Majestic Theater celebrates 20th anniversaryDate: 11/3/2016 WEST SPRINGFIELD – Producer, playwright and director Danny Eaton has accomplished almost the impossible. In an era when entertainment trends and tastes shift with alarming frequency, Eaton’s Majestic Theater and its offering of regional professional theater has not just survived, but prospered.
The theater company is celebrating its 20th season this year.
Eaton explained to Reminder Publications how the Majestic came about. He said he “cut his teeth” at the original StageWest when it was located in a building on the grounds of the Eastern States Exposition.
“I’ve always been a believer in regional theater and the system of regional theaters across the country in the sense that the purpose of the regional theater was not only to produce really good plays but performers and artists would be able to love and work within their communities, within their region,” he said.
Regional theaters helped prevent a talent drain to larger markets, Eaton explained. He added that companies such as StageWest began to import more and more of its talent from New York City and Boston creating what Eaton called “a hole in the fabric of the community.”
The philosophy behind The Majestic was regional theater could survive by using local talent, he said. Part of the plan was to find a permanent home for the company.
The Majestic Theater was built in 1921 with the name Majestic, although the movie house’s name was The Paris in the 1970s and ‘80s, Eaton said.
Eaton recalled that after the theater was closed, the lobby was turned into office space. “What is the theater space now was kind of abandoned, a holding spot for carpet remnants and busted office furniture and stuff like that,” he said.
He admitted, “A lot of people though I was out of my mind to come in here and turn this into a theater.” The transformation took two and half years.
The café area in the lobby came out of audiences saying they would like a place to go after the show to talk about it and have a drink. Eaton said with a smile that no one stays after a show, but audiences gather an hour and half before a show to eat and drink.
Running The Majestic is “certainly a financial challenge,” Eaton said. Audiences don’t really know the number of elements that go into the operation from reading plays and seeking licenses to perform them to installing a mandated sprinkler system.
“Like any other business, it’s a complicated business. We wear many hats,” he said.
Although he said that attracting an audience is still a challenge he said after 20 years The Majestic has “really grown an amazingly dedicated audience.”
Eaton said that unlike many other similar theater companies The Majestic has always finished its fiscal year in the black, due not just to good management but also due to the knowledge of who is the audience.
The live aspect of theater gives it a discernable difference over a movie in a theater or sitting at home watching something on-demand, he added.
“That’s our edge, if we have one,” Eaton said.
This season opened with the musical “Million Dollar Quartets,” and continues with “Love, Loss, & What I Wore” that opened Nov. 3. Winner of a Drama Desk Award, the play features female characters who tell stories about what certain clothes really mean to them, and those moments when they have tried to find their identity through them.
In January, the Majestic will present the drama “Amadeus,” followed by “Painting Churches” and closes with “La Cage Aux Folles.”
A special engagement will be the one-woman show “Tea for Three” on Nov. 7 and 8 at 7 p.m. in which Emmy Award-winning actress Elaine Bromka portrays First Ladies Lady Bird Johnson, Patricia Nixon and Betty Ford.
Eaton particularly enjoys the opportunity of presenting original works to audiences. “If the material connects with me I trust it will connect to our audience,” he said.
For more information, go to www.majestictheater.com.
|
