Hello from Beyond Broadway!
The American Regional Theatre Movement is one of the great artistic experiments of our country, and we’re reaching out to learn what makes these artists and this aspect of theatre unique – from the specific challenges these theatres and artists face to their ever-changing audiences.
This month, we’re talking to Michael Detroit, Associate Producer of Playhouse on the Square in Memphis, TN, and the Audition Coordinator for the Unified Professional Theatre Auditions (UPTAs)! Read on for what he has to say about what’s going on Beyond Broadway.
AKR: What, aside from location, makes Regional Theatre different from Broadway?
MD: I think theatre is much more accessible to the professional actor or technician in regional theatre because there’s simply more of it than there is in NYC, and, quite frankly, it’s more affordable to participate in theatre in the regional theatres for the most part. Also, there’s more work to be had. There’s more theatres, more shows, more designs, more roles.
AKR: So what do you think is the best part of being in Regional Theatre? Is it that ‘big fish, small pond’ vs. ‘small fish, big pond’ concept?
MD: No, I don’t think so, because a lot of the Regional Theatres, they aren’t little ponds, they’re actually pretty big ponds. I mean, a lot of these cities have a lot of theatre and the quality is superb. It just doesn’t get the flash that the term Broadway or Off-Broadway brings to it, or the money. But there’s also not that ‘sink or swim’ mentality either, I mean, if you’re going to have a show on Broadway, it HAS to succeed. You can bring a show to Regional Theatre [and] it doesn’t have to succeed. There’s a greater sense of having the ability to experiment and try newer or edgier things that you cannot get away with in the Broadway or Off-Broadway theatres.
AKR: You did some national tours and went to NYC, why did you CHOOSE to become a part of the Regional Theatre community?
MD: When I started out as an actor back in the 80s, I had a goal of making it to New York one day, but, after a couple of visits to NYC, I kind of realized that’s not so much the place I wanted to be. That city, that vibe just wasn’t for me. I liked the smaller cities they weren’t quite as emotionally oppressive and they spoke to me a lot more. There was a greater sense of community, I think, that I found in those places. So, when I landed in Memphis in 1989, I had a 12-month contract. I was very fortunate to get this season of shows, but my goal was to move on. I didn’t know anything about Memphis, TN, but then I got to know the people, and that one year contract ended up into two years, three years, by that time, I had met my wife, we settled down, bought a house, had a car. I became more involved with the theatre where I worked, which was Playhouse on the Square. I could work as an actor, I also happen to have a teaching degree, so I teach part-time at the University of Memphis, so that’s great. There’s a very vibrant voice-over and film community in West Tennessee, so all of that put together allowed me to have this life in theatre in Memphis, and I fell in love with the city. I love NYC, but there’s no way that I could have a house, could I be doing theatre, teaching, and doing the voice-over work that I’m doing. It’s a broader life.
AKR: What role do you feel that Regional Theatre companies should play in the development of new work?
MD: It’s very important. It’s challenging, because a Regional Theatre doesn’t always have the ability to workshop things for a long time. It’s tough to incubate a show to a point where you can present it, and it takes a lot of money, quite frankly. This season, we started a new playwriting contest where we will do staged readings of, I believe, six shows that we’ll get in, and then we’ll have public readings of those, and then the next season, the 14-15 Season, we’ll actually produce two of those at Theatreworks, which is our third stage. We do know it’s important, it’s just really hard to do, and to get funding for it is a challenge.
AKR: What new/young playwrights are you most excited about?
MD: Well, I’m interested in Katori Hall, we did The Mountaintop here, as a co-production with Hattiloo Theatre. She is someone who used to usher here at Playhouse on the Square and took education programs around the city. I would love to see more female playwrights; quite frankly, I’m seeing less and less of that. Evan Linder, we just did one of his shows. He’s one of our former interns. He wrote 5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche. Jerry Dye is another guy here in town that’s been writing some stuff. He was in Angels in America for us, but he’s a wonderful writer, too. I’d love to see where he goes next with that.
AKR: You run the Unified Professional Theatre Auditions (UPTA). It is a kind of right of passage now, as a professional actor and technician, to go to the UPTA auditions. How do you feel about UPTA’s? I mean that was just kind of handed to you. You’ve been in charge of it from the inception, really.
MD: [UPTAs] came about because there was a need by our theatre, and a good handful of others that are year-round theatres. We would go to auditions, and most of the talent that was there was only available for summer work. So about 21 years ago, Jackie Nichols and [representatives from] a number of these theatres were saying “we’ve got to have something that is just for folks who are available for year-round work.” Finally, Jackie said: ‘I’ve got a theatre, there’s a hotel down the block, let’s do it in Memphis.’ So we did that the first year and it was a success. One of the things we said was that we have to have the fees low, because, quite frankly, with some of the other conventions, you’re paying so many fees that it becomes cost-prohibitive to go. So, we had a low fee for both the companies and the talent, but we wanted their feedback. So my saying has always been, if I can afford it, if I’ve got the manpower, and it makes sense, we’ll do it. So every year, we’ve tweaked UPTAs and we’ve kept the cost affordable.
AKR: What do you wish American/ your local audiences and patrons understood about regional theatre or theatre in general? What do you wish more people understood?
MD: I think for that person that’s not already invested in the arts, it’s important to know that the arts play an extremely vital part of the development of a community. In Memphis, there’s a prime example. We built a $15.5 million facility at the corner of Cooper and Union and now there’s all this construction around us. It would not have happened, and I know this for a fact, because Bob Loeb, who owns all of that property that is under construction, is on our Board of Directors, and he said, ‘If you hadn’t pulled the trigger on this theatre, we would never have pulled the trigger over there on the rest of it. So, I wish that American and local audiences understood that theatre and the arts in general, [are important to have] if you want to have a vibrant, thriving community.
Thank you, Michael!
Live, Love, Learn,
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