BARNBILL
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About The
Barn Theatre
-Introduction
-Barn Theatre Promotes Family Values While Making Dreams Come True
By J. Conrad Guest
-Adversity can’t hurt a fine evening at Barn
By Diether Haenicke – Kalamazoo Gazette, August 14, 2002
-Jack Ragotzy Remembered
-Barn gets a new roof
-Barn installs wishing well
Introduction
Located on a picturesque rolling hillside on M-96 between the cities of Kalamazoo and Battle Creek, the Barn Theatre retains its charming countryside setting and remains the perfect summer outing for the whole family!
We are one of the nation's oldest Equity resident summer-stock theatres as well as a longtime Michigan entertainment destination. Sixty years and nearly 500 performances under the same management is a benchmark nearly unparalleled in the theatre industry, yet it's a benchmark we boast at the Barn Theatre thanks to founders Jack Ragotzy, an Obie award-winning director, and his wife Betty Ebert Ragotzy. With $875 in their pockets, the Ragotzys founded the Barn in 1946 as the Village Players in nearby Richland. Three years later the company moved into its current home, an abandoned dairy barn, and became the Barn Theatre of Augusta, Michigan. Jack and Betty nurtured the Barn through the years until it became the success western Michigan enjoys today.
With the passing of his parents, Producer/Director Brendan Ragotzy continues their tradition of high quality theatre that audiences have come to know and expect from the Barn Theatre. No stranger to Barn operations, Brendan literally grew up in the business, from his walk-on debut in 1966's OLIVER! to his work as a stagehand, spotlight operator, stage manager, actor, director, assistant producer, and now Producer/Director. Brendan has directed many Barn shows including the all-time hit THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW, as well as his original musicals BILLY THE KID and OLD TIMER, the latter of which received a highly successful New York reading Fall 2003. Combining his parents' attributes with his own practical expertise the Barn has an ideal leader for its second generation of Ragotzy ownership.
Barn Theatre Promotes Family Values
While Making Dreams Come True
The Barn Theatre in Augusta is the oldest resident summer stock theater in Michigan. Founded as the Village Players in Richland in 1946 by Jack and Betty Ebert Ragotzy, The Barn Theatre, Inc. was incorporated in 1949 when the Ragotzys began renting the converted barn in Augusta, which they later purchased in 1954. Jack, a World War II Army Air Force veteran and graduate of Kalamazoo College, worked on and off-Broadway as well as in television and films. For 50 years Jack and Betty, herself an actress, ran The Barn Theatre. Today it stands as the only equity summer stock theatre in the state, drawing nearly 50,000 patrons annually during its 16-week season, some from as far away as Chicago and Detroit. Betty passed away in 1995, but at age 81, Jack remains active at The Barn Theatre, acting as advisor and appearing onstage before every performance to give a brief introduction.
I'm the kid who has this habit of dreaming
Sometimes gets me into trouble, too
But the truth is I could no more stop dreaming
then I could make them all come true
-Buddy Mondlock
There isn't a man alive who doesn't dream. Some are fortunate to see their dreams come true; many, however, fall short. While Brendan Ragotzy may not have seen his childhood dream come true, perhaps more importantly he has helped countless others make their own dreams come true.
Brendan premiered in 1963, adopted and named for Brendan Behan, one of Ireland's best-known and most beloved modern political writers and playwrights who wrote: "I only write plays when I'm short of a couple of bob. I don't give a damn for art. I'm only in it for the money." Behan would die a year later in 1964, but at the time of Brendan Ragotzy's birth, The Barn was presenting Behan's The Hostage, the story of an English soldier held hostage by the IRA in a Dublin brothel, and of his romance with a young Irish girl who befriends him. Three years later, Brendan appeared in his first production at the Barn Theatre as one of the workhouse boys in Oliver!
Fast forward 40 years, and Brendan, now producer, recalls growing up with The Barn Theatre as his only sibling.
"My first love was baseball," he says. "My childhood idol was Rod Carew—the consummate hitter. I played in a Town and Country baseball league that was sponsored by the YMCA, and played summer ball well into my teens. I was a catcher in high school, and many of the colleges I looked at wanted me to play football, but I didn't relish the idea of being hit by guys who were twice my size. U of M accepted me, but I enrolled at Western instead to pursue my baseball career, but only sat on the bench. After the coach told me my prospects for playing the next year were no better, and since no major league teams were scouting me, I enrolled at KVCC."
