Glen Arbor Art Association “Readers’ Theater” debuts in October

By F. Josephine Arrowood
Sun contributor

This fall, the curtain rises on a new dramatic venture at the Glen Arbor Art Association (GAAA). Actually, no curtain will rise, no sets constructed, no costumes created, no dialogue memorized — but the show will go on, so to speak, with the debut of “Readers’ Theater” auditions on Wednesday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. Two Sherlock Holmes stories (adapted into scripts), “The Adventure of the Tolling Bell,” and “The Musgrave Ritual,” will be performed on Nov. 30, with new productions taking place monthly as well.

Harriet Mittelberger, a professional theater director, educator, and member of the GAAA’s board of directors, explains the concept.

“It is the interpretation of a script using the voice and sound effects and actors’ motions, but they have their script in front of them. It can be done with poetry, novels … I said ‘script,’ but it can be any form of literature.”

Josephine Zara, a member of the arts group who co-chairs the project with Mittelberger, adds, “It’s an entire play presented like a radio drama, but they’re sitting on chairs, probably dressed in black … only their faces are lit,” by spotlights, to emphasize the dramatic rendering of their parts.

“The focus is on the interpretation.” Think Prairie Home Companion, but without microphones.

Mittelberger takes up the conversational thread, “The idea is to get together with others who enjoy reading stories, and who perform — or think they might like to try performing — who end up doing it together for the pleasure of it: reading together, doing the sound effects, becoming the characters, for pure enjoyment.”

The two emphasize that a dramatic reading requires much less of a commitment than a full-blown stage production, and can engage community members with widely varying degrees of experience or training in acting. Director Mittelberger says, “We want to cast people to the part; the emphasis is on looking for community members rather than purely professional actors. We don’t want to intimidate people who’ve always wanted to try acting. If you can speak, you can do this!”

She should know — armed with a BA from Michigan State University (MSU) in communications with a theater emphasis, and an MFA in theater from George Washington (GW) University in Washington, D.C., she honed her career working as a drama director in Montague Co., Md., high schools; directed at the New Playwrights Theater in Washington; taught acting and creative children’s theater classes at both MSU and GWU; and now directs at Old Town Playhouse (OTP) in Traverse City (her latest, The Drawer Boy, opens Oct. 14 at the OTP’s Studio Theater at the Depot on Woodmere).

She says, “Theater and art are my loves — one-two, but theater the most. It’s the ultimate form of art. It’s always a group endeavor … a wonderful thing on stage that’s just dynamite!”

Zara’s love of the dramatic arts harkens back to her childhood in Grosse Pointe, near Detroit.

“Grandma said I mumbled, and wanted me to have elocution lessons with the head of the speech department at Wayne State University, Dr. Eugene Bahn. He wanted [me] to work toward performances,” which she did for about three years. Boarding school in Switzerland followed, and included theater and “la comedie francaise: very traditional, structural, with many conventions,” including works by Moliere and Racine. After earning her degree in speech with theater emphasis, she moved to New York City, and studied with Herbert Berghof and Uta Hagen at the HB Studio for three years.

“They had acting classes, productions … you had to audition to be part of it. It was a lot of fun.

“To me, the most artistic thing in any performance — the actor has to have the capability of believing the role — if they believe it, you [the audience] believe. You do have to make that leap of faith in the interpretation — to believe it yourself, in order to make it believable.” She cites a mini-reading that took place in June at the arts organization’s annual meeting, where community members, including jeweler Becky Thatcher and painter Beth Bricker, performed from Anne-Marie Oomen’s play The Swan. The idea was to show how oral interpretation can successfully work at the non-theater professional, community level.

For Mittelberger and Zara, launching the “Readers’ Theater” completes the “missing piece of the puzzle” in the GAAA’s repertoire of arts offerings.

“This is actually one of the goals of the GAAA, to have performance, and it’s never been there before. ‘Readers’ Theater’ fills in that last artistic goal,” says Mittelberger. “In our written goals, theater/performance is supposed to be a part of it.” With the fluctuating size of the area’s seasonal population and the incredibly busy schedule each summer brings at the GAAA, with its full roster of classes, professional music series and art shows, “I don’t know if we’ll ever have [full] theater.”

If this fall and winter’s endeavors spark enough interest, the two hope to present an encore performance next summer at the GAAA’s Studio Stage, building member recognition and engagement of the project.

“It’s an ideal way to begin: no capital costs involved — we don’t know where it’ll go!” enthuses Zara.

Mittelberger concurs, “It’s what is appropriate for us to do right now. We’ll see how it goes this year, how many people come to rehearsals, how many to performances,” all of which are free and open to the public.

“And,” Zara concludes, “It’s a lovely way of getting through the long winter!”

The “Readers’ Theater” audition on Wednesday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. will feature a low-key reading of a few lines from the script, available for check-out from the GAAA’s office. Actors may also bring a favorite (short) reading of their own. Persons with an interest in lighting and sound effects are also needed. Rehearsals will continue each Wednesday, and the show will take place on Nov. 30. For more information, call (231) 334-6112 or visit the GAAA’s website at glenarborarts.org.

This GlenArbor.com online story was sponsored by SugarFoot Saloon, long known in Leelanau County for its Mexican-style fare — including fajitas, enchiladas, burritos, nachos and tostadas, and for its fabulously decadent desserts such as Earthquake Cake, Sombrero Sundae and Apple Cinnamon Delight.