“White Christmas” – This Is How You Do It.

First, let me be clear that this is not a review; it is a short essay on how good local theatre can truly be. Second, understand I have no personal connection to the cast or crew of Lake Plains Players' "White Christmas." I have no sisters, brothers, second cousins or spouses in the show. That being said, I will now state the main idea of my essay: "White Christmas" is the best piece of theatre I've seen in a very long time (in the interests of impartiality I'm excluding from that statement anything I've been in or directed.)

When I say "best piece of theatre," that includes both local and professional shows. "White Christmas" proves that excellent theatre is obtainable at any and every level. A little bit of history as I understand it is necessary here: directed Lance Anderson has been itching to do this show for years. He convinced the board to give him the chance this year, and a wise decision it was. Mounting a musical of this magnitude requires a herculean effort, starting with an unheard of three months of rehearsals. Add top-notch choreography by Cheryl Johnson, spot-on performances by stars Joseph Kusmierczak, Jennifer Neroni, Matthew Mayne and Jennifer Bradley, wonderful sets and music and you have an evening of unforgettable entertainment.

What continues to amaze me, and part of why I formed the WNY Theatre Alliance in the first place, is the dedication and spirit of the members of our local theatre community. And yes, by "local" I do mean "non-professional." The term "non-professional," however, is misleading; I wish there was a better term for those of us who choose to eschew the professional companies in favor of groups like Lake Plains, Towne Players, Lancaster Regional Theatre, Amherst Players, Starry Night, Niagara Regional Theatre Guild, Theatre in the Mist and Aurora Players (to mention but a few) who produce professional-level works of art without all the baggage that comes with Alleyway, Irish Classical, Kavinkoky and the like. Yes, Virginia, there is theatre outside of Buffalo.

The cast & crew of "White Christmas" dedicated three months of their lives to this single work of art and produced a grand total of three performances. No "professional" theatre would ever consider such a thing. You tell me who does it for the love of the Theatre.

Sneek Peek - "Butterfingers Angel"

A Sneek Peek Preview of The Towne Players' production of

"Butterfingers Angel"

Sneek Peek - "White Christmas"

A Sneek Peek Preview of The Lake Plains Players' production of
"White Christmas"

Much Ado About…Something.

There has been a veritable firestorm of commentary recently regarding Erie County Executive Collins' slashing of the Arts from the new budget. All the heavyweights have weighed in, including Artvoice and the Buffalo News; there have been blog posts and Facebook groups and even an extremely ill-informed "Everybody's Column" from a gentleman in Hamburg who, among other things, on his Facebook page commented on the proposed Irish debt bailout by the EU by saying, "If this will prevent another wave of Irish immigration to the U.S. then I'm all for it. We don't have enough ghettos for any more Irish."

There is one voice in this hue and cry that I have not yet heard, however: that of the local community theatres. They have been around as long as, if not (much) longer than the Irish Classicals, Alleyways and Shakespeares in the Park and share the same vision: to provide quality live entertainment to the people of their communities. They, however, have not received on red cent from the county budget. Ever. And yet they continue to survive in a world made less theatre-friendly by TV, movies, the internet and Red Box.

I'm not implying that the Arts should not be publicly funded; just the opposite, in fact. The Arts need to be aggressively funded by our tax dollars. Study after study has proven that exposure to the Arts starting at an early age and continuing throughout life leads to better cognitive development, better language skills, and greater success in later life. Why should we not fund the Arts which, by the way, bring millions of dollars into the area? Why should we fund sports stadiums for perpetually losing teams when our culture is dying of thirst? If I had my choice, a much larger chunk of my tax dollars would go directly to supporting the Arts in WNY.

I guess what I am saying is this: in a world of harsh realities it is entirely possible that these county funds are gone; if not for good, then at least for the foreseeable future. Live with it, Irish Classical. Live with it, Alleyway. Live with it, Shakespeare in the Park. Western NY's community theatres do, and always have.

Sneek Peek Preview - "Arsenic & Old Lace"

A Sneek Peek Preview of the Towne Players' production of
"Arsenic & Old Lace"

Erie County Exec Collins Guts Arts Programs

Excerpts from The Buffalo News, 9-29-10:

Collins cuts most cultural entities from budget

In his budget for next year, Chris Collins intends to halt the flow of Erie County tax dollars to dozens of cultural agencies that annually line up for support.

