. It now is one of Oregon’s oldest community theaters.

Productions such as The Sound of Music and The Diary of Anne Frank are chosen by a nine-member board, based on recommendations from a selection committee, Van Dyke says. Plays—five to seven per year—must be appropriate for community audiences and meet budget parameters and production requirements. They also must appeal to a wide audience; after all, the theater primarily is funded through private donations and ticket sales.

Theatre in the Grove has staged Little Shop of Horrors; A Christmas Carol; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; Last Night of Ballyhoo; Inherit the Wind; You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown; My Fair Lady; and Brighton Beach Memoirs.

Staging a play takes anywhere from five to 50 people, depending on the production. Musicals require the most manpower.

Actors and stagehands rehearse four nights a week—more frequently as opening night approaches. Parents, board members, cast members, and anyone who wants to help out paint and build sets, create costumes, and handle lighting.

The two-hour rehearsals are punctuated with laughter and good-natured teasing. Actors, many of whom have performed in dozens of productions together, share news of their families, talk about jobs, discuss sports, and other bits of life outside of the show. That sense of community within the theater attracts many of the actors and volunteers to the long hours of labor.

“The people who have been my good friends have always been theater people,” says Connie Peterson, 67, a retired teacher who has worked with the Theatre in the Grove company for 20 years. “They are selfless and giving and some of the most interesting people.”

Friendships bridge generations. Boyd Lewis, 78, a retired high-technology manager who has acted in 67 Grove productions, is called “Grandpa Boyd” by cast members who grew up acting with him in various shows. Working with young adults and school-age children is exhilarating, Lewis says. “It helps to keep me young,” he says.

Such a diversity of ages, backgrounds, and experience levels keeps the community theater strong and the arts alive in Forest Grove.

“Theater teaches tolerance for all kinds of people and all kinds of things,” says Don Cleland, 47, a teacher who has acted in Theatre in the Grove productions for the last two decades. Exposure to the arts—be it as a ticket-paying audience member or the behind-the-scenes production crew—instills a deeper appreciation and greater enthusiasm for arts overall.

For that reason, Theatre in the Grove aims to involve anyone who is interested.

“We try to make the auditions welcoming so everyone has a chance,” Van Dyke says. Amateur actors—and occasionally professionals from Portland—come just to play a particular part. Some, such as Van Dyke, have formal training in drama. Others are students, doctors, accountants, store owners, and mothers and fathers looking to rekindle their creative spirit.

Connecting with the actors

Beginners learn from onstage guidance from other actors and the director. Rehearsals are a supportive environment where encouragement and enthusiasm are standard, and teamwork outweighs any individual star quality.

“You act like you are a professional but everybody supports you and helps mold you so that audiences get to see a high quality show,” says Dennis Eining, 43, stage manager and lighting designer with Theatre in the Grove. “It’s just fun to be with other people creating something which you then present.”

Audiences feel that energy too, particularly with the close proximity to the actors in a small auditorium. They come to see the show, but also to watch their friends, family, and neighbors perform. Most nights Forest Grove’s auditorium, which seats about 200, is at least 90 percent full. Season ticket holders who don’t miss a performance hold many of those seats.

On show night, white runway lights blink along the marquee outside the renovated 1912 movie theater in the heart of downtown. Volunteers sell tickets from a glass-windowed box office and, once inside, patrons sink into red velvet seats, every one with a good view of the stage.

“There is a connection you feel with the actors on stage,” says Lori Brosig, 44. “You know these people, your kids go to school with these kids.”

Brosig took her family to its first community theater production a few months back. The performance prompted her daughter Katy, 9, to try out for the next show. Now, both Katy and Brosig’s husband, Daryl, who writes computer programs by day, have roles in Charlotte’s Web.

Brosig watches most of the rehearsals. The entire family can be involved in the theater—a benefit that fueled her interest in Theatre in the Grove. “It’s nice to have something like this in the area,” she says.

Peterson agrees. “With community theater,” she says, “you can get a piece of culture and fun without ever leaving the neighborhood.”

Polly Campbell is a freelance writer from Beaverton, Ore.

first appeared: 8/4/2002