Next time, make sure you’re there

I can’t be accused of trying to help sell tickets.

By the time this column runs, Jay County Civic Theatre’s production of “Shrek: The Musical” will be history.

But I didn’t want to let the moment pass without weighing in.

That’s especially important because the guy directing the production was Ray Cooney, editor of The Commercial Review.

First, a little context is in order.

Civic was born in the late 1970s, thanks in large part to a job-creation grant that had been awarded to Jay County Arts Council.

The grant was aimed at hiring artistic types, and out of it sprung adult workshops, Arts in the Parks and Jay County Civic Theatre.

Like many start-ups, Civic’s early years were a little hit and miss.

Sometimes that was because of the choice of the material. 

(Is there anyone out there who believes that “Lady Windemere’s Fan” is a logical choice for a rural Indiana and Ohio audience? If so, let me know and I can recommend someone for treatment.)

Sometimes the very nature of an all-volunteer organization guaranteed that things might be a little uneven.

But by the late 1980s and the mid 1990s, things were looking pretty solid.

There are plenty of people responsible for success in that era, but I’d put my old buddy, the late Tom Casey, at the top of the list. After all, how many small community theatre groups put on performances of locally written plays? Tom was the playwright and always up to his elbows in Civic’s endeavors.

Not everything was sunshine and roses.

Like any volunteer organization, Civic has had its internal debates, disagreements and occasional schisms.

But it has always seemed to put itself back together.

Anyone who saw productions a few years back of “Fiddler on the Roof” or “Noises Off” knows how good this group can be when everyone is working on the same page.

Which brings me, at last, to “Shrek.”

Okay, complaints first:

•It ran a little long. Maybe that’s because the audience kept interrupting the show with extended applause.

•It occupied one heck of a lot of Ray’s time for more than a month. Every cast member knows how much time is involved in a production like this. Their parents know. Their spouses know. But that’s only a fraction of the amount of time that the director is required to commit. In Ray’s case, my best guess is that the play amounted to about 30 hours a week more work.

And it was work.

He may say he loved it. But, then again, he tends to love his work as editor of the daily newspaper.

Beyond those complaints? Nothing but applause.

Cast members were uniformly excellent. The acting and musical performances were tough to beat. The choreography was fun and energetic. And everyone involved seemed to be having so much fun onstage that it was virtually impossible for audience members not to join in.

Was it a Broadway production? Of course not.

But it was one of the most professional productions by an amateur group that I’ve ever had the privilege of seeing. And that’s saying something.

If you missed it, you did miss something special.

But, here’s the thing, you’ll get another chance.

Civic’s been around — ups and downs and all — for more than 40 years. And it’s better and stronger today than it’s ever been.

So next time, you need to make sure you’re in the audience.

Or, better yet, next time you ought to be onstage.

A curtain call awaits.