Community theaters find audiences, volunteers

MATT WITTMEYER staff photographer

Marcy J. Savastano is the new “it girl” in community theater.

The most stirring drama at local community theaters has been happening offstage.

Rochester’s hand-to-mouth troupes have weathered a seemingly endless recession with aplomb. They’re moving into new theaters, selling out shows and operating in the black — if you overlook a few steep bills for renovations.

Blackfriars Theatre marks its 60th season in a new 126-seat home at 795 E. Main St. Method Machine and Greater Rochester Repertory Companies (GRRC) are performing at MuCCC, a recently converted church in the Neighborhood of the Arts. And a brand-new troupe, Outer Loop Theater Experience, is preparing to premiere a Rochester musical in its hall at 34 Elton St.

“They’re making this a great theater town for actors and audiences,” says Marcy J. Savastano, a Greece actress who appears in local plays and national movies.

Such glowing remarks make it seem as if St. Genesius, the patron saint of actors, has showered blessings upon Genesee Valley troupes. In fact, their successes are won through tons of sweat equity and volunteer labor.

These companies often stage recent, topical dramas — so they can’t count on families eager to see the latest rerun of Annie or A Chorus Line. None of them takes financial health for granted, and few are likely to blow their budgets on extravagant sets.

Here was a typical scene one blustery night this winter. Bread & Water Theatre was holding auditions for Terre Haute, Edmund White’s play about Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. A half-dozen actors perused scripts at New Life Presbyterian Church at 243 Rosedale St., home to this 9-year-old troupe.

Nathaniel Dudley, a day care teacher, was onstage, portraying McVeigh on death row as he meets visiting writer Gore Vidal.

“I want you to stop there!” shouted director Marcy Gamzon. “Timothy’s really proud of himself. … Instead of having a ‘down’ tone, get strong!”

Waiting in the wings were Ed Scutt and Terrance Brennan, both well-known actors. They’ve partnered in many shows, but this time they’ll compete for the Vidal role — a clash of Monroe County titans.

Neither will earn a penny, nor does the makeshift theater promise glamour. Tattered orange curtains flank the black stage, and frayed decorations dangle by the balcony. But thrift can be a point of pride in these circles.

“I’m the cheapest thing since Scrooge,” boasts Michael Arve, 66, GRRC’s development director. “I go to antique stores or secondhand shops and rob them blind. The most I’ve ever spent for a production was $11,000 — and that included a $5,000 grant.”

Other groups reported spending $2,000 to $20,000 on their shows. MuCCC already is trimming costs for GRRC, which spent just $500 a week for a recent show. There’s no uniform rate at MuCCC, but $500 is a sharp contrast from Rochester schools charging $300 an hour for their auditoriums.

MuCCC’s low-cost haven is rare. Its founder, Doug Rice, made it possible by spending $250,000 to buy and renovate the historic church where it’s based. He’s encouraged by the community’s response.

“We’re getting plenty of sold-out shows,” says Rice, 47, who spends up to 20 hours a week managing (and sometimes sweeping) MuCCC. “We’ve even had $5,000 in cash donations.”

More than 20 performance groups rent the 175-seat MuCCC. They set their own ticket prices, which seldom top $20 and often are pay-what-you-can. Their shows break even — just barely — drawing audiences that typically number 60 to 100 viewers per show.

These troupes thrive because everyone, from Rice to the guy who cleans the stage, works for free. (Blackfriars is an exception, paying its casts from box-office proceeds. It also owns its theater.)

So how do hand-to-mouth theater groups keep attracting actors — especially with an economic downturn draining spare cash and leisure time? Several directors and actors answered by quoting A Chorus Line. It’s what they “do for love.”

“I love the work,” says Arve. “If I ever got paid for a show, I’d drop dead.”

“We also love the applause, the audience’s immediate reaction,” says Diane Chevron, 61, a sought-after Rochester actress. “Every actor has an ego — some the size of Texas, some more like Rhode Island.”

If a spotlight can cure undernourished egos, plenty of therapy is available. Local theaters will offer a wide variety of comedies and serious dramas this winter. Veterans like Chevron get to pick and choose their shows.

Yet with these risk-loving troupes, the adventurous scripts they choose can narrow the field of actors. If the role calls for a mass murderer who unzips his jump suit (Terre Haute) or an uninhibited lap dancer (Patrick Marber’s Closer), some competitors may bow out.

The acknowledged stars on the scene tend to be highly versatile players: Savastano, Jill Rittinger and Danny Hoskins, to name a few. Veteran actors often name John Haldoupis (Blackfriars), Ralph Meranto (Jewish Community Center) and Arve as directors willing to take on a challenge.

A new name may soon join that group: Michael Herman, founder of the Outer Loop Theater Experience. That company has replaced the Flour City Theatre Company, which quietly folded last fall after barely a year.

“It was growing so fast, my co-founders couldn’t devote enough time,” says Herman. “So I thought I’d go in a new direction with a name change.”

The Outer Loop debuted on Dec. 19 with a sold-out show at a building it shares with Bush Mango Drum & Dance. This year, Herman plans to feature at least two plays and a freshly commissioned musical by Rochester writer Benjamin Lee and Eastman School of Music composer Edo Frenkel.

The Outer Loop will have to vie for attention with Out of Pocket Productions, launched last winter by Irondequoit actors Stephanie and Jeff Siuda. They stage ambitious, low-cost productions of contemporary hits such as Yasmina Reza’s Art and A.R. Gurney’s Love Letters. “We pick shows that require small casts and little scenery,” says Stephanie, 31. The pair relies on eight regular actors — and like other community theaters, they try mightily to hang on to them.

Nonetheless, some directors are seeing a new spirit of mutual support. They cite TheaterRocs, a 2009 series that invited local troupes to perform at Geva.

And at the Outer Loop Theater Experience’s December debut, members of seven other troupes were in the audience cheering it on.

“We used to be a very disjointed community,” says David Henderson, co-founder of Method Machine. “But in a difficult economy, people remember what’s important. The arts always survive.”

SLOW@DemocratandChronicle.com

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