THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 26, 1995 TAG: 9511230211
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Long : 107 lines
Focus on locals
What's wrong with this picture? Did you run out of residents of Portsmouth to feature in your Close-up section of the Currents?
I live in West Park View and know of plenty of people who do wonderful things to help the community, and they even live here.
Mrs. Shoulders states, in the Nov. 19 issue of the Currents, that one of the biggest problems facing Portsmouth is ``crime and financial losses.'' It seems to me she may be part of the problem.
Herbert J. Matheis
McDaniel Street
Nov. 19, 1995 Tree honors Dr. Mayo
The Nov. 19 issue of the Currents had a staff report titled ``Hospitals to light their holiday trees.''
The portion about Portsmouth General Hospital had some important facts misstated, and omitted the names of this year's honorees.
The 1995 Love Light Tree is honoring Dr. Lemuel E. Mayo and his wife, Christine Mayo. Dr. Mayo was a practicing surgeon in Portsmouth with a distinguished career of over 42 years. During that time he made many outstanding contributions to the quality of medical care in our community. Christine Mayo is a member and past president of the Portsmouth General Hospital Auxiliary.
You may place a light on the tree with a gift of $5 or more. Each $100 contribution will be a starlight.
Portsmouth General Hospital's Love Light Tree Illumination will be Tuesday, Nov. 28, at 7 p.m. with a reception to follow in the hospital lobby.
Lois L. Brantley
Wake Forest Road
Nov. 20, 1995 Theater tries to entertain
Mrs. Billie M. Cook wrote a letter to you which was in the Currents, Oct. 22. She raised some pertinent questions which I would like to answer on behalf of The Little Theater of Portsmouth Inc.
I have been the treasurer of the theater since 1973 and a member of the Board for approximately 27 years.
The Little Theater of Portsmouth Inc. is incorporated as a non-profit tax-exempt corporation for the purpose of providing entertainment. It does not receive any funding from the city or any other agency. In fact, we have been unsuccessful in getting members of the City Council, members of the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce and other community leaders to join our theater. We, of course, would welcome any financial support from any municipal, state, federal or business source.
We do pay rent for the use of the theater at Woodrow Wilson High School. When the school, originally called Manor High School, was built and opened in 1972, the little theater in that building was designed with our theater as the resident theater. We have remained the resident theater since that time. We carry liability insurance, which covers our guests attending performances.
She stated that her wish would be for there to be more diversity in programming by our theater. As I stated, our purpose is to provide entertainment. All of the money that we take in by season memberships and by individual performance attendance goes back into the theater itself. None of the officers, directors, actors receive any remuneration at all.
As a result, we provide entertainment for those who seek entertainment at our theater. We have learned from the past that our members desire entertainment that provides them an escape, i.e., much humor, pleasure of a family nature, etc. The people who support our theater have given no indication that they desire our going into other areas to educate or to engage in experimental theater.
We have learned in the past, that if we try anything other than the type that our audience wants, that we suffer financially by losing members and attendance.
Our theater is not limited to any ethnic group. We have sought to diversify our membership, but have been somewhat unsuccessful. Other than Moses Gibson, who was a long time member of our board and president for several years and who left to go into more professional theater and movies, we have been unsuccessful in retaining African-American membership on our board. We have had a number of representatives from the African-American community, but unfortunately their participation has been for only a brief time.
We welcome a broadening of our audience and, obviously, we will seek to meet the requests and desires of our audience.
I would like to point out that our most recent production, ``I'm Not Rappaport,'' had two elderly male leads, one of whom was an African-American.
We would welcome the attendance and participation of Mrs. Cook and anyone else in the area.
In this regard, the theater would like to offer the Rev. and Mrs. Cook complimentary tickets to our next play. This will be a melodrama, ``The Saloon Keeper's Daughter,'' which will open on Feb. 2 and play on Feb. 3, 4, 9, 10 and 11. We hope that they will come to the theater where the tickets will be awaiting them.
Following this, we would appreciate any contribution or suggestion that the Rev. and Mrs. Cook would like to make to our theater.
We have tried to expand our membership because the more money that we are able to take in through season memberships, the more shows, with more extensive scenery, costumes, etc., we will be able to present.
The Little Theater of Portsmouth Inc. welcomes the attendance of anyone and welcomes any suggestions in regard to our providing entertainment for the Tidewater area.
L. David Lindauer
Augusta Avenue
Nov. 15, 1995 by CNB