summer 2001 : arts

Theatre in the Valley

by Marilyn Bauer

Phrases first uttered hundreds of years ago reverberate in the darkened auditorium. Even Shakespeare has some trouble holding his own amid the hammering coming from the prop room and the commotion created by a group of actors who have stopped by the nexStage Theatre for a costume fitting.

Kathy Wygle finds it hard to believe there was a time when Wood River Valley theater groups didn’t have a facility to work in—a time when the nexStage was an expensive place to perform and props were built in someone’s garage and costumes stitched up in a family room or at a kitchen table.

“Theater in the Wood River Valley really changed when Tim and Mary Mott saved the nexStage and gifted it to the community last year,” said Wygle, who is artistic director of both Sun Valley Repertory Company and Laughing Stock Theatre Company. “It has really made a difference here.”

In 1999, Sun Valley, which is located in the Wood River Valley, was listed as one of the nation’s top 20 art locales in The 100 Best Small Art Towns in America (John Muir Publications). And the thriving theater community here is a primary reason. Over the past 20 years, the Wood River Valley has gone from an area with only one semiprofessional company to a four-company town, attracting talent from all over the world. 

“I see the performing arts becoming an integral part of the economy and a primary reason to visit the valley,” said David Blampied, artistic director of New Theatre Company. “The theater presented here is of the highest caliber and not only entertaining but provocative and informative.”

Blampied ought to know. He was here at the very beginning.

When I first moved to this area, theater was just beginning,” he remembered. “Laughing Stock had only produced a couple of shows, and I got involved with their first musical, ‘Mame,’ in 1979. I think for a community of our size we have an amazing breadth of theater.”

The four companies produce interesting work, ranging from the avant-garde to the classical. The Wood River Valley Arts Alliance, formed in 1991 to promote and support the various arts organizations in the valley, has contributed to the professionalism of the dramatic arts.
“The Arts Alliance has been able to unite the arts in the community to better keep us informed of our growth and the public aware of how much we have to offer,” said Blampied.

“The arts are experiencing an explosion,” added Denise Simone, associate artistic director of Company of Fools in Hailey, perhaps the most well known company outside the valley, not only for the quality of their productions but for the star power their affiliation with actor Bruce Willis brings. Willis, along with Simone and her husband Rusty Wilson, started the company in 1997. True to its unique tri-part mission statement, “the human heart in conflict with itself, living fully on stage and education on all levels,” the company has had a profound effect on the valley.

“Because a theater company is woven into its community, we sometimes attach negative connotations of ‘amateur theater,’ or ‘hobby’ to it,” explained Simone. “But we are artists who have dedicated our lives to creating, and our art is enhanced by the community we live in.”

Presenting its performances in the beautifully renovated Liberty Theatre in Hailey, the group has tackled Sam Shepard’s “Fool for Love” (Willis starred), “Side Man,” “The Philadelphia Story,” and Chekhov’s “The Seagull.” It is the only theater company in Idaho to be awarded Constituent Theatre status from the national Theatre Communications Group, an organization recognizing professionalism and artistic merit throughout the country.

Although Company of Fools does not use the nexStage theatre in Ketchum, there is no doubt the new availability of the facility (which is in the process of becoming a full-blown performing arts center) has had a significant impact on the companies that perform here.

“The nexStage Theater has allowed New Theatre Company to reach larger audiences and develop as a professional company, both because of its accessibility and the quality of its technical facilities,” Blampied explained.

For the first time last winter, New Theatre Company worked under a Professional Theater contract with the Actors Equity Association. They produced three shows in three months and took their highly acclaimed production of “Wit” to Boise under the auspices of the St. Alphonsus Foundation. 

“We received standing ovations every night,” Blampied said.

Their musical comedy “Forever Plaid” is the longest running show in the valley.

Claudia McCain, who starred in “Wit,” is a veteran of valley theater. 

“I have been here 20 years,” she said, “and the performing arts have grown considerably. We have gone from a town with one non-professional troupe to a community that supports four diverse companies. This past winter, a new show or two opened each month. And we now have professional theater, community theater and a thriving theater education program.”

Education has been a big part of theater in the Company of Fools’ arts-in-education programming. It includes the Blaine County School District’s Academy for the Arts and Sciences, Stages of Wonder for grades one through five, and internships and apprenticeships with the company, as well as adult actor training, student matinees and master classes. 

And, when Wood River Valley companies bring in outside talent, that talent inevitably visits the schools. 

“Each season New Theatre Company offers free workshops by our resident professionals,” Blampied added. “Recently that included our stage manager, who comes from the Ashland Shakespeare Festival and our fight coordinator and bilingual actress Laura Vega, who gave workshops in English as a Second Language.” 

New Theater Company has also brought in directors, such as Natsuko Ohama, a close affiliate of Kristin Linklater, and Patricia Lee Wilson and Paul Wilson, who worked on “Cheers” and “The Gary Shandling Show.”

McCain, who studied with Shakespeare & Company in Lennox, Mass., a few years ago, was instrumental in bringing members of the company to the valley not only to perform in “Shakespeare in the Park” but also to offer classes in the schools.

“I was interested in bringing them to the community to share their unique approach,” she said. “One of the teachers came here when she was a young girl and was interested in developing a relationship with our community. Everyone who comes here loves the area.”

Perhaps that is part of the appeal. What could be more captivating than The Ketchum Forest Service Park at dusk with Baldy in the background and Shakespeare on tap in the balmy 70 degrees of August? Or how about the cozy club feel of “Forever Plaid” with its retro music, costumes and corny jokes after a day in subzero weather on the slopes?

There’s also the enthusiasm of our home-grown thespians. It is not uncommon to find Blampied out drumming up interest in the girl-group fantasy “The Taffetas” or a one-man show of Hemingway’s bon mots. Simone and Wilson seem to be everywhere, and McCain’s always performing in something, somewhere. Wygle goes nonstop, from fund-raiser to directing Camp Little Laugh, a children’s acting camp, to headlining in a Sun Valley Repertory or Laughing Stock production.

And there’s Jonathan Kane, who has taken his Interplanetary Theater Company from staged readings at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts with luminaries like Adam West and Pamela Sue Martin to full-blown productions at the nexStage.

It all seems to begin and end at nexStage. But there’s now talk of another performance facility, possibly in Hailey, as well as productions and original plays. 

With things moving at such a furious pace, it’s good to book tickets in advance. Wood River Valley theater has found its place on the map and in the hearts and souls of both valley residents and visitors.

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Sun Valley's 
Theatre Companies

 

New Theatre Company
Founded in 1994, and the largest employer of actors in the valley, the company’s first production was “Lonely Planet,” a touching look at the challenges of modern relationships. The company continues to bring the best of contemporary theater to the valley from the Pulitzer Prize winning “Wit” to the dulcet tones of “The Taffetas.”
Upcoming productions: “Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)” in the Forest Service Park in Ketchum, Aug. 9-12 and 16-18.

 

Company of Fools is in its fifth season and will present both “True West” and “A Christmas Carol” in 2001.

 

 

The Wood River Arts Alliance brings various volunteer arts groups together so that they can coordinate schedules, exchange ideas and promote performances and activities.

 

 

Sun Valley Repertory Company produces Christmas and midsummer shows at the nexStage Theatre, 120 S. Main Street, Ketchum.
Upcoming productions: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Aug. 23 and Sept. 1.

 

Laughing Stock Theatre Company
This theater company has presented family-oriented musicals and comedies for 20 years. Professionals and semiprofessionals are in the casts of the two annual performances.
Upcoming productions: “Sound of Music,” fall 2001.