While I have worked with Colonial in the past, I had no interaction with the directors or performers for Company. After my work with Colonial’s last show, I decided to take a long break from the theater company.

(Editor’s note: here is Mr. Vaughan’s earlier submission)
I had the opportunity to see Colonial’s production of Company early in its run, and while the reviewer brings up some valid points, the overall vitriolic tone is simply unnecessary and unprofessional.

I did not walk into Colonial’s intimate theater expecting Tony-worthy performances; this is a community theater production. No one is being paid (except for Mr. Sondheim, who I am sure has already cashed the royalty check). Everyone volunteered countless hours, devoting time and energy for an artistic pursuit.

I applaud Colonial Players for taking up the challenge to put on a very complicated and very rewarding show. It may not be perfect, but given the applause from the audience on the night I attended, it certainly was not the trainwreck described above.

It is because of scorched-earth reviews such as this one that I am reluctant to return to the stage as an actor in community theatre productions. When one thinks of the countless hours rehearsing, learning lines and blocking, suffering endless technical weeks, and then finally committing to a lengthy run—all for no compensation except for an audience’s applause—and then be ruthlessly torn to bits by a lackluster critic, it really isn’t worth it.

I wonder how the writer would feel if such a review was written of one of her productions? How many aspiring young actors and actresses would throw in the towel, knowing that no matter how hard you worked, and no matter how good the show, some writer exercising demons cannot resist a petty attack.

Regarding the staging and the orchestra in the center:
1) Our theatre has three options for musicians in a show, those being: center stage, E4 (the large corner of the theatre), and offstage. I believe that having the musicians on stage in this production allows them to act as a part of the audience during the acting scenes. The facial expressions and reactions of the musicians to the cast, in my opinion and personal observation, allow the audience to relate and see the reactions that may be in their mind acted out on stage.

2) I also believe that having the musicians on stage allows them to be part of the show and allows the audience to see the live talent of both our actors/actresses as well as our musicians. Placing our musicians offstage makes it questionable whether live music is worth the trouble because canned music could almost be utilized at that point without anyone being the wiser. Unfortunately E4 was not a viable option for this show.

3) I have observed the show in rehearsal and several times from several locations. On opening night I sat in the front row (the lowest row) of A section directly across from the karate scene. While it was partially obscured, I did not feel as if I missed any of the action. I can state from working with this show that it is not necessary to see every little karate kick to get the idea of what’s going on. Having seen the karate from several views, I knew on opening night that I was in fact not missing anything critical to the plot. In general, the cast moves around the musician platform allowing the entire theatre to get a reasonably good view of what’s going on throughout the various scenes. In theatre-in-the-round, no matter how you stand, your back will be toward someone and you have the potential to block someone’s view. It’s unfortunate that Ms. Gusso implies that people stood in the same place and did not move around for a large portion of the production. This is simply not the case.

4) It is sometimes problematic in our space to be effectively heard at all times in all locations from all locations without speaking or singing unnaturally loud. It seems to be the nature of the space. There were two vocal numbers in particular that posed particular concern for us, so we utilized wireless microphones for those numbers to enhance the ability of the audience to hear the person singing and even out the sound in the space. Unfortunately we do not own 12 wireless mics, so it is not feasible to mic everyone. We had to work with what was available to us.

Regarding the comment about the lighting: It is unfortunate that Ms. Gusso did not take note of the dramatic lighting changes that actually do take place throughout some of the scenes. All of the lighting was carefully thought out, planned, and subsequently programmed. I was present to witness portions of the endless hours of work by our lighting team that went into lighting this production.

Regarding not having candles on the cake: The Diviners, our January production, used a lot of imaginary yet effective props such as food and drink that are acted out. It is very unlikely that not having actual candles on the cake broke this show. As a theatre-goer, I found that I could use my imagination to understand the concept without the candles actually on the cake, just as with Diviners I understood that a character was eating a donut despite having nothing in his hand. This leads into my next point.

Regarding the voicemail beeps: I believe that Ms. Gusso is right, an old style answering machine would not really have fit with the show. We opted to use a cell phone with voicemail. That said, the show is 2 1/2 hours long including intermission. We didn’t think it was necessary to add another few minutes to the show with several “To delete this message, press 7, to save it, press 9, to keep it as new, press 3.” announcements between each message. We use symbolism in productions and the beeps symbolize voicemail messages being played back.

I hope that others who join us for our production of Company enjoy themselves, get lost in the music that I can’t seem to get out of my head, and leave our theatre with a smile on their face.