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Nov12
Actors Guild’s next act: SantaLand in a mall
Filed under: Actors Guild of Lexington, Central Kentucky Arts News, Downtown Arts Center, LexArts, Theater; Tagged as: Actors Guild of Lexington, Another Part of the Forest, Beguiled Again, David Sedaris, Eric Ryan Seale, Leif Erickson Rigney, LexArts, Lillian Hellman, On the Verge, Portabella, SantaLand Diaries, Studio Players, The Unexpected Guest, The Vertical Hour, Tim Hull
Timothy Hull, seen here with Allie Darden in the On the Verge production of "Another Part of the Forest" in May, will star as the Elf in Actors Guild of Lexington's production of "The SantaLand Diaries." Photo by Rich Copley.
Yes, Kentucky, there will be a Christmas production by Actors Guild of Lexington.
The troubled theater’s next show will be a site-specific staging of David Sedaris’ The SantaLand Diaries at the site of the former Portabella Restaurant on Locust Hill Drive. It will run Dec. 10 to 20.
The show comes in the wake of a stormy summer and uncertain fall for the theater, whose funding from LexArts was eliminated and whose top two directors resigned. LexArts cut the funding, which had been about $70,000 in recent years, saying it had concerns about the fiscal management and overall viability of the theater, Lexington’s only semi-professional stage troupe for adults.
The SantaLand Diaries is Actors Guild’s first production since Beguiled Again, a Rodgers and Hart musical revue that had a two-weekend run at the Downtown Arts Center in early fall. The season schedule that Actors Guild announced last spring was to include David Hare’s The Vertical Hour and, for the holidays, a one-man version of It’s a Wonderful Life.
Associate artistic director Eric Seale, currently the theater’s only paid staff member, said SantaLand is a signal that AGL will continue presenting shows.
“If people are wondering, ‘Is there an AGL?,’ Yes, there’s an AGL,” Seale said. “If they are wondering, ‘Are they putting on shows?,’ Yes, we’re putting on shows.”
He said the theater is not ready to announce any productions after SantaLand.
A site-specific production is staged in a venue that relates to the subject matter. It’s not a new concept and has been popular in Lexington in the past year. On the Verge Productions presented Lillian Hellman’s family dramas The Little Foxes and Another Part of the Forest in historic homes downtown.
SantaLand, a one-person show about a man who plays an elf in the Christmas display at Macy’s, will be presented in the vacant retail space formerly occupied by Portabella, next to the Kroger at Richmond Road and Man o’ War Boulevard.
It will star Tim Hull, an emerging Lexington actor who recently was in Another Part of the Forest. Co-directors will be Seale and Leif Erickson Rigney, an actor last seen in Studio Players’ production of The Unexpected Guest.
AGL previously staged SantaLand in 2004 at the Downtown Arts Center.
Seale said the site-specific nature of this fall’s production was an aesthetic decision inspired by ideas he had heard at theater conferences. He said AGL explored several retail-space options before settling on the old Portabella location.
The play, based on Sedaris’ 1992 essay, looks at how people try to find holiday happiness in retail experiences, including visiting a department-store Santa. Seale said the Portabella site will be done up like a mall-Santa display to make the show “an experience.”
Seale said he expects tickets to go on sale early next week through Actors Guild’s Web site, www.actorsguildoflexington.org, or by calling 1-866-811-4111.
6 Responses to “Actors Guild’s next act: SantaLand in a mall”
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AGL’s “overall viability” probably would have been just fine if LexArts stopped worrying about Arts organizations’ “overall viability” and based their funding on the quality of work an organization presents. If an organization only lasts for a few years, its funding was worth it, if the work was good. Many successful, thriving theatres carry a much larger debt than AGL has had.
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sunny with a chance November 13th, 2009 at 11:19 am
I am happy to hear that AGL will be producing a holiday show. Good for them. But that must be bad for Mr. Clark who wont be able to overcharge rent any longer. Hey everyone how is Lex arts doin’ these days? Did they lay anyone off recently? Have they cut other allocations? Anything of small interest happenning at the downtown arts center? Does anyone know or even care?
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There originally was a different holiday show lined up, but I the last thing (many months ago) I heard was that it “may not happen.”
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Don’t ask me Adam, I’ve been long gone.
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Horribly sad that Lexington’s only true town theatre with it’s own space and (used to be) yearly schedule has slowly gone down hill and into a dismal existance. Power to the people who are still workin’ their butts off to keep the “dream” alive. You guys are what makes the world go ’round. I really hope that one day Lexington will see the importance that this art form brings to performers, technicians, administrative folks, and theatergoers alike. Please Lexington - whoever is in the position to actually do something about it - DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!!
Sincerely,
someone who is moved by the arts -
Sadly, AGL didn’t have it’s own space (in the sense of “owning” it). And let’s not forget Studio Players. They’ve be around for 50 years! As for “true town theatre,” I guess that depends on your definition.
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