Interviewee: Laura Harris
Interviewer: Katherine Hunt
Category: Theater-by-the-Sea
Date: May 11, 2006
Location: The Old Post Office, Wakefield, RI
Excerpt Length: 39:02
K: This is an interview about Theater-by-the-Sea on May 11, 2006 conducted by Katherine Hunt and I will be interviewing
L: Laura Harris
K: Alright, just to jump right in, where were you born and raised?
L: I grew up in Salisbury Connecticut and summered in Matunuck ever since I was born. So summers were spent at the beach with Theater-by-the-sea right at the end of the road.
K: Were your parents from Salisbury Connecticut as well?
L: Yes, they were both there. My grandparents on my mom's side had grown up in Providence area and my dad's family was from upstate New York.
K: What were your ties to Matunuck? How did you guys end up summering there?
L: We ended up with a family compound. My grandfather had bought up some houses after the 38' hurricane and we had the family compound down there so I remember growing up with 16 first cousins and it was just a wonderful, wonderful place.
K: Did you go to school in the area?
L: I went to school in my early years in Connecticut and then I went on the boarding school in Massachusetts and finished up my college at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadly with a degree in theater.
K: And when when you were a child did you first start getting involved in theater?
L: I have, ever since I was a little kid, known that all I wanted to do was act. Then I also started taking piano lessons and loved to sing, and I loved all that. Wanted to be in every play the school put on and all that stuff. Then with the theater right at the end of the road I started apprenticing there when I was 15.
K: What was it like to be an apprentice there when you were 15?
L: I still remember the first day walking backstage of this huge monstrous building and just being in total awe and surprise. Just that magic was there already and now I was a part of it. I think that's the dream, of being a part of a group of people.
[00:02:30]
K: We're they nice to you? Did they make you fetch a lot of things?
L: Sure. You know. I think the first job that I was doing was props for the first time. You know you just learn the ropes. Long hours and doing it all. That's sort of the area in which I started and stayed backstage and that went on until 1981 I think.
K: And then what happened in 1981?
L: I went on to go to Candlewood Playhouse in New Fairfield Connecticut. I worked there as sort of a company manager, still more in the backstage area and then during the winter time I was in New York working Manhattan Theater Club in the casting department. Then I met my current partners and they were raising money for a production of Wind in the Willows for Broadway. I jumped on board and they said "Have you ever produced?" and I said "No, but I've done a lot of everything, you know" stage management to lighting to all of it. So I jumped on board that and we did a production of Wind in the Willows that was on Broadway in '85 with Nathan Lane and Vicky Lewis. And it was a big flop and a great education. After that was when we would all come back up here in the summers for weekends or whatever and the theater was there and we said "Yeah, wouldn't it be great if we could really get it fixed up and run it". So we took in over in '88 from Tommy Brent and put in a lot of money and just redid it. But we wanted to keep the same flavor and feeling and just keep it going. .
[00:04:35]
K: What did you change in 1988?
L: We ended up putting in all new seats, we redid all the restaurant stuff, we put in sprinklers, we put in all the new gardens, upped the electricity, so much stuff that people probably wouldn't notice. I remember starting in the fall of '88 and people would walk by and go "You're never going to open by May." We had that deadline and we did reopen.
K: Do you remember the first show you put up there?
L: Pump Boys and Dinettes was the first one.
K: Was it hard to put together while still finishing the redoing?
L: It was just amazing. I mean people say "If you knew what you were getting into would you have done it then?" and I was like "Well, we didn't know how crazy we were." I mean it was wonderful. It was constant activity. The three of us, Remy was working on the construction side and Richard and I on the artistic side. Got it together.
K: And once you owned the theater, once you were in charge of the theater, what was your position artistically? Were you coming into rehearsals?
L: I stayed on the artistic side by doing all the casting, and helping Richard with the casting and then going through rehearsal. You know, you just have your fingers in all the pies. Everyday you would sort of wake up and it would be crisis management time. It would be like "Oh, I wonder what is going to happen today?" It was nonstop, it was wonderful.
K: What was the casting like? Where were you getting actors in from?
[00:06:21]
L: The majority were coming from New York city, then we would do local casting and then we would encourage people to come down to New York as well. We'd see well over 1000 people, I mean in a two week period. You're casting for the whole season so you're trying to get a whole bunch. You hire the separate directors and they would be there as well. So they would all have a fight as to who they wanted. But we're looking for people and the actors are looking for their perfect job opportunity to so it all becomes this thing where sometimes we would lose them to another organization. Somehow it all comes together. You get a good cast. That's the magic of theater.
