Hubby's boss gave us season tickets this year and I have loved all of the productions I have seen. (We go to the Salt Lake one.) These guys are getting more and more professional.

The thing I wanted to say here is this: why does it bug me so much that I have enjoyed the plays so much? Am I afraid of being "of the masses?" Am I afraid that I am falling for kitsch? What a pompous snob.

I have been resentful, I guess, of Hale's success when I've seen Nauvoo Theatrical Society dissolve.

I think Hale is in prime position to start expanding the theater tastes of the Wasatch front. I see that they are starting to vary from the old standards, a little. Wouldn't it be cool for them to make one or two serious plays written by local folks a regular part of their season?

I've been kind of student of local theaters for some time-- watching what they do well, and what they don't-- because I want to open my own theater somewhere, someday. And I've got to say those Hales are smart people. They understand their community (and the community rewardss them for it!), have excellent business sense, maintain high production values, and, well, just put on a darn good show. They're not who you go to for cutting edge stuff or anything, but, heck, if they were they wouldn't have established themselves so well. They treaded their path wisely, creating a relationship of trust with their audience. Which is where I think so many theaters go wrong who try to build up in the area and then crash and burn. Some theaters want to arm wrestle their audience, want to lecture them, or some even do the equivelent of flipping off their audience. The early days of Provo Theater Company had some of this, until they came under new managament-- after which it became my favorite place to see shows, for they would do extend their work to a more challenging set of plays, while still being aware that their audience was their bread and butter, so they better maintain that respectful nod to the community's values. It's quite the tight rope to walk. But since the Hales have established that trust with their audience, I believe their audience will swallow something a little more adventurous from them, because they understand the Hales will not bring them across any real moral boundaries.
My model would include a good dose of the Hales (a strong presence from comedies and musicals), a slice of Provo Theater Company ( who aren't afraid to include a couple of powerful dramas on their seasons), and a pinch of the Nauvoo Theatrical Society (adding a couple of original plays and even Mormon/ religious work to further the cause of Mormon letters). And, of course, since I am a playwright, one or two of my own plays would be included in every season. I would give the comedies and musicals longer runs (4 weeks for comedies, 6 weeks for musicals), and give dramas and original works about three weeks, which would free up some room for more shows. So a season would go something like this:
-- The Scarlet Pimpernel
-- Farewell To Eden (one of my own)
-- The Foreigner
-- A Man For All Seasons
-- Into The Woods
-- Hancock County
-- Harvey
-- Metamorphoses (without the nudity, like Pioneer Theater Company did it. This is Utah and I'm Mormon, after all!)
-- Thoroughly Modern Millie
-- The Hobbit

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Upon the stage of a theater can be represented in character, evil and its consequences, good and its happy results and rewards; the weakness and the follies of man, the magnamity of virtue and the greatness of truth. The stage can be made to aid the pulpit in impressing upon the minds of a community an enlightened sense of a virtuous life, also a proper horror of the enormity of sin and a just dread of its consequences. The path of sin with its thorns and pitfalls, its gins and snares can be revealed, and how to shun it (Discourses of Brigham Young, p.243; Bookcraft, 199

Darlene,
If I can just a several more hundred people just like you, I'll be in business!

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Upon the stage of a theater can be represented in character, evil and its consequences, good and its happy results and rewards; the weakness and the follies of man, the magnamity of virtue and the greatness of truth. The stage can be made to aid the pulpit in impressing upon the minds of a community an enlightened sense of a virtuous life, also a proper horror of the enormity of sin and a just dread of its consequences. The path of sin with its thorns and pitfalls, its gins and snares can be revealed, and how to shun it (Discourses of Brigham Young, p.243; Bookcraft, 199

The only original works I have seen them do are the Ruth & Nathan Hale plays. I have worked at both Hales. They do one serious or semi-serious play each year. It has been fun to work with my son and grand kids. When we did To Kill a Mockingbird I was single cast and we did three performances a day for 6 days. They made the performances available to the school kids. My granddaughter played Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker and this was also used for the schools. This year my son did The Rainmaker. Next season the semi-serious musical will be The Civil War by the composer of The Scarlet Pimpernel. Some of the musicals run for a full two months. The musicals and comedies are where they make their money. That is what the *blue hairs* want to see and that is what has made HCT successful.

For me, at my stage in life, I don't have enough time to go see a Hale play for any other reason than on a date. It 's like acting for me. I have played pretty much every kind of character I want to so I don't audition anymore. The last dozen plays I've been in have been because a friends asked me to AND it was a part that I wanted to play. I have seen many Hale plays, have been in a few (again, none of which I've auditioned for -- to tell the truth, I can't remember the last time I did audition for a play. iot must have been back in the early 70s). I personally new Ruth and Nathan and loved them both from way back in the California days. (My first date with my ex-wife was to a Hale Play in Glendale.)

If you are really serious, however, about knowing what really good theatre is, and what LDS theatre ought to be, you won't find it at the Hales. I don't want to brag (well, yes, I do) but the stuff we did at the Center Street Theatre was way better than anything the Hales did, as far as quality was concerned. They had better costumes, better set, and they paid their actors and had bigger audiences, but at the artistic, legitimate theatre level, they are and always will be excellent community theatre. To see what LDS theatre is today, pay attention to anything Scott Bronson writes, my friend Mahonri, Tim Slover, and Eric Samuelson. That's good theatre. You can also buy Zarahemla's soon-to-be-published anthology on LDS theatre, edited by Mahonri. If you read only the plays in that book, and then die the next day, you will get an automatic pass through the Pearly Gates becuase you will know all you need to know about the past and current quality of LDS theatre.

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Thom Duncan
Playwright, Novelist, Poet, Lyricist, Screenwriter, Curmudgeon

The list for the upcoming anthology is as follows:
Stone Tables by Orson Scott Card
Fires of the Mind by Robert Elliot
Huebener by Thomas F. Rogers
Burdens of Earth by Susan Elizabeth Howe
Matters of the Heart by Thom Duncan
J. Golden by James Arrington
Hancock County by Tim Slover
Stones by J. Scott Bronson
Family by Eric Samuelsen
Farewell To Eden by Mahonri Stewart
with a Foreward by Orson Scott Card

I was actually waiting until sooner to the publishing date to announce it officially-- but my friend Thom Duncan has been supportive from the beginning and is excited to let the cat out of the bad, so I suppose right now is as good of a time as any!

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Upon the stage of a theater can be represented in character, evil and its consequences, good and its happy results and rewards; the weakness and the follies of man, the magnamity of virtue and the greatness of truth. The stage can be made to aid the pulpit in impressing upon the minds of a community an enlightened sense of a virtuous life, also a proper horror of the enormity of sin and a just dread of its consequences. The path of sin with its thorns and pitfalls, its gins and snares can be revealed, and how to shun it (Discourses of Brigham Young, p.243; Bookcraft, 199

BTW, Mahonri, there's a typo in you sig line. Shouldn't the word "sun" be "shun" in the last line?

I'm sorry for letting the feline out of the fibrous container but I'm so excited for what this anthology is going to mean to the history of LDS theatre, I couldn't help myself.

Thom

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Thom Duncan
Playwright, Novelist, Poet, Lyricist, Screenwriter, Curmudgeon