A Bloggerview: Jarred Clowes
Jarred Clowes is the technical director for the Spotlight Theatre Company in Bakersfield and is heading up their Spotlight Series of blackbox-contemporary plays. Having just closed The Pillowman, Jarred is plugging along working through musicals, dramas, and educational theatre. In its 9th Season, the Spotlight Theatre is well on its way to becoming a LORT-d house (probably the first one in the San Joaquin Valley) within its next five seasons.
MWA: What's happenin' in your theatrical world?
JC: Well, I've learned that in order to make a living off theatre... you have to do a lot of it(a lot a lot). So, "what's happenin'"? is kind of a loaded question.
One thing I'm really excited about at
the moment though is something we're calling The Spotlight Series...
taking place, of course, at The Spotlight Theatre (Bakersfield). For anyone not familiar with The Spotlight, it's a 99 seat proscenium style theatre in downtown Bakersfield.
The theatre itself has been around for about 9 years. In this last
year though we've grown significantly (in terms of donor and
administrative support). Our normal season is composed of eight shows,
usually a mix of musicals and popular dramas along with a wild card or
two per season. The upcoming season includes, Noises Off, High Fidelity the musical, It's a Wonderful Life, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Albee's The Goat, Carousel, Simon's Proposals and our summer rock and roll revue...
Yeah it's pretty sell-out except for probably The Goat, but we're growing and trying to give ourselves every opportunity to stretch our artistic muscles.
The Spotlight Series is part of that goal: four shows spread out over the course of the year and squeezed into one of our three week breaks. The idea was that rather than letting the theatre sit dark, we could utilize the space, assuming the technical requirements for the following show were light, to put on a much smaller and more intimate production. And of course, this production would be edgier than our normal fare and something we could never put into the normal season, based on our need to continue growing a reliable audience base. So as of this writing we've just closed our second show of this type, The Pillowman. The Pillowman, along with Onionheads, the first show of this series, turned out to be rather well attended. Both shows netted in the area of about $2000 each, which anyone in a local theatre scene knows is pretty good... especially considering that it's pure gravy. With the gravy on top of the gravy being that we get to put up these amazing shows with the support of a real theatre, with real lights etc...
Sorry if that answer turned into a thesis paper but these shows really excite me.
Seen any good work lately?
Apart from my own shows, where all of the actors were amazing of course, I can certainly recall one performance that gave me pause: Kat Brinkley in Little Women (yeah she's my girlfriend...so what? she's awesome!)
How would you describe the present condition of the bakersfield theatre scene?
ouch. You're trying to get me in trouble aren't you?
Well...Stars has most of the money but none of the talent, which boils down to second tier community actors on rented sets. The Empty Space has most of the talented actors but no money or organization. BCT has...well...they are [one of] the longest running community theatre in the state. The Melodrama is The Melodrama (I don't know if they even really count as a theatre in the sense of a theatre being a place where plays are put on). The two colleges are struggling to rebuild their programs after several trying years, and The Spotlight, where I do most of my work, has some of the money and some of the actors and is on a general upswing which I hope will continue.
That being said... I am constantly amazed that from top to bottom Bakersfield Theatre is as good as it is. Short of the big houses in LA (the Mark Taper, The Geffen), going to a random show in Bakersfield is far more likely to yield a good experience than showing up to a random theatre in LA. No joke, Bakersfield has way more theatre than you would think, and a lot of it is very worthwhile. Though, if you'd like a prognostication, I would make a guess that in the next twelve to twenty-four months two of the theatres listed above will fold or move...you heard it here first.
What advice do local theatres need to hear?
Working together will help everyone. It will. Even you Stars.
What quality in other artists/designers do you most dislike when you see it?
Bad hygiene. Just because you're a techie doesn't mean that you can't take a shower...come on man. Oh and self-delusion...I'll just let that hang out there.
What qualities do you look for in other artists/designers?
What I love are people that love to argue but who also have the ability to be convinced. There's nothing better than to have your mind changed, because that is the only time that you will ever learn anything. So...opinionated but not stubborn is what I'm looking for. I'll let you know when I find him/her.
What are your top three theatre reads?
It seems that I only have time to read plays these days...so I'm sure your site will be number one with a bullet!
Where do you think Spotlight Theatre is headed in the next few years?
Funny you should ask because we just finished submitting a new five year plan to our board. Some of the plans that we're laying the groundwork for include opening up a second space in the next couple years...a space intended to be a home for our Spotlight Series shows. Our big plan though is to gradually fulfill the requirements that would allow The Spotlight to become a lort-D designated equity theatre. If we are successful The Spotlight would be the only equity theatre in the central valley (that I know of...drop me a line if you know of another, we'd probably have some questions).
What ideas do you have to keep theatre vital and interesting in the community?
As it stands now, a lot of us do theatre for ourselves, because WE love it. That's ok...I mean, we'd better love it right? Not a lot of us get paid for it... So what we really need to focus on finding is a better way to bring the community back... hopefully as participants yes, but more importantly we need to project that Theatre is vital and that it is a place where they, the people, should be spending their time. ...I guess that didn't really answer the question... in fact, I think all I did was say something that the question assumed was true in the first place...huh. Then I guess... ...maybe a bobblehead night? I don't know, I got nothin'
What's coming up for you?
Next I'll be designing A Chorus Line and You Can't Take it With You at The Spotlight, and Two Sisters and a Piano at Bakersfield College. I wont be directing another show until Noises Off in September so I'm happy that, to an extent, I will be on somewhat of a break.
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