Barn Theatre, Augusta, Michigan

So..you "apparently" came here to find out what someone had posted here about the Barn. And then you could care less what they have to say and you go off on your own little tantrum. Good work.

Having worked there, I can tell you the Barn is a good summer theater that does excellent work. You don't like it..leave. People like Marin Mazie, Tom Wopat and Beth Fowler who come there year after year don't seem to think it's bad. But, of course, you're an EMC (god..let's hope not) who gets in a fit when they don't get cast in the leading role you deserve. And then..god forbid..you have to actually paint the sets, mow the grass and do some yuck non-performing work. Deal. Someone else got cast because they've worked there before? Oh...boo hoo. Welcome to the real world.

The Barn does some good things. About the only bad thing it would seem they did was hiring you.

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LaCage can you tell the story of the positive life altering experience? I like hearing about those.

Does your name come from the Play "Ozma of Oz", Roquat?

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I am not an actor, you titmice. I'm also not some summer-stock newbie--I've been doing this for at least a decade. Check your facts before you make biased, cliched assumptions. I was hired by the Barn in an administrative capacity and did not actually have to do the massive amounts of grunt work they required of their actors. I just saw what it did to the formerly fresh, eager, just-out-of-school cast members whose first professional theatre experience was tainted forever. The most talented ones, and the hardest workers, were passed over and given spear-carrying type roles in favor of the ones who had been there longer or were better at schmoozing or whom the director of the show wanted to sleep with or something. Meanwhile, the Equity guest artists (Mazzie, Wopat, etc.) were fawned over sickeningly--of course they keep coming back.

I agree that the Barn does good shows a lot of the time, despite the insane political casting--perhaps you can justify casting four actors in "Forever Plaid" whose ages, respectively, were 20, 33, 35, and 47? ("We all met in high school"--HAH!)

The Barn screwed me and several others in my company big time, and it drives away as many people as it keeps. As for the person who lost their virginity backstage--I'm glad SOMETHING good happened there.

Yes, my screen name comes from the "Oz" books.

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My Lord...what you described it how Theater is EVERYWHERE...people just out of school getting smaller roles and Marin Mazzie and Tom Wopat getting leads - GO FIGURE! Simply amazing to me...just exactly how did they SCREW YOU OVER?

And no, my friend didnt loose their virginity. He met his partner of the last 3 yrs there...came out of the closet...got his equity card because of The Barn...and has been ejoying his partner and his life in an off-bway musical in NYC for the last 3 yrs.

What you seem to forget is that Marin Mazzie and Tom Wopat were both EMC candidates and got their union cards at the Barn Theatre as well. I worked on stage with both of them a couple of decades ago and joined Equity in one of the Barn's musical productions.

The Barn Theatre is a great place for hungry hopefuls, most of them just out of school, to see how the "real world" of theatre actually works, but on a slightly smaller scale. For every person that gets a good part, there will always be others who will be upset, feel cheated, or who are jealous of their fellow performers successes. I learned a lot more at the Barn than just how to act, sing & dance in a show with only two weeks of rehearsal. I learned about dicipline and hard work, and what it takes to keep theatres like the Barn running. Yes, that includes scrubbing toilets, waiting tables and parking cars, in addition to time-steps and vocal warm-ups. But I left that theatre as a professional, with a great sense of accomplishemnt... that if I could get through that kind of greasepaint boot camp, I could face anything in life head on and survive it. Twenty years later, I haven't been proven wrong yet.

The Barn Theatre isn't for the thin skinned, but neither is the professional theatre in general. There are a lot of favorites played, people who are cast because they have a "bigger name" or "know the producer," etc. It's no different anywhere else. I think the sooner a young performer learns this, the better off they're going to be. They can decide for themselves whether or not they're cut out for show business, but at least they'll understand what they're going to face. What better training ground or experience could a young performer ask for?

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Updated On: 7/4/05 at 11:09 AM

I think that perhaps I did speak too soon and too harshly about the Barn. It obviously has both good and bad points, like any theatre. Personal issues of my own caused me to lose perspective. Please disregard this entire thread.

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This sounds like every other business, not just the theatre. It's called reality.

Just a minute, buddy. I know I went too far, but I'm admitting it and trying to move on. You're no different from any other vicious chorus boy slicing up other people's reputations behind their backs. Except you're worse, because you don't know me.

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I was at the Barn this past Friday night to see the current show and I will be back again this weekend. I can't wait to take this thread with me to show my friend!

I apologized and am making amends. I'm sorry if that doesn't fit into your "Star Wars" view of the world where everyone is either all good or all evil. We are not talking about Nazi Germany, but about a 90-second drunken lapse when there was nobody around to pry my fingers away from the computer. If you've never been tempted to make such lapses, I'll accept your first-stone casting and congratulate you on your sainthood. But from the tone of your posts, I rather doubt it. "Buddy."

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