THEIR OWN COMPANY
Starting a new theatre company takes courage and passion
So, what do you do when you’re desperate to do a play and your local theatre group turns you down? You start your own theatre company, of course.
That’s what happened with Daniel Schneiderman and Dan Penrose.
Daniel, 41, a teacher at Norwood Park Elementary School in Hamilton, fell in love with Jeff Baron’s play “Visiting Mr. Green.” He was an usher at Montreal’s Saidye Bronfman Centre when the show played there.
“I watched it almost every night,” Schneiderman says. “I wanted to play the part of Ross so much. When I moved to Hamilton, I tried to interest people in doing the play, but there were no takers.”
Schneiderman finally contacted Dan Penrose, then president of the Hamilton Players’ Guild. He wanted to do the play, too. The Guild said no dice because it had only two characters. “They felt it was too small to produce and wouldn’t sell,” Penrose says.
Time passed. Baron’s play sat on the shelf.
Howard Jerome, 80, a professional actor who was born and raised in Brooklyn, moved to Hamilton.
Jerome had acted in European films, with the Yiddish Theatre in New York and had toured America in summer stock. He played Mushnik in “Little Shop of Horrors” and Herr Schultz, the fruit seller in “Cabaret.”
His most recent local role was as Senator McCarthy in “Langston Hughes vs Joe McCarthy” at Artword Artbar. Here was a Mr. Green just waiting to be asked to play the role.
The next person to catch the Mr. Green fever was Sandi Katz, a talented, underused local director.
Katz, Schneiderman and Penrose asked local producer-actress Enid Aaron to join the merry band. Schneiderman’s dream role was finally within his grasp.
The play is a sweet little story about an elderly man who stays in the house and broods about life. When he is hit by a car, Ross
the driver, comes to visit him and what starts out as an unlikely relationship turns to real friendship.
“I love the relationship between these characters,” Schneiderman says. “Each is struggling with demons, each is trying to heal. Together they find a way forward.”
“What happens in the play is very personal for me,” Jerome says. “It’s on an emotional level. I don’t want to say why. Just believe me, it is. There are moments when this character has to come to grips with things. Things that pull the carpet out from under him. It’s about defeating illusion. This man fights with God. And that’s such a Jewish thing to do. It just touches me very deeply.
“I think the play is universal and will resonate with a great many people for many different reasons. I think it asks us to keep the heart open because we never really know when and how healing is going to take place.”
“This is the role of a lifetime,” Jerome says.
Starting a new theatre company, even on a small scale takes courage and passion.
“Whether this is a one-off by this group remains to be seen, but so far, working on this play is a blast and the satisfaction of making this play come to life in Hamilton is rewarding,” says Dan Penrose, one of the show’s producers.
“We don’t have grandiose ambitions at this point,” Sandi Katz adds. “If a play speaks to one, or all of us, we will consider it on an individual basis. We may choose different venues for performances....”
Enid Aron, coproducer of “Visiting Mr. Green” has the last word. “Sandi, Dan and I bring ample theatre experience to be able to mount this show without traditional backing of a community theatre company.” Looks like Daniel Schneiderman’s dream is going to come true.