The county executive will continue giving money to the 10 attractions he deems regionally significant, including the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Buffalo Zoo and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.

10 cultural institutions in line for aid: 

Attraction	Grant
Zoological Society of Buffalo	$1,465,000
Buffalo Museum of Science	$905,000
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra	$825,000
Albright-Knox Art Gallery	$535,000
Historical Society	$385,000
Darwin Martin House	$140,000
Burchfield Penney Art Center	$92,000
Hamburg Natural History Museum	$41,000
Graycliff	$32,000
Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site	$21,000
Total	$4,441,000

 -----

The Collins team does not expect to reconsider its decision and might disband the Cultural Resources Advisory Board after assessing its need.

The board's volunteers examine museums, theaters, dance troupes and studios, then recommend grants. The system was set up years ago to take politics out of the process.

But his budget would end county dollars for, among others, the Alleyway Theater, the Irish Classical Theatre Company and Shakespeare in Delaware Park, one of the nation's largest free outdoor Shakespeare festivals. In fact, no theater companies are among Collins' 10 recipients.

The $81,000 that Shakespeare in Delaware Park received from the county this year accounts for one-quarter of its budget, said Saul Elkin, founder and artistic director. Those dollars, he said, have helped keep the performances free -- and able to draw 1.75 million people over 35 years.

"The loss of county funding would be absolutely devastating to the existence of Shakespeare in Delaware Park," Elkin said, adding, "For many, this is the only affordable cultural event they can attend."

The Greater Buffalo Cultural Alliance promotes arts and cultural organizations as critical assets worthy of investment.

"If these reported budget cuts are indeed true, it is a shocking and crippling action," the alliance said in a statement Tuesday. "Why gut one of the most productive and viable sectors in our area's economy?

"There were more than 2.5 million attendees at the alliance organizations last year. Nearly half of them attended small and mid-sized organizations' events. Our county executive is potentially disenfranchising 1 million local arts and culture attendees."

mspina@buffnews.com

"Who's Next?"

Promotional video for the Lancaster Regional Players' production of

"Something's Afoot!"

Sneek Peek Preview - "Something's Afoot!"

A Sneek Peek Preview of the Lancaster Regional Players' production of

"Something's Afoot!"

Pro Status

I drive 46 miles round trip five days a week for two months. I spend a minimum of three hours rehearsing each night in a bay that is either too hot, too cold, too dusty, too cramped or a combination of three out of the four. I spend time at home and in the car practicing songs and learning lines. I spend personal time scouring Goodwill, Salvation Army and Amvets for costume pieces. I drive 40 miles round trip to the theatre for six shows, two weekends.

The difference between "professional" and "non-professional" theatre? A professional would be doing it for the money.

12 Steps to a Better Theatre Website

Local, community and non-profit theatre groups often fight an uphill battle against public perception. In our struggle to present our groups as the home of highly talented actors, directors, designers and technicians we are often thwarted by the very instrument we choose as our main conduit to prospective audiences: the website.

Sometimes confusing, often disorganized and many times incomplete, the theatre group website acts as our silent salesman. Keeping this in mind, here are 12 simple steps to creating (or revamping) your website and turning it into a highly effective tool for informing our public and increasing your audience.