After spending a year at Kalamazoo Valley Community College, Brendan realized he had a large number of college credits but had yet to declare a major. He still wasn't certain that he wanted to pursue a career in theatre, but when Dusty Reeds, the associate producer for The Barn at that time and who worked at San Jose State University during the winter, suggested that he should check out San Jose State, Brendan complied. It was at San Jose State that Brendan decided to major in theatre arts and where he met future wife Penelope Issichopoulos (Alex) in a costume class. Brendan and Penelope remember their first meeting differently.
"I thought she was pretty cute," says Brendan with a wink.
"We were both on the rebound," recalls Penelope, smiling.
"I was persistent," he interjects.
"Neither one of us was ready for anything serious," says Penelope, "but Dusty fixed us up anyway. We'd both just gotten out of ridiculous relationships and our first meeting was like, 'hi-hi.' But we both adored Dusty, so of course we wanted to do what she wanted. There were no sparks. And then we had a couple classes together, and he was ignoring me and I couldn't have that!"
Penelope attended Oak Grove High School in San Jose, the same high school former Lions head coach Marty Mornhinweg attended.
"I rarely watched the games," she groans, "But I almost always checked the score."
While Mornhinweg was setting three Northern California and 19 school records as a quarterback under coach Mike Holmgren (yes, that Mike Holmgren) on his way to being named Northern California Player of the Year and first-team All-State in his senior year, Penelope was involved in more traditional high school activities.
"I was a cheerleader and involved in gymnastics," she says. "I was in choirs in church. I was even homecoming queen my senior year," she adds with a laugh. "That was the year that personality counted!"
Penelope's first role in high school didn't come until her senior year, when she appeared in Calamity Jane.
"My dad was from Athens and was a concert pianist," states Penelope, "and my mom was a violinist, so there was never any lack of support in my wanting to pursue a career in theatre.
Brendan and Penelope were married in 1988 and now have three children: Luke, the oldest at 8, and Calli, age 5, have already performed in Oliver and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The youngest, Jake, age 3, has yet to appear onstage, but not for lack of wanting.
"I don't know if I trust him yet," says Brendan, "not to wander off into the audience during a performance."
In addition to acting at The Barn during the summer, Penelope is the apprentice coordinator during the winter months. Her duties include updating applications and placing ads in summer theatre directories.
"As we receive applications," she explains, "I conduct interviews to determine their ambitions, whether they're equity or want to be equity, and their availability for an entire season. I also take care of all the paperwork."
Because of the intensity and long hours expected of the apprentices, a typical profile is someone who is majoring in theatre or broadcasting or film.
But Penelope also finds time to sing commercial jingles for Jim Cummings, who owns a recording studio in Climax.
"Living in this area has been a dream come true," she says. "It's like a microcosm of the real world."
And how did a southern California gal take to Michigan?
"I absolutely love it here," says Penelope. "I like having weather. California has no weather. Spring and summer is all there really is. And besides that, I get to live two miles from work and work as a professional actress."
Brendan directed his first Barn production in 1989: Hair. He recalls that many of the apprentices at The Barn that year were still in diapers when the Tony nominee for best musical first hit Broadway in 1969.
"I ran a spotlight for the 1973 production of Hair, says Brendan, "and it was different. Not that directing the show in 1989 was difficult. But I found educating the cast on life in the 1960s, a time of social awareness, brotherly love, and drugs, challenging. But the show was dynamite. That company, which included Scott Burkell, was probably one of the most talented we've ever had here.
Hair is one of three shows that over the years have literally financially saved The Barn Theatre. "While I like to do less well-known shows from time to time," says Brendan, "like Kiss of the Spider Woman and Chess, we depend on the big musicals and comedies for our livelihood."
Of the top three grossing shows at The Barn, Rocky Horror Show has been performed five times in the 1990s.
"Fiddler on the Roof," he says with a laugh, "paid for our air conditioning back in the 1970s. And Hair built us the bar."
Brendan doesn't believe in subsidized theatre. "We get no government grants, and function solely on what we take in at the box office, and that's nearly unheard of in this business."
A big difference in equity theatre today as to the way it was when Jack started The Barn is the availability of the shows patrons want to see.
