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From
Glens Falls to Broadway
Two
of Capital Repertory Theatre’s productions this year, the
season opener Proof and the holiday presentation Fully
Committed, are among the most produced plays by Equity
theaters in the country this year. But the popular Fully
Committed has regional roots—it had its debut production
in 1998 in Glens Falls—and is being directed by the ever-busy
and ever-inventive artistic director of the Adirondack Theatre
Festival, Martha Banta. Banta at least eschews the safer road
for the more adventurous path, with full support from the
powers that be at Capital Rep.
“We
talked about finding an actor who had played Sam before, but
I didn’t want to direct something that was someone else’s
idea,” Banta said in a recent phone interview, between directing
the third rehearsal of Fully Committed in NYC and running
off to a dress rehearsal for Blue Window, which she
was directing at the Juilliard School. “It would be cheating
if we had used someone who had done the play before. It’s
a one-man show, and the memorization is quite an ordeal. But
I’d just be taking their money if an actor who had someone
else’s directions and choices played Sam.” As Fully Committed
is a one-actor, 90-minute show about the trials and tribulations
of taking reservations at a trendy Manhattan restaurant, Sam
is the show.
While Banta didn’t direct the inaugural 1998 production at
ATF, she had seen the first staged reading earlier in that
year in NYC, and had seen the subsequent Off-Broadway run
with cocreator Mark Setlock. “Becky Mode (the credited author
of the play) and Mark went to school, and Mark would be the
first to tell you that he’s an actor, not a writer. It’s interesting
for me: I saw it through its paces—the rewrites—but I hadn’t
directed because I couldn’t get Mark’s version out of my head.
Then Maggie [Mancinelli-Cahill, Capital Rep’s artistic director]
suggested it, and they were tremendously supportive when Oliver
Wadsworth was cast.” Banta has worked with Wadsworth in ATF’s
Art and The Deal. “He’s the first person I thought
of; he’s the most specific actor I know for character development,
and that’s vital in a play like this. Oliver is just an incredibly
diligent actor. He just finished an Arizona production of
Angels in America, and leapt into this. Three rehearsals
and he’s already grasped 6 or 7 of the 37 characters he has
to play. It’s physically demanding: The phone rings constantly,
and Oliver has to physically create both characters and both
sides of the conversation.”
Though Banta has spent time as a high-schooler in Glens Falls
and as ATF’s artistic director as an adult, Albany is new
territory for her. “I’m excited to be working upstate. People
who go to theater upstate bring a fresh perspective that’s
willing to be open to [a production] till it’s over. That’s
very different from New York, where people have seen everyone
do everything and have made up their minds before sitting
down.”
—James
Yeara
Putting
Up a Good Front
Plans
for an addition are in the works at Albany’s Steamer No. 10
Theatre, and thanks to some generous supporters, the construction
project could be breaking ground soon. Ric Chesser, the theater’s
manager, says that once the proper building permits are in
place, construction of a new entranceway and lobby at the
Steamer No. 10 will begin.
A challenge grant awarded to Steamer No. 10 by the Wright
Family Foundation is largely responsible for making the proposed
building project economically feasible. The Wright Family
Foundation, a Schenectady nonprofit group, offered to match
every dollar raised independently by Steamer No. 10, up to
$10,000. Chesser says the organization has raised about $3,000
so far, and he’s encouraged that it will meet the $10,000
mark.
Additional support has been pledged by the Bricklayers Local
#2, which has offered to use the Steamer No. 10 project as
a training site for its apprentices. This means that much
of the brickwork will be done at no cost to the theater; this
donation amounts to roughly $20,000 more, estimates Chesser.
Once complete, the new entranceway will be hard to miss. Designed
by Townsend Associates through the City of Albany’s C-1 Neighborhood
Improvement Program, the addition will resemble a fantasy
castle. Steamer No. 10 is primarily a children’s theater,
and the castle-inspired design is meant to illustrate the
theater’s ongoing commitment to kids.
But preservationists needn’t worry about the construction
of an incongruous eyesore. Design elements from the historic
19th-century firehouse the theater occupies will be incorporated
into the new entranceway. The work will be done in brick,
and the planned castlelike towers will be reminiscent of the
existing hose tower. “We’ve been very involved with the neighborhood
association; [we’ve] talked to people about what we were planning
on doing and gotten feedback,” said Chesser.
The new addition will surround and extend out from the existing
entranceway on Western Avenue. It will serve as a lobby, which
is good news for winter theatergoers, and be large enough
to accommodate receptions and fundraisers.
Steamer No. 10 supporters are excited about the renovations
going on at the theater and hope they can afford to make more
improvements in the future. “The new entrance is all we’re
aiming for right now,” said Chesser, “But at some point we’d
like to replace the windows, which are state of the art for
1891.”
—Paul
Hamill
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