A little field research told Chad Sheffield he has something Pleasure Ridge Park needs. As far as he could discern, Sheffield said, “there’s not even a bookstore or a coffee shop on Dixie (Highway). We went looking for one.”
So Sheffield, 28, who grew up in the southwestern Jefferson County town, is more than happy to help broaden its cultural offerings. He’s opened Story Street Theater at 6706 Terry Road, which will house productions by Latent Muse, the community theater company he helped start last year. Latent Muse staged its first show, “The Glass Menagerie,” last May at the theater, formerly known as Story Street Children’s Theater.
 The director and cast of Latent Muse’s production of “A Raisin in the Sun,” which plays through March 6. (photo by david harpe) |
Sheffield, the company’s executive producer, was pleased with the turnout; each show of the two-week run drew 60 or 70 people, he said, a normal attendance figure for a company of that size in Louisville. “I just think a lot of people around here want to see this happen,” he said.
Latent Muse rented the former children’s theater for that show, then staged its next three shows at the Rudyard Kipling in Old Louisville. But the PRP community was “really supportive” of the first production, Sheffield said, and wanted the company back. He also received encouragement from some teachers at the Youth Performing Arts School.
“Menagerie” performed better financially than any of the shows at the Rud, Sheffield said, and when the company began planning its current season, it considered renting space in the Boyd Martin Experimental Theater (MeX) at the Kentucky Center or at Actors Theater. But they eventually looked back to the Children’s Theater.
“To me it was a no-brainer,” Sheffield said, because the cost of renting space downtown for two weeks didn’t make sense compared to the possibility of having a more permanent home.
The building was constructed 10 years ago for a church that never moved in, and a year after its completion, Richard and Linda Keeling purchased it. Linda, a drama teacher, started the Children’s Theater, which operated for seven years before closing in 2003.
Late last year Sheffield reached an agreement to lease the building. A good deal of work went into getting it ready — painting over the pale blue of the interior with a rich wine-red and covering up the children’s murals that flanked the stage. The cadet-blue theater seats can accommodate 238 patrons.
The first Latent Muse show in its new home opened Friday. The production is “A Raisin in the Sun,” the Lorraine Hansberry classic about an African-American family debating how to sp/files/storyimages/an insurance check after their patriarch dies. It’s directed by Kamie McCant, an Atlanta native who has studied at the University of Louisville since 2000, where she is finishing her second master’s degree, in Pan African Studies, this summer. (The production is reviewed on page 30.)
Rick Blackwell, who represents the 12th District on the Metro Council, is excited about the company’s move, but he worries that it, like the children’s theater before it, will struggle with marketing. People outside the Pleasure Ridge Park area didn’t even know the children’s theater was there, he said.
But Sheffield, who grew up three streets away from the theater, thinks the PRP location will give the company a niche. He hopes to draw not only the local community but believes regular downtown theatergoers may be enticed to visit the area as well.
At any rate, Blackwell thinks it’s great that Sheffield is “coming back and bringing some arts with him.”
Sheffield knows he’s in for a lot of work. Last year’s shows put the company in debt, and going from two-week runs at the Rud to renting its own facility is like “night and day,” he said. “Whether we lose money, lose our tails on this or not, we’re going to see it through to the /files/storyimages/of the year.”
“It can do nothing but benefit the community,” said Jessica Kubas, Sheffield’s business partner. “Maybe it will encourage someone to open a coffee shop or something.” Drawing a “dinner-and-theater” crowd could be helpful to nearby restaurants, she said.
The actors in the production agree and think the theater may be well received.
“There’s no theater there because no one’s been willing to take the risk,” said Charlie Hunter, who plays Karl Lindner, the production’s only white character. “No one has taken the time or energy to be a pioneer.”
“A Raisin in the Sun” continues through March 6. General admission tickets ($10, or $8 for children and seniors) can be purchased at the door or by calling 380-5516.
Contact the writer at leo@leoweekly.com
