In honor of our WCT 30th Anniversay we will feature be a series of articles penned by participants who have contributed to our early days at WCT.

MY TIME AT WCT (so far)
By Bill Barksdale

“Bill, will you come on over and meet me. I want you to look at a building we think might make a great home for WCT”. Brooks Darrow was calling me at my office at Coldwell Banker Mendo Realty. I met him at an abandon car repair shop on W. Van Lane. I was having trouble seeing what Brooks was seeing in his wonderfully creative mind. Brooks helped to organize some talented local builders and other volunteers and the next thing I knew, here was this wonderful little theater. It was every bit as nice, and in some cases better than, off Broadway theaters I’ve been in.

Not long after, in 1992, I got a call from Board member Lanny Cotler. “Bill, we want a director to take our new playhouse for a test drive to really show what we can do here. Pull out all the stops. Are you interested?” Lanny knew that I came from an extensive theater background and his enthusiasm convinced me. I said “OK”. But what could I do to “pull out all the stops”?

I decided the old pot boiler The Haunting of Hill House would test about any small theater. Little did I know what I was getting into as the tech staff at WCT dropped away and I was left to build a new production staff with Lanny and Brooks’ help. That show turned out to be Joe Dowling’s first show at WCT as well as Al Rosen, Mara Welker, Marilyn McNair, Marlene Brown and a number of other WCT mainstays. It took about nine months to mount Hill House. Brooks magnificent set, John Beatty’s chilling and complicated sound effects and Joe Dowling’s beautiful lighting plot really took the playhouse for wild test drive.

In the intervening years I served on the Board and did little projects for the theater, then in 1999 I was invited to sing in WCT’s wonderful production of Blues In The Night with Michelle Athanasiades, Ed Reinhart, Paula Murphy, Nancy New, Mike A’dair and a great band. I’ll never forget those standing-room-only crowds literally screaming as we rocked the playhouse every night. We kept extending the run until the next show had to move in. Michelle’s vision and musical brilliance really hit the mark. (Many people don’t know that Paula is a terrific singer!)

I followed Blues, directing and singing in the musical cabaret Takin’ A Chance On Love. Then directed Barefoot InThe Park, which is the first show for which I designed the set. That’s when I first met WCT’s accomplished and energetic producer, Stephanie Chatten. Stephanie designed the poster and was just coming on board. Her contributions to WCT have been invaluable.

One of my favorite projects was directing and designing Shirley Valentine with Jenna Byrne. Working with this beautiful, gifted actress was a shining and treasured experience. Jenna has amazing ability. She’s a director’s dream to work with. I also operated the lights on that show since I wanted my 20 minute sunset to be as real as I could make it. Stephanie & Al kept repainting