From one stage to another
For a decade, the Marshall Area Stage Company has performed on a variety of stages, from a vacant appliance store to the Liberty Park bandshell, but that hasn’t stopped the group from putting on a good showBy Cindy Votruba
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It took a six pack to start the Marshall Area Stage Company.
Not the beverage variety six pack, but six people who believed there was a need for a formal theater company in Marshall.
That belief and those six people led to the eventual formation of the Marshall Area Stage Company. The company started in September 1999 after a community meeting run by Marshall Community Services. MCS wanted to see if anyone was interested in starting a Marshall Area Theater Association, said Bob Schwoch, president of MASC.
And 10 years later, MASC is putting on a familiar musical that led to its formation, Rodgers and Hammersteins' "The Sound of Music."
Schwoch said MCS had started sponsoring a summer musical in 1986, but things didn't always go well.
"They just hired the director and that director had to do everything from scratch every year," Schwoch said. "There was no ongoing organization. In 1999, the lack of organization finally caught up to them. Some bills did not get paid. Some borrowed costumes did not get returned in a proper, timely fashion.
"It made Marshall Community Services realize the need for a continuing organization to oversee the operation."
The "Six Pack" that came out of that September 1999 meeting was Schwoch, Brad Hennen, Chad Kerr, Cathy Novotny, Carolyn Kapoun and Sheila Tabaka. The six recruited a permanent board of directors and the name was changed to Marshall Area Stage Company.
MASC received grants from Marshall Community Services and the Southwest Minnesota Arts and Humanities Council to put on its first "official" show "Cinderella," in the summer of 2000, Schwoch said.
"Both groups have continued to partner with MASC for all our 10 years and counting," Schwoch said.
After being in the 1999 MCS-sponsored "Sound of Music," Angela Tate of Marshall went on to be in several MASC musicals, including "Cinderella," "Oliver" and "South Pacific."
"We all weren't really sure (at first), but it was cool to see the progression of MASC," Tate said.
It was really nice to see a community form around theater in Marshall, Tate said.
"Once you got involved with a MASC show, you wanted everybody to come back in the summer and the next summer," Tate said.
Throughout the years, MASC continued to increase the number of shows it produces each year. In 2001, it started doing a spring show, with the first being a dinner theater, "The Odd Couple." That summer, MASC started sponsoring a children's theater, Schwoch said.
Shakespeare in the Park was added in 2002, with "Twelfth Night" as the first show. Then MASC started doing a radio drama in 2007 and continues to do one each Halloween, Schwoch said.
"Including our 10th anniversary season, MASC has succeeded in producing 40 plays in 20 different venues," Schwoch said. "It's pretty impressive for a volunteer community theater with no full time staff or venue to call its own."
One thing that keeps MASC going is the support it gets from its audience, patrons and local businesses, Schwoch said.
"I'm impressed that they are an amateur group, but they attract people to invest the time to produce very high-quality and entertaining programs," said Dr. C. Paul Martin of Marshall, who has been a longtime supporter of MASC. "And they have a tremendous variation."
And MASC brings together people from varying walks of life, Martin said, as well as bringing theater to children and teens with such shows as "The Wizard of Oz" and "Grease."
"MASC is really a theater group for all ages," Martin said.
Schwoch said some of the summer musicals have been successful enough to allow MASC to do things like Shakespeare, which it knows will lose money.
"Some examples of those popular musicals would be 'Cinderella,' 'Fiddler on the Roof,' and 'Grease,'" Schwoch said. "I think all the MASC productions have been artistically successful. I can't think of any MASC show that I am not proud to claim."
Besides putting on productions, Schwoch said MASC assists other organizations, such as Prairie Dance Alliance and the Marshall Area Fine Arts Council and gets involved in other community events.
"I have worked with a lot of community theaters, but I have never seen one that does so many parades, the Christmas tree walk and provides technical support for so many other organizations," Schwoch said.
What keeps MASC going is the people who get involved, Schwoch said, and the dedication.
"We enjoy what we are doing and we enjoy the people we are doing it with," Schwoch said. "MASC has slowly built up a core of actors and technicians that love doing theater. MASC is always looking to expand that core. Perhaps our tag line says it best: 'we are your community theater, come join us for some play.'"
"The final sign of success is survival," Schwoch added. "MASC has survived, even thrived despite losing many key people."
Mark Bosveld of Marshall joined MASC for some "play" this summer as Captain von Trapp in "The Sound of Music."
"MASC is a high-class organization...good people to work with," Bosveld said.
"I heartily agree that a big secret to our success, actually it's no secret, is that we love what we do and feel part of a family," said MASC's vice president Paula Nemes. "A weird one, but a wonderful one."
