November 2 2013

Reflections on 30 years at MHT.

A dedicated volunteer and actress at MHT Betty Wise asked me, just before the 50th Anniversary party on October 14, if I pictured the Market House Theatre the way it is today when I first started here.  I had to stop and think about that.  Most of my career here at the theatre has been spent focused on what the next show or next challenge was right in front of me.  Not what the plan was 30 years down the road.  I don't know many people who can think that far out.  I always joked with people about what I would be doing 10 years into the future as if 10 years was a lifetime from then.  When I started in 1983 as the Technical Director/Scene Designer/Lighting Designer/ Costume Designer it was the 20th Anniversary season and the theatre was producing the 100th production in its history.   (Many people are amazed to discover that I've sewed dozens of dresses and costumes in my early days at the theatre.  I still am proud every time I go up to costume storage and happen to come across one of the many dresses I made for The Miracle Worker or coats from The Crucible that I designed and sewed (out of upholstery fabric.)  Two seasons ago MHT hit the 500th production milestone.  In the course of the past 30 years MHT has produced over 450 shows and events.  Many people think that April was hired by MHT and I came along with her.  April volunteered for MHT when we first got married and wasn't hired until 2 1/2 years after I started.  April was hired as the Executive Director to replace Paul Meier who was the first Executive Director ever hired by MHT  Paul was hired in Dec. of 1979 and left in June of 1986.  April was the Executive Director from 1986 to 1996. I officially took over as Executive Director on July 1 of 1996.    April did a 2 1/2 year stint as a Youth Minister for Grace Episcopal Church from 1996 to 1998 where we both attend and returned to the theatre in 1999 as the Education Director.  

Roy Hensel jokes that he was here BC - Before Cochran's.  There are several  ticket holders who have been coming to the theatre since the 1970's.  Kathy McHaney asked me who was still acting from those early years and Chuck Wilkins who started acting in the mid 70's wins that prize.  Debra Harned who now does mostly program design work for the theatre directed and acted in shows during the 70's as well, but now takes care of her aging mother.  We occasionally will have actors from those early days participate in a play but they are getting fewer and fewer.

On the staff Janice Peterson started out as an actress and sometime costumer has been with the theatre since the mid to late 80's and still designs and sews all of the costumes for our ever expanding youth productions.  Marsha Cash who came in a little after Janice has worked on and off for the theatre for over 20 years.   Carpenter Jim Keeney was a high school kid when I first met him and he would occasionally come in to help work on a show.  Katie Hamilton our new Education Assistant hadn't even been born yet when I started working at MHT.

Fifty years of MHT history are being celebrated this year and I've been involved for 30 of those.  From my view some things are dramatically different and some things are still exactly the same as when I walked in that door the first day 30 years ago.

On my first day of work then departing Technical Director Donna Booth (who was leaving to go to be the new Technical Director of Paducah Community College Theatre program) took me around the city in the theatre van to show me the warehouse ( a cramped borrowed space in the back of Hannon Supply- note MHT has had 5 warehouses since then  from space in the old Kitchen Inc, the old Furniture City, a rented space on the south side, the back of Easter Seals new building, and the current location in the old Arcade auditorium).  She took me to the lumber yards- Cole Lumber and Lumberteria, where we bought all out building materials from and Hank Brothers Hardware downtown where we got our paint and hardware.  She showed me Hancock Fabrics where we bought all our material for costumes and sets.  Second street was almost empty of businesses.  There was an Army surplus building full of odds and ends where the studio theatre now stands, the Soap Opera company where Does restaurant  is and the Red Fox Bar where JPs now stands.  CC Cohens had just opened as a restaurant.  There were two clothing stores on the side next to the Red Fox Bar and Finkels was still in business across the street from the theatre's front doors.  The Executive Inn was brand new and so was the Mall.  Sears was still in the space where the Paducah Power Company now operates out of.

In 1983 MHT had 2 full time staff and 1 quarter time office assistant.  The Executive Director then was a local actor who had some theatre training and had convinced the board of directors to hire him as the first Executive Director in 1979.  MHT's annual operating budget was $70,000 a year. (Of which the Executive Director received half.) There were some weeks when there wasn't enough money to pay all of the staff.   The theatre used dry powder pigment paint to paint the sets and if you rubbed against a wall it would come off on your costume.  The stage floor was painted white to reflect light up on the actors and the volunteer tech crews used to bring in a case of beer on the weekend before opening to attract helpers to get the sets built for the show.  The shows ran for 4-8 performances.  Some of the many actors who had help start the theatre had broken off from MHT to form their own theatre in what I was told was a protest against the then MHT Executive Director, a few years before I was hired.  That new theatre group was The Paducah Repertory Players and later became the Brelco theatre created by Ben Bradford and Brian Eller. In some ways that is a natural progression of arts groups and churches to break off and reform into other organizations.

