Joe's Retirement Blog: The Magic at Priscilla Beach Theatre (PBT), Priscilla Beach, Manomet, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

The Magic at Priscilla Beach Theatre (PBT), Priscilla Beach, Manomet, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

Every summer, after the August Children's Workshop has concluded, PBT Owners, Guardians, and Producers Bob and Sandy Malone host a get-together for the cast and crew and families. They gather together and pose one last time for what will become the annual PBT portrait. Also included are folks from the ongoing adult cast production. It's a portrait that Bob and Sandy will use to anchor next year's calendar. A calendar that will hang on thousands of refrigerators and walls all over the world. Some folks were in it last year, some only this year, and some will be back again for next year. But most will someday find this calendar and image in a musty box or file and remember their time on the stage at this magical place.

And yes, that is Bob and Sandy Malone standing in the center of the group picture, surrounded by those whose dreams they helped achieve here on this campus.

So many aspiring young folks have passed through these doors in the 80+ years since Dr. Franklin Trask first opened the converted 1875 barn to the performing arts in 1937.

When Bob and Sandy Malone stepped up in 2013 to purchase the deteriorated property and save the buildings from certain demolition, it was a place likely only days from a wrecking ball and maybe a future as condos or houses. There were so many dreams of so many former and future actors, actresses, and audience members whose lives were and are and will be enriched by keeping this neighborhood theatrical jewel alive.

In 2013, some of the old hard back and bottom seats were still standing strong, even though the elements had made their way in through the cracks and small critters had sought refuge inside during the harsh New England winters.

But standing on stage then, I could not help but feel and hear and imagine the magic this place had fostered over its lifespan. The adult Bob Malone remembered back to the neighborhood child Bobby Malone who would sweep floors and help out any way he could. He could not have known then that 40-ish years later, he and his wife Sandy would rescue it and restore it even greater than it had been.

Much of the old was retained in the newly remodeled version. The "bones" of the structure were mostly sound.

And in the past five summers after completing the restoration, hundreds of promising young actors and actresses, and tens of thousands of patrons have passed through these doors and been transformed by the power of live theatre.

Thousand of photos have been made - some normal, some not so much - and not just by me.

It takes many people to create the success of PBT and make that magic. None more so than these fine musicians who played live for the 14 recent performances of "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," additional dress and tech rehearsals, and many more regular rehearsals (not including the photo-bomber in the blue suit, Bob Malone). They are tucked away in the side orchestra pit, out of view of most of the audience but, it is their artistry that lifts us and transports us, actors and audience alike, along the dramatic musical journey. Music Director Christopher Ricci, middle row at far right, has been with PBT since the Malones took over.

Since 1937, PBT has been more than just a campus, a collection of buildings - it is an idea, a dream, a realization that we can reach higher and achieve a creative ideal in the performing arts. And like the theatre whose life began then, the Malones procured this 1937 truck to commemorate that beginning.

When I sit in there now as an audience member, it's hard to not think of all the rich history. The hundreds and thousands of audience members who sat in these seats this year, and last year, and next year - family members, friends, or newcomers - they only know that this theatre has a magical power to transport, to quicken the heart, to bring a tear to the eye, and a smile to the soul. You can't get that on the video screen at home - it's a power only live performance can evoke.