1. Include complete dates, times & ticket prices of show. You want the viewers to come and give you money, let them know when and where they can do it. Theatre in the Mist does it well: http://www.theatreinthemist.org/index.php
2. Include a map to the exact location of the theatre with complete address. This lets people cut and paste into MapQuest if they like. Here's a great example from NRTG: http://www.niagaratheatre.com/nrtg_directions.htm
3. Provide an opening page with no scrolling required. This is the viewer's invitation to the rest of your site; keep it simple and impactful (if that's really a word,) and avoid Flash animation introductions that take years to load. People won't watch them.
4. Don't allow animations to be distracting. Viewers are looking for content, not animated GIFs.
5. Link to a ticket purchasing service if applicable. Starry Night's site even includes a seating chart, which is a great help to people new to your venue: http://www.starrynighttheatre.com/tickets.php
6. Use consistent fonts & colors on all pages. Don't give your viewer a headache; multiple typestyles and crazy colors turn viewers away. Also: don't highlight any of your text. It makes it look like the viewer accidently clicked on something. Aurora Players use a Roycroft-style font for headings and menu and very simple, readable Arial for the remainder of their site: http://www.auroraplayers.org/events.htm
7. Use a consistent menu on every page (preferably in its own frame so it stays put while the viewer scrolls the rest of the page.) Nothing worse than looking for a link you just saw only to discover it's not on your current page.
8. Spell check & format check. (This goes for your Facebook page & postings, too!) Remember: your site and your postings are a direct (and often indelible) reflection of your group. If you can't be bothered to be professional on something as simple as Facebook, how can your prospective audience expect you to be professional on stage?
9. Update frequently! No one likes to see "Coming Soon;" trust me…they won't be back.
10. Don't bombard viewer with information. If they see too much on one page they won't read any of it. Stick to basic, necessary information…you're writing for web surfers, not English majors.
11. For the love of God PLEASE don't put music on your site. Music that starts playing automatically is extremely irritating, usually too loud, and is thoroughly presumptuous. While you're at it – get rid of all extraneous sounds on your site. One site I was on makes a piercing "BLING!" sound every time your mouse moves over a link. Who thought that was a good idea?
12. Use high quality graphics. With today's high speed internet there's no excuse for low resolution copy-and-paste pictures. Use at least 96dpi resolution; as with spelling and grammar, the quality of the graphics you present reflect (in the minds of your viewers) the quality of the show they're considering paying money to see. Again, Theatre in the Mist provides a great example with "The Wizard of Oz" (although this may be a different show by the time you view this link!) http://www.theatreinthemist.org/current.php

Finally, when all is said and done, look at your website as if you've never seen it before. Bumble through it as if you were someone who just got their first computer this morning; if you can get lost on your site, they surely will. Keep It Simple…

The Red Headed Stepchild

My first starring role was in 3^rd grade. I was Geppetto in an abbreviated production of "Pinnochio" at Academy Elementary School in Williamsville, NY. That was almost 40 years ago. My first serious foray into the world of theatre was in the title role in "The Elephant Man" at the beautiful Lancaster Opera House in 1984. I have since played in many productions both in and out of the Opera House, but I still have a special place in my heart for that venue; the walls echo with the words of playwrights both old and new, and the dressing room smells of greasepaint and perspiration. It is sweet nectar.

It has been my great honor and pleasure over the years to make friends of so many talented artists throughout Western NY as an actor and director, directing my first show in 1986. Having worked with so many groups (some, sadly, no longer with us,) I feel they are family. West Seneca Players, Amherst Players, Towne Players, Champagne Theatre, W.A.R.P.D. Productions, Lancaster Regional Players, Lake Plains Players and more. We are a community of artists: actors, directors, set designers and builders, graphic artists, sound engineers, producers, stage managers and assistants…the list goes on. We all have one thing in common, and that is a love of the work we do.

I have seen a distressing trend over the years. People whose words serve no purpose other than to self-aggrandize spit the term "Community Theatre" from their mouths as if it were bitter dross. People who have no inkling of the dedication of those who give their time and talent to local, community and non-profit productions not for the love of money, but for the love of theatre. People who believe that when you pay, you necessarily get a superior product; I think history long ago knocked down that straw man. Who builds a better house? The dedicated volunteers of Habitat for Humanity, or the money-hungry developer who slaps together cardboard cookie-cutter "communities" and labels them "Woodland Streams," only after cutting down the woods and diverting the streams?

I recently read a press release from a "professional" company stating "they want to raise the quality of the shows presented" at the Opera House and give actors "an opportunity to really feel what it is supposed to be like," as if we don't already know. Hundreds, if not thousands of local "non-professional" actors have trod the boards at the Opera House, as well as the dozens and dozens of other venues across Western NY. We have all seen the productions they have mounted. Were some lacking in "finesse?" Perhaps, but that made them no less entertaining, no less captivating, no less important. Working on a shoestring budget, sometimes with little cooperation from the owners of the venues, these local groups have stood the test of time and continue to produce accessible, affordable and highly entertaining theatre for audiences all across the area. Do they do it for the money? No. Do they do it for the fame? No. Do they do it for the Equity card? No.

Ask yourself this, then…why do they do it?

For love. And money can't buy that.