TheatreSquared, NWA's first professional theater company, set to take the stage in May
Posted on Friday, December 30, 2005
There's a new show in town. Or there will be.
TheatreSquared, or T2 for short, a professional Equity theater company that has been in the works for two years, is set to kick off its first season in May.
In the meantime, the group, which has formed a staff, a board of directors and a national advisory board, is starting its fund-raising efforts.
On Saturday, La Maison des Tartes will host a "Moulin Rouge"-themed benefit for the company featuring a three-course meal and entertainment by theater members. Thursday was the deadline for reservations, but other events are being planned for Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day, said Kassie Misiewicz, T2's managing artistic director.
T2 is the second Equity company in Arkansas, the first being the Arkansas Repertory Theatre in Little Rock. Being an Equity-affiliated theater company means the group pays its actors, directors, designers and technicians and follows the union's guidelines that set pay and working standards.
"It's so we can make our living here doing the art we've been trained to do," Misiewicz said.
The company's creation began with a conversation among friends. Misiewicz said she has always wanted to start a professional theater company aimed toward youth audiences, and during a discussion with friends Amy Herzberg and Bob Ford, she discovered they harbored a similar dream except appealing to adults. Along with Misiewicz's husband, Daniel Hintz, executive director of Fayetteville Downtown Partners and now a member of the company's advisory board, and friend David Pickens, they decided to combine their efforts to create a theater company that did both.
"We've all worked in the professional theater world and for one reason or another found ourselves here with no work in our field, so we decided to create an artistic opportunity for us as well as an artistic home," Misiewicz said.
For its first year, the group will operate out of Studio Theater at Nadine Baum Studios. As such, they've selected one- and three-character plays that will complement the intimate setting of the black-box theater that seats 200.
"We want a very visceral, connected theater experience for our audience," Misiewicz said. "It's about the storytelling, the script and the acting as opposed to the special effects and the scenery."
A season lineup is posted on the group's Web site, www.theatresquared.org, but the schedule is subject to change. The group plans to make its premiere in May with "Bad Dates," a "delightful comedy" by Theresa Rebeck, Misiewicz said.
On the bill for May 2007 is the world premiere of "My Father's War," a play by award-winning playwright and novelist Bob Ford, who is T2's playwright-in-residence. The play is about the relationship between Ford's wife, Amy Herzberg, and her father, a World War II veteran.
The company will also offer educational programming, including post-play discussions, preshow seminars and acting classes. Most educational activities will be "things out of the norm that deepen the theater experience" and directly relate to the productions being presented, Misiewicz said.
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