"We did a survey a few years ago," explains Brendan, "and of course many of the shows we got requests for are shows we can't get, like Cats, because of a pecking order. First is Broadway, then the national tours (union or non-union), before it finally makes it to the regional and state levels. I've wanted to do Les Miserables for quite some time, but it's just not yet available to us."
Brendan says that a tour within a 150-mile radius of The Barn can also tie up availability of a production. "If our season ends in September, even a one-nighter in October means we can't do that show for 18 months."
A national tour can either help or hinder the success of any given show Brendan may choose. A rave review elsewhere will help drive ticket sales, while a negative review often results in an empty house.
"I wanted to do Tommy for a long time," says Brendan. But the summer before we did it a tour came through Battle Creek, and it effectively ruined our Battle Creek trade because people heard it wasn't a very good show."
Brendan also doesn't think Broadway does a good job supporting their product, nor does he believe that theatre goers will go to shows they don't know.
"It used to be," he says, "that recording artists would record Broadway tunes all the time, and so hearing them on the radio would help promote a show. But you don't have that anymore. "The Producers is the biggest Tony award winning show—ever. But I don't think, once it leaves New York, that it's going to do the great business they envision because theatregoers don't know the show. I know of the show, but I don't know any tunes, and I don't think Broadway is going to do a good job promoting it beyond Broadway. And that hurts us because it limits us.
"Stephen Sondheim's Sweeny Todd did very well for us, partly because of Sondheim's name, but mostly because we had Tom Wopat and Barb Marineau in the lead roles, while up in Muskegon it bombed with George Hearn playing Sweeny, and Hearn played the role on Broadway."
Brendan also believes that many baby boomers prefer the revivals of the feel good shows they grew up with as opposed to the cutting edge stuff.
Over the years, Brendan has functioned at the Barn as assistant stage manager, stage manager, actor, director and assistant producer.
As assistant producer, Brendan may direct only one or two shows each season because he thinks it's important to expose the apprentices to a variety of directors and directing styles. "Some directors are very laid back, while others can be very overbearing," he says. "I think it's important for an actor to be able to work under both types."
During the winter months Brendan attends the Ohio Theatre Alliance where he recruits/auditions between 30 and 35 apprentices to go along with The Barn's 12-18 equity contracts for the coming season.
"They get about two minutes onstage for their audition," he says, "and from that and their paperwork I'll decide whether I want to arrange a callback."
Sometimes the more talented people can't make it to a callback. If Brendan is lucky, they'll already know about The Barn and want to come to the callback.
"Funny thing is," he explains, "we're probably better known at the national level then we are in our own backyard."
One of Brendan's biggest competitors is amusement parks, where an actor can make good money and have his or her lodging paid for.
"There's money to be made in amusement parks," he says, "but it won't get you very far in this business. This business is about building a resume in reputable situations. In other words, it's not what you do it's where you do it. You can do all the leads for a theatre, but it means little if no one's ever heard of that theatre."
While many theatres choose their season a year in advance, Brendan usually doesn't choose his until after he's recruited his apprentices, choosing his shows based on his talent pool instead of trying to cast for specific shows.
And what can an apprentice expect during a season at The Barn?
"I don't promise anyone anything," says Brendan. "I tell them if they want to do good theatre, they'll work hard side-by-side with other talented people, and get a chance to do lead roles."
If hired, a Barnie can expect to work up to 16 hours a day six days a week. The experience earns them points toward membership in Actors Equity, the union for actors and stage managers.
In addition to rehearsals and performances, a Barnie's typical day may be comprised of building scenery, working in the box office, the publicity office, the costume shop, or on the grounds. Before the curtain rises, dressed in costume and in character, they direct patrons where to park, while after performances they serve drinks in the Rehearsal Shed Bar. And when a production's run is over, they break down the sets.
"Nobody's above anything, as long as the job gets done," says Brendan.
The percentage of Barnies who go on to greater success is enviable. Brendan boasts that a Barnie has appeared on Broadway every year since 1965, and recalls that 25 Barnies appeared on Broadway stages at one time. "I don't know any other equity theatre whose alums have had the success that ours have had," he boasts.
Jennifer Garner (Alias), Dana Delaney (China Beach), Kim Zimmer (Guiding Light), Marin Mazzie (Broadway), Robert Newman (Guiding Light), Becky Ann Baker (Freaks and Geeks), Adrienne Barbeau (Maude) and Tom Wopat are just a few of the names who have apprenticed at The Barn Theatre.
