Interview: Elaine Roberts Directs SAME TIME, NEXT YEAR at Carriage House Players
BWW chats with Elaine Roberts in between her long days and nights putting a show together.
By: Mark C. Lloyd Sep. 30, 2021
DIRECTOR ELAINE ROBERTS IS BACK!
She really didn't go anywhere. I just wanted to yell out her name to promote her new show with one darn good cast!
If you miss this show shame on you!
This world has too much drama so get away and ESCAPE!
Elaine Roberts chatted a bit ... in between her long days and nights putting a show together.
MCL: Talk about your exciting Theater life!
ER: Wow, my theatre life. When I was in high school, I was an Art major. I wanted to be a commercial artist, but quite honestly was really not good enough. I was however at least good enough to help out painting sets for the school's annual play. So I always volunteered because with the guidance of my art teacher I always learned something about the difference of doing a still life water color and painting for the theatre.
I met Doug Kern when he cast my daughter Erin as Mary in JCSS. We decided to team up and create Stage Struck Productions, Inc. Both of us came from a business background. I owned an insurance agency and Doug worked for a graphics design company. So we approached theatre from a business point of view. We were determined not to be a "one and done" company. We were together for about 18 years and were invited to be in-season at the Lancaster Opera House for about 16 of those years. I directed about 95% of the shows and Doug was the tech director. During that time we also took our LOH shows on the road to the Riviera Theatre and Palace Theatre. At the Riv we brought Jesus Christ Superstar back several years in a row at Easter time. Our largest crowd was 950 seats filled. More than several times we were seating 650 to 700 an evening for the weekend performances. At the end of one of our performances the crowd was still standing after we had opened the curtain three times. I recall
Doug calling to me on the head set (I was in the back of the Riv, he was calling the show from stage left in the wings) and he is asking....."do we go with a 4th curtain?!". We chose not to, but it was easily the highlight of my directing career. The incredible rush I felt from that audience and then later rushing outside to get to the stage door and meet up with my cast as they were coming off the set. Simply amazing.
MCL: You have a current Play ready to hit the stage. What's it about? Why this Play? Who's in the cast?
ER: The play I'm presently working on is "Same Time, Next Year" by Bernard Slade. I chose this play because I love the premise that we don't get to choose how and when love comes to us. I have done the show before but I have found this time my own age has made me see things differently, more clearly. I have directed "Camelot" a couple of times and have always been struck by the words of King Arthur "can passion be selected?" There are even similar lines spoken by one of the two characters in the show, Doris, played by Susana Breese. She asks George....."what joy is there in living in guilt and shame". Almost the exact words spoken by Guinevere to Lancelot. George is played by Darryl Hart, who by the way, was Lancelot when I directed "Camelot". I have known and directed both these fine actors for many years. It makes it easier to direct those that know you and trust you. I think trust Is a key ingredient in theatre in general. Trust between producer, director, actors and stage manager are vital to any production.
MCL: What do you want the audience to feel at the end of the night?
ER: I don't care what an audience feels at the end of the play, as long as they feel "something". My aim is that no audience member should leave the same way emotionally as they came in. My job is to be provocative. If they experience the sense of discovery the same way my actors and I do as we dissect the the characters through the text, then I feel I've done my job.
MCL: What's next for you?
ER: I'm not sure what is next for me. When I left Stage Struck, I moved south to the NC/SC and had to start fresh where no one knew me. I free lanced as a director and then began producing again. I returned home to Amherst four years ago and had to start fresh again for a third time. I have recently become part of the Carriage House Players so I'm back to directing and producing. My goal is to get the Taylor Theater, on the Kenan Center campus in Lockport filled to capacity whenever we do a show there. With all the glow coming off the shiny newly renovated Palace Theatre in Lockport, maybe we can just have a little of that light shine on us.
We open on October 15. Shows 15,17, 22,23,24.
Carriage House Players Presents: Same Time, Next Year
Kenan Center Campus • 433 Locust St, Lockport 14094
A romantic comedy by Bernard Slade. Directed by Elaine Roberts, starring Darryl Hart & Susana Breese.
October 15 & 16 at 7:30PM
October 17 at 3:00PM
October 22 & 23 at 7:30PM
October 24 at 3:00PM
https://stepoutbuffalo.com/event/carriage-house-players-presents-same-time-next-year/
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