New ideas keeping Shakespeare alive
RICHARD WEIZEL rweizel@ctpost.com

STRATFORD — Revive it and they will come.
Build it right and they will come from throughout the region, nation and even from around the globe.

That was the message eight theater operators, producers and directors conveyed to the Town Council over the past few weeks in their presentations on why they should be selected to be consultants and or operate the long shuttered Shakespeare Festival Theater.

The presenters vying for the chance to revive the once legendary Elm Street showcase came from the local community, other parts of the state and New England, and even from as far away as Los Angles and Oxford, England.

Their ideas ranged from creating an all encompassing Shakespeare Festival and season with mostly Bard productions, to musicals and virtually no Shakespeare at all.

Some want to be consultants guiding the town on how to proceed, others want to come in and operate the 1,500-seat theater after it is renovated. A few want to do both.

But the overall theme was that one of Connecticut's biggest tourist attractions during the 1950s and 1960s could return to its former prominence, or even better, a national or international destination as successful as other Shakespearean venues around the world.

Now, the Town Council must decide which three proposals are the best and bring the applicants back for final presentations.

"We saw an amazingly wide range of proposals with a lot of different ideas that lets us know there is very serious interest by experienced people throughout the theater industry," Town Council Chairman Michael Henrick said. Mayor James R. Miron was just as impressed by the proposals, and suggested that a combination of the plans could be considered.
"This just proves what we've been saying for a long time, that the Shakespeare Theater will finally be restored in some way to serve as both a cultural and economic engine for Stratford and the region," Miron said.

But some of the presenters said it could become a lot more than that.

``The Shakespeare Theater is an international monument with so much romance and history that it must be restored and can become a national treasure,'' said Leonard Soloway, who has been a Broadway producer for decades and has served as general manager for more than 200 Broadway productions.

``Major movie stars and Broadway actors appeared in Stratford, and I believe it can be just as successful again," said Soloway," representing Koerner Kronenfeld Partners of New York City.

KKP President Carl Koerner, whose group last June failed to meet a deadline to raise $1 million to begin renovations on the theater, said his newly configured group now has the financial backing to make it work.

Duncan M. Webb, president of Webb Management Services of New York, said the town must first figure out what would work best at the theater.

He said his group has more than 20 years of expertise in studying how best to open and revive theaters and other performing arts centers.

``This is all we do. It is our company's purpose to study, evaluate and recommend how a particular theater or performing

arts center should be revived,'' Webb told the council.

But some vying for the project told the council they already know what it will take to raise the curtain.

Frank Tobin, of Frank Enterprises of Los Angeles, said he would rely heavily on producing both Shakespeare and other "classical theater" by featuring experienced Bard actor Randall Duk Kim.

The plan would include a regular Shakespeare Theater Festival season from April to November, operating an academy for actors in training, and conducting outreach in theater and the arts to local schools.

"I would go anywhere, even to Alaska to re-open this crown jewel, historic theater," Tobin told council members. "This theater is comparable to the Metropolitan Opera, Theatre Guild and the Julliard School."

"Shakespeare is a billion-dollar business," Tobin said, adding that the Oregon Shakespeare Festival generates $163.1 million annually for the local and state economy, and that Stratford Theatre Festival in Ontario, Canada, generated $145.3 million a year for Canada's economy.

"This theater can be a tourist destination, a place people will come to and stay for days — frequenting hotels, restaurants and other businesses," Tobin said. "We have the passion to make it happen."

So does British Shakespearean producer Paige Newmark, who traveled from Oxford to make his presentation, and presented perhaps the most ambitious of all eight proposals — indicating the theater could become an international Shakespeare destination and that he would be willing to move to America to lead the effort.

"I envision this becoming a world-class theater, but one that will take time to evolve," said Newmark, artistic director of Shakespeare South Africa, with a long resume of directing and producing Shakespeare and creating Bard festivals. "This city has in its possession the crown jewel of Shakespearean theaters in American," Newmark said. "Talk about what's in a name. Twinned with Stratford England — the birthplace of Shakespeare, and Stratford Ontario — not only the most successful Shakespeare company in North America, but the most successful theatre company anywhere, this can become the premier Shakespeare producing company in America," he said.

But Newmark's plan may be too ambitious, say council leaders, pointing out the town has allocated $2.5 million for renovations and that they would like to see the theater up and running as soon as possible.

Some presenters said producing musicals and holding concerts would be a better draw than Shakespeare.

William J. Hanney, owner and producer of Theatre by the Sea in Matunuck, R.I., said he would produce musicals, modern shows and concerts, but with virtually no Shakespearean presentations.

"You could have big-name stars like Carly Simon for concerts, and other types of shows in addition to the theater productions," he said.

Hanney, who said he doesn't believe Shakespeare would draw as many patrons, has also built, operated and restored movie theaters throughout New England including the Stratford 14 complex on Barnum Avenue. He said he would present summer shows already staged at his Rhode Island theater in Stratford as well.

Hanney's group, Ocean State Theatre Company, would do for Stratford what it did for Rhode Island, said Barry Knott, his local attorney.

"There are great similarities to what Bill Hanney did in restoring Theatre by the Sea, which had been closed for four years, and what we need to happen here in Stratford," Knott said. "Last summer he successfully restored a once popular, but long-closed theater that is now having great success," Knott said.

The managing director of Shakespeareince Productions, Inc. in Waterbury, Jeffrey Lapham proposed that he serve as both consultant and operator of a revived Shakespeare Theater patented along the lines of his success in Waterbury.

"The success of Shakeperience can be attributed, in large part, to management's ability to thrive equally in the arts and business worlds," he said.

Finally, there was local director Louis Burke, who has for nearly two decades insisted he should revive the Shakespeare Festival Theater despite a failed attempt during the late 1990's.

As part of a new plan Burke last week promised to bring a replica of the renowned Globe Theater in London used in the Academy Award-winning film "Shakespeare in Love" to the grounds of theater for use as a second theater.

"The only way reviving the theater is going to truly work is to make it a multi-use site to create a tourist destination that will draw people here for days," Burke said.

Burke, the artistic director of Stratford Festival Theater, Inc. presented a letter from famed Brithish actress Judi Dench vowing to donate the replica of the Rose used in the movie for permanent use on the grounds of the Shakespeare Festival Theater in Stratford.

Burke also recounted the long and complex history of how his former group failed in 2000 to reopen the theater because, he claims, a reverter clause that threatened and eventually did return the theater's ownership to the state, caused funding to dry up just as he was about to complete renovations and start productions. It was once again Burke's shaky financial plans, which would include putting the theater and grounds up for collateral, that made council members and Mayor Miron skeptical, they said. "There's a lot of problems with his [Burke's] plan," Henrick said. "Burke said if we don't have multiple theaters the whole venture would fail and he wouldn't be part of it. I don't know that's something we can or would be willing to do."

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Article courtesy of the Connecticut Post

Town of Stratford