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Stage revival
(by Julia Werner - January 06, 2010)
Starting Jan. 8, theatergoers can experience a double blast from the past. Citilites Theatre Company will reopen after 13 years with a production of Terrence McNally’s Love! Valour! Compassion!, a show that hasn’t seen a St. Louis stage in over a decade.
Associate Artistic Director Michael Brightman co-founded Citilites in 1993 with a few friends before theater had become a staple of St. Louis. Their goal was simple: to put on good quality musicals. GP Hunsaker (now artistic director) was brought on to produce and the company began turning out shows including Evita and Chicago. But after a three-year run at New City School, Citilites disbanded due primarily to financial issues.
Though Brightman and Hunsaker traveled in the same circles and remained active in St. Louis theater over the years, it wasn’t until this past summer that the McNally play brought Citilites back together.
“We kind of missed each other for various reasons 15 years ago, so we said, ‘Why not?’ If we’re gonna do it, let’s bring Citilites back,” Hunsaker said.
Hunsaker was set to direct an Olympus production of Love! Valour! Compassion!. The cast was nearly complete but the production had been postponed several times due to changes of venue. After Brightman was brought on board as a cast replacement, he and Hunsaker reconnected and the two decided to produce the show themselves. They brought mutual friend Seth Pyatt aboard as managing director.
“There was a show cast and nowhere to do it,” Hunsaker said. “All three of us here are actors as well, we know how hard that is to go through that, especially since this show has not been done in 15 years in St. Louis.”
“I think we almost felt an obligation to do this show,” Brightman added.
Citilites has now expanded from strictly musicals to include drama and comedy. These days their play choices stem from a policy they dubbed “five-15.” If a show’s been done in St. Louis in the past five years, or is more than 15 years old, they don’t produce it. Pyatt explained that musicals are an exception to the rule.
“With musicals, we feel like if there’s an old show that’s been done in the ’60s but no one’s done it since we can sort of revitalize it and give it a fresh new perspective whereas a play is pretty much set,” Pyatt said.
Hunsaker stressed that despite their desire to produce newer and perhaps less mainstream productions, Citilites isn’t going to break the mold.
“We’re not going to try to reinvent the wheel,” Hunsaker said. “We’re going to do quality theater.”
Brightman and Hunsaker have also embraced the fact that the theater business in St. Louis has grown immensely since the mid-’90s. They appear to believe whole-heartedly in the sentiment of “the more the merrier.”
“It absolutely is better; it’s not competition,” Brightman said. “More theater breeds more audiences. I know very few people that are devoted to just one theater company. The audience doesn’t care so much who’s producing the show, they just want to see good theater.”
Citilites’ first show, the long gestating production of Love! Valour! Compassion!, tells the story of eight men who spend three summer holiday weekends together coming to terms with issues like infidelity, soul-searching and AIDS. The season rounds out with John Patrick Shanley’s Psychopathia Sexualis in July and Stephen Sondheim’s Marry Me a Little in November.
Though Citilites is backed by a solid team, Hunsaker said they are always open to expansion.
“I think with any endeavor whether it be theater or otherwise you’re always looking for growth and you’re always looking for new people,” Hunsaker said. “I think new blood is always healthy and beneficial. One of our philosophies is we don’t care where a good idea comes from, just be smart enough to take it.”
• Love! Valour! Compassion! runs Jan. 8 through 17 at the Kranzberg Arts Center. For showtime and ticket information, call 773-1879 or visit www.citilitestheatre.com.
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