Inkwatu

By the light of stone-age campfires, our ancestors dramatized stories that spoke directly to the heart of their listeners about society’s deepest myths. Always, from those primeval origins, through the earliest recorded histories in China, India, and Greece, right up to the present day, live drama has always been more than entertainment (although it has definitely been that as well); at its best, it has always been an uncompromising examination of what it means to be human. (See Theater History for a concise history of theater.)

Karaoke, hootenanny sing-a-longs, and tribal dancing, not withstanding, music is pretty much something that can only be appreciated within the isolation of one’s own mind. Reading a book is even more isolated. Art can be discussed, but the ideas involved are always a bit rarified. But, theater has the power to move masses, to start revolutions, to change the social order. One might think that movies were the same way, but somehow they’re not. They seem as interior an experience as music. Live theater, however, is more immediate, more visceral, with an impact that seems to reach right into the audience and involve it in the production itself. I’m not sure why this is so–it may be that it is the simple fact that it’s real flesh and blood actors in the same physical space as the audience–but that is my own personal experience and when I look around at the faces of fellow members of the audience I think it is theirs as well. ^(NOTE)

For that reason, we’re so fortunate to have a large number of small, amateur theater groups–as well professional theater groups–in the Tampabay area. In addition to the professional, actor’s equity theater, American Stage, in downtown St. Pete, groups that perform at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, and the various local university and college drama departments, there is the Suncoast Theater Alliance comprised of the Gulfport Community Players, the Island Community Theatre, the City Players, the West Coast Players , the St. Petersburg Little Theatre, the Eight O’clock Theatre, and the Francis Wilson Playhouse, whose website has an even more exhaustive list of live theater groups in the area!

Not long after I’d first moved to St. Petersburg, I went to watch a a friend, Andrew Meacham, a writer for the St. Petersburg Times, perform as Chief Bromden in the Island Community Theater’s production of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” at Gulfport’s Catherine A. Hickman Theater (5501 27th Ave. S., Gulfport, Florida). Please check out this review, these pictures, and this photo of Andrew as Chief Bromden. I enjoyed myself thoroughly (and even managed to win a door prize) and have looked forward to another fun night of theater in Gulfport.

I finally got my chance last weekend when I returned to the Hickman Theater, with friends, to watch the “Summer One Act Festival” presented by the Gulfport Community Players. It was an interesting evening: eight one-act plays, all written by local playwrights and directed and acted by local talent. It was just right! Having eight different plays provided a safety net for various tastes and attention spans. If one play wasn’t one’s cup of tea, the next one was. I was fortunate in that I enjoyed each on its own terms. I’m absolutely thrilled that the playwrights were all local. So much of our artistic experience is “imported” from international corporate art mills.

I love corporate art products as much as anyone, but there was a day, when if you wanted to hear music, the only music you got to hear was within a day’s ride by horse. Guys like Bach, Mozart, Hayden, Beethoven were all just local gigging musicians. If you wanted music you were stuck with your local talent–artists we now think of as the greats. I think the reason there were so many good artists and art produced in those days (in all fields of fine art—theater, music, graphic arts, dance) was exactly because of the local nature of the scene, the lack of competing big-bankroll imports. It’s not even an analogy, it’s literally the same phenomenon: supermarket chains are great, but they destroy local food “creativity” in the same way local performers are made irrelevant by imported talent.

So, it is with real interest that I discovered that the 1st Annual Florida Playwrights Festival is coming soon to the Tarpon Springs Performing Arts Center with an original full length play, “Money, Money-Who’s Got the Money” by Sharilyn La May; August 15-24, 2008 (727-942-5605). Also, the Theater Florida Playwrights Festival will present “Once More” by Brian Wiggins, at the Back Door Theater directed by Frank Hale, August 22-31, 2008, Friday & Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 2 pm, and “Shakespeare’s R&J” adapted by Joe Calarco, directed by Bill Rucker, November 21-30, 2008, Friday & Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 2 pm; auditions September 29 and 30, 2008, 7 pm at the Back Door Theater.

The Back Door Theater (4919 17th Avenue S., Gulfport, Florida) was once only the rehearsal, audition, and set construction space for the Gulfport Players. It is now an additional venue for their performances. They, as well as other theater groups such as the Island Community Theater will continue to perform at the much larger Hickman Theater, but the new Back Door Theater, owned by the Players, will have the capacity for catered dinner theater and will allow the Players to expand their performance schedule.

If you’re not familiar with Gulfport—a small community on the water, adjoining St. Petersburg, and home to the Hickman Theater and the Back Door Theater—I highly recommend your exploring the town before or after taking in a play. They have a large number of activities there of various sorts including sidewalk art shows and street musicians. Check out the Gulfport city website for more information. A much earlier post of mine about Gulfport is available here and a photo tour of Gulfport in a miniaturized version immediately follows this paragraph (a larger version is available at http://inkwatu.com/gulfport.html).

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