Live Theater Comes To Montauk
Anita Brown was bored in the winter of 1989. She had appeared Off Broadway and in television and regional theater, and had long been working with the Double Image Theater in New York City. She and her husband, Bill, commuted most weekends out to Montauk, where he spent most of the time designing their garden near Hither Woods.
With Mrs. Brown's background in acting and directing, it didn't take long to figure how to fill her time while he planted. Also the longtime director of the the children's program at the New Brunswick Educational Theater, she started up some improvisational workshops in the basement of the Montauk Community Church.
She found her charges by sending flyers home with students at the Montauk School, whose holiday pageants were the only theatrical performances in town at the time.
Evolving Company
Next she went after the children's parents and grandparents, creating a pool of local talent as well as a captive audience for children's recitals, holiday productions, cabarets and variety shows - and a theater company known as Theatre in Montauk.
The group continued to evolve into what is now known as Montauk Theatre Productions, along the way picking up Mr. Brown, a member and former chairman of the Caravan Theatre Company, as a co-founder. In 1993 M.T.P. moved into its own storefront on South Elmwood Avenue in downtown Montauk, and in 1995, when adjacent space became available, expanded to include a separate dance studio.
Today, the group gives playwrights a venue for screening new works in a weekly summer series. Last summer Will Eno, a fellow at the Edward Albee Foundation, prescreened "A Tragedy" - to a "wonderful" re sponse, according to the Browns, who since then have become the producers of the play, which they have submitted for major festivals in New York and Washington.
Community Theater
"Half and Half," a one-woman comedy-drama written and performed by the British comedienne Alison Larkin, was contracted by HBO after Ms. Larkin performed it at the studio last summer, and she is working on a pilot.
Meanwhile, M.T.P.'s year-round performers range from locals to big-city professionals. Smaller productions are held at the studio, which seats an audience no larger than 45, while the Community Church is still used for larger productions.
"Community" theater is probably an apt description. One variety show regular is Frank Borth of Montauk, who performs humorous renditions of such classical tales as " 'Twas the Night Before Christmas." Another year-rounder, Ed Ecker Sr., can be counted on to begin each Christmas show with a carol that conveniently omits the traditional lyrics. And Claire Mayer invariably gets a laugh when she smiles with blackened teeth.
"Enormous Talent"
Montauk Theatre Productions is involved in community projects, also, giving puppet shows and other performances for the Montauk Library and the Chamber of Commerce Fall Festival, for instance, and leading role-playing sessions
Meanwhile, the dance studio next door seems to thrive under the tutelage of Mary Ponsini, its director. It has over 80 participants and a total of 22 weekly classes, Mrs. Brown said, with classes for everyone from toddlers to senior citizens.
Dance Studio
Ms. Ponsini used to give workshops for at-risk children from the Young People's Alternative Program in Brooklyn, and this spring teenagers from the Montauk dance studio will visit the Brooklyn School and participate in an exchange program, with the Brooklyn students visiting Montauk over five days this summer.
She also travels weekly to Shelter Island to teach a tap class in conjunction with the continuing education program at the Shelter Island School.
"We don't want to tell anyone they can't come to dance," said Ms. Ponsini, and to that end the dance studio offers a recently established scholarship program for its students.
"There is an enormous amount of talent in Montauk," Mrs. Brown said. "Seeing that talent developed is thrilling."