Company breaks new ground
By Ruby Nancy, QUAD-CITY TIMES -- February 15, 2002

This region is a great place to live if you like to see theater, since 75-80 productions open in or around the Quad-Cities each year. There’s always plenty to see, and sometimes as many as five shows will open in a single weekend.

Into this “virtual plethora” (I have to work that phrase into a story at least every five years, and it was time) of local and regional theater comes a brand new group, the New Ground Theatre. New Ground’s debut production, “The Waverly Gallery,” opens tonight at the new theater on the campus of Rivermont Collegiate in Bettendorf, where the new group has a permanent home.

A small professional organization, New Ground is the brainchild of Davenport native Chris Jansen, and it takes over a niche that none of the many fine theaters already established are in. Jansen says New Ground will feature local performers and staff, and she plans to focus on new and original work rather than the handful of popular comedies and musicals that many theaters rely on for their bread and butter.

It’s a risky business to focus on show that many audience members haven’t seen before — since in the theater, familiarity is often what breeds ticket sales — but Jansen is convinced that her organization will find plenty of adventurous ticket buyers who are looking for something new.

“Waverly Gallery” producer Carolyn Erickson says New Ground is the obvious next step in the evolution of Quad-City theater.

“New Ground Theatre offers a logical extension of the already considerable amount of good theater and talent we have in the area. To be a professional theater means that we can do two important things: pay theater professionals for their talent and hard work and also gain the rights to first-run plays, which community theaters cannot do.

“New Ground Theatre hopes to complement and to extend the theater this community already has.”

In an area where college and community theaters don’t have the budgets to pay actors (and in some cases directors, designers or technicians either), and where most professional groups rely on out of town talent, Jansen and Erickson also sure that local performers will show up for auditions. Having access to the best local talent means the quality of acting in New Ground’s productions will also draw audiences who are willing to pay to see topnotch performers — and Jansen says that’s just what her first show has.

“They’re terrific, all of them! Part of our mission is to discover and develop local talent in all areas of theater. As New Ground grows, so will the compensation to all artists involved — designers, directors, carpenters, etc. Our dream is to one day pay these people a livable wage.”

Actors who appear in “The Waverly Gallery” include Olin Morrow, Pat Flaherty, Susan McDonald, Holly Kennedy, and Jerry Wolking, and these folks definitely are some of the best of the many, many great actors who appear all over the area in all kind of plays and musicals.

Jansen, who directs “The Waverly Gallery,” says the script focuses on a single family, with an emphasis on how they deal with a particular, too-familiar problem. “The show is the story of a woman’s battle with Alzheimer’s, as seen through the eyes of her adult grandson.”

Erickson says it’s the perfect first show for New Ground. “First, it is good theater, and secondly, it deals with a topic that touches most of our lives, either directly or tangentially. We are attempting to reach both theater lovers and people within the community who are care givers and support persons for Alzheimer’s (patients). This is a very serious issue — approached with sensitivity and also humor in this play.”

After the Feb. 21 performance, audience members are invited to stay for a free panel discussion on Alzheimer’s, and an opening celebration will be for ticket-holders attending the Feb. 15 performance. Members of the panel include Jansen; James Block, from the Alzheimer’s Association; Mary Decker, from the Center for Active Seniors, Inc.; and Denise Heinrichs, from the Area Agency on Aging.

This panel discussion is likely the first of many such events, since a community-oriented educational component is common in small professional theaters almost everywhere.

A brand new performance space is another audience draw, and New Ground is fortunate just to have a theater to work in, rather than moving around from church basements to rented conference rooms and the like to find a place to house each show. And the luxury of a new facility is a major plus that goes beyond simply having a permanent home.

“The new theater is a beautiful facility, recently built at Rivermont Collegiate. The stage is a proscenium, with 125 fixed, raked seats. There are an additional 200 comfortable theatre seats that can be pulled out if needed.”

Plans for New Ground’s next show, May’s “Dinner With Friends,” are already underway, but make sure you get in on the “Ground” floor by attending the debut performance of “The Waverly Gallery.”

If you go
“The Waverly Gallery”
When: 7:30 p.m. today-Feb. 16 and 21-23; 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 17 and 24
Where: Rivermont Collegiate (formerly St. Katherine’s/St. Mark’s School), Bettendorf
How much: $25-$20 for opening champagne-dessert reception Friday; $12-$10 other shows.
Information: (563) 326-PLAY (7529), 3-5:30 p.m. weekdays

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