Imagine a professional theater venue tucked into an average apartment unit, and youβve essentially visualized the Abreact Performance Space.
The 1,000-square-foot space in a refurbished room of the Lafayette Lofts in Corktown provides what may be metro Detroitβs most intimate theater experience. With seating for about 50 patrons in mismatched plastic chairs and loveseats, audience members in the front row often find actors nearly sitting in their laps.
Abreactβs location has changed multiple times since its debut in Greektownβs Boydell Building. What hasnβt changed is the pay-as-you-can model. Donations are accepted, but performances are free.
βIf youβre breaking even, youβre making money,β says Chuck Reynolds, who founded Abreact in 2000 and now serves as its artistic director. βIt worked out better for us not charging at all. You might get $5, you might get $50.β
Among the contributors is Phil Bolden, a true Abreact actor-in-residence. He pays rent on the space as well as his adjacent apartment. When you visit Abreactβs βloungeβ for a drink (also free), youβre in Boldenβs kitchen. When actors prepare themselves in the βgreen room,β theyβre in Boldenβs living room. And the βtheater cats,β Rufus and Junior, are Boldenβs own felines.
βWe lack the pretense of what theater should be,β Bolden says. βWeβre very relaxed about it, but at the same time, weβre very serious about what we do.β
Reynolds received his B.A. in theater from Wayne State. In addition to the many Abreact productions heβs been involved in, heβs appeared in shows at the Detroit Repertory Theatre and Hamtramckβs Planet Ant. According to him, the majority of Abreact actors have a B.A. in theater from either WSU, Oakland University, or University of Detroit Mercy.
Actor Adam Barnowski says that approach to theater has kept him participating in Abreact shows since 2004. βI come back to the Abreact every year,β Barnowski says. βWe want to work here.β Barnowski has also directed several shows for the company.
βEvery time I do a show, I come out of it feeling like Iβve gotten better,β he says. βAnd Iβve done 15 or 20 shows here. Itβs about getting better as an artist.β
The Abreact has also consistently attracted what Barnowski describes as a βdevoted niche audience.β Reynolds estimates that each show draws about 300 people, including a group of about 200 βregularsβ over the course of its run. The company favors the more unconventional works of Samuel Beckett, David Mamet, and Edward Albee over the classics.
βI like to do shows that arenβt usually done around here,β Reynolds says. βIt does create a very, very fun, diverse crowd.β And when the company does take on a better-known production, they do it their way. In 2007, for example, they produced Stephen Sondheimβs murder musical Sweeney Todd with a one-man band.
Occasionally, that freewheeling approach to theater has led to mishaps, particularly when the company was without a proper home.
From 2006 to 2008, Reynolds says the team operated as βgypsies,β rehearsing and doing shows wherever they could: the Majestic Theatre, the Park Bar, and Corktownβs Zeitgeist Gallery.
Barnowski recalls a particularly nightmarish rehearsal period when Abreact was working out of the Zeitgeist in 2008. While rehearsing Mametβs American Buffalo that February, the company was not allowed to turn on the buildingβs heat. Barnowski says this was bad enough in February temperatures, but even worse when rehearsing scenes that required actors to be drenched in water.
βThere were moments when you had steam coming off your head,β Barnowski says. βWe spent six weeks in there, essentially in a meat locker.β
Despite such trials, the Abreact crew has persevered with an attitude summed up by Boldenβs assertion that βThere is no quit.β Barnowski says a democratic spirit has been key to the projectβs success to date. βThe idea of the Abreact is bigger than any of the people who are involved in it,β he says. βIt will continue, hopefully, forever.β
The theaterβs 11th season opens this fall with two one-act plays: one by Shel Silverstein and one by Abreact staple Mamet, collectively titled Oh, Hell! Reynolds says heβs pleased to have passed the decade mark. βI donβt know if thatβs a landmark or a milestone, but itβs very difficult to produce theater in this city, especially with our resources,β he says.
But with the dedication that has characterized the company, it seems almost impossible for the Abreact to do anything but keep on going.
βIt would be an extremely weird world for me if September came and I wasnβt doing a theater project,β Reynolds says. βI donβt think I could go a year without doing a show. There are people who do this just because itβs what we do, and thatβs who we are.β
They also do it for reasons explained by the theaterβs name, a derivative of the psychological term βabreaction,β which Reynolds defines as βcatharsis through movement and sound.β
If you enjoy the monthly content in ΒιΆΉ·¬ΊΕ Detroit, and/or for more frequent updates.
| Μύ |
|