(Editor’s note: The following article was submitted by 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 the Tyrone area.)
With the first season of theater under their belt, the newly formed Tyrone Community Players were feeling confident and encouraged.
They had received outstanding community support for their endeavor, raised enough money to pay for their premiere production, produced a second, sophisticated and savvy script, Blithe Spirit, and were ready to blast, full throttle, into the future.
Scheduling a season was not something the fledgling company had gotten a handle on yet, and there was an eight month gap between the end of season one and the beginning of season two. However, that time was not squandered. It was spent on a myriad of projects, both inside the theater and out.
One of the first challenges of the second season was to re-wire and hang the chandelier in the theater, which had mysteriously reappeared when TCP had questioned its whereabouts in an article in The Daily Herald. The beautiful isinglass fixture that had graced the center of the auditorium since the facility was constructed in the early 20th century had found its way home virtually unharmed. Whoever was responsible for its reappearance remains a mystery, but one that TCP and the community are grateful for. A challenge and a miracle, a pattern seemed to be developing.
The drama department at Tyrone Area High School had also disappeared for a number of years, and this group of 10-15 novice Players decided that they could help live theater make a reappearance in more places than just one in the community. With the gusto of the neophyte, TCP contacted the TAHS administration and proposed a joint musical production to be scheduled in the spring of 1985. And not just any musical! A big, glitzy, character-intense musical titled Annie.
This one decision, as much as anything that TCP had done, or would do, shaped the character of the company they would become. This tiny group of Players undertook a mammoth task, directing 45 cast members, both community and school district employees as well as students, designing and constructing a multiple, movable set, building approximately 150 costumes – the list was endless. When all the work was finished, and finished beautifully, with a unique sense of style and creativity, the auditorium in the high school was once again filled to overflowing with an audience thrilled with the excitement that live theater could generate.
With that, a reputation was conceived. A small company with virtually no assets was quickly becoming the creative, fearless force of local community theaters. Each and every company has a personality, a style, that is all its own, and within theater companies across Blair and Centre county, TCP was fast becoming a force recognized for its innovation and imagination.
This group of growing thespians was acquiring a reputation, had found a theater to perform in, established a reasonable schedule with appealing show titles for the next season, was developing an audience following, but had yet to find or create a symbol, a logo, by which they could be recognized. Several were tried and discarded, not due to the quality of the design, but the lack of sensory impact. It had to be something special, something unique.
Enter Mrs. Alex Steele. Her husband, Alex Steele, had been a celebrated, professional graphic designer very active with the Tyrone Players in the 1950’s. His business, Alexicraft Studios, was located in a small building beside the Tyrone YMCA, where the community parking lot is located today. His forceful, dramatic designs, several of which adorn the walls of the theater today, were used by companies and businesses all the way to Broadway.
Mrs. Steele was living in Huntingdon and had closely followed the re-birth of the company which had been an integral, important part of her husband’s life. She was aware of the search for a logo, and in an act of supreme generosity, offered the Tyrone Community Players a gift they will carry with them for as long as they exist.
The sharp featured mask with turban and hanging balls had been the logo of the Tyrone Players and was now to become synonymous with theater in Tyrone forever. It was exactly what the Tyrone Community Players had been looking for. Something unique, eye catching, but more important, a symbol of the excellence they aimed for, a link with the past and a beacon to the future.
Obviously, the gift was eagerly and humbly accepted and this logo graces each piece of hard copy that is distributed by the Tyrone Community Players. A third challenge and a third miracle.
Improvements continued in the theater that TCP now called home, even though they shared the facility and had all the supplies required to produce a play: lumber, tools, costumes, make-up, props, and furniture, stored in attics, basements, and garages all over town. They rehearsed in any space they could find, sometimes practicing in empty buildings without heat or electricity, but even that couldn’t dampen their enthusiasm. The remainder of the stage productions went on without a hitch and TCP was well on its way to becoming a standard within the community.
Season three had its own, unique brand of challenges and successes however, and those shall be explored next Friday.
