Show set a takeaway from OCTA contest

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Jerry Zimmerman, longtime board member and director for the Van Wert Civic Theatre, says there are lots of takeaways from attending regional and state community theatre competitions and watching other groups perform.

However, for VWCT’s upcoming production of The Great American Trailer Park Musical, the takeaway was a bit more tangible: the actual trailer park set created by another theatre group for its production.

Zimmerman explained that VWCT belongs to the Ohio Community Theatre Association (OCTA) and is part of OCTA’s Northwest Ohio Region — largest of six regions in the state with nearly 30 area community theatre organizations. Each year, OCTA holds both regional and statewide competitions at which community theatre groups can perform an excerpt from a show.

The competitions provide many positives for a community theatre group, Zimmerman noted, adding that VWCT has an enviable record of competing every year since 1972.

“We’re the longest running theatre group that’s competed,” the longtime director said. “Van Wert hasn’t missed a year for 46 years.”

Zimmerman also noted that, with the Northwest Region being the largest in the state, its regional competition is a two-day event that includes a party on the first night where people from all the theatre groups come together, brainstorm, and share ideas for new productions, as well as successful marketing and membership programs.

“When you go, you learn so much,” the longtime VWCT member added, while noting, though, that the big draw is watching other groups’ shows.

“What’s really nice is, at the regionals and the state level, you can go and see all these different shows and decide what shows you want to do,” Zimmerman noted. “Because sometimes you read them and they don’t look that great on paper, but when you actually see them on stage, it’s like ‘Oh, I’d really like to do that’.”

That was what happened when he saw the Grove City theatre group’s production of The Great American Trailer Park Musical three years ago.

“I’ve been listening to this music for a long time,” Zimmerman said, “It was fresh, it was out there, it had some really great characters.”

Furthermore, while seeing the Grove City production at an OCTA competition increased his desire to do the show, Zimmerman said the set also was something he wanted to use for a VWCT production of the musical.

“Since I really liked the show, I asked them what they planned to do with the set,” he said, adding that Grove City members said they probably would just break the set up when they got back home. “So I said, instead of dragging it back (to Grove City), can we just take it and they said ‘sure’.”

Zimmerman also had good words for VWCT’s production of the show, which begins this Thursday and runs this weekend and next, saying he feels cast members are pretty much perfect for their characters.

“The characters all fit their parts so well,” he said of the cast, adding, “It’s just a real stupid, hokey plot, and they play it to the hilt.”

Cast members include Mary Ann Falk as Jeannie Garstecki, who operates a trailer park in Florida with her husband, Norbert (Daileas Duclo).

The couple is approaching 20 years of marriage and Norbert would like to take Jeannie out for dinner and the Ice Capades to celebrate. However, Jeannie has agoraphobia, which was brought on by the kidnapping of her son nearly 20 years ago, and hasn’t been out of the house in most of those two decades of marriage.

Feeling a little frustrated, Norbert then runs into Pippi (Nancy Williams Shuffle), a stripper on the run from her crazy, homicidal ex-boyfriend, Duke (Travis Nihiser), and the two strike up a friendship that quickly heats up into an extramarital affair.

Jeannie discovers the tryst just as a storm — and Duke — threatens the trailer park and things get even more crazy.

Also included in the cast is a three-girl Greek chorus that narrates the show in song and dialogue. Chorus members include Kristin Lee as Betty, the park’s leasing manager; Kara Place as Linoleum, whose husband is on death row; and Stacy Rife as Pickles, a young newlywed who is prone to hysterical pregnancies.

Zimmerman, who directs and is choreographer for the show, said the music is a mix of country, rock, and a smattering of disco, adding that, while the plot of The Great American Trailer Park Musical is a little hokey — and a bit risqué — it was the music that drew him to the show.

“For as hokey as the show is, the music is so beautiful,” Zimmerman said. “It’s got beautiful ballads (and) the voices and the harmonies are amazing.”

Accompanying the actors is a four-piece band conducted by Music Director Dee Fisher that includes Fisher on keyboards, Chris Place on guitar, Matt Alessandrini on bass, and Elliot Mueller on drums.

Dates for the show are March 8-11 and 15-18. Shows begin at 8 p.m. except for Sunday matinees, which start at 2 in the afternoon. Tickets can be purchased by calling the VWCT Box Office at 419.238.9689 between 2 and 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday.