The Power & Attraction of Community Theater

FOR THE LOVE OF IT: A focus on Community Arts Organizations

Cincinnati is blessed with top-notch professional arts organizations that produce creative work admired nationally and beyond. But we tend to not count some of our other blessings – namely, the many volunteer community groups that bring masterpieces in various art forms right to where we live, at the neighborhood level.

These groups can enlighten and inspire us just like their big cousins. The word “amateur,” after all, doesn’t mean a person lacking in skill, but a person who does something for the love of it.

So we’ve decided to highlight these groups of unpaid, passionate amateurs who bring the power of the arts to our community. We start this month with Rick Pender’s look at community theater groups – who they are and why they do what they do. In the coming months, we’ll turn the spotlight on community choral groups, orchestras and arts centers.

The Power & Attraction of Community Theater

By Rick Pender

No matter where you live in Cincinnati, you’re likely to be near a community theater. These neighborhood companies provide opportunities for people who are eager to be involved in theater but can’t do it full time. Instead, they audition for roles or work backstage in their spare time. People who do community theater are devoted volunteers, making friends and creating shows they are proud of. They do it for the love of theater.

Dan Maloney, whose day job is as an artwork editor, has directed shows and acted with Mariemont Players, Village Players (Ft. Thomas), Footlighters (Newport) and The Drama Workshop (Cheviot) since 2009. His breadth of engagement led to involvement with ACT-Cincinnati, the umbrella organization supporting 16 Greater Cincinnati companies; today he’s president.

Dan Maloney

“Our theaters feature everything from youth shows and more intimate, black-box productions to full-scale musicals,” he said. “You can see shows in buildings that used to be schoolhouses, churches and even a former bowling alley.”

He’s especially proud of his production of “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” by Stephen Adly Guirgis for Village Players, recognized with an award from BroadwayWorld.com. He also points out his recent stagings of “The Spitfire Grill,” a musical for Footlighters, and “The Outgoing Tide,” a play at Mariemont Players.

Bringing Broadway home

Skip Fenker has been involved with community theater since the 1970s while working regularly for local restaurants. Since 1999 he has been primarily involved with Cincinnati Music Theatre. His 18th production at the Aronoff Center’s Jarson-Kaplan Theater (where CMT has presented shows since 1995), will be the regional premiere in November of “Bandstand,” a Broadway show by Cincinnati composer Richard Oberacker.

Skip Fenker at the Aronoff when he staged “Billy Elliott” for CMT

“I have been incredibly fortunate to direct so many terrific shows,” he said, so he is hard pressed to single out a favorite. But he points to his recent November staging of Kander & Ebb’s “Cabaret” as “probably the darkest thing I’ve ever done and the one that had the most profound effect on the audience.”

Kathy Beiting, a retired high school guidance counselor, has been a CMT regular since 1991. Most often she’s the producer, “securing props, sewing costumes or working backstage – whatever’s needed.” She handled Fenker’s staging of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” in 2019. “It had a powerful story, wonderful music, one of our best sets ever, and we were thrilled to involve the NKU Chamber Choir as our onstage choir.” She points out that CMT has presented large-scale musicals since 1963. The company recently added a studio series of smaller cabaret shows in the Aronoff’s Fifth Third Theater.

Kathy Beiting changing a light bulb in CMT’s costume storage

An avenue for growth

Jackie Miesle represents a younger demographic. After graduating from Miami University in 2017 and becoming a business operations manager for an information technology company in Mason, the Toledo native performed in the musical “Godspell” with Mariemont Players. “This show was my return to theater after about five years off. I was brand new to the Cincinnati community theater scene, and although I was nervous to put myself out there, I knew I needed theater in my life again.”

Based on the Gospel of Matthew, “Godspell” enabled Miesle to grow as a performer and as a person. “It opened my heart,” she said, “and allowed me to play and embrace a childlike wonder I hadn’t accessed in years. It introduced me to dear friends and threw me into the community theater world.”

Jackie Miesle in “Godspell” at Mariemont Players

Now she’s a board member with Mariemont Players, which presents shows at the renovated Walton Creek Playhouse. “We make sure the shows we produce will be exciting for our audiences, teams, and actors. We work hard to make everyone’s experiences as enjoyable, entertaining and extraordinary as possible.”

