When Karen Allgeier moved to the area in 2003, she had never seen anything like the Cook Forest Sawmill Center for the Arts. The hexagonal rustic theater was a far cry from the traditional stages she had performed on in California.
“I had never done a thrust stage before I came here,” she said. “It’s called that because it thrusts out into the audience. Most stages are a presidium stage. Most of the scripts we read are for the traditional stage.”
“The problem is taking something that is supposed to be presented on a square box and put it on a rectangle with a curve. The traditional stage has wings where you can have your cast waiting. We don’t have wings at the Sawmill.
“Many of our actors have not done anything in this type of theater,” said Allgeier, who currently is in rehearsal for the musical version of “Alice in Wonderland,” which features 26 performers; the youngest of whom is age 6. The production runs Aug. 5-7 and 11-13.
She said when the actors come on stage at the Sawmill, the audience is “right in your face.” The actors must learn to project their voice because no microphones are used. “When we do a production number, the performers are around the whole circle.”
The characters in the caucus race in “Alice in Wonderland” use all four staircases.
“It is organized chaos,” Allgeier said. “I tell them to listen to what I tell them to do because a lot of the stuff in the script we can’t do because we are not on a regular stage. The thrust stage makes an actor engage with the audience.”
The lights in the theater are older and must be adjusted manually.
“The lighting in a regular theater goes straight down,” she said. “We have to use a scissors jack to change the lights at the Sawmill.”
“When we get to the Sawmill we do a tech rehearsal first. That’s when the kids get used to coming down the stairs to the music.”
Allgeier said recruiting for a musical is easier than for a regular play.
“I had 42 auditions for Alice,” she said. “It is more difficult with plays. We have a problem attracting men.”
Allgeier said the biggest challenge for a community theater is money, as it affects what plays can be afforded along with the costuming.
“We collect costuming, but for Alice we had to order some costumes,” she said. “Some of the costumes were loaned to us and we rented some of the others.”
She became involved in theater while attending high school in California.
“I was performing but also learning to design sets, reupholster stuff and everything about putting a set together. I learned to write and do special effects,” said Allgeier, who earned two awards for her performances. “It was on-the-job training and I took to it right away.”
She arrived to the local area in 2003, and her first audition for Brookville Community Theatre was in 2004. Since then, Allgeier said, she has been in every show but two, and she directed her first show in 2005. She has since directed shows at several theaters, including the Barrow-Civic Theatre in Franklin.
“For me, it is labor of love, I’m not sure about everyone else,” said Allgeier, who serves as treasurer and director of plays for the Brookville Community Theatre. “This is a good lesson for the kids. They can stand up in front of people and just have fun.”
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