2/14/08

Forum focuses on community theater plans, next steps

by Sam Severn

Picture Marysville with a cutting-edge community venue for the performing arts.

Picture concerts, children’s theater, film festivals, dance productions, and live plays presented in a new facility for local entertainment.

That’s the vision of some citizens who gathered to share a spirited open forum on the subject January 30 at the Marysville Public Library.

The meeting was hosted by the Marysville Community Playhouse Association (MCPA), a grassroots arts group headed by four local businesswomen.

According to MCPA, the need for the community to kick-start its arts scene is crucial.

“We’re a growing community,” said Leslie Buell, one of the women spearheading the group. She pointed out that while annexation plans mean Marysville’s population will soon reach 50,000, local artists must go outside the city to hold their performances.

“Current venues (for performances) are not adequate,” agreed Beckye Randall, another MCPA founder, who was also instrumental in the grassroots efforts to reopen and restore the Historic Everett Theatre.

Randall compared Marysville’s lack of facilities to performing arts venues in other cities of similar size in the state. Bremerton, Puyallup, and Walla Walla each have community theaters, seating 200 or more patrons, that can accommodate dance, films, and live stage shows. Edmonds recently renovated a former school auditorium into the Edmonds Center for the Arts, owned by the city and seating 700, and also boasts the Wade James Theatre, home to the Driftwood Players’ community theater performances.

Lack of venues is not Marysville’s only problem. Reductions in school arts programs, a trend that is nationwide in scope, have also taken a toll.

“There is little emphasis on the arts (in public school districts),” said MCPA’s Lisa Kee, who joined the group after a PTSA meeting on the subject of a performing arts center in Marysville “went nowhere.” “The arts are an integral part of learning. If the schools aren’t going to give our kids a place where they can express themselves, then it’s up to the community to do it.”

11-year-old Samantha Hogue, who attended the MCPA forum, shared the group’s view.

“A youth acting program would be really great,” she enthusiastically offered, adding, “We really need a theater!”

Other attendees like musician Brian Woods were also encouraged. “The arts (in Marysville) are really fractured,” he said. “An arts facility would pull it all together.”

“A community center would bring artists out of the woodwork,” Randall told the crowd. She said community and civic leaders might be convinced to step up in support, as they have in other local cities, if shown the right plan.

Funding the arts is a challenge, the group admitted, with increased competition for shrinking public and private monies, but it’s not impossible.

Gaining exposure is the first call-to-arms. “We need to beat the drum and raise awareness,” said Randall, surveying the eager faces in the audience. “I think the community is ready to listen.”

“We need anybody who has a remote interest in this to come join us and share their ideas,” Kee added after the forum.

A second open meeting is planned for Wednesday, February 27 at 7 p.m. at the Marysville Public Library. For more information, contact Leslie Buell at (425) 268-5285 or [email protected], or Beckye Randall at (360) 654-0754 or [email protected].