K: What was sort of the temptation for actors to come to Matunuck? How did you sell that to get the best possible actors you could down to the area? Or did you not have to sell it?
L: I think after our second year, after word got out and it became really popular as a great place to work, they treat you well, it's a beautiful location, and you're going to work hard. It was nice, you know, we had a lot of good choices.
K: And then where did all the actors that were coming in reside? Where did they live?
L: We had places on the property where they could stay and then we had a motel in Charlestown and a b & b type place in Narragansett. Then company management would have vans and shuttle everybody around to rehearsals and everything.
K: And how did you make these deals with the b & b and the other motel?
[00:08:21]
L: We ended up buying them. [laughter] It was back in 1989 with the banking crisis. So a lot of good opportunities. That helped.
K: And what was the rehearsal schedule?
L: It's pretty brutal. Summer theater is like nothing in this world where you have two weeks to do the rehearsal and come on the stage and if it's the second show you have those 24 hours to switch it around and Tuesday night you open to an audience. Talk about adrenaline.
K: Now on top of the shows you guys were putting on, the set shows, there were also other events that were going on in the theater, right?
L: We had the children's shows on Friday mornings that were booked in so they knew they had to work with the current set that was up. I would book those through agents. The restaurant as well would do weddings so that had to coordinate. Then we had the cabaret after the shows for the actors as well.
K: Do you know when the cabaret originated?
L: Tommy started it probably back in the late '70s. It started out as just the actors hanging around the piano and wanting to sing and then it just launched into that and grew.
K: What was the flavor of the Cabarets? Was the audience invited back?
L: It became the audience and when July and August came around it was packed. Everybody was up for a good time afterwards. It was good. You know, summer activity, and it was sort o a comedy club and there was singing and people had a ball.
[00:10:21]
K: So were you enjoying this work when you were doing it? I mean, I'm sure it was very stressful the first couple years but did it settle in?
L: As I said, I think it was crisis management from start to finish and then in the middle of all of this we decided to do tours as well. One summer we sent a show to Korea in the middle of it all and then that fall sent out two more shows back to back. So we were pretty crazy. There was always constant activity.
K: How were you managing the company you were sending out, the traveling group?
L: You hire good people and on the road you really depend on your company manager we acts as your producer on the road. Then they're always calling you and you hope that phone doesn't ring in the middle of the night saying that the trucks are stuck in the middle of a snow bank somewhere or something. It was hairy.
K: Was there anytime you actually had to cancel a performance over anything?
L: At the theater or on the road? Either one. Hurricane Bob, I think that was the only time we canceled one show and then when we were doing Beauty and the Beast we were having some turntable issues so we had to cancel some previews there. And on the road I think in all those years we never had to cancel a show. You know, that's amazing.
K: Did you work with understudies as well or was it just that your actors remained healthy and vibrant for the entire summer?
L: You always need to have someone ready. Oh no, we had someone brake their ankle in dress rehearsal. Things were always happening, people's mothers would die so they would have to leave so you would throw somebody in and that's live theater. I mean it burns you out but there are moments of great joy and moments of aggravation.
[00:12:28]
K: Is there a production that you worked on in your time there that has special meaning to you?
L: I think we were all really, really proud of Jeckle and Hyde. I think that really came together. Very difficult one but the end result was just something to be really proud of. Gipsy was good but I couldn't see it because I was playing a maid in it so I couldn't quiet see it, but I knew everybody loved it from backstage. I had my moment. I was a nun in The Sound of Music. You have to have that little bit of outlet.
K: When did you decide to go more into the management owning and producing side?
L: It was back when I started working with Tommy. I decided I was better on the other side of the table because I realized how hard it was and I don't think I had the stamina to be an actor. A lot of stamina
K: A lot of stamina to manage though.
L: Yeah, but its, yeah.
K: Did you move permanently to Matunuck?
L: In 88', yeah.
K: And where in Matunuck were you living?
L: I was on the beach until Hurricane Bob came and then I thought maybe it would be better to get a little spot inland so I got a condo. That helped and it got through the winter. So the houses are still there so that's good.
K: So are you still in Matunuck?
L: Still in Matunuck. We finished in '03 and that was our last season and now we're maintaining it and looking for someone with the passion and the drive to do it. And it will happen.
[00:14:18]
K: So before we talk about how it kinda ended, how about how it began? Just the history of Theater-by-the-Sea. When did it originate?
