Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 8, 1990 TAG: 9003071434
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ELAINE VIEL SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: CHRIST LENGTH: Medium
"We had moved here in November of 1978. About a year later we heard on the radio they were having tryouts or readings," Chip Warren explained. "They were trying to organize a little theater group. My wife and I thought it would be fun. We got involved in the first play."
A decade and two kids later, Warren and Denise are still involved in the little theater group that has since become Christiansburg Community Theatre.
"Laura," which opens today, comes exactly 10 years after the group's first production closed on March 8, 1980.
Neil Simon's "Come Blow Your Horn" was the first show mounted by the group and Chip Warren's first experience with theater.
"It was kind of a thrilling experience. I never thought that I would have had the guts," he said. "Well, that first play is the reason we stuck with it. It was a challenge."
Barbara Simpson, the current president of the group and also a charter member, remembers that first production well. There was a snow storm to mark the production dates.
And as if the foul weather wasn't bad enough, "one of the lead actors got pneumonia. The stage manager did the show," she said. The lead did, however, "do the last performance."
As with any theater group, that was only the beginning of snafus.
During a production of "The Diary of Anne Frank," Simpson said, Anne's pet cat in the play got loose.
During a scene in Ira Levin's "Death Trap" in which two actors are handcuffed together, an incident worthy of an old "I Love Lucy" show occured.
The actor holding the key to the cuffs accidently "threw the key out into the audience," Simpson said. "The intermission was spent looking for the keys."
Simpson said she has been with group "almost from the beginning." There were 20 to 25 original members; there are four left, "Chip Warren, Mike Vaughn, Kim Snider and Virginia."
And when this season's final production "6 Rms Riv Vu" closes out the production schedule of the theater, it will give the theater group a perfect 40; four shows a season for the first 10 years.
Both Simpson and Warren spoke longingly about the theater getting it's own facility. Since the first production 10 years ago, which was held in a Christiansburg Elementary School, the group rents the auditorium at Christiansburg High School.
"We have felt like if we could get some other organizations together . . . there is a need for an arts center," Warren said.
And Simpson said there is a building fund in the hopes that one day they'll actually get to use it. Each year, she said, the members of the community theater put on a fundraiser called "Hometown Hollywood."
Simpson also said the board and other members of the group are considering a proposal to change the name from Christiansburg Community Theatre to Valley Players to make the group more identified with the whole area. Many members do not live in Christiansburg.
Besides having a membership that is diverse geographically, Warren and Simpson said the membership is diverse in age as well.
Both expressed the wish that more people would come out to see them on a more regular basis. And Warren said "We can't seem to find the formula" for drawing consistently high numbers.
The best year for drawing audiences, Warren said, was 1987 when the season comprised "No Sex Please, We're British," "Ten Little Indians," "Mary, Mary," and "Barefoot in the Park."
Chip Warren said that the second season of the group's existence was the least successful. The 1980-81 season the shows were "Story Theater," "Bus Stop," "Elves," an original play by Bob Turner, a local playwright, and two one-act plays, "Mrs. McWilliams," and "The Lightening."
Chip Warren explained that the records don't keep a tally of attendance but do show the amount of money each play and, hence, each season brought in. He said there is, however, a direct correlation between the dollar figure and attendance.
Shows by Neil Simon and Agatha Christie go over real well, Warren said, referring to "Ten Little Indians" and "Barefoot in the Park."
This year's production of "The Rainmaker," Warren said, has been their fifth most popular production in their 10-year history.
And while prices everywhere have shot up higher than a cat's back over the past 10 years, the dues for the Community Theater members has only risen from $10 to $12. And ticket prices have increased only a dollar from the first season until now, rising from $4 to $5.
Simpson, in a somewhat nostalgic mood recalled, "I can still remember the night the [first] play opened. One of the members said there are people coming in. I was overwhelmed. I was amazed people came to see us."
The community theater group, besides putting on four productions each year, also sponsors theater workshops for both children and adults.
The Community Theater is a tax-exempt organization.
Productions are usually scheduled for the months of September, December, March and June.
by CNB