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"All good things must come to an end" |
We've had a good, fun, challenging and most of all rewarding run at Theatre in the Circle. As Artistic Director, Bill Corcoran, likes to say, "Who'd have thunk it?" Well, he did, as a matter of fact. On our initial tour of Judson Manor back in 2013, before we became members of this community of extraordinary and accomplished seniors, Bill marveled at the public spaces of the elegant Loegler Lounge and the now spectacular Ballroom and said, "What amazing venues for intimate theater!"
For three years, we Corcorans kicked around the ideas of How, Where, When, If and Why. The Why was a probably the easiest question to answer. In University Circle, the cultural nexus of the city, there was no professional theater accessible to this Judson community. Here we were living with a group of sophisticated, life-long theater goers with no easy access to theater. Soon after we joined Judson, we offered to take two lady friends (both using walkers), to see a matinee at Playhouse Square. Let us tell you, it wasn't easy.
So in 2016 we created Theatre in the Circle and opened our first show, EDDIE! starring Molly McGinnis, Tom Woodward, David L. Munnell and Don Disantis. Bless their hearts for taking a chance on two old guys with a new idea. The response was overwhelming and enthusiastic. We then opened to the public with Cleveland favorite, Jacques Brel is Alive And Well & Living In Paris to sold-out houses. Very quickly 60% of our audiences were coming from outside the Judson communities. We were off to the races and were landing grants from Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, Neighborhood Connections, The Cleveland Foundation, Ohio Arts Council and financial gifts from many treasured donors.
We followed with I Do! I Do!, The All Night Strut, The Gift of the Magi, Love Letters (with our dream cast of Dorothy Silver - be still my heart - and George Roth), Nunsense A-Men, The Gospel According to Mark (with J.R. Stuart), Pump Boys and Dinettes, The Gift of the Magi (re-cast), Liberace! (starring the incomparable David Maiocco), You're a God Man Charlie Brown ( with an all senior cast), The World Goes 'Round, and It's A Wonderful LIfe. We were ready to start rehearsals on My Way, A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra, but Covid-19 stopped the show (literally and not in a good way). A recent attempt to try again has been cancelled for entirely different reasons. Due to a years-long plan to renovate and upgrade apartments here at the Manor, we are faced with living somewhere else for at least a year, maybe longer. Why? There is no space comparable to our present home available to us now. We have no idea where we will be, but commuting from somewhere else, another part of this city, an entirely different city or even another country, isn't feasible. Talented as we may be, bi-location is not in our skill set. What added ease and joy for us was working right here where we lived.
Keeping Theatre in the Circle alive has become more challenging with Covid protocols, reductions in arts funding, maintaining a safe work space, and the very necessary mandates for inclusion, equity and diversity. It's been fun; it's been real. But bottom-line, the party's over. We wouldn't trade the world the opportunities we've had to work with talented artists of all stripes and such enthusiastic and generous audiences.
For three years, we Corcorans kicked around the ideas of How, Where, When, If and Why. The Why was a probably the easiest question to answer. In University Circle, the cultural nexus of the city, there was no professional theater accessible to this Judson community. Here we were living with a group of sophisticated, life-long theater goers with no easy access to theater. Soon after we joined Judson, we offered to take two lady friends (both using walkers), to see a matinee at Playhouse Square. Let us tell you, it wasn't easy.
So in 2016 we created Theatre in the Circle and opened our first show, EDDIE! starring Molly McGinnis, Tom Woodward, David L. Munnell and Don Disantis. Bless their hearts for taking a chance on two old guys with a new idea. The response was overwhelming and enthusiastic. We then opened to the public with Cleveland favorite, Jacques Brel is Alive And Well & Living In Paris to sold-out houses. Very quickly 60% of our audiences were coming from outside the Judson communities. We were off to the races and were landing grants from Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, Neighborhood Connections, The Cleveland Foundation, Ohio Arts Council and financial gifts from many treasured donors.
We followed with I Do! I Do!, The All Night Strut, The Gift of the Magi, Love Letters (with our dream cast of Dorothy Silver - be still my heart - and George Roth), Nunsense A-Men, The Gospel According to Mark (with J.R. Stuart), Pump Boys and Dinettes, The Gift of the Magi (re-cast), Liberace! (starring the incomparable David Maiocco), You're a God Man Charlie Brown ( with an all senior cast), The World Goes 'Round, and It's A Wonderful LIfe. We were ready to start rehearsals on My Way, A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra, but Covid-19 stopped the show (literally and not in a good way). A recent attempt to try again has been cancelled for entirely different reasons. Due to a years-long plan to renovate and upgrade apartments here at the Manor, we are faced with living somewhere else for at least a year, maybe longer. Why? There is no space comparable to our present home available to us now. We have no idea where we will be, but commuting from somewhere else, another part of this city, an entirely different city or even another country, isn't feasible. Talented as we may be, bi-location is not in our skill set. What added ease and joy for us was working right here where we lived.
Keeping Theatre in the Circle alive has become more challenging with Covid protocols, reductions in arts funding, maintaining a safe work space, and the very necessary mandates for inclusion, equity and diversity. It's been fun; it's been real. But bottom-line, the party's over. We wouldn't trade the world the opportunities we've had to work with talented artists of all stripes and such enthusiastic and generous audiences.
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Thanks you for being part of the little theater that could.
With love and gratitude. Bill & Mark Corcoran |
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