(Editor’s note: The following article was submitted by the the Tyrone Community Players as part of a weekly series that will be published for 20 consecutive weeks to signify the group’s 20 years of existence in Tyrone.)
As the Tyrone Community Players enter its 20th season of live theater presentations, in this column we shall look back at things attempted and accomplished in that amount of time.
And where has that time gone? It seems like only yesterday that a handful of enthusiastic, but inexperienced, aspiring thespians sat around the table in Laurie Cave’s dining room and decided to re-start a theater company in a community with a long and illustrious history of outstanding live productions. Twenty years later community theater in Tyrone is still strong, creative, and successful.
In the 20 weeks leading up to their very special anniversary retrospective in February, Music, Magic, and Memories, I will attempt to guide you through the personality, anecdotes, backstage surprises, and adventures that each season offered, each in its own way and with an entirely different flair.
Now, back to the Cave’s dining room table. It was 1984 and the Tyrone Community Players were about to be born. The name was chosen out of respect for the original Tyrone Players, an assemblage of inspirational, visionary theater creators who were about to become mentors for a fledgling company. Sitting around that table on that first night were Laurie Cave, Anna Roseberry, Cindy Bennett, Kathy Fisher, Dan Meckes, Mike Cave, Mike Yeaton, and Tom Hedberg.
After much discussion, many more meetings, and a lot of naive desire, a play was chosen, a staff assembled, and auditions planned. The title of the first play to be produced by the brand new Tyrone Community Players was “The Orphans,” scheduled for June of the same year. But where do you do a live theater presentation in Tyrone? Both our movie theaters had been demolished, the school auditorium was booked, church halls were not appropriately lighted-the where was about to become a big challenge.
The theater in the Tyrone YMCA had been home to the Tyrone Players for nearly 20 years. In the time since they disbanded the lovely jewel of classical architecture had fallen into disrepair, being used by the YMCA, to help supplement their income, with athletic activities. The Tyrone Community Players decided this would be the arena for their first production, with the ghosts of the Tyrone Players guiding them, from the wings, through uncharted waters.
Making the theater acceptable to a stage production again took enormous work. With the help of Kelly, Ruth, and Mike Yeaton, all veteran theater experts, a lighting source was found, a set designed, sound equipment rented, and a cleaning crew assembled. Even though the stage was impaled with a 40 foot plywood thrust, 10 rows of seats had been removed and the remaining ones were horrendously uncomfortable, the ornate plaster work on the proscenium arch was crumbling from water damage, and the chandelier that had graced the center of the auditorium was missing, the theater seemed to vibrate with the entrance of performers again, and the shortcomings became invisible.
Anna Roseberry, an English teacher and drama director at Everett High School, volunteered to direct the first production, using her experience to guide the Players through the quagmire of production tasks. Anna’s mother, Jane Roseberry, had been a member of the original Tyrone Players and was invaluable with her knowledge and advice.
Once the cast was chosen, Kathy Fisher, Deb Lannen, Jane Kassib, and Larry Fink, the Tyrone Community Players decided to offer a glimpse of the theater and the new company to the remaining members of the original Tyrone Players. They hosted an afternoon tea in the theater where the new breed of theater aficionados were regaled with tales of productions from those more experienced and learned Players. It was the beginning of a relationship between the then and the now that continues to this day.
On the first opening night of the first production of the new Tyrone Community Players, Tyrone turned out in force. The theater was full as the audience welcomed theater back into their lives, a bond begun on that magical night that would endure for 20 years to come.
That first season was abbreviated and the Tyrone Community Players produced only two shows, The Orphans in June, followed by Noel Coward’s sophisticated farce, Blithe Spirit. Even as the company began to grow, attracting people with talents needed to produce the types of plays and musicals TCP wanted to be known for, future seasons were being planned, structure adopted, and dreams fulfilled.
It was a wonderful first season, even though performers had trouble remembering their lines, no one knew quite how to build a set, there was no sound or lighting equipment in the theater, and the seats made squirming an art form of its own. What TCP did have was enthusiasm and hope. The community joined them in wanting this little theater company to succeed, some remembering, some dreaming, about the magic that live theater brings to a community, a palpable taste of how things are, or could be, somewhere else. It became, on that first night of that first show, a way for the citizens of Tyrone to travel the magic carpet without leaving their home.
Next week this magic carpet ride will continue through TCP’s second season, one that included enormous challenge and cooperative efforts.