L: It started in the 1930's. Well in the 1920's it was a farm and then it turned into a… they called it Browning's Oceans Store Cottage so it was a guesthouse. And the Tyler family bought it in the 20s and then in 1933 decided to turn it into a theater because she was a widow at that point. It became a WPA project. They turned this old barn into a theater.
K: And the restaurant didn't come until …
L: It was there as well I think. It was always the inn. It was always there.
K: The two were always working together.
L: Yeah, and then in the 50s was when it was that wonderful star system and the road shows came through. Tulula Bankhead and Marlin Brandow and hundreds of others.
K: Well just for people who are going to be hearing this interview, lets have a little bit about probably its heyday in the 50s, and the actors and the shows that were coming through. I know that Marlin Brandow was one of the big names that was in town. How did that effect the people in the area, do you know or…
L: I still hear stories from people who remember getting a ride on his motorcycle or stories of Tulula Bankhead. I think it's just, I think it was just a real draw for the community and I think they were very proud of who was here and who they had seen and sightings.
[00:16:30]
K: Now I heard a rumor that Marlin Brandow took someone to the prom?
L: Oh, I'm not sure about that story.
K: I think that would be pretty interesting. How were they getting all these actors down here?
L: That was the heyday of those one week tours where they would be on that straw hat circuit and they would want to just get out of New York or whatever. They would play one week here and then go to The Cape or go up to where it was nice a cooler by the ocean or the mountains.
K: About when did the touring companies stop coming through?
L: Hold on one second [checking an article in front of here]. I think they went in more through the 50s and then, yeah it was only like 5 years. It wasn't all that long but it just seems like a large part of the history.
K: Oh definitely.
L: Yeah.
K: And then after that stuff it went back to kinda being..
L: Yep, yep it was just sitting there idle and Tommy did come in, Tommy Brant came in and wanted to run it and brought it back to its appearance.
K: So when did Tommy come in?
L: In the 60s and opened it up in '67 and ran it for 22 years. I worked with him from 1975 though, well '71 through '82 I guess. Somewhere in there.
[00:18:16]
K: Any big names when you were working there or…
L: Well we had Jennifer Flowers..or when Tommy was there well not super big names. We decided to bring in a few, as I said we had Jennifer Flowers, we had Barbra Eden, so that was fun. That brings a whole other dimension of level of service and yada yada…I don't want to say it.
K: A little bit of different classes. I mean how does the paying work? Is it a fair payment throughout all the people in the company?
L: We worked with Actor's Equity and they set a minimum of how many actors you have to have in the chorus, union actors in the chorus and in the principal parts and then theirs a minimum salary that you can start negotiating from. Then you know we would tell them our top range and it would be negotiable and hope for the best. Now because you have 500 seats its not like you got a …and we had low ticket prices so we didn't pay top top dollar but we paid well. It was comfortable and we took care of them. It was roles they all wanted.
K: And also a lot of money in the upkeep of the building.
L: Sure. Yeah, that's a barn which is the love and the hard part.
K: So is that one of the reasons that you were attracted to Theater-by-the-Sea, just the charm of the building itself?
L: It's just its charm, its magic, my history there. I loved it. I wanted to keep it going. I know how important it is to the state and the community and all that and it was really nice to do good theater.
[00:20:14]
K: Were you working at all with Trinity when you were running the theater?
L: I remember a production of South Pacific where we had Ed Shea, he was there, at that point at Trinity. We did My Fair Ladywhere Timothy Crow came down. That was about the crossover. Yeah, it was neat.
K: What do you think the importance is of a summer theater on a community?
L: I think that for here you can do a little bit of education but I think it really was summer entertainment for a lot of people. You want them to be able to laugh but we made them cry too. Some tear-jerkers but we stuck with the musicals mostly. To laugh, to cry, to be entertained along with the kids to introduce them to their first live theater. That was so important because you remember. I mean the kids we worked with here who have gone on and done things, it makes you really proud and happy, that's such an important part of education.
K: When did the children's shows start?
L: Tommy again had started those. He did all his own so in the middle of doing all the other stuff you're doing the junior company had to do four shows on Saturday. He would do that and then when we took over I had a friend who was working with PBS and he said lets create Sedgwick the Seahorse and create this whole festival and bring in children's entertainment.
[00:22:15]
K: Now did you force one of your poor actors into the Sedgwick suit?
L: Of course.
K: And do you feel, I mean, that it is not only towards educating the community and bringing people in, but is it also helpful in creating a buzz around your theater and getting more people into the seats to see the shows?
