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Friday, Jun. 05, 2009

Pair launches Mansfield Community Theatre

By AMANDA ROGERS

News-Mirror Writer

They have a combined 63 years of theatrical experience, and they’re going to use it all to launch a new theater group in Mansfield.

Marty Fredrick and Scott Ferrell, along with an advisory board, have started Mansfield Community Theatre, and plan to produce elaborate productions like the city has never seen.

"We’ve been forming it in our minds for years," said Ferrell, who is the worship arts director at the First United Methodist Church. "Now it’s time. We have so much wonderful talent."

The company’s first production will be the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "The Sound of Music," which has already been cast. The show will have a cast of 50-60, plus a full orchestra of 30 members, Ferrell said. Rehearsals begin Sunday for the show, which will run Aug. 7-8.

"The Sound of Music" will be the first of many family-friendly productions, Fredrick and Ferrell say.

"It’s the old classics that are continuously revived on Broadway," said Fredrick, who has been involved with theater for 38 years as a teacher and director, and also ran a production company in Illinois. "I’d love to do 'My Fair Lady’ and 'Mame.’ That would involve a lot of people."

The pair also mentioned "Beauty and the Beast," "Forever Plaid," "Nunsense," "The Importance of Being Earnest" and "God’s Favorite."

Mansfield Community Theatre plans to announce its next play by the time it stages "The Sound of Music," Fredrick said. A play-reading committee is currently coming up with ideas for the rest of the season.

"I know we can handle three (shows) a year," Fredrick said.

The talent is there, the pair says. They have seen it. The pair produced "Music Man" last summer, along with "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," "Oklahoma," "Twelve at the Table" and "Broadway Musical Revue," all at the First Methodist Church.

But that won’t be an option anymore, Ferrell said. An expanding children’s ministry at the church needs the space, he said.

Finding funding and a venue to stage the productions will be the biggest challenges, Ferrell and Fredrick agree. The new theater group will stage its first production at the 900-seat Kennedale Performing Arts Center because there isn’t a venue large enough in Mansfield, they said.

"Hundreds of thousands of dollars leave Mansfield because we don’t have a performing arts center," Ferrell said.

Kennedale’s theater works because it has a fly tower to allow sets to be raised and lowered, and it’s close to Mansfield, Fredrick said.

The group also needs a place to store sets and costumes, she said.

"We need someone to come forward and give us some space," Fredrick said, "a dilapidated barn or building."

Mansfield Community Theatre plans to apply for non-profit 501(c)3 status, Fredrick said, and hopes to receive a piece of the city’s growing hotel/motel tax pie. Fredrick and her husband, Virgle, will back "The Sound of Music," which will cost $8,000-$10,000, she said.

"We’re not trying to make money off 'The Sound of Music,’" Fredrick said. "We’re just trying to break even."

Fredrick and Ferrell are donating their time for the new venture, and they’ll still have their day jobs. Fredrick will stage "Annie Jr." today at the Scott Theatre in Fort Worth with her actors from AIM, the arts group at First Methodist where she is the theater arts director. She also works with Walnut Ridge Baptist Church on productions.

The extra work will be worth it to bring live theater to Mansfield, they both say.

"It’s much more difficult for an actor to perform in a live setting," Fredrick said. "But the achievement is greater."

And it touches the audience, Ferrell said.

"There’s nothing like musical theater," he said. "It’s real people exhibiting real emotions. In the digital age, people are looking for something that is real."

For more information about Mansfield Community Theatre, contact Marty Fredrick at (682) 518-1565.

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