Theater group with grit turns 10
By Kathleen Acuff, Town Crier Staff Writer
 Linda Piccone gives direction to actors Al Fischer, left, and Alex Alexander, right, during rehearsals of Bus Barn Stage Company’s upcoming production, “Romance in D.” The theater group celebrates its 10th birthday this year. |
Last week, Bus Barn Stage Company’s latest production, a romantic comedy, was in its fifth week of rehearsal, sets were being built onstage, work was starting on lighting and sound and actors were looking forward to dress rehearsals. James Sherman’s “Romance in D” opens Thursday and runs for a month in the old bus barn between the Los Altos History Museum and the sports field at 97 Hillview Ave.
This year is the 10th anniversary of the theater group that many in the community worked to establish after the demise of the Los Altos Conservatory Theatre in 1994. Bus Barn Stage Company was founded in June 1995 with startup funding from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Los Altos Community Foundation. Vicki Reeder of Follies fame is president of the board of directors, Jean Mordo of the Los Altos Hills City Council is treasurer and Roy Lave, founder of the community foundation, is secretary.
Barbara J. Cannon, a hardworking, jovial creative force, has been artistic director since 1999. Linda Piccone, who also acts in theaters around the Bay Area, directs “Romance in D.” Together with business manager Leslie Fox Farrington, formerly of Theatre in the Mountains in Los Gatos, they took time last week to talk about the past, present and future of the Los Altos theater.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, they said, audiences have craved comedies and musicals, and Bus Barn’s seasons have coupled that preference with the need to expand their audience base. Although musicals are expensive to mount, Bus Barn manages to present two each season. The current season began with “Aida,” Elton John and Tim Rice’s “Disney” version of the Verdi tragedy. Teens bought half the tickets for the sold-out performances and awarded the players standing ovations. Farrington said a survey revealed that “Aida” was the first Bus Barn show most of the teens had seen.
The next musical in the barn will be “John & Jen,” opening in May. The story of relationships between siblings, and between parents and children, should also appeal to families.
Stage manager Nichole Hamilton will direct “Over the Tavern,” a tale of growing up Catholic in the 1950s told from the point of view of a pubescent boy. Cannon said last Thursday, “Tonight, we’re auditioning the 12-year-olds with the nuns.” The comedy with five roles for children will hit the boards in January. It will be followed in March by another comedy, “Expecting Isabel,” the story of 40-somethings who decide they want a child.
“We’re not doing ‘Oklahoma’-type theater here,” Cannon said. “These are comedies with grit.”
Finding creative ways
For years now, tight budgets have been old news in the arts. Farrington devotes much of her time to applying for grants. No one wants subscription prices to rise, so in addition to grant-writing, Bus Barn’s leadership looks for creative ways to bring more people through the door. They stage Wednesday night performances and offer matinees. One innovation is the “Bus Pass” of six tickets to use in any way for any show except an opening night. The Bus Pass has become popular with groups, such as “Late for the Bus,” which find a date that suits their members and get together to dine out or share potluck before a performance.
Most of Bus Barn’s funding comes from individuals, Farrington said. Despite dwindling audiences for live theater of all kinds across the nation, the company’s subscriber base has risen to about 560, bucking the trend. Still, “People don’t know the theater is here,” Piccone said. Farrington added, “I go to shops downtown and they think it’s for kids.” And there is one of the company’s big challenges: visibility.
Local citizens may not be aware of the presence of a well-regarded small - not “little” - theater in their midst, but Bus Barn is well known in the Bay Area theater community, Cannon said.
“We are in the ranks of the professionals,” Farrington explained. Bus Barn is a semi-professional theater that hires actors who perform in Equity houses, although they may not be Equity members themselves. The company doesn’t pay much, but actors eager to work will settle for gas money.
Piccone said, “When a theater says they’ll stipend you, you say, ‘OK, I’m there.’” The longtime Los Altos resident has a role in Foothill Music Theatre’s production of “Urinetown,” which is scheduled for Feb. 17 through March 12 in the Foothill Playhouse. She has also appeared in Bus Barn productions.
Intimate setting
One of the appealing qualities of a Bus Barn performance is its intimacy - all 100 seats can be described as ringside. What’s good for the audience is good for the actors. Cannon and Piccone said actors enjoy working at Bus Barn because of the rapport they develop with the audience in the small room.
“You don’t get that opportunity a lot,” Piccone said. “This is a perfect little black box to hone your craft.”
The theater is intimate in an unusual way, as well. Audience members can - and do - buttonhole the director and the artistic director during intermission and tell them what they think of the performance they’re watching.
“They’ll tell you at intermission if they don’t like it, too!” Piccone said.
In a small company, even the leadership plays many roles. Cannon now maintains the Web site, which got a makeover this year. As often as not, the artistic director designs and sews the costumes for Bus Barn productions. Cannon is once again in charge of costumes for “Romance in D,” but fortunately, the cast for this play can be outfitted with garments from Ross and GW of Los Altos. The three theater veterans around the table in the crowded workroom dissolved in laughter as they recalled the pains Cannon took to costume the foursome at the heart of “Forever Plaid,” which she directed last January and February. Every seamstress and tailor knows the challenge of matching plaids at seams on a single garment. The plaids on Cannon’s costumes matched across the arc of the four actors as they stood side-by-side onstage.
“Never again!” she vowed.
“Aida,” which called for a multiethnic cast that could sing and dance, was the most complicated, expensive production the company has staged to date. Bus Barn was only the third nontouring theater company to mount it. Cannon made several costumes for each actor, more than 120 costumes in all.
“We followed the Disney concept: made it as simple as possible. It was a stretch for us, and we pulled it off,” she said.
Farrington and Piccone heaped praise on Cannon, whom they clearly enjoy working with.
“It’s hard to find very artistic people who can sweat the details and be on time,” the business manager said. “She spent weeks casting ‘Aida’ - she kept going through her Rolodex to find the right cast.” Piccone added, “It’s a nice, comfortable place to work.”
Cannon said, “I work hard to find good people to work here. We don’t pay a lot so we try to make it fun - by having things on schedule, giving people water, providing a friendly environment and publicity so people come to the show.
“Theater is an ensemble process,” she said. “I tend not to hire people who are not team players. It’s a small world - all the artistic directors know each other. If you’re a diva, people know - your name gets around.”
Performances of “Romance in D” are scheduled through Dec. 17 at the Bus Barn Theatre, 97 Hillview Ave. Curtain rise will be 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 27 and Dec. 4, and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 14. Admission is $20 for Thursday’s preview, $32 for opening night and the champagne reception this Friday, $28 Thursdays through Saturdays, $24 Sundays and $22 Dec. 14. For more information or to make reservations, call the box office at 941-0551 or visit www.busbarn.org.
