As BPA looks back, its shows move ahead

Published 9:00 am Wednesday, October 11, 2006

The theater answers patrons’ call for more sophisticated and adult fare this season.

If memories were worth their weight in gold, Louise Mills could fill an island-size counting house.

Mills brought music, dance and theater to the Bainbridge community 50 years ago, leaving an indelible mark on generations of islanders and visitors.

From childhood, she embraced life with an open mind and heart. She learned to sew when she was 10, then picked up fencing, bagpipes and acting – all before entering the University of Washington.

Her vision, enthusiasm and love for the arts opened the world to her and she shared these gems by founding the Bainbridge Light Opera Association with her good friend Corinne Berg.

Through their hard work and determination, the association grew into Bainbridge Performing Arts, which turns 50 this year. Bainbridge Island has Mills to thank for these golden years of first-rate entertainment.

“I dreamed it up and then I went next door to where Corinne and her husband lived,” said Mills, who moved to Bainbridge with her parents in 1948. “There wasn’t anything going on in the whole Puget Sound area except the Seattle Symphony. We had a lot of very good singers in those days. We knew that we could do this. We talked about it and decided to go ahead.”

BPA has come a mighty long way, literally and figuratively, since Mills and friends put on “Down in the Valley” in 1956. With hats made by Mills for the female singers, the show brought in $150.

Upon being paid, cast and crew decided it was too little money to keep, but enough to launch another show. They settled on “Song of Norway,” a Broadway hit directed by someone who knew someone at the Seattle Symphony.

Thus, the production had a full orchestra, but because of those musicians, Mills had to let the audience in free of charge. The same arrangement was in order for “The Merry Widow.”

People came from as far as Seattle to see the shows, which were held in some “not so great places,” Mills said, “but we had a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of good talent. We managed to scrap up the money for costumes and everything else we needed.”

From this, a company was formed, ultimately becoming Bainbridge Performing Arts. Mills shared the secret of its success.

“It was because I was not the president,” she said. “Back in the ’50s, women didn’t have the same power men have. Women’s groups were just big tea parties. I went out and got a man to be president. We had men for several years and then we had women. I just thought, ‘I’m going to change this.’”

Mills designed and sewed a lot of costumes in the early days. In 1959, when she read that the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo was in Seattle sans costumes, she contacted a representative and offered the peasant outfits from the light opera’s “The Merry Widow” production.

“We were probably more like Ovation! (Musical Theatre) in those days,” said Mills, who was a travel agent and manager of travel companies by trade. “We were a company. Everybody worked very hard, even if you weren’t in the show.”

In the 1980s, Mills put on musical revue fund-raisers for BPA, but shares the credit with the organization’s many volunteers.

“We had a lot of wonderful people,” she said. “I wish I could name all the names that kept Bainbridge Performing Arts going.”

BPA is dedicating its 50th anniversary season to Mills and honoring her by “looking forward and outward with an ambitious year of events,” said managing director Christopher Shainin.

Just as Mills hosted the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, BPA is bringing artists from around the region and with a focus on artistic traditions from Asia, dance from India and Japanese theater, Shainin said.

In a year of anniversaries, BPA is presenting the 25th anniversary of Gamelan Pacifica, with guest artists performing work commissioned by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.

Also on the season bill are the first female Tuvan throat singing ensemble as part of the “Songstruck” series.

“All of this emphasizes the island’s connection to the Pacific Rim,” Shainin said.

More than 50 “bold performances” are slated this season, Shainin said, which also marks the 25th anniversary of the Theatre School and the 34th anniversary of the newly renamed Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra.

Patron poll

Earlier this year, BPA held focus groups with patrons, donors, parents and those unfamiliar with the theater, as well as talks with local businesses and civic and arts organizations.

“We wanted to know what the community valued about the arts and what BPA could do to improve its offerings,” Shainin said. “The answers from all these groups were consistent.”

Participants wanted more from BPA that was relevant to the sophisticated audience living on the island, he said, as well as continued development of the theatre education program.

