‘Row After Row’ adds to Collar City’s theater surge
TROY, N.Y. » All of a sudden, Troy is becoming a hot spot for theater. Yet another new theater company is producing bold theater downtown and declaring the city as a place to attract adventurous audiences.
This week and next, on Fridays and Saturdays, Creative License, a company that has been presenting theater at The Albany Barn, Albany’s hip and relatively new performing arts space, will offer “Row After Row” in the Frear Building in downtown Troy.
Consider that the past two weekends saw the Foundry Theatre Company make its impressive debut at Russell Sage College and the Hangar on the Hudson with “New World Order.” It was a challenging work that used six plays of Harold Pinter to paint a bleak view of today’s world.
Add to that, within the last month, Aaron Marquise presented his cutting-edge theater piece “This is Not a Test” at the Arts Center of Troy.
This is more than a trend. It’s a movement.
Aaron Holbritter, a founding member of Creative License, and one of the three actors in ”Row After Row,” cites two factors: “An audience anxious to experience theatre with a point of view” and a variety of unique spaces in which to offer theater as the company’s reason to be in Troy.
“It has always been our plan to perform in many different locations. Troy has been high on that list. With the Frear Building I think we have found a space that is ideal for ‘Row After Row,’” Holbritter said.
He explains by saying that the play is about a trio of Civil War re-enactors who, after staging the historic battle, meet at a Gettysburg tavern. When the two male friends find a female sitting at what they regard their personal table, a tense discussion takes place. Though the topic is about the authenticity of replicating a historical event, it soon becomes clear – aided by trips to the past that the argument is really about identity and cultural changes that are affecting contemporary society.
Holbritter says that when they first walked into the Frear Building and saw the building’s three-story wrought iron staircase they immediately thought of it as a visual metaphor for the play’s themes about past and present cultural differences. “It’s a wonderful nontraditional space. When you see the staircase you just know it belongs of the past because something like that just isn’t being made any more. You have to ask, as does the play, what is the cost of progress? What is the value of authenticity?”
Besides being dramatically perfect for the play, Holbritter has other reasons to be enthusiastic about the space. He points out that The Frear Building is easily accessible as it is entered through the downtown Atrium. “Everyone knows where it is and the parking should not be a problem.” He promised there will be plenty of signage to guide people.
Holbritter says “Row After Row” is typical of the plays that Creative License is drawn to. “We tend to produce titles not everyone is familiar with. We prefer work that has been published less than 10 years and are attracted to fastpaced writing that has a cinematic style.”
He says this kind of material has appeal with the traditional theater-going audience, but also attracts a younger audience that feels comfortable with the filmlike style of the plays.
Creative License is also drawn to work that is under 90-minutes in length. Realizing that theater is an economic generator, he says, “Anyone attending “Row After Row (which starts at 7:30 p.m.) will be out of the theater before 9 p.m.
We try to select intimate material that will stimulate conversation. “We see our work as part of a total evening. I expect that after the show people will stay downtown, have a drink, or get something to eat and discuss the work. Troy is the perfect place for this kind of theater experience.”
“Row After Row” at the Frear Building, downtown Troy. Performances 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and Nov. 10 and 11. Tickets $15 available at the door and by going to www.creativelicenseonline.com.