L: Oh, sure, yeah by all means. By the end we were doing about 92% which was wonderful, from beginning to end. We played around with different schedules and one year we tried a fall season, but that was early on and this area has grown so much now that I think you could even do a little longer. It's great for tourism, it's great ….It has to come back.
K: I know. I feel the same way. When you were picking your shows and putting together a season what were you looking into? Into what people would be interested in? What you knew you could sell? And also balancing that with something you really wanted to do that might not be as well known?
L: I think the riskiest one we did was Falsettos which got everyone screaming. We had a cartoon that said "What do you mean we have to think when we go to the theater." That was pushing the envelope. When I was doing the programming later on it was a mixture. It seemed to be that we would do a smaller one to start with and then two really big musicals and then a smaller one again at the end. We had done some plays, Private Lives we did, but my love was musicals and people seemed to respond. It was a mixture, it was trying to figure out if you needed strong guys in the chorus then you could do West Side Story or Guys n Dolls together because there was a good carry-over. The carry-overs were important because if you could keep someone for a season it was great.
[00:24:47]
K: When did you start planning the following summer? Was it when you were already putting up a summer?
L: Yes. We would try to have our next season announced by our last show so that would be August of the year before. Then you would have to get all your brochures done, all your subscribers renewed and all that stuff by January or February and then you would open it up to the new tickets in March and then we would start casting in March and hiring all the tech. So every year it was a clean slate. It was like, alright now you need to find 100 new people to do it, start all over again.
K: Did you have a lot of people who returned in the technical side?
L: Yep, for many years. It was great. Then either through colleges or schools, or people that were coming up under them, so it was like well I can't do it but I have somebody who would be really good. That was important.
K: Did it create an atmosphere of everybody knowing each other.
L: Yes, definitely. It was a lot of good times. Hard work but good times.
K: Well moving on to the not so good times of the interview. When did Theater-by-the-Sea officially close for good?
L: We announced in our '03 that that was going to be our last summer. It was just that Remy and myself…it became…I just didn't want to hate theater or get to that point. We thought, how do we keep topping ourselves? Everybody was going "What are you going to do next year?" And we thought, why don't you leave the party while you are still having fun and be able to. It's in great shape and it should be a quick transition with someone new and that's been the frustrating part. It's just taking longer then I hoped to find the right combo and the deals and all that stuff. People say, oh you're going to miss it, and there are parts that I'm missing and some I'm not. It was probably good timing to stop. Just for me.
[00:27:05]
K: What are you looking for? Are you waiting for someone who comes in and has the same type of vision and sees the greatness of this place?
L: I think that's important to keep it. But they have to have their own vision too. You have to let them do that. We can tell them what worked for us and all that stuff but they have to do it themselves. Whatever combo. So we would love to see it continue in the tradition of.
K: And what's going on with the theater now?
L: It's being lovingly maintained. The keys are ready and once we get our deal going its ready to go. Everything's still intact. Computers have all the subscribers' names and we're ready to hand them over.
K: So you're just kinda waiting?
L: Yeah, we're waiting. That's the waiting game.
K: Have you had anybody come along?
L: Yes. We've had a couple deals fall though and so you keep working on the next one.
K: I read something about someone at Trinity thinking of taking it over and that didn't work out?
L: We were talking with them as well it was just that the timing was bad for them I think. So much going on in their world. And stay tuned.
K: And how did both of your partners feel? Were they on the same page?
L: One had left actually in '98 and then my business partner ended up getting quiet sick with a neurological thing and he was lucky. So it would have been me alone sitting out there going help help.
K: And there is no way you are going to go back? You don't feel the call or the pull of it?
L: It's hard. I don't want to get to the point where I am sitting in a theater and the house lights go down and I'm not excited. That magic is still there and that's what I want to keep.
K: What effect would you say, overall, Theater-by-the-Sea had on your life and your path?
L: It was my life for thirty some-odd years. It's been very important. I'm very proud of what we've done. I just want it to continue but for somebody else.
K: And what are you working on now?
L: I've been doing a lot of nonprofit work with education and a hospital here as well. I'm delving in the nonprofit world.
K: Is some of it nonprofit theater?
L: Not yet. Mostly schools. Just doing that.
K: Anything else that you want to add about Theater-by-the-Sea?
L: It's been a wonderful ride and it's a wonderful wonderful theater. Just need to find a person who has the passion and the commitment to try to do it again. It's a lot of work but it's rewarding.
[00:30:36]
K: Do you think there has been a big impact in Matunuck not having the theater around?
