THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 23, 1995 TAG: 9507210070
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 101 lines
TWO WEEKS AGO, as Generic Theater prepared to open its monthlong series of summer plays, the festival staff was still scrounging help wherever it could be found.
``I found her in cyberspace,'' said technical director Dan Crews, looking unamazed at his means of locating a crew member to run lights for ``New Plays for Dog Days Festival,'' which continues through Aug. 12.
But Betty Xander, the festival's chair and Generic's managing director, had beat him to it. That morning, she had hustled her 14-year-old nephew, Nick Matthews from Florida, who would be staying at her Sandbridge home for the summer.
As Xander juggled phone calls and an interview, Nick quietly played a computer video game. The calls ranged from queries about summer festival tickets, backstage dilemmas and 1995-'96 season brochures.
``Generic Theater, Betty Xander, may I help you?''
``Uh-huh. Mm-hmm. Mmm. You bet. I'll pop it in the mail this afternoon.''
It was a local media person, requesting a season brochure.
Previously, the Generic mailed out brochures in late summer. But the new one was posted in June. For the first time, the Generic paid a designer to craft an impressive product.
They mailed out 2,400. Within two weeks, 40 subscriptions were sent in, said Xander, pleased with the early returns.
Last year, the Generic sold 280 subscriptions, and they'd like to increase that figure for 1995-'96. To help boost sales, they're offering for the first time a flexible pass book; patrons get the same price break for five tickets, but can wait until the last minute to pick the performance they'd like to attend.
Since the theater averages 16 performances per show in an 80-seat house, 1,280 subscriptions would constitute a sold-out season.
``We can afford to have a 50 percent house, and break even,'' Xander said. ``And that's just where we are. We're not in debt, but we don't have much profit.''
As crew members needed funds to buy necessary equipment, Xander reached for her wallet. ``You want my charge card or a check?''
``We're going to wear out that thing this summer,'' said Crews.
Xander, however, does get reimbursed.
It's been a year since the Generic was cut loose from its attachment to Norfolk parks and recreation. Yet some support has persisted. The city still allows the Generic free use of the cramped, black-box facility on West 21st Street, and pays the troupe's utility costs.
In recent months, the Generic has increased the comfort level of the theater. Plush, upholstered seats have been installed, along with two new air conditioners to battle the heat during ``Dog Days.''
Lately, the Generic board has been seeking additional space, free or at low cost, for set construction - which takes place on stage, impeding rehearsals. But there's no other spot in the playhouse for building sets. The Generic also needs storage space for equipment, costumes and old set pieces that could be reused.
Already, the theater is expanding its budget, from last season's $64,000 to the projected 1995-'96 budget of $86,000. The Generic will offer the same size season - five shows plus a pre-season fund-raiser production.
In part, the budget increase reflects the theater's realization in the past year of the high cost of certain staples, like printing playbills and brochures.
Xander is especially proud that, in their first year of trying, the Generic obtained nearly $10,000 in private and governmental grants.
The ``Dog Days Festival'' was earmarked for $2,500 of those funds. The money allowed the theater to pay participants, from actors to technicians. The 1994 ``Dog Days'' was a volunteer effort.
Xander borrowed the summer festival idea from a Washington, D.C., playhouse called The Source; she had directed and acted in that series while living in D.C., and loved it.
When Generic ventured out on its own, Xander said, ``I felt it was obvious that we needed to be open year-round to make a go of it.''
The third show of the festival, Jocelyn Seagrave's ``Daughters of Lear'' is set for tonight at 8. Wednesday through next Sunday, look for Nancy Nilsson's ``All I Could See,'' set in the rural South at the end of the Depression.
The final show, set for Aug. 2 to 6, is R. Scott Deutsch's ``Prairie Cafe,'' about a woman's quest, taking her from Paris, Ill., to Paris, France, to find an artist she believes may have abused her as a child.
The script was sent in a few years ago by the playwright. But since the Generic decided to mount the show, Deutsch can't be found. Xander and others have gone to considerable lengths to find the writer, including contacting writers' groups and performance centers near the return address on the original package.
It's a mystery, Xander said, adding that the theater feels within its rights to stage the show anyway, since Deutsch mailed them the script for that purpose.
All of the shows, including the first week of one-acts by Virginia Beach playwrights Beth Chenosky and Greg Silva, will be repeated in repertory Aug. 9 to 12. A team of judges will attend each of those shows, and pass out awards on Aug. 12 at a 5 p.m. reception.
``Dog Days'' admission is $5 per show; or $15 for a festival pass allowing unlimited attendance, plus the awards reception. Call 441-2160. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/Staff
Generic Theater managing director Betty Xander, center, with Dog
Days playwrights Beth Chenosky and Greg Silva.
by CNB