Reply to Lisa Lias' post

Deborah - I tried to post this reply to Lisa Lias' post and I am not sure it posted, so I am sending it to you.

Lisa Lias – so nice to hear your voice again even if only in print. Nice to read your memories. The 70’s were awesome in Washington small theatres because there was more passion than money and nobody thought twice about working 18 to 24 hour days to make theatre happen. Your mention of HAGAR’s CHILDREN peaked my curiosity. I looked up the info. on that production in which you performed a wonderfully sympathetic Sharon. Also in the cast were Brad Oscar – yes, that Brad Oscar of recent Broadway fame and Ron Canada whom we see in so many movies and TV shows … also cast were Paula Marmon, Portia Kamons, Tom Loftis, Mark Morris, Peter Suddeth and here’s one that surprised me … Brian Hemmingsen as the Sheriff. What a great cast – directed by Harriet Davis who worked as an advisor to director Bobby Small on the original production that went on to NYC thanks to Joseph Papp. Wow, you mention the ASTA Theatre – brings backs memories of achievement as well as rivalries and fights when we all tried to worked under one roof – all of us ASTA founders - we all went separate ways and Donna Cooper wound up as head of the company. Oh yeah, the HAGAR production you did was performed in April 1979 as part of New Playwrights’ Theatre’s “Dramathon 79” at the L’Enfant Plaza Theatre because we had been thrown out of our home on Church Street by the fire marshal … how about that – we moved from a 125 seat theatre to an 800 seat theatre … the nerve of us! Oh Lord! And so many actors and techies worked so hard on that 53 hours marathon! I think we raised over $40,000 with that event (a fortune in those days).
Well, you’ve got me thinking when I should be writing on a script that’s due soon. But thanks for the memories Lisa. Those were wonderful years. The Washington Theatre Lab was remarkable, the Horizon’s Theatre Co was wonderful and Bart Whiteman’s passion for theatre gained him a noble following while turning some others off .. but we were all making theatre happen on a shoestring … we succeeded, we failed … and damn, it felt good!