The evolving story of the White Plains Performing Arts Center has a dramatic arc worthy of any play it might present.
Act 1 ”“ The center opens in November of 2003 and presents revivals of such Broadway hits as “Camelot” and “Man of La Mancha.” Act 2 ”“ WPPAC retrenches in tough economic times.
And now for Act 3: The center reimagines itself as a home for original plays and musicals ”“ partnering with Annette Jolles, a New York City theater director and TV producer; the Westchester-based writing team of Laurence Holzman and Felicia Needleman; and Lara Holzman, a Manhattan lawyer who is Laurence”™s wife.
“What we”™re here to do is to reinvent and restore WPPAC”™s Main Stage productions,” says Jolles, the artistic director of the Main Stage Season.
This is not to be confused with WPPAC”™s Broadway-style concert series or its Conservatory Theatre, a youth program whose college division will present “Edges,” a coming-of-age musical, next week.
Indeed, “Edges” foreshadows the new mission of the Main Stage Season, says Kathleen Davisson, WPPAC”™s general manager, which is to take a fresh approach to the musical and the drama.
Adds Jolles: “If Westchester residents want to see a Broadway revival, they”™re close enough to Manhattan to see it. What Westchester doesn”™t have is a venue for new plays and musicals.”
Opening the Season on Oct. 28 will be “Wallenberg,” a dramatic musical about the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who is credited with saving more than 100,000 Jews from the Nazis during World War II. The work features music by Benjamin Rosenbluth, a New Jersey-based composer, and a book and lyrics by Laurence Holzman of Dobbs Ferry and Felicia Needleman of Larchmont, who are also serving as the Main Stage Season”™s executive director and literary manager respectively.
“Wallenberg” will be followed by “That Time of the Year,” an original musical revue celebrating Christmas and Hanukkah, and “The Passion of the Hausfrau,” a dramedy about the slings and arrows of motherhood by Maine”™s Nicole Chaison and Bess Welden, based on Chaison”™s Hausfrau Muthah-zine, a quarterly comic book.
Funding for “Wallenberg” is already in place, says Needleman, thanks in large part to help from The International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, which funneled donations for the project. WPPAC”™s partners say they need to raise $500,000 for the Season, in which they hope to include other works.
Given both the tenuous nature of the economy and an acultural society that wouldn”™t know Wallenberg from Wal-Mart, this would not seem to be the best of times for launching a new theater venture. Then, too, there is the troubled history of the WPPAC”™s Main Stage, rumored to have been plagued in the past by cronyism and mismanagement.
General Manager Davisson says those rumors were just that. The crux, she says, is that in a recession, the Main Stage productions never generated enough ticket sales in the 410-seat theater to help sustain the series.
But others suggest that the previous management was also not smartly aggressive in fundraising and marketing.
“You can”™t rely on ticket sales alone to fund a show,” says Needleman, who as the Main Stage Season”™s literary manager will be looking at and for new material. “Plus, the only reason I knew about the Main Stage was that a friend was in one of the shows.”
Right now, Needleman and her partners are busy getting the word out about the new venture. There are critics who say that, like a previous inhabitant of the Main Stage, they are tilting at windmills. But they don”™t think so.
Says Needleman: “We believe the story of Wallenberg needs to be told.”
Beyond that, Jolles says, “The arts are a vital part of any thriving society. When you”™re in a bad economy, it”™s not the time to shut down creativity. It”™s the time when people need to be entertained.”
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Taking the stage
White Plains Performing Arts Center”™s Conservatory Theatre presents “Edges,” a coming-of-age musical at 7 p.m. June 21 (benefit performance) and 8 p.m. June 25 and 26. Tickets are $50 and $35 for the benefit, $20 general admission and $15 for students with ID for the other performances.
The new Main Stage Season launches its offerings with “Wallenberg,” a dramatic musical about the Swedish diplomat and Holocaust hero that begins previews Oct. 28 and runs through Nov. 21. Top tickets are $49 and $39. It will be followed by the holiday review “That Time of the Year” and the dramedy “The Passion of the Hausfrau.”
WPPAC is at City Center, Main Street and Mamaroneck Avenue. Tickets: 914-328-1600. Information: wppac.com.
