Christopher Owens: 1987
For the 1987 season, Wayside Theatre had a new Artistic Director. And for that summer, the residents of the Shenandoah Valley had multiple opportunities to attend various venues, “From high tragedy to low comedy, from classical chamber quartets to electronic blare, music and theater lives in the Shenandoah Valley in the summer” (Quillen, P. “Summer’s Alive with Music ….” DNR. 22 May 1997). Eight different locations provided a variety of choices. Those listed were: James Madison University, Lime Kiln Arts, Wayside Theatre, Shenandoah College and Conservatory, ShenanArts, Oak Grove Theater, Garth Newell Summer Chamber Music Festival, and Shenandoah Valley Summer Music Festival.
When Christopher Owens came to Middletown to interview for the position of Artistic Director of Wayside Theatre, he was met at Dulles Airport by members of the Board of Directors. Although he had looked at the map to see where it was located, he confessed it was small in scale. On the drive, he kept thinking, “Boy, we’re going a long ways here …” Upon arriving in Middletown, Owens exclaimed, “You have an equity theater in a town of 800? Are you out of your mind?” (Hanion. “The Wayside Theatre ….” TWS. 14 Sept. 1994). This was a natural reaction for someone who had never lived in a place with a population less than 500,000!
Owens began his tenure at Wayside on November 1, 1987 when the Board made a formal announcement of his appointment as the new Artistic Director for Wayside. Owens was selected for the Wayside position out of a pool of 50 applicants, of whom four were selected for interviews, and two were invited to visit Middletown. Owens, who was leaving a position as the producing director of the New Arts Theater in Dallas, Texas, did not walk into the directorship totally cold, as he was permitted time to work with Ed Steele prior to the latter’s departure. “He and I are going to spend some time together” said Owens (Peterson. “Wayside Chooses Texas ….” NVD. 19 Sept. 1987). One article describes Owens as, “The young, lean director [who] has swept into Wayside like a Midwestern tornado … selecting this summer’s shows, an eclectic mix of new plays and a couple of classics” (Price. “A Man for a ….” TWS. 15 May 1987). Owens proposed tripling the length of the theatre season stating, “We need to become more than just a three-month part of this community.” A few other changes were made, too.
Shows are opening on Thursday nights instead of Wednesday afternoons this
year because Owens thinks the theater needs more time between shows. The
stage doors are small and you must build the sets in units, squeeze them in, and assemble them on stage …. He also believes the cast will benefit from the extra
rehearsal time” (Price. 15 May 1987).
Over the next five-year period, Owens wanted to extend the season from just the current summer schedule to a proposed nine-month season running shows about three weeks each (“Wayside Announces ….” TWS. 29 Oct. 1986).
Owens’ first season opened with a two-actor work, A Couple of White Chicks Sittin’ Around Talkin,’ a play about two females with contrasting personalities who get together at 11:00 a.m. and talk over a cup of coffee. Price calls it a “very funny play with some lines that bring a laugh from the gut” (“Wayside Theatre’s New ….” TWS. 15 May 1987). The article’s sub-title, “a coupla hours well spent” gives the perfect synopsis of the play. Rumor had it that during the early days of rehearsal Owens was not completely certain which actress would play which part. But, he must have decided in time for opening night!
Give ‘Em Hell Harry was the 1987 season’s second show. Owens states that the author, Samuel Gallu, is very protective of this play and exercises the right of approval of the actor who performs the leading role. Owens announced that “after months of negotiation with the author, Wayside will be the first regional theater to produce this play” (Price. “A Man for ….” TWS. 15 May 1987). The author had given his approval for Chicago actor, James Harbour, to perform the play. And, this was an excellent choice, as “Harbour has perfected a politician’s grin for this performance that combines the best of the office-seeker’s grimace and the efforts of a man trying to keep his false teeth in ….” Regardless of your politics, “Give ‘Em Hell, Harry” is well worth seeing just for the fun of it!” (Quillen. “Truman ‘Gives ‘Em Hell.’ ” DNR. 29 May 1987).
Terra Nova, set in Antartica, cast a real chill over the theatre as the actors vividly depicted the hardship of their exploration. Among the seven member cast, three had worked at Wayside in other seasons: Kenneth Umland, who is the voice of Air Canada, and Gillian Dyle, who has been seen as a bubbly construction worker in a United Way commercial. Terra Nova “is an intense, compelling drama” with brutal scenes “and the cast gives a memorable performance” (Lynn. “Chilling Theater ….” TWS. 12 July, 1987).
The season’s mystery play, Sherlock Holmes and the Curse of the Sign of Four, got off to a slow start on opening night, noted one reviewer, but “the actors make sure that one’s attention never really lags.” Horan singles out and compliments many of the actors and pays special attention to the “set [that] rotates to transform Holmes’ terrible Victorian apartment into the Indian’s mansion and ultimately the River Thames” (Horan. “Wayside’s ‘Sherlock Holmes ….’ ” NVD. 27 June 1987). This review is one of the earliest references to the turntable that had been cut into the center of the stage to allow for quick scene changes. While it was helpful for large scene changes, it had a mind of its own. One actor tells how smoothly it worked in rehearsals but,
crashed and burned just as we were to open … I clambered beneath with a lug
wrench to extract the drive wheel during the re-fit. The way it worked was an
iron wheel, cranked by Joe McCullogh, mostly, that revolved an automobile tire
against the outer circumference of the disk. Casters … misaligned and the stress
of the master pivot ruined it (Eiche, J. Email. Undated).