Penelope has worked with Wopat several times at The Barn since 1988, most recently in Annie Get Your Gun last season.
"Tom has been like a brother to me and to Brendan," she says. "He's such a nice man… he's just very personable and charming and talented."
Brendan recalls attending high school in L.A. with Melissa Gilbert.
"Years later she approached me about doing a show Bo Brinkman, her husband at that time, had written—Bay House. We got a lot of publicity for that show because a few weeks earlier Michael Landon had succumbed to cancer and Melissa had appeared at the Emmy Awards ceremony. Entertainment Tonight had interviewed her and she mentioned her appearance here. We had to extend the run another week because of the amount of publicity she generated. But after all was said and done we got a lot of hate mail over that one because here we had America's sweetheart, Laura Ingalls, spouting all kinds of profanity. People just couldn't differentiate the role she played on our stage from Laura Ingalls."
When asked if he'd change anything about his life, Brendan says, no. He grew up playing baseball and his theatrical training at San Jose State enabled him to meet his wife. He has three kids and is producer of the oldest, perhaps most prestigious equity theatres in the state of Michigan.
"We work hard," he says, "not only during the summer months, but during the winter, too, performing maintenance on our facilities, attending auditions, and getting ready for the upcoming season, but we're doing what we want to do, being creative, and we're giving something back to the community. That's what it's all about."
"I've had people tell me they've been coming here for 42 years," pipes in Penelope, "and now they're bringing their kids. That's what The Barn is all about. Family. The Barn is about family."
And making other people's dreams come true.
As printed in Encore magazine - March 2003
Adversity can’t hurt a fine evening at Barn
The Barn Theatre near Augusta is my favorite summer stock theatre. The Ragotzys have produced exceptionally fine shows for 57 consecutive seasons, probably a national record for any theatrical family and undoubtedly a real blessing for theatre lovers in this region.
Last Friday, I attended a performance of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” there and enjoyed it immensely. Everyone recognizes the easily singable tunes of this lightweight musical, that does nothing to stimulate the intellect but simply wants to entertain. It is facile summer stock fare at its best.
Of course, at the Barn all other appealing and charming features of summer stock come into play. Young aspiring thespians wave the cars of patrons into the big parking meadow in front of the theatre. Another young and friendly actor, Kevin Field, hands me my tickets at the box office: he later plays a delightful Isaachar on stage. At the refreshment stand outside the theatre I buy my Sprite from a beautiful woman who appears on the stage as one of the wives. The gifted choreographer doubles as the doorman who takes the tickets, and Sean Walton, who as Judah sings and dances a marvelous “Benjamin Calypso” hands me my program and ushers me to my seat. Jack Ragotzy then ambles on the stage and greets the patrons in his inimitable way; pointing out that his daughter-in-law and two of his grandchildren will appear in the musical. Actors, musicians, family members, stage hands, and technical personnel all are involved in every aspect, artistic and practical, of the enterprise, a particularly charming facet of the Barn and much like it must have been in the traveling acting troupes of past centuries.
Once inside, all does not go as planned, however. A pleasant and youngish, but broad-shouldered man, seats himself in front of me and blocks out 40 percent of the stage. He is accompanied by a woman who is so smitten with him that she entwines herself around him like ivy on a column. Overcoming his initial, minimal resistance, she then pulls his arms over to herself, so that they eventually end up looking like a human pretzel. Another 40 percent of the stage disappears.I am thinking of asking the lovebirds to show some consideration for me, but my wife, knowing me too well and thus anticipating my interruptive intentions, sends me stern and forbidding glances. And so I resign myself to pondering the inscription on the sightblocker’s polo shirt, which reads, “Are you digital yet?” No, but ask me if I am ticked yet. The answer would have been affirmative. Why, I think dejectedly, don’t people who turn into Siamese twins connected at the cheek select seats in the last row?
