Live theater survives six years in Morro Bay
The Board of Directors of By The Sea Productions – Front row: Kelli M. Poward, Sam Gottlieb,
Rhonda Crowfoot, Anita Schwaber – Back row: Sarah Ruth Smith, Sheridan Cole, Janice Peters. Courtesy photo.
– Sheridan Cole swept into the hall with bundles in her arms. Her husband was already there, busy constructing props for the play Cole would be directing. She was excited because this is the seventh season for By The Sea Productions Community Theater in Morro Bay and she was doing “The Psychic” written by Sam Bobrick. This is a play Cole was ready to direct in 2020 when everything crashed with the onset of the pandemic.
“Surviving six years of live theater in a small town is a monumental achievement,” said Janice Peters, a board member and one of the founders of the troupe, “and getting through the loss of a whole season was difficult.” No one could predict that the pandemic would last as long as it did and that put into question whether an audience would return when they were finally able to open.
By The Sea Productions morphed out of the theater players of the Pewter Plough Playhouse in Cambria and began with their first season in 2017. Much work getting the group started began with finding a venue for the performances. It had to be big enough to fit a stage and hold at least 50 people in the audience. The group was thrilled when Sidney Symington, Pastor of Saint Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church in Morro Bay offered the use of the church hall. Symington, who is a bit of a thespian himself, was happy for the collaboration. “The church benefits as well as us,” Peters explained, “as they get part of ticket sales and charge us a low rent.”
Players got busy constructing the basic stage that is used for every production but is changed with additions of windows and doors and stage left and stage right entrances and exits depending on the footprint of the play. The director oversees what goes into the set and the whole thing works by illusion.
Community theater is non-professional. Everyone is a volunteer. Actors are not paid, but some do get mileage compensation if they travel from outside of the coastal area. “A small theater like this remains non-professional as long as they don’t seat over 90 people,’ Peters said, “We have settled on 50 seats maximum, and a reservation is required.” By The Sea Productions is a nonprofit 501c3.
This year the production company is pleased to have received $4600 in grant money from the City of Morro Bay and plans to change the theater lighting to LED lights which are more economical and better for the environment. Aside from ticket sales, donations, and grants are what support the theater. Community theater benefits the city by attracting tourists. Some people from outside the area are regulars often coming from Los Angeles and the Bay area to the productions. One woman let them know that she plans her vacation visits here around what plays are being offered.
Little theaters like this can offer a variety of themes in the plays chosen. Peters commented that their first season in 2017 was mostly plays that were edgier in nature. After doing “Of Mice and Men” by Steinbeck someone complained that they had gone home feeling sad and would rather go home feeling happy. “Then, we altered our choices and began to look for more positive plays,” Peters said.
One area where they choose more edgy or plays with a social justice theme is Readers Theater. In 2019 they actually performed “War of the Worlds” in Readers Theater. This is not just actors standing at a podium and reading but works with an appropriate set and the actors do move around.
As the pandemic began to lift its grisly hold on the community, principles of the production company immediately swept into action. “We had many plays that we wanted to do,” Peters said, “and that we had to hold off on until we could have an audience.” To make sure everyone would be safe both masks and evidence of vaccination were required. Overhead fans were installed and outside air was allowed to flow inside. Seating was reduced to create more space between people. Then as 2022 moved into spring the theater doors were open again with the production of “84 Charing Cross Road.” “We were so happy to see so many of our friends returning,” Peters said, “It was a sigh of relief.”
Sheridan Cole starts measuring space along the back side of the set that will hold a poster that fits the theme of “The Psychic.” She is in her element. She is on the board of directors along with Peters and others on the board are its President, Rhonda Crowfoot, and actors and directors Kelli M. Poward, Sam Gottlieb, Anita Schwaber, and Sarah Ruth Smith.
Cole’s play The Psychic is billed as a “mysterious comedy” dealing with the chaotic life of Adam Webster, a down-on-his-luck writer in New York, who has put a sign in his apartment, in desperation to make the rent: “Psychic Reading $25.” The sign soon draws the interest of the lovely and conflicted Laura, her shady husband, Roy, Roy’s mistress, Rita, a gangster named Johnny Bubbles, and ace Detective Norris Coslow. In the surprising twists that follow The Psychic entangles Adam in a hilarious murder mystery that you won’t want to miss! It begins Friday, Feb. 17, and continues weekends Friday, Saturday, and Sunday through March 12.
By The Sea Productions is at St. Peters by the Sea Church, 545 Shasta Avenue, in Morro Bay. For tickets go to www.bytheseaproductions.org. Evidence of vaccination is no longer required. Masks optional.
– By Ruth Ann Angus
