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Already veterans of People magazine
and The CBS Evening News, the C omerstone Theatre Company, a nationally acclaimed touring group which specializes in extended resi, dencies in small towns outside the mainstream performance circuits, will visit Rappahannock County this weekend.
The company will present two performances of / Can’t Pay the Rent at the elementary school on Friday, Feb. 12 and an original stage production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Gay Street Theatre on Saturday, Feb. 13.
The Saturday performance will feature actors in the lead roles, supported by a cast of life-size puppets. “It will be a pretty wacky production,” said Bill Rauch, the company’s director. That’s a part of Cornerstone’s philosophy — to teach its audiences, through example, that the interpretation of theatre productions depends on the reaction of individual members of the audience.
“Part of our theory,” Mr. Rauch explained, “is to teach each audience to interpret a production as they like. Just because it’s written as a tragedy doesn’t mean that each member of the audience will respond to it that way.”
In making theatre fun, and a more individual experience, the company has also written an original production designed to appeal to younger audiences. They will perform / Can't Pay the Rent to two audiences at RCES on Friday, once in the morning and again in the afternoon.
The concept of the production is to expose the audience to a variety of theatre genres over a short period, in just one performance. It’s done, Mr. Rauch explained, by presenting the same piece 15 times, varying such elements as props, lighting, sets and the mood and feeling of the actors on the stage.
“We get 45 minutes to tell kids everything we want to tell them about theatre — and make it fun, ” Mr. Rauch said. Judging from the enthusiastic response from their audiences, many of whom have never seen a stage production, the company succeeds.
Brought to Rappahannock County by the “Arts on the Road” grant program of the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the company is varying its standard format for the visit. Usually, the group sets up shop in a community for one to three months, and trains local people as cast and crew for its pyoduct^n^of ^n, original play or a revival of a classic.
Because the time is short, that won’t be done this trip, but the company will be working at the Gay Street Theatre from noon until showtime Saturday on the set for A
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