Arts & Culture Magazine - November/December 2007 - (Page 48)

VENICE LITTLE THEATRE By Judy Pokras Murray Chase speaks in a booming, resonant voice colored with expressiveness, as befits his job heading a thriving artistic hub. “This organization is part of the soul of its community,” he says, sitting at his busy desk in the Venice Little Theatre, where his shelves and walls display memorabilia of his 12 years as its artistic/managing director. He is in his element as he speaks, “It’s a bold statement, but it’s true; I challenge anybody to envision the city of Venice without this theater. It’s part of the community identity.” Sounding like a brilliant advertising copywriter or Broadway lyricist, the former journalist continues, “I’ve always felt like there are prettier beaches in Pensacola; there’s better golf in St. Augustine; there’s better fishing out of Destin; there’s more money in Naples and Miami; the space program’s on the other coast. What do we have that’s unique? I think it’s the proliferation of the arts.” Under Chase’s helm, the Venice Little Theatre has been expanding, and indeed may one day outgrow its diminutive name. Its thirteenth Stage II season opens November 1 with playwright David Lindsay-Abaire’s Kimberly Akimbo, a provocative play about a prematureaging-disease-afflicted teenage girl who looks like she’s 70. Stage II—only part of what the Venice Little Theatre offers—is the most artistically satisfying aspect of Chase’s job. “It’s one of the things that establishes us as different from your average community theater; in that we are successful at a number of projects that stretch artistic envelopes in terms of subject matter that a lot of people might consider controversial.” Stage II has gone from an initial 25 subscribers to its current 500, from its original audience of 25 a night to an average of 87. “We have two and a half to three times as many performances as we had back when, so it’s a really viable part of our organization right now, no longer a loss leader,” Chase says. “We couldn’t have done it 13 years ago. It’s been an evolution of our audience.” But, like a father devoted to all of his children, this father of two adult daughters also loves the more traditional fare performed on the theater’s main stage, which accommodates a 432-seat audience. “We’ll be running The Little Shop of Horrors in November. We did it here a loooong time ago,” Chase says, “Certainly not since I’ve been here. It’s such a fun satire and we now have a lot greater technical capability than we had 25 years ago, so we can make things happen that couldn’t be done before.” Little Shop also boasts a coterie of talented people, such as its director, Brad Wages (also an actor and choreographer), who has choreographed for Kathy Rigby, the Olympics, and the President of the United States, and who joined the theater’s staff several years ago. “He has a knack of bringing out things in actors they didn’t know they could do,” Chase says. That special ability is especially helpful to a community theater, whose actors are non-professionals. “All but a few of our actors work for no money. They’re here for 48 : : arts and culture magazine

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Arts & Culture Magazine - November/December 2007

Arts & Culture Magazine - November/December 2007 Contents Extra! Extra! Modern Times Gallery Interview - Jopseph Caulkins Exhibitions Dodi Reifenberg and Bradley Wester Profiles Center Stage Carnevale Horse Feathers Grill & Lounge Dancing on the Stage of Life Gallery Guide Calendar of Events

Arts & Culture Magazine - November/December 2007

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