When I interviewed I looked at a theatre that had so many challenges that I wasn't sure I wanted to take the job.   Yet the people that were on the board, acting in the shows, and volunteering were amazing.  I finally decided, after a long talk with April, to take the job not because of the theatre or the salary but because of the people and the community.  That also helped make the decision for April and I to get married at the same time as I started the job and move to Paducah from Kansas City.  (April and I rented a house sight unseen with the help of the board of directors.  We had to locate the house we were moving into with the U Haul truck loaded with our belongings driving around Paducah until we found it.)   I was hired with a BA in Theatre and 2 years of graduate school completed towards my MFA degree with professional theatre credits for the annual salary of $12,500 a year with no benefits.  I was hired as an Independent contractor and had to pay all my own taxes too.

 That first year I was here we did 5 productions (we routinely do 15-20+ productions a year now).   I laugh now when I think of it but we did not allow any liquids into the auditorium during rehearsals or performances to protect the carpet and the seats, but you could smoke in the auditorium and on stage during rehearsals!  (People used to say that you could tell how badly rehearsal was going by how much cigarette smoke was coming from the directors table in the audience for rehearsal.)

The board of directors, the volunteers, and the actors who all were the backbone of the theatre made Paducah a home for April and I.  We developed lifelong friendships.  There are so many names that come to mind from the many years of MHT that they are too numerous to name but a few stand out.  Dottie Toy and Mary Margaret Hoffman were very special to both April and I.  Cathy Crecelius,  Martha Emmons, Ralph Donnely, Ted Borodofsky, Dick Holland, Virginia Glover and so many more who were Presidents in those early years that believed and supported April and I in the challenges we took on.  Past President Helen Trainer who was the manager of a store in the mall once convinced me to dress up as the Wizard of Prices to raise money for MHT and I walked around the store dressed as a wizard pointing at objects slashing prices.  (Kind of walking Blue Light Special!)  In those early days Ted would stand at the Mall selling raffle tickets for fundraisers,  we did a Limelight variety show of talent as fundraising events.  We had Trash and Treasure sales, Decorator Show Houses put on by a support group of the theatre called PROPS (plays rely on peoples support) headed up by Ralph and Stephanie Young and Dick Holland.  So many board members like Claire Key, and Jay Collins whose kids grew up at the theatre.  In the past few years board presidents like Jeane Framptom, Valerie Pollard,  Renie Barger, Melisa Mast, and current President Kristin Williams have really created so much growth.

We had so many talented actors many who started as kids who developed that quality that the theatre was known for.  People like Chris Black, Sherry Shadle, Richard Calvert, Al Knudsen, Steve Schwetman, Tom Dolan, Don Maley, Victoria Parrish, Sue Fletcher, Julie Price, Kim/Emily Yocum, Tony Bohannon, Audra Hall, Lisa Humphrey, Vivien Davis, Karen Kessler, Fowler Black, Diane Byrd, Elise Millizer, Chuck Wilkins, Matt and Stephanie Hinz, Cindy/Katy/Maria/Kye Miller, Roy/Emily/Travis Hensel along with Emi Chapman Hensel, Chip Bohle and so many many more that I'm afraid I'm missing other key names.  Many of our alumni have gone off to professional careers in the arts like Letia Cloustin, Anne Cowherd, Jacob Waid, and  of course dedicated volunteers like Betty Wise and Jaimie Smith and Jim/Ted Roush,  Michael Brewer, so many more I can't remember them all!  Staff members like Marsha Cash and Janice Peterson who have for over 20 years given so much to MHT above any pay they ever received.

I know I've left out so many people.  It is all these people that have always been the heart and soul of Market House Theatre.  Over the years participants come back and want to see the space where so many memories were made.  The side walls of the stage and some of the backstage areas look just like they did 30 years ago.  Other things have radically changed with the addition of more spaces and more programming.

The Market House building is a reflection of the City's past that still stands today.  Yet it also stands because it has adapted to changing times and circumstances.   A building that people once brought in the labor of what they had grown in fruits and vegetables and shared it with others had good years and bad years.  Years of drought and years of plenty.  Times changed and the building's purpose changed.  However the people of this community still bring their labor and their talents to the building to share with the community.  In the early years going to MHT was one of the main cultural events in the community.  During the challenging years many other arts organizations were created in town (some due to the success of the theatre) and the Market House and its occupants had to again adapt to new ways of operating and find new revenue to sustain itself.

For me I'm still find the people of this community amazing and they inspire and challenge the theatre and me every day.