Not Something to Bah Humbug About Even Scrooge is happy about Tipping Point’s reopening By Larry O’Connor
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fter a 19-month layoff, Northville’s Tipping Point Theatre prepared a reopening for the ages. In an anticipation of its Season 14 premiere of “A Christmas Carol” Nov. 18, the nonprofit theater company gussied up its venue at the corner of Cady and Griswold with $65,000 in renovations, including new banks of seating with 4-6 inches in wider rows and better sightlines for patrons. The group also used the more than a year-and-a-half layoff to forge a diversity, equality and inclusion policy as well as develop a new mission statement. Those accomplishments were merely defibrillator jolts to maintain a pulse, though. The life blood in all theater circles — audience reaction — only comes from performing before individuals.
Tipping Point producing artistic director James Kuhl
26 The ‘Ville
Tipping Point Theatre has undergone $65,000 in renovations.
“One of the things I am most excited about is just literally being able to be in the same room as other people,” said James Kuhl, Tipping Point Theatre’s producing artistic director. “Our entire industry, as all of our programs, is based on the fundamental need for people to gather and experience things together. “That was the fundamental thing that was taken away from us almost two years ago for us now. I think we as artists feel very, very strongly and I can’t wait to be in the same room with other people and express our art together.” It’s coincidence a Charles Dickens’ work should herald Tipping Point’s triumphant return as a gloomy fog of uncertainty shrouded the 16-year-old theater company after its abrupt closure March 8, 2020.
Tipping Point halted during production of “The 39 Steps” (whose playwright Patrick Barlow is also behind the retelling of the latest “A Christmas Carol” on the Northville stage). Eight of 10 theater staff were laid off or left, leaving Kuhl and company manager Natalie LaCroix-Tann to helm the dormant venue. “We shut down like every other theater and everything was very up in the air,” said LaCroix-Tann, who started with Tipping Point in 2017 as an apprentice. “We weren’t sure what the situation was going to become. When it became clear we were going to be down for a while, we said, ‘We should renovate the theater.’” Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs supplied a $7,500 capital improvement program endowment to go along with a $15,000
operational grant to help offset the cost of the refurbishments. In October, the council awarded Tipping Point a $16,500 operational grant for 2022. Tipping Point also relies heavily on private donations, launching a “We’re still here” campaign during the hiatus. Contributors were offered early ticket purchases, discounts and name recognition in the program or lobby. Daylight slowly began to bleed back into the operation as Kuhl and LaCroix-Tann plotted a reopening. The company hired an associate artist, Nyah Pierson, a recent University of Michigan graduate who also cohosts a podcast Rant Much??? “So, we’re hoping to hire for more of those associate artist positions where they are a little more involved in the selection of the plays and have a little more equity in the theater,” LaCroix-Tann said. “Right now, we have been hiring a lot of people for the box office, because luckily, we’ve been getting a lot of patrons coming back.” Due to ongoing Covid fears, Tipping Point is requiring all theater goers to wear masks and provide proof of vaccinations. The cozy 100-seat venue is also operating at two-thirds capacity to maintain social-distancing, LaCroix-Tann said.
