We don’t mean to sound cheesy when we say the Northwest Savoyards are trying to put the “community” back in community theater.
For instance, Savoyards members are attending neighborhood meetings to introduce themselves and get feedback.
They are building a strong partnership with the Everett Symphony Orchestra to offer a combination “Symphony &Savoyards” package consisting of three symphony concerts and two theatrical presentations.
They also plan to enhance their children’s program.
And, after surveying their audience, the Savoyards have made a commitment to give people what they want: Classics that the whole family can enjoy.
That’s one of the reasons the Savoyards are kicking off the 2006-07 season with one of the best-known Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, “The Mikado.”
“We chose it because number one, it is a wonderful opera,” said Teresa Boursaw, executive producer. “We have found doing the lesser-known Gilbert and Sullivan, people don’t come to the show, and we’ve tried and tried, but the well-known ones fill the seats.
“And with big blockbusters like this, it gets people excited about the season.”
Charlene Rawson, the Savoyards’ new publicity director, said the theater company is responding to the community’s request for more family-themed entertainment.
Rawson said there are other local companies that want to make audiences think or are producing edgier theater. Not the Savoyards.
“I was telling one woman that we have the “Sound of Music” opening in January and she was all happy because she can go see it with her grandkids,” Rawson said. “We just want people to come and have a good time and forget about reality for a while.”
Rawson said the goal of the Northwest Savoyards is to build a strong bond between the Savoyards and the audience. To attain that goal, outreach must be done, she said.
“If you’ve got a small group that’s done it over and over again, it tends to become their project; it becomes sort of insular,” Rawson said. “We don’t want to be a clique. We want to take the teeth out of that idea. It’s about the whole community.”
Arts writer Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424 or goffredo@heraldnet.com.
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