Features

Lighting up the neighborhood

After 12 months, Takoma Theater Arts Project is "On the right track"

BY JAMES RUSSELL

The Takoma Theatre has seen its share of owners, managers, and productions. Since 1923, children's movies, X-rated movies, Spanish-language films, comedy shows, stage plays, and gospel musicals have all been shown at various points inside the famous landmark located on the corner of 4th and Butternut Streets in Takoma DC.

But for the last 12 months, the Takoma Theatre Arts Project has been working hard to return the theater into a true community center—a place for neighborhood families and lovers of the arts to gather and appreciate what the professional arts community in the area has to offer. "We want to keep the theater lit up at night for the block and for the neighborhood," said Shaun Miskell, TTAP Board President. "We want to make this a real community arts center."

Fostering Civic Spirit

Residents conceived the idea of a theater "for the purpose of creating a fostering civic spirit," according to a 1922 article in the Washington Evening Star. For the past 80 years, the theater has been a benchmark in the community, and several groups have worked in recent decades to return the theater to its former glory.

The Takoma Theatre was built in 1923 to serve as a local movie house and community auditorium for the citizens of Takoma Park and Takoma DC. In 1935, Warner Bros. acquired the theater and offered double features along with amateur shows and yo-yo contests on the weekends.

By the 1970s, however, the theater fell on tough times. It became an X-rated movie house, and then the local K-B Theaters group leased it to show Spanish-language films on the weekends.

Since the late 1970s, local residents have been working hard to bring back the original splendor of the theater. In 1978, a group called the Neighborhood Film Association began showing family-oriented films on the weekends. Longtime Takoma resident Sara Green told the Washington Post in 1978 that they wanted to "do something in this community that was going to make an impact." The Takoma Theatre, she said, "could be our starting point; our anchor."

The group's efforts were indeed a starting point, but they were unable to secure financing to continue running the theater, and the Takoma closed as a movie house in 1980.

In 1983, Milton McGinty, father of ABC news anchor Derek McGinty, bought the theater and remodeled it for stage productions, hoping to make it the hub of African-American theater in the district. McGinty used the theater to showcase his own plays, and several theater companies, including the Premier Arts Company and The Rep, Inc. have come and gone.

"I just rented it out from time to time," McGinty told the Washington Post in August 2002. "It's such a unique building. I didn't want to give it up."

In April 2002, McGinty handed over programming and managerial duties to the Takoma Theater Arts Project.

"I had to give up my endeavors [to keep it occupied], but I didn't want to give up the building," he said.

Casting a broad net

The Takoma Theatre Arts Project was founded in April 2002 by Rebecca Smallwood, a local Advisory Neighborhood Commission Commissioner, along with fellow Takoma DC residents who wanted to turn the theater into a community center. For the past year, the Takoma Theatre has featured productions ranging from a hip-hop version of The Nutcracker to a radio-dramatization of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by a group of local home-schooled children.

Attendance has been mixed, says board member Roxanne Hanson. Although some of the local programs have had low numbers, some productions, such as The Vagina Monologues and Catholic University's Concert Series, have filled up to two-thirds of the house, which seats 516.

"When you get 250-300 people inside, it gives a nice feel to the theater," said Miskell.

He says they are now working on getting four or five professional theater companies to use the space regularly, along with smaller amateur or children's groups.

"We're casting a very broad net to make the place inviting," he said.

But both Miskell and Hanson say the program has been a success. "Some things have moved faster, and some things have moved slower, but we're on the right track," said Miskell.

TTAP now has over 75 members, and the city has plans to provide the group with a substantial grant. They hope to use the funds for a new lighting and sound system, and to provide access for the physically disabled. Then they will start on renovations to return the theater to its mint, historic condition.

Miskell says there are three heroes to this story—Smallwood (who recently resigned from her official role to spend more time with her three children), McGinty, and Ward 4 Councilmember Adrian Fenty. Thanks to their efforts, the group has secured its 501(c)(3), guaranteeing its non-profit status.

"Take any one of them out of the equation and we wouldn't be here today," Miskell said.

El loco y la triste

Following McGinty's example to offer a diverse selection of programs, in late April the theater opened its first extended run production, El loco y la triste, a Spanish-language play presented by the GALA Hispanic Theatre Company.

Set in Santiago, Chile, the play tells the story of a homeless man and an aging prostitute who develop an enduring friendship in the outskirts of the city. The performance is in Spanish, with free simultaneous English interpretation.

The play runs until May 18. For more information, contact GALA at (202) 234-7174, or e-mail info@galatheatre.org.

For information on how to get involved with TTAP, contact Roxanne Hanson at roxannehanson@yahoo.com. For informa-tion on renting the theater, contact Joe Martin at joemartinttap@yahoo.com.