Mary Stone has done a little bit of everything for The Footlighters Inc. in Newport, presenting performances in a renovated historic church called the Stained Glass Theatre. Since 2012 she’s been a producer, a stage manager, an actor, a board member, a grant writer and the company’s webmaster. She’s a senior director at Empower Media Marketing, a large Cincinnati ad agency.

Mary Stone

Stone said she cherishes the friends she made working on “The Producers” (2012) and “Godspell” (2014). She is proud that Footlighters makes a point “to perform new, contemporary works alongside tried-andtrue musical classics – something for everyone to enjoy.”

Listening to the audience

Bunny Arszman spent 30 years staging shows for Showbiz Players, a community theater that shut down in 2018. She was invited to join Footlighters as a director and vice president of production. Her day job is serving as a PR specialist and videographer with the Cincinnati Recreation Commission. At Showbiz she developed a special relationship with Broadway composer Frank Wildhorn and staged many of his works locally, including “The Scarlet Pimpernel” (her 2005 production used costumes from Broadway) and multiple stagings of “The Civil War.”

Bunny Arszman at Footlighters’ Stained Glass Theatre

For Footlighters, Arszman’s first production was the offbeat musical “Urinetown” (2018). “It made me laugh out loud every night, and it was extremely fun.” She’s pleased to work with Footlighters. “We have a lot of core people who do a lot of work. That’s the reason for our success.” She adds, “Footlighters listens to its audiences. We aren’t afraid of trying new things but also have respect for traditional productions.”

Since 1983, Jef Brown has worked with Beechmont Players, performing at the Anderson Center. His day job is managing the University of Cincinnati print shop. For more than three decades he has been a director, actor, board member and scenic designer. He carefully chooses the shows he stages, including “Waiting for the Parade” (1993), a script about a group of Canadian women left behind during World War II, waiting for men who were off fighting.

Jef Brown in “Arcadia” with Beechmont Players

It featured local actresses who have become some of his favorite performers, “a small but mighty group of folks who pulled together to bring this production to the stage.” It’s the only show he has staged a second time, for Village Players in 2002. More recently he directed “November” by David Mamet, a playwright whose intense scripts are more challenging than many community theaters undertake. “We were able to present this very funny show about a somewhat dysfunctional president, and I worked with some of my favorite people on both sides of the footlights.”

From diverse backgrounds

Asked why they do community theater, these enthusiasts offer various motives and perspectives. Maloney said, “The best part of community theater is people with different backgrounds coming together to tell a story. Cincinnati is a theater-rich area, and the overall quality of our productions is exceptionally high. I can’t think of a more fulfilling way to spend my spare time.”

Fenker appreciates the sense of community and belonging. He loves finding new, creative ways to tell stories. “My hope with every show is to not only entertain but also to move audiences, to enlighten them or touch them in some way. The best part is feeling the cast, the show and the audience come together in one shared emotional experience.”

Beiting has loved live theater since she was a child. “This ‘hobby’ gives me great satisfaction as I help bring together all the elements of a musical for the pleasure of the audience. I also have made many good friends over the years who share my passion.” In fact, she met her husband while singing in the chorus of “Brigadoon” in 1991.

Jackie Miesle in “Grease” at Mariemont Players

“I participate in community theater because it’s where I feel the most like myself,” said Miesle. “I love the adrenaline of performing and the connection I make to the characters I play. I love bonding with people through art.” She believes community theater is a huge asset to any community, “an outlet for people of all ages to express themselves and expand their skills. It makes us think and learn, and it makes us better.”

Stone cites storytelling. “It’s important to the human condition to tell stories that make an audience member laugh, cry or think about things from someone else’s perspective,” she said. She particularly loves community theater “because it’s an affordable and accessible way for people to experience the performing arts.” Community theater, she suggests, might be the only type of theater some people can afford.

Arszman points out that many people who do community theater weren’t willing to give up “normal” life to make it in New York. “I was too pragmatic about my prospects for success. But just because I wasn’t willing to give it a try in New York doesn’t mean I don’t love it just as much as the people who do. I need it to fill my creative side. It’s like breathing; I just have to do it.”

According to Brown, “It’s a fun shared activity, a cooperative effort. Many lifelong friendships have come from this experience.” He used to say, “It’s cheaper than golf, and the beer’s better than bowling.” Today he admits he hasn’t done either for a while. “I’ve been too busy hanging out in dark theaters.”