Imagination Creation Theatre Productions Joins the Perkins Lineup
It has sometimes seemed to me that of all the arts, theatre is the least accepted in polite company. If someone says he is an artisst, we expect a painter, not an actor. A center for the arts may or may not include theatre, but if it does not include visual arts then it is not a center for the arts but a center for performing arts. I am glad to say that Perkins Center for the Arts in Collingswood, N. J. is breaking that worn-out tradition.
Perkins Center for the Arts in Collingswood is a 2002 expansion of the Perkins Center for the Arts in nearby Moorestown, operated since 1977 in an historic building which was bequeathed to the town by the last of the Perkins family in the 1930s. I expected they’d have been a wealthy family with artistic sympathies, but they were an artistically unremarkable group. They bred dogs and grew ornamental trees but never were patrons or participants in the arts. Their public spirit and grace simply provided the space.
Moorestown had municipal offices there until the early 1970s. But when the building needed repair, the municipality decided to tear it down. A public outcry placed the structure in the historical buildings registry, protecting it. The township decided to make it a self-supporting center for the arts.
Until very recently, the Perkins Centers have been, with small programming exceptions for the youngest, dedicated to visual arts. The Moorestown Center still is. But the Collingswood Annex decided to expand its arts repertoire by partnering with a small, local company, Imagination Creation Theatre Productions, to use its large, second floor loft space as a black box for children’s and family theatre. At present, Imagination Creation is a separate entity renting the Perkins Center space. There is hope of a merging, but at this point it’s not imminent.
Imagination Creation Theatre Productions is the 5-year-old, non-profit child of Charles J. Gill, a significant presence in South Jersey theatre for over 25 years. He was artistic director of the Broadway Theatre in Pitman, NJ at the time when its subscription base was 3500, a number comparing it to the regional giant, The Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. He was on staff at the Ritz Theatre in Oaklyn, N.J. as an actor, director and teacher. The Ritz runs a full schedule of main stage musical theatre as well as children’s theatre, maintaining professonal production values with visiting Equity performers and semi-professional actors and crew.
Charles Gill went on his own to build a company intent on performing in non-traditional spaces. Other than working at Perkins, they are taking Charlie Brown into inner-city Camden to perform in schools. They are in beginning negotiations with a local restaurant for some holiday performances of a treatment of the Christmas Carol story written by Dickens specifically to be performed around and through the courses of an elegant dinner. They are in contact with local organizations, both for- and non-profit, offering on-site performances as fund raisers or just plain fun.
A mentor once told Charles Gill to play to his audience, that is, pick material and perform it in a style which delights and instructs the folks who are actually in the seats rather than imaginary theatre patrons who’d be delighted with a DaDa revival or a festival of noh-plays. The philosophical extension of this idea is not only to play to, but to go to the audiences. That’s what Imagination Creation Theatre Productions is trying to do: bring live performance back into the general experience and encourge new viewers to consider that they might like to at least give it a whirl.
Imagination Creation Theatre Productions is a step above Community and a step below Equity. Actors are paid small amounts, but then the box office collects in small amounts. Auditions are open; standards are high. There have been people working in productions asked to leave because they were not taking the work seriously enough. The people who appear in Imagination Creation productions are a good sampling of young, seriously intent local talent sometimes aided by local veterans of like status. They believe in themselves sufficiently to invest in continued training, and most have degrees in the craft.
Permanent members of the group are Charles J. Gill, artistic director, Travis Lawrence, technical director and Christina Forshey, vocal director. Actors more than likely to appear in productions are Felicia Latoya Brown, Jim Hettler and Derek L. Miller, Lucy, Linus and Schroeder in the current production of You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown! (at Perkins through October 22, 2011).Click here for details and tickets.
Having seen their work and spoken with them at some length, I judge these are artists worth the effort of supporting. I’d be on their stage if I could, but my contribution will be limited to writing about themg. Oh yes, and applauding thunderously as the curtain rings down.
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