Not being able to see much of the stage, I observe the audience. While Pharaoh reveals his dreams in song, the man kitty-corner from me pulls out his cell phone, reads his electronic e-mail messages, and receives phone messages. He should be in my seat. Obviously he is digital yet. Then Pharaoh, a campy looking Elvis impersonator, wanders off the stage to harvest a few laughs by singling out patrons. Luckily he passes my seat, but stops right behind me and verbally teases my friend Dr. Koonrads Lubavs. He, however is quick on his feet and matches Pharaoh’s goading with swift repartees. A woman behind me, totally abandons herself to this hilarity and shrieks and screeches with delight, piercing my ears with high-pitched bursts of laughter. I begin to sympathize with King Ludwig II of Bavaria who was in the habit of having operas, particularly those by Richard Wagner, performed with him as the only person in the theatre. But then I also realize that Ludwig was insane, and I return to the visually blocked show, consider going digital, and relax and enjoy the music.
After the show, we and other smiling patrons walk across the lawn to our cars. The stars are out, a nice, cool summer breeze fans across the festively lit theatre. We make our way back into town, humming the show tunes, and happy that we have such a treasure as the Barn nearby.
Jack Ragotzy
Remembered
RAGOTZY REMEMBERED 'Here's to the house that Jack built'
Saturday, December 20, 2003
BY MATTHEW JAKUBOWSKI
KALAMAZOO GAZETTE
In Richland, where he and his wife, Betty, started their theater legacy, more than 100 people gathered Friday morning to celebrate the life of Jack Ragotzy with stories, tears and some laughter.
Ragotzy -- whose name is synonymous with the Barn Theatre in Augusta -- began his decades of professional work as an actor, director and producer in 1946. That year, he and his wife started the Village Players of Richland. The troupe later bought an old barn in Augusta, converted it into a theater and grew the business into an Equity summer stock company. The Barn was placed on the Michigan Register of Historic Sites in 1983.
Ragotzy died of a heart attack in his home on the grounds of the theater on Monday, a day before his 82nd birthday.
Friday's funeral service was held at Gull Lake Area Community Church, the same used to memorialize Betty Ragotzy after she died in March 1995. Yellow roses and carnations were in place in honor of her fondness for flowers that color, as Rev. James Hill noted while presiding over the service.
Ragotzy's son, Brendan, daughter-in-law, Penelope Alex, and his four grandchildren, Garrett, Calli, Jacob and newborn Melina, were present. The crowd also included some longtime friends in the local and national theater community, and Barnies -- the nickname gives to Barn veterans.
Tom Wopat, a Barnie since 1976 and former star of TV's "The Dukes of Hazzard" and "Cybil," flew in from New York City to attend.
"Jack always made me feel like family," Wopat said. He then joked that he'd managed to get a bereavement airline fare by claiming to be Ragotzy's nephew.
"They (Jack and Betty) created something here you will never see the like of it again. I'm just glad to have been a part of it," Wopat said.
Lance Ferraro, who knew Ragotzy for 75 years, spoke of their days as children growing up poor in Kalamazoo.
"We used to play in the marshes," Ferraro said, "making bows and arrows out of willow branches, and arrow shafts out of cattails. ... I knew Jack and I just want to say -- he was a kid just like everybody else." Ferraro also reminisced with attendees about Ragotzy's days setting up pins in a bowling alley, and how the Ragotzys got married after knowing each other just two weeks.
"I would not have the life I have today if it were not for him," Howard McBride, Barn general manager, said of Ragotzy. McBride ate lunch with Ragotzy most days and was his personal assistant.
Before leading a final round of applause for Ragotzy, McBride said: "Here's to the house that Jack built. Here's to the plays and the musicals that were produced in the house that Jack built." He went on to include the "community, culture and ... great impact" Ragotzy had on the lives of hundreds of actors and thousands of theater patrons.
Charlie Siedenburg, one of Ragotzy's pallbearers, remarked during the service, "It's the end of an era ... but the beginning of a new one," and smiled with a gesture toward Ragotzy's grandchildren sitting near the front of the church.
Musical tributes were very apt: "The Lullaby of Broadway" was sung, and Troy Benton prefaced his acoustic guitar performance by saying, "We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams."
Rev. Hill, a friend to Ragotzy during his wife's fatal illness, sounded a hopeful note, saying, "I truly believe that Jack and Betty are together again. And, corny as it may sound, they'll be celebrating Christmas together this year."
After the service, the funeral procession wound its slowly way past the Barn. The theater will open its 59th season next summer.
Matthew Jakubowski can be reached at 388-8526 or mjakubowski_kalamazoogazette.com.
