Many Helping Hands Pitch in for a Theatrical Rebirth
From the July 2010 issue of Our Moment, the UConn Foundation's e-newsletter.
When the Nutmeg Summer Playhouse first opened its doors more than 50 years ago on the Storrs campus, audience members were scarce. “At first, there were more people onstage than in the house,” says Nafe Katter, the playhouse’s retired artistic director. But performances soon became standing room only. During one summer, more than 20,000 theatergoers crowded through the doors of the Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre to see the plays. The campus was hopping.
But state budget cuts ended the run in 2002, and the summer series was silenced.
This year, though, three corporate sponsors, Hamilton Sundstrand, Tim Hunter Design and Leyland Alliance, several community partners and the University stepped up to revive what is now known as the Nutmeg Summer Series. Significant contributions from campus radio station WHUS, the NewAlliance Foundation and the Willimantic Chronicle helped to make the season possible as well, along with important local collaborations with the Nathan Hale Inn, the UConn Dairy Bar and the Mansfield Community Center.
Run by the Connecticut Repertory Theatre, the professional producing arm of UConn’s Department of Dramatic Arts, this is the first summer in which the series has offered a full slate of productions since 2002. “Rent,” “All in the Timing,” and “Endurance” came first. Next up: “Smokey Joe’s Café,” a musical revue showcasing the music of Lieber and Stoller. The pair’s successes include the blockbusters “Jailhouse Rock” and “Hound Dog,” popularized by Elvis Presley, the Drifters’ “Dance with Me” and the Coasters’ “On Broadway.” The show runs through July 4 in the Harriett S. Jorgensen Theatre.
New England summer stock – also called ‘the straw hat circuit” - began in the 1920s, after sweltering New York theaters closed in the heat of summer. Summer stock was long a training ground for actors, graduating the likes of Ethel Barrymore, Ginger Rogers, Angela Lansbury, Bob Hope, and more recently, Kevin Spacey and Kyra Sedgwick, among others. At UConn, Katter remembers Equity actors and crew from Broadway mixing with UConn students and staff, flowing into campus to sleep in residence halls and work day and night to pull off as many as eight plays a summer. “We were very busy and totally and completely occupied by it,” Katter says. “It became a life experience, and terribly exciting.”
Motivations for the gifts that enabled this summer’s series were varied. “It was a program UConn was trying to reinvigorate, and therefore a significant opportunity for us to provide support,” says Cynthia Forbes, the manager of Community Relations at Hamilton Sundstrand, a recipient of the College of Fine Arts Corporate Philanthropy Award. “We’re also supporting local artists, the community and our employees as well. They get the discount at admission, which encourages them to attend.”
Creating a vibrant 12-month campus is a goal for Leyland Alliance, the developer of the mixed-use Storrs Center project and also a recipient of the Corporate Philanthropy Award. “We really think the University of Connecticut should be the regional host to a wide variety of events,” says company president Steve J. Maun. “Just like people go to New York and Boston to have cultural experiences, universities are small cities, and within the central region of Connecticut, the University can fill that need nicely. It really puts the University on the map in a much bigger way.”
It also serves the local population. “Nutmeg Summer Theatre represents our ongoing commitment to sharing the scholarly and creative work we do at UConn, thereby enhancing the cultural offerings to the local community,” says Tim Hunter, the renowned lighting and stage designer, and professor and Interim Head of the UConn’s Department of Dramatic Arts.
Frank Mack, the repertory theatre’s managing director, hopes the end result will be a vibrant arts festival that blooms on campus each summer – one that draws standing-room-only crowds once again. “There’s a very strong interest in having summers in Storrs be exciting,” he says. “To that end, private donations are absolutely critical.”
Tickets are available at www.crt.uconn.edu/ or by calling 860-486-4226. Those who wish to contribute to the Nutmeg Summer Theatre Program may visit giving.uconn.edu and click on ‘other gift designation,” or make a check payable to the UConn Foundation, write Nutmeg Summer Theatre Program in the memo line and mail to the UConn Foundation, 2390 Alumni Drive, U-3206, Storrs, CT 06269-3206.
For more information about supporting the School of Fine Arts, please contact the UConn Foundation’s development department.
