Don’t be surprised if the person sitting next to you at Small Umbrella Theatre Company’s production of “Rent” gets out of their seat and climbs up on stage. It’s all part of the show.
Small Umbrella is launching its second season with a trio of unique shows in May and June, starting with “Rent: A Special One Night Only Event” on May 7 at Drury University’s Wilhoit Theatre, and continuing with “Once on This Island” just one week later.
It’s a busy time for spouses Joe and Paige Rogers, the two-person team behind Small Umbrella, but a good time.
“The energy is great. It’s highly creative energy and, at the same time, we’re making sure we have all of our ‘i’s dotted and our ‘t’s crossed to make sure both shows go flawlessly,” Joe said. “We’re about to go into tech week in two weeks. Once May 1 hits, we are running.”
An anonymous show
That includes characters preparing to run onto the stage for “Rent.” It’s an anonymous show, meaning the actors audition in secret and don’t find out who else is on the cast until the show starts. Cast members rehearse one-on-one with the Small Umbrella team, then arrive at the theatre and act like they’re members of the audience.
Once the show begins, each actor starts their first line from their seats and then joins the show. The audience gets to watch the story unfold live as the actors finally learn who they’re acting with. It’s a high-stakes way of doing theatre.
“You have to make sure everything is properly ready,” Joe said. “We’ve been rehearsing since February individually, so we’ve been putting in the grind. All of our cast is eager to go on May 7. We have a live band, and so that also — for me — is the most nerve-wracking part, making sure the live band is mixed well.”
“Rent” is well-known in theatre circles. It tells the story of young artists struggling to survive and create a life in Lower Manhattan’s East Village during the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Because of its mature thematic material, the show is recommended for ages 14 and up.
Why do a beloved show in such a risky way?
“We always love the energy and the unknown of maybe you’re sitting next to Mark in ‘Rent’ and you don’t even know it,” Joe said. “Then he stands up at the beginning of the show and says the first line. It’s something that we always loved and thought we’d bring it back to our hometown and see how everyone likes it here.”
A play within a play
After a quick turnover, the stage will belong to “Once on This Island,” a musical set on a Caribbean island, with a familiar feel to its story.
“It’s a re-telling of ‘The Little Mermaid’ and it’s very much a Romeo and Juliet story,” Paige said. “On one side of the island, there’s a certain group of people who keep craving more. The other side of the island is craving more, too, but the two sides don’t get along well. One girl from one side of the island falls in love with a boy from the other side of the island and the play goes on the journey of can she connect these two worlds?”
“Once on This Island” is presented as a play within a play, with a group of villagers taking refuge from a growing storm. To comfort scared children, they tell the legend of the orphan girl Ti Moune. The villagers play the different characters in the tale, which includes music, dance and storytelling.
Small Umbrella is presenting “Once on This Island” in partnership with the Black Arts Alliance. It will also run at the Wilhoit Theatre. The Black Arts Alliance is handling the artistic side of the show, while Small Umbrella is focused on the production and marketing of the show.
“It’s really their artistic vision on this show and we’re here to support them,” Paige said, adding it’s a natural partnership between these two organizations. “I actually grew up doing theatre with all three of the founders of the Black Arts Alliance. We’re all around the same age and we all did theatre in Springfield Little Theatre together. We grew up doing shows there and they’re fantastic humans I’ve always admired and respected. When we came back and I started reconnecting with theatre folks in the area, I knew it was an organization that was small like ours and I wanted to support other women leading the arts. It just seemed like a perfect combination to do a show that is so dear to all of us together.”
A devised theatre piece
There aren’t many details on Small Umbrella’s third show of the season, which will open in late May. That’s because it hasn’t been created yet. It will be a devised theatre piece, led by Alwynn Accuardi, a friend of the Rogers’.
“Devised work is this organic process of doing theatre,” Joe said. “We have a group of actors we put together and they all come into the room with ideas of what they want to create. It could be a story about love, or depression, or anger; just different feelings they’re having. They all come into the room and Accuardi will write down the through-stories she’s feeling from the actors. They’ll do some acting exercises to feel out those ideas and then she will go home after rehearsal, write out a script and bring it back the next day. Then they’ll start devising that into a real-life play.”
Unique stories and ways of telling them are important to Small Umbrella. The organization launched in August 2021 with a production of “Little Women” and a set of values that include prioritizing women artists for all positions, on and off stage, as well as establishing a collaborative space where all can grow. It has helped the company carve out a niche in a market that already has great theatre.
“We just have a different mission about why we’re doing theatre, which is to prioritize women and underrepresented folks in our storytelling, on and off stage,” Paige said. “We have a very specific goal which I think also helps us define who we are in the arts community and what we’re striving to do.”
They’re also striving to make theatre affordable. Tickets for Small Umbrella shows are pay-what-you-will. Prices range from $5-$50 for “Once on This Island” and $10-$50 for “Rent.”
But they’re not doing it alone. Both Joe and Paige said the arts community in Springfield has been incredibly welcoming.
“What is beautiful is it’s such a supportive community,” Paige said. “We’ve been so lucky that I grew up doing theatre at SLT, so I can go over and talk to the technical guys over there and they help us out and let us borrow props. The high schools here have such beautiful programs and they’ve helped us with getting props, set pieces and costumes. Really, everyone has been so supportive.”
