QUARTER CENTURY OF SIERRA CLASSIC THEATRE
Now approaching 25 years of providing exciting and memorable local theater experiences, Sierra Classic Theatre (SCT) is eagerly looking ahead to a new era for the arts in Mammoth Lakes. Since forming in 1999, SCT has succeeded in finding inventive ways to showcase the talents of the many artistic individuals who have volunteered their time and passionate efforts to create exceptional theater here. The mission of this non-profit theater company is to give the community great theater in their own backyard. SCT emphasizes the "classics", often Pulitzer-Prize or Tony Award-winning plays, because they are well-written, beautiful, thought-provoking works of art, which can stand alone in their impact. Located in Mammoth Lakes, SCT has also offered shows in the surrounding, Eastern Sierra communities from Bridgeport to Bishop.
After 10 years of begging, borrowing, figurative couch-surfing, on-the-lawn shows and renting spaces to hold theater events, in 2010 SCT accepted a proposal from Allison McDonell Page to produce and direct a summer play in what was known as “The Wood Site” near Sierra Star Golf Course. The Merry Wives of Windsor opened in the literal woods, amongst the pinecones, and was the first show in what would become the annual productions of Shakespeare in the Woods; Mammoth’s homegrown, summer, outdoor theater event. For the next decade, Shakespeare in the Woods provided positive impacts, impossible to calculate, including marriage proposals at curtain call on stage! But, in 2020, just two weeks before opening, the pandemic shut SCT’s production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest down. The whole world shut down and COVID-19 turned off theater marquees all over the globe. Only the fabled ghost lights of thespian lore still burned backstage in closed theaters everywhere.
Undaunted, the “Zoom-era” of theater was born in the Eastern Sierra. While undergoing the hardships of illness, quarantine, and loss, inspired local thespians put their writing skills on display for live and recorded performances for streaming. SCT embraced virtual play reading sessions on a weekly basis to maintain a sense of togetherness despite being physically isolated. The inspiration continued with virtual Murder Mystery productions such as ZOOM of DOOM and Sierra Classic TV. Next, virtual original plays blossomed including A Thousand Words: It’s A Thing, Church of Bob, Kicking the Bucket; and The Mom Problem.
As restrictions were lifted and in-person events began to resume, July 2021 witnessed a new creative idea come to light in the co-founding of the first annual Mammoth Shakespeare Festival. Shira Dubrovner, Artistic Director of Mammoth Lakes Repertory Theatre (MLRT) joined forces with SCT to double the size, scope, and number of performances outdoors, amongst the pinecones, at The Wood Site. In 2021, the Bard’s The Tempest and The Taming of The Shrew were produced side-by-side. Summer 2022 offered Measure for Measure by SCT and Twelfth Night by MLRT. Summer 2023 looks ahead to playwright Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by SCT and Hamlet by MLRT. The 2023 Mammoth Shakespeare Festival opens August 16 and runs through Labor Day Weekend at The Wood Site. Visit www.mammothshakes.com for more info.
Outside of live theater, SCT offers programs and scholarships for students. Over the last 12 years, SCT has been inspired to put forward after-school theater and play-writing programs for children under the guidance of Artistic Director Allison McDonell Page and her collection of helpful parents, adults, and student volunteers. The eager students have been exposed to the full gamut of theater arts including stagecraft and have produced memorable stage moments in The Legend of the Claymaker; Return of the Claymaker: Multiverse; and Roses are Burning. In 2016, SCT gave its first Scholarship Awards to Mammoth High School graduating seniors that showed a particular passion for storytelling and the dramatic arts. That tradition has continued and this year selected graduates will be the first to receive The Lesley-Anne Hoxie Memorial Scholarship.
There is still time to catch the current SCT production of Good People by David Lindsay-Abaire that premiered on Broadway in 2011 and was awarded the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play, The Horton Foote Prize, The Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award, and two Tony nominations; and the Best Leading Actress in a Play was awarded to Frances McDormand. Good People welcomes the audience to Southie, the blue-collar Boston neighborhood where a big night out on the town means a few rounds of church parish hall basement bingo, where this month's paycheck covers last month's bills, and where Margie Walsh has just been let go from yet another crappy job. Facing eviction and scrambling to catch a break, Margie thinks an old fling who has made it out of Southie might be her ticket to a fresh new start. But is this apparently self-made man secure enough to face his humble beginnings? Margie is about to risk what little she has left to find out. It is a fast-paced look at a blip in time when the lives of six people become tangled in the threads of desperation, inspiration and dark secrets. With his signature humorous glow, Lindsay-Abaire explores the struggles, shifting loyalties and unshakable hopes that come with having next to nothing in America. This brilliant play is directed by MLRT's Artistic Director Shira Dubrovner. Take a night off from YOUR problems and peer into the complicated personal lives of a few Good People through Sunday, May 7 from a front row seat at the Edison Theater.
*The Edison Theatre will close this Fall making way for the start of construction on a new full-size theater complex. The planning agreement proposes an expanded theater facility, childcare site, a temporary dog park and future housing site, parking, future amphitheater site, and temporary snow storage.
SCT productions are supported by volunteers, both on-and-off-stage. The primary financing is through proceeds from the annual "local's favorite" Murder Mystery dinners each Fall, and by generous grants and donations.
Sierra Classic Theatre always welcomes new stagehands, tech experts, wardrobe specialists, actors and volunteers. And of course, donors! Visit sierraclassictheatre.org or contact thesierraclassictheatre@gmail.com for more information! Break A Leg!
Sign up to volunteer through MLR’s Volunteer Page.
Allison McDonell Page, SCT Artistic Director
Allison received her BA from Harvard then went on to study acting with William Esper in NYC. She had a recurring role on Another World, performed in numerous independent films and made several TV appearances but her greatest love was always live theater. In Mammoth, Allison has continued to celebrate her love for theater by acting as Sierra Classic Theatre's President of the Board starting in 2010 until she was asked to take on the new role of Artistic Director. Allison has produced, directed and acted in many SCT and Mammoth Lakes Repertory Theater shows. Allison works as a Realtor at Snowcreek Property Company.
About Mammoth Lakes Recreation
Formed in 2014, Mammoth Lakes Recreation’s mission is to deliver cutting edge sustainable recreation, mobility, and arts & culture opportunities and infrastructure for the benefit of the community and natural environment of Mammoth Lakes. For more information, go to www.mammothlakesrecreation.org.