L: I think it's state wide. I don. I keep hearing for everybody "We miss it, we miss it" and I am like "I know".
K: Do you think it even has an effect all the way to New York with actors who want to work at a summer theater?
L: oh, sure yeah. Some of our friends are on Broadway now and they say "Oh it was the best time I had" and all that. So you know you made…you employed a lot of people and you gave them good surroundings and good work and we did our best. We treated them well and so the reputations solid. I'm still proud.
K: Is there any other productions that you either saw or worked on that you think are really important in the history of Theater-by-the-Sea? Or a changing point or a turning point in the theater that was made there?
L: During our years there or during the whole history? I mean I've been there…you know. I've said Falsettos was definitely a different… for us that was a challenge. Jeckle and Hydedefinitely brought the bar up I thought.
K: Did you go there with your parents when you were a kid?
[00:32:15]
L: No I didn't start there until I was 15. I just remember seeing the actors on the beach and thinking that I wanted to go there, thinking "oh, I want to be a part of that."
K: Had you even gone in the building?
L: I don't know. No no. My mom ran a fresh air camp in Connecticut for quite a few summers so we wouldn't get down here till August or something. It wasn't a whole part of it.
K: When you were 15 did you live there? Were your parents living in Connecticut and you were living in the theater?
L: No, my mom would come down and she would be down at the beach house and I did my late nights and would walk to work. Yeah, it was great.
K: No rides? Mom's not picking you up late night?
L: Mom said "well if you want to bring some people for lunch" and I said "ok". So she looks out the window and here I am like the pied piper with 40 people for lunch and that continued for the next 15 years or so. She just, she loved it to.
K: So did she become involved with the theater too?
L: No she was just…they were both supportive, both my parents were. Yeah, it was great. I made dad help a change over once, wielding hammers. Nice having that support.
K: Definitely. I can imagine having 40 people show up for lunch. You must like some of the actors. What was your favorite part? Your favorite job there or responsibility there?
L: I did a couple years of stage managing. That's very rewarding. When everything goes right you can say
K: That was me.
L: Yeah, that was me and yet you don't expect to get any of the glory but you know that the show went well and everything like that. But that was really neat. When we got into the producing of it all those elements come together. It's exciting.
[00:34:29]
K: Is Matunuck much different from when you came here as a kid?
L: It's growing. I think our whole state, everything growing. There's still the corn fields, there's still the fog, the magic of the beach, the sounds, the smells, all of that.
K: But more people.
L: More people.
K: When do you foresee someone stepping up to take on the theater?
L: I'm hoping by next year it will be open. That's the goal.
K: And are there any other turning points in the history that you know of of Theater-by-the-Sea of shows or productions that you think are gems it its tradition?
L: Tommy did a lot of wonderful shows as well. He did a lot of the Neil Simons and I think that was…but he was one of the first to do musicals there because it really wasn't built as a musical house. And I think that changed the old style of the one week strike play coming through and I think that was a big turn around for that theater. We were happy to continue with the musicals for the most part. We tried Beauty and the Beast which was a new show, it's awfully hard to do a new show in the middle of the summer season. I don't recommend it. Probably wouldn't do that again but it was a challenge.
K: Are there limits to that stage and that theater about doing technical things?
L: Well there's not much of a stage right as you remember but designers and choreographers they can get pretty creative. And directors would come in who hadn't worked the space and would say "oh wait I need 18 in the chorus" or "24" and you'd go "no, it really fills up with 8 or 10, trust me." And it does. You had to adjust but you could create the magic.
[00:36:36]
K: Was it hard, especially with shows like Beauty and the Beast where that was going up on Broadway and New York as well with all that technical stuff on top of it. Did you feel that you had to compete with that or were giving a different…
L: It was a different version. And of course Disney wants to make sure you are not encroaching on any of their stuff. It was a simpler story, pretty music, and I think people liked it, it's just that it's too quick a time and a two week rehearsal or whatever to try to shape this new entity. Get it going and make sure it works. It's too hard. It's too much.
K: And what was the crowd like when you were running the theater?
L: We had a goal of trying to open it up to more generations. To be able to have…so that it could be a date night for some younger folks or that parents could bring their kids. It was trying to do a variety so that it pleased all generations. At least during the year there was something for everybody.
K: So certain shows…
L: Yeah, I think our goal was to try to lower the median age of theater goers. Try to introduce to a new audience that would say "Hey, this is ok. This is pretty good"
K: Well I think that's it! Thank you very much.
[00:39:02]