Elimination of dramas a sad reality for local theater community

The recently announced new season of local plays highlights a couple of sad realities. One, a theater can have the highest hopes of bringing quality scripts to the valley, but if its audience rejects them, they'd better take a step back and re-evaluate.

Case in point: I bemoaned the brainless comedies Theatre in the Valley often did. They began last season with what seemed like a step forward: Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Although it was an awful production, the troupe couldn't even get a booking that often produced its biggest source of revenue: the retirement-home playhouses. (I found that curious. The film version was a huge hit in 1966, and since that was 45 years ago, I would think many retirement community residents would have fond memories of the title.)

I always hoped that if a theater felt the need to do only comedies, they would at least mount quality comedies. But what is Theatre in the Valley to do when what has worked best for them are trifles about social security and kvetching New York Jews? It's one thing for outsiders like me to complain, but it's Theatre in the Valley that has to pay the bills.

Las Vegas Little Theatre is also going with a "no drama" series on its mainstage, but some of the titles are encouraging: "You Can't Take It With You" (always worth seeing again), "Sylvia," "The 39 Steps." But I can't help feel disappointed when a theater feels (even if rightfully so) that it can't afford to do a single drama all season. At least, Las Vegas Little Theatre has two smaller stages in which they have the luxury of being able to take more chances with a different audience demographic.

The Nevada Conservatory Theatre is presenting the sort of fare a university should. Among them: a classic musical ("A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"), a Shakespeare comedy ("The Taming of the Shrew"), a classic drama (August Strindberg's "Miss Julie"), and a modern classic (August Wilson's "Seven Guitars"). Some of these are titles most community theaters would not take a chance on.

It's apparent, though, that there's no hope for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Performing Arts Center's New York Stage & Beyond. As I've written years previously, the title gives the program no identity (why not just call it "Entertainment from Planet Earth"). The offerings (ballets, tangos) could just as easily be a part of one of the other series' programs. This year, the organizers are flaunting their laziness. They've booked Hal Holbrook in his Mark Twain monologue for the third time in eight years. And at a $75 top ticket price! To think of all the talents we have yet to see, one is forced to make a plea to the folks at the center: Please, care a little more.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at vegastheaterchat@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.