Local theater directors share their insights on the theater scene
What is the state of the theatre scene in Chattanooga? The Pulse sat down with four local directors to find out what they think.
The Pulse: What do you think is the state of theatre in Chattanooga right now?
JC Smith, Executive Director of Closed Door Entertainment: I think the state of the arts in Chattanooga is constantly changing. Right now, there are a number of theatres popping up. Overall the city is inundated with theatre options. In fact, what we’re finding is a shortage of actors and patrons.
Jerry Draper, Managing Director of Oak Street Playhouse: I know there’s a lot of offerings out there right now. It seems that anyone who wants to do theater should have ample opportunities to find a place to act.
The Pulse: What is your theatre group’s niche market?
Todd Olsen, Executive Director at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre: I am learning so I speak with all of the authority of three months on the job.
I think a theater our size that does a dozen shows a year, I think during times of financial stress our core audience wants family-friendly fun musicals. But the Festival of New Plays showed there were people who were interested in more contemporary voices. We try to differentiate a little bit between.
We’re trying to get a younger more diverse audience. If you did a Venn diagram between more family and more challenging work, there would be a crossover.
I think we’re going to do two-thirds family-friendly so people never have to worry about seeing adult themes or hearing language, but then four other plays are going to be challenging, hot off the press, new works that have just won a Pulitzer or a Tony.
We’re already surveying culturally diverse young professional groups to support these risks. The good news is, we do so many shows, I feel like we can have it all.
Jerry Draper: We have in the past year talked about where Oak Street falls and have discovered that our niche is Southern comedies. Our audience likes those and they’re well attended. We probably won’t deviate much from that.
Think like Steel Magnolias—those type of characters are always really popular. I don’t say that to discourage males; in our Christmas story the two main characters are male.
We’re not going to aspire to do any type of heavy drama or Shakespeare—musicals, there’s a small interest, but there’s so many other places doing that. We don’t have to try to be everything to everyone.
Garry Posey, Artistic Director of Ensemble Theatre of Chattanooga: With us we’re trying a different approach to stay competitive and marketable, trying to marry commercialism with more dramatic, individualistic-type pieces. We strive to be unique.
Whether it’s musical theatre or modern comedies, we’ve been able to sneak in more commercial authors which we haven’t in the past because we didn’t need to. We’re still filling a void that didn’t exist before.
JC Smith: So many people get pigeonholed into niches—we’ve always tried to do a little bit of everything. We do things people have heard of all over the world and then smaller shows. We’ve tried to do shows of every type so that anyone could find something in our season to enjoy.
The Pulse: How can theatres work together and what does the future of theatre look like?
Todd Olsen: I have sensed a competitive nature and I would want to do the complete opposite. We want to have a complete open-door policy. We want to welcome artists back. We want more collaborators in house, more theatre artists from Chattanooga. They should be here.
Jerry Draper: There’s no reason for other theatre groups to feel like we’re in competition with each other. I think we should all work together and encourage our actors to look at other venues. When we work together, we’re going to have stronger actors.
JC Smith: I think in theory land there are a lot of opportunities for theatre companies to work together and it would make perfect sense but they don’t want to confuse their patrons. Having so few patrons, theatre companies are reticent to work together. The thing about theatre in Chattanooga is, if one of us succeeds we all succeed.
Garry Posey: I think there’s a middle ground somewhere between utopia and where we are now. Whatever road bump the theatre scene is experiencing right now is a temporary thing. I feel like we’re moving in a better direction. There’s a lot of hope.
For more information on auditions and shows, visit these companies’ websites at theatrecentre.com, ensembletheatreofchattanooga.com, firstcentenary.com (Oak Street Playhouse), and cdoorent.com.