Washington, D.C. has a population of about 650,000 in 61 square miles; Queens has an official count of 2.3 million, nearly four times as many, in 109 square miles. Which one do you think has more real theaters?
Well you don’t have to be a Jeopardy contestant to know that it’s our nation’s capital. By far.
When I talk about real theaters, I mean those venues that were created exclusively for the performing arts. Queens has two: Queens Theatre in Flushing Meadows Corona Park and the Black Spectrum Theatre in Roy Wilkins Park. That’s it.
Sure there are lots of community theaters located in churches and synagogues, and many other companies performing in old buildings and storefronts, as well as outdoors, all proving that theater can exist anywhere. But a real theater is so much better.
My first wife and I recently spent a week in D.C., and saw two shows there: “Man of La Mancha,” produced by The Shakespeare Theatre, and “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” an Arena Stage production. Shakespeare has two venues, one built in 1992 and the other in 2007, both joined as the Harman Center for the Arts. Arena has the second largest performing arts complex in Washington, after the renown Kennedy Center, with three stages at the Mead Center for American Theater, opened in 2010.
These spaces are modern and comfortable, and the city has several more.
Of course, we here in Queens have Manhattan on the other side of the East River, with 40 Broadway houses, and dozens of Off Broadway venues, providing top quality entertainment and enlightenment. I encourage you to take an occasional bridge-and-tunnel trip, although it certainly will be time-consuming, especially if you take the car and travel on our archaic roadways, and the toll at the box office will be budget-busting.
And that’s the rub. Manhattan theater is real expensive and getting there can be mind-numbing. Even with discounts and special deals, most tickets will set you back at least $100, and the best seats go for a premium of several hundred more. The tourists support Broadway, while our senior home-grown audiences do the rest.
Let’s get younger people to see good plays and musicals at an affordable price, and make it easier for the older generation to get to a venue, by building some real theaters right here in Queens. State-of-the-art facilities in comfortable theaters are what we need – and deserve.
If D.C. can do it, so can we. There are some groups who make the most of what they have. For example, Variations Theatre Group performs contemporary work in the cozy Chain Theatre (a former factory) in Long Island City. From June 12 through June 28, they’re holding their 3rd Annual Unchained Theatre Festival, 16 pieces from ten minutes to full-length plays.
Out near the beach, the Rockaway Theatre Company resides at the former post movie theater at Fort Tilden. Many years of renovations made by lots of volunteers have turned it into a quality venue. In June and July RTC presents “Guys & Dolls”, and in August, “Little Shop of Horrors.” (Speaking of Tilden, Bayside has the demilitarized Fort Totten – can someone tell me what’s up over there?) The Killing Kompany, our area’s mystery dinner theater group, shows up at Riccardo’s in Astoria on Father’s Day, June 19th. Audience participation guarantees a lot of fun.
Following up on last month’s column, Isabel Robin’s Joy Through Music cabaret brunch has been postponed to Sunday, June 28, at 11 a.m., at the Bay Terrace Garden Jewish Center.
Contact Ron Hellman at RBHOF