Obituary
Jack P. Ragotzy, founder of the landmark summer stock company, The Barn Theatre in Augusta, MI, died Monday, December 15, 2003 in his home on the grounds of the theatre, one day shy of his 82nd birthday. Ragotzy was a NY Director both on Broadway ("Angela" with Geraldine Page in 1969) and Off-Broadway (1959 Obie Award for Direction of the Arthur Laurents series). He was also a television actor, director and movie actor for over 20 years with roles in "Forever Young" with Mel Gibson, "Memoirs of An Invisible Man" with Chevy Chase, and appearances on "Dragnet", "Get Smart", "The Defend-ers", "Remington Steele", and "China Beach."
Born Jack Peyton Ragotzy on December 16, 1921, he was reared in Kalamazoo, MI. A World War II Army Air Force veteran and a 1948 BA graduate of Kalamazoo College, he also worked at the Kalamazoo Civic Theatre, where he met his future wife Betty Ebert (1923-1995). They were married in 1946 and that summer they founded the Village Players in nearby Richland, MI. Jack and Betty soon found that their little theatre was growing at a tremendous rate and soon began renting a former dairy barn in Augusta. They were incorporated as The Barn Theatre in 1949 and began converting it into an esteemed Equity resident summer stock theatre and one of the only remaining structures of its kind in the United States. Ragotzy served as its Executive Producer for 57 consecutive summer seasons, where he has written, acted, produced and directed.
Barnies, the affectionate nickname for those who got their professional start or have worked at the reputable summer stock include Broadway, Television and Film Actors the likes of Jennifer Garner, Tom Wopat, Marin Mazzie, Melissa Gilbert, Adrienne Barbeau, Dana Delany, Barbara Marineau, Patricia Wettig, Jonathan Larson, Becky Ann Baker, Robert Newman, Kim Zimmer, James B. Sikking, John Newton, Jon Cypher, Eric Riley, Darius de Haas and Edwina Lewis
Ragotzy was the first Theatre Arts Masters Degree recipient from UCLA. He was also the recipient of honorary degrees from Western Michigan University and Nazareth College.
Jack Ragotzy is survived by his son Brendan, daughter-in-law Penelope, and four grandchildren (Luke, Calli, Jake, and Melina). He was married to Betty Ebert for over 49 years until her untimely death in 1995.
Friends may call after 12:00 noon Thursday, December 18, 2003 at the
FARLEY-ESTES & DOWDLE
AUGUSTA CHAPEL
307 North Webster,
Augusta, MI 49012
where the family will receive friends from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. To leave personal messages for the family, please see www.farleyestesdowdle.com. Funeral services will be held 11:00 a.m. Friday, December 19, 2003 at Gull Lake Area Community Church, 9292 East CD Avenue, Richland, MI 49083. Interment will follow at Augusta Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the Ragotzy family has asked donations be made to The Barn Theatre School for Professional Theatre Training, 13351 West M-96, Augusta, MI 49012.
www.barntheatre.com
Published in the Kalamazoo Gazette on 12/17/2003.
Barn Gets New Roof
A BARN MAKEOVER!
The Barn Theatre still remains one of Michigan's top entertainment destinations, but the little dairy barn has changed a bit. She got a face lift! Or would one say a hair transplant? Well, with her new "make over" Barn Theatre audiences found themselves completely dry this 60th Anniversary season, as the Barn got a new roof!
With the new roof comes a few changes to the outside of the theatre as well. In 1950 when the theatre had no air-conditioning, Jack and Betty found it necessary to add windows on the side facing M-96. With air conditioning among the comforts at the Barn, since 1974, Producer Brendan Ragotzy found there is no longer a need for the windows. Also, our friendly "Barnie the Bat" may indeed find it a little harder to make himself at home during performances without the easy access of the windows.
So, with the new roof comes a new look to the theatre -- at 60 years old! Barnie Steven Lee Burright (87 - 92) returned to refurbish the bright Barn Theatre letters that have become a welcome sight to travellers on M-96. Steven Lee had been a mainstay on The Christopher Lowell Show for 7 seasons, and has recently moved to the San Francisco area to try his hand at interior design/decorating for the Bay Area in California.
There was a special unvieling of the Barn Theatre logo on Opening night of the season, May 31st, at 8:15!
Our New Wishing Well!
Here at the theatre - Brendan Ragotzy and Fred Gillette, our Technical Director, have built a Wishing Well where a tree used to be. It's by the scene shop and is so cute! Ala Snow White.
