by Kirby Lindsay Laney, posted 14 December 2016
At Hale’s Palladium, for two weekends before Christmas/New Years, and two weekends after (between Dec 10th – Jan 15th) the Fremont Players & the Fremont Philharmonic Orchestra will perform their annual, original British Panto production. This year, this creative community of amateur thespians has conceived ‘Rapunzelstiltskin’, an obviously fractured-fairy tale mixing elements of two beloved stories with cracked characters, clever comedy, and catchy tunes composed specifically for this show.
The all-ages production presents enough heroes (and heroines) in charming costumes (particularly Butter Bib, the donkey) and bad guys getting their come-uppance, to keep kids transfixed. Yet, this year the Fremont Players have raised the number of sly (and not-so-sly) jokes, and other bits of business, that will amuse and engage adults, and make attending without a young one in-tow entirely appropriate.
Pulled Up On-Stage
The Fremont Players create these annual mash-ups using a community workshop process that may sound almost too idealistic to actually function. Yet, each year the performers, musicians and support crew all contribute ideas and critiques, creating a play written and directed by the entire company.
And it is a large company, too, using volunteer sweat-equity, off-stage and on, and sometimes blurring the line between. Alison Snyder started with the Fremont Players, in 2010, as its House Manager. She has also worked, backstage, with Moisture Festival and Cirque de Flambé, productions that have so many people in common that they could be considered kissin’ cousins to the Players.
At first, Snyder helped out the Players with her organizational skills, but she found herself drawn in deeper in by what she described as its, “fun and goofy and collaborative” ways. “This is community theater,” Snyder observed, “It’s that level of involvement.” Although she joined the company with no real theater experience, Snyder soon found herself on-stage.
This year she’s got a central role in ‘Rapunzelstiltskin’, as Rapunzel, but Snyder also serves the Players as Volunteer Coordinator and a Steering Committee Member. “We do everything in-house,” Snyder explained, with Jennifer Winesrich (who plays ‘Prince Radicchio’) doing Promotions and Candace Reiter (Constable ‘Bubble’) designing the poster art.
Snyder also has helped build the actual Panto, as everyone does. According to her, “on closing night, people put suggestions for the next show on the white board.” The Fremont Players then discuss the suggestions, and vote on a loose plot. By next summer, they will have developed an outline and enough of a draft to perform a version at Oregon Country Fair.
Their ‘Own Spin To It’
So far, the Players have done match-ups involving elements of Red Riding Hood, Three Pigs, Jack & The Beanstalk, Beauty & The Beast, Three Bears, Peter Pan, Dick Whittington & His Cat, etc. Yet, with ‘Rapuzelstiltskin’ they still found new characters and plots to incorporate.
In ‘Rapunzelstiltskin’, Misty Montaigne plays “a garden-variety witch” named Hortensia. “A sorceress, master gardener, evil doer” in love with Rumplestiltskin and stealing children to lock in her tower, Montaigne admitted her character, “likes to grow things and cast spells.” The three witches in last year’s ‘Hansel & Gretel And Three Bears’ stole the stage, scaring some children with their spot-on performances of evil. For ‘Rapunzelstiltskin’, Montaigne is pleased to have created an entirely new character. “I’m bringing my own spin to it,” Montaigne said, “It’s important to find your own interpretation. You can’t do the same thing every year.”
This is Montaigne’s fourth show, on-stage, with the Fremont Players, where she admitted that her favorite part is, “the people!” This year, she’s worked closely with Chris Huson, as they developed the relationship between Hortensia and his large, lumbering ‘Rumplestiltskin.’ As a couple supposedly together for hundreds of years, the performers collaborated to make the relationship believable and easily identifiable.
‘Just Fun!’
Krissy Otis also ‘works’ with Huson, her husband, who, “kind of roped me into it,” she explained about her discovery of the Fremont Players in 2004. For ‘Rapunzelstiltskin’, Otis plays ‘Prince Endive.’ It’s a normal prop in Panto for women to play men, and men to play women, but Otis admitted that for ‘Prince Endive’, “my gender is a little ambiguous.” Even the flirtation between the Prince and Rapunzel leads only to a profound friendship, based on a passion for fashion.
Otis took acting classes in college, including some improvisation, but she never went anywhere with it. “At work, I do public speaking,” she acknowledged, “but being on-stage, in costume, is just fun! It’s a stress-reliever.” For Otis, the fun of the Players keeps her coming back.
Otis particularly spoke of the finished product, and performing for the crowds. “The audience is the other actor,” she observed, “If we get kids worked up, in a good way, we win! We love it when the kids have fun, and it’s fun to try to get people to smile.” Otis specifically looks for elders in the audience that she can connect with. As she observed, “I love being on stage!”
‘Something Bigger’
Pam Schwartz and Michael Royalty both came to the stage from the crew, like the others, but much more recently. Royalty, who plays ‘Frisee’, the aide to the King (and a former drummer in the King’s band,) joined the Players “three Pantos ago.” Last year, as a crew member, he got pulled onto the stage to be the Ring Master at preview performances at Oregon Country Fair (OCF.) Schwartz had the exact same thing happen this year. She volunteered as crew at OCF. “They prank each other during the show,” Schwartz explained about the cast and musicians, “and the prank ended up in the show.”
A tall, young, pretty blonde, Schwartz stepped up to play a gold-digging ex-mistress to the King. ‘Mistress Iceburg’ ends up conspiring with ‘Frisee’, and acquiring a nice settlement for herself, and her large number of illegitimate offspring (a.k.a. The Fremont Philharmonic musicians.) “They told me that most of the cast start as crew,” Schwartz acknowledged, “and then do something bigger.”
Also like many other Players, Schwartz came with no real theater experience. “I had a bad experience in middle school,” Schwartz explained, but she’s still found herself drawn to live shows. Wensrich drew her into volunteering for Moisture Festival, and then the Players, and Schwartz has had to admit, “I love the theater scene!”
“I feel a little tentative,” Schwartz observed, about contributing to communal conversations about the plot, characters and script, “I joined the process late.” Still, she’s found everyone to be “super fun” and “terrific” and they’ve made her feel comfortable enough to share observations, sometimes. “The script has been an evolutionary process,” Schwartz admitted.
“This year, I was with this show from the start,” Royalty said of development of ‘Frisee’, who doesn’t appear in the original script. “I’m assistant to the King,” he said, “We took bits, and worked it out. I don’t have much experience, but I got feedback from people. Sometimes it’s challenging to figure out how I fit in, but it’s a very friendly group, willing to share their experience.”
While he doesn’t bring acting experience, Royalty does have years in performance, like so many of the Players and the Philharmonic. He’s performed with a local punk rock marching band, and has learned to interact with crowds and get over being shy. He’s now studying aerial, and he plans to perform in the future.
“This is a big creative outlet,” Royalty observed, “This is a blast!” Best of all, plenty of opportunities remain to see ‘Rapunzelstiltskin,’ and experience community theater, in action. The Fremont Players and the Fremont Philharmonic will be performing December 17th & 18th, although shows are selling out. The company will take a brief break for the holidays, then come back, fresh and frisky, for performances January 7th & 8th, and 14th & 15th, with shows at 4p & 7:30p on Saturdays, 1p & 4p on Sundays. Tickets can be purchased through Brown Paper Tickets, for $15 for adults, kids & seniors only $7.
Don’t miss this whimsical and interactive musical theatre! ‘Rapunzelstiltskin’ won’t be available after January 15th, although we may see all the Players return, next year, for more fun made by a community.
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©2016 Kirby Laney. This column is protected by intellectual property laws, including U.S. copyright laws. Reproduction, adaptation or distribution without permission is prohibited.