Patrons were frank in their opinions.

One requested “plays on political issues, poetry readings, adult evenings.” Another wanted “theater to make me think.” A third suggested, “late night shows on Saturday nights and edgier work.” Yet another desired “a higher cultural awareness from productions.”

Some suggestions centered on ticket packages, the introduction of a flex pass and literary events.

“In designing the season, we simply listened to what the community told us and crafted a year based on quality performances and community inclusion,” Shainin said. “Simply put, BPA was a performing arts center in the middle of a well-educated and engaged public.

“We needed to mean more to more of our neighbors.”

The 2006-07 season addresses these issues with 10 series representing theater, music, dance, literary events and multidisciplinary performances.

BPA will continue its longstanding tradition of presenting musicals, but will add contemporary dramas and comedies as well, starting with the season opener, Tom Stoppard’s “Arcadia,” and ending with the Tony award-winning “Urinetown, The Musical.”

BPA also will stage one of the late Wendy Wasserstein’s most touching and funny plays, “The Sisters Rosensweig,” along with “The Wizard of Oz,” geared toward the whole family with a new treatment that incorporates film elements.

Additionally, the anniversary season brings a renewed sense of purpose to the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra, thanks to its new music director, Alan Futterman.

“His imagination and musicianship have already increased the size of the orchestra and shaped its vibrant tone,” Shainin said.

Local composer Allen Strange has written a premiere as the BSO’s first composer-in-residence, one of many premieres presented this season.

On seven Saturdays, BPA will offer late night events in its “After Dark” series.

First up is the Atomic Bombshells, a well-known burlesque troupe originally from New Orleans, followed by the innovative Washington Ensemble Theatre in two different shows. The series also will feature the Degenerate Art Ensemble, a theatrical art rock garage band.

Almost a quarter of the island’s population is single, Shainin said, and to entice these folks, BPA will host several special singles nights.

As part of the worldwide centennial of Henrik Ibsen’s death, BPA will present Island Theatre’s production of “An Enemy of the People” and the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra and Bainbridge Chorale’s performance of Grieg’s “Peer Gynt,” originally written for Ibsen’s play.

The Community Series will feature local artists in big dream projects, such as “Last Poem on Earth,” which also showcases the Chorale.

Dancing across the BPA stage will be Seattle’s Men in Dance with guest choreographers in their sixth Against the Grain festival and local artist-made-good Rain Ross with her Lehua Dance Theatre.

Christian Swenson will end the Dance Card series with a big project involving local dancers and theatrical improvisers, Shainin said.

Special events include the season kick-off, and a new series called Inner Workings, which will allow patrons to experience a short theater rehearsal and a catered evening as a prelude to the four main stage productions.

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Opening night soiree

An opening night reception to launch BPA’s 2006-07 50th Anniversary Season precedes the Mainstage Theatre’s production of Tom Stoppard’s “Arcadia” on Oct. 13. The reception will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Playhouse, and the public can meet the season’s production directors, the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra concertmaster and the Theatre School director. The 50th anniversary season is dedicated to Louise Mills, who will be in attendance. Catering is by Metro Market Catering, with an anniversary cake from Bainbridge Bakers.

A pay-what-you-can preview of the adult comedy will be performed Oct. 12. BPA joins Seattle’s Live Theatre Week celebration and offers a free performance on Oct. 19. This national campaign, conceived by Theatre Communications Group, is aimed at attracting new audiences to live theater.

Regular performances are at 7:30 p.m., Thursday through Saturday, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 13-15, 20-22 and 27-29. Tickets are $18 for adults; $15 for seniors, military personnel and students (I.D. required); and $10 for ages 18 and younger. They are available at BPA, by phone at 842-8569 or at www.theplayhouse.org. BPA box office hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Friday and one hour prior to each performance.

Considered one of Stoppard’s best works, the play received the prestigious Olivier Award for Best Play and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. It premiered at the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain in 1993 and opened two years later at New York’s Lincoln Center Theater.

The production contains adult language and themes.