It is not clear how many productions may have used this device, but it was employed in the 2004 production of The Sunshine Boys. In that performance, this writer noted that two or three very strong stage crew men, located just off stage, but out of view of the audience, were required to turn it.
Room Service was a comedy that ran faster than a locomotive, full of sight gags, cornball humor, and “is more entertaining than a No. 1 sitcom” wrote one reviewer. It was a comedy featuring a very talented cast in a play with “some of the silliest gags ever seen on the local stage.” The fourteen member cast does not disappoint and “every character is exaggerated without being over-done” (Price. “ ‘Room Service.’ “ TWS. 10 July 1987).
Former Artistic Director, Ed Steel, appeared twice during the 1987 season: in Room Service and again in The Little Foxes as the “gentlemanly but domineering brother … with a razor’s edge to his character [with] whom you’d take a drink with but never turn your back on.” The reviewer praises the play, calling it an “excellent production, with a balanced and talented cast” (Price. “ ‘The Little Foxes’ ….” TWS. 24 July 1987).
Price writes in detail about the season’s final offering, Greater Tuna, referring to it as “series of scenes loosely tied together. You can’t say this is a dull little town or a dull little show.” She gives credit to the two actors who make this play quite special, noting that “Both [actors] had played their characters on separate stages before coming to Wayside” (Price. “ ‘ Greater Tuna’ The Last ….” TWS. 7 Aug. 1987).
The December show was Christmas in Olde Vic, an adaptation by Christopher Owens of four stories by Dickens where a cast of seven actors play different characters. “Each of these four tales, as well as the major story framing them, is treated light-heartedly and whimsically … with just enough vinegar in this crisp script to banish any of the saccharine banality of the average Christmas play” (Quillen. “Wayside Serves ….” DNR. 10 Dec. 1987). During the telling of these tales, the seven member cast, who played 48 characters, performed Christmas selections that were inter-twined into the story. Their voices “blend beautifully on both the old and new carols” (Price. 10 Dec. 1987). One reviewer describes the actress, “who plays the young Phoebe … transits from one gender to a variety of ages, to a prop door, with ease and believability” (Muth. “Seven cast members ….” TFRN. 16 Dec. 1987). All reviewers comment on the music in the production which is often sung without accompaniment, “but with beautiful harmonizing voices” (Muth. 16 Dec. 1987 ). Another writer comments on the lack of a dark Victorian shadow over the production and rejoices that it does not dwell on this aspect of Victorian society, writing,
Like Dickens himself, [Christopher] Owens has rightly decided that a good laugh
can be far more effective than the most vitriolic diatribe. Each of these tales, as
well as the major story framing them, is treated lightheartedly and whimsically.
And best of all, there is just enough vinegar in this crisp script to banish any of the saccharine banality of the average Christmas play” (Quillen. “Wayside Serves Up ….” DNR. 10 Dec. 1987).
Most of the reviews of this Christmas show single out each actor and describe a particular aspect of their performance. A Box Office report for this production indicates that 4033 people attended the performances paying a total of $22,337.74 in admission. The production cost $7,443.18 to mount which netted a profit of $14,894.56 (Box Office Report. Undated). It is no wonder Wayside often depended on ticket sales from the December show to meet their expenses!
Among the archival items for 1987 is an article dealing with this season as well as a two-page newsletter, printed on both sides, entitled “Friends of the Wayside Theatre News” indicated as Issue No. 1 and dated April 1987. One article tells of Owens’ four-city audition tour to hire the thirty actors and technicians required for Wayside’s 26th season. The Newsletter credits the Wayside Tours as drawing the Theatre’s largest audiences, reaching a total of 50,000 people every year. Owens lists the four tours scheduled for the 1987 season: Christmas in Old Vic (which was the December main-stage production); Billy Bishop Goes to War; and two one-man productions, Mark Twain --Twixt and Twain and Teddy, both featuring former Artistic Director, Ed Steele.
New to Wayside’s offerings were the Mystery Tour (or Mystery Dinner-Theatre) fund-raising events performed with five or six actors and involved audience participation. These mysteries, written by Owens, were first performed at the Wayside Inn and featured a “full buffet dinner with wine for $35 per person (tax deductible contribution to Wayside Theatre” (Friends of Wayside Theatre News, 1 April 1987). The murder mysteries were originally scheduled for two nights, “but the event’s popularity forced the theater to add a third and now a fourth performance.” Owens adds, “This may be the most popular show I’ve ever done,” he said when announcing the additional performance (“Wayside Adds Murder Night.” Unknown). Over the years, Owens wrote additional stories that were performed annually at the Inn as well as in various venues throughout the region and in neighboring states. (SEE: Appendix, Murder Mystery Tours)
In addition to the performance schedule for the 1987 season, the Newsletter included some biographical information on actors engaged for the summer. The Newsletter also asked for community volunteers to help with various jobs around the theatre: building sets and costumes, assistance with strike after the final performance, and the like. And, as always, there was the request for actor housing to accommodate out-of-town performers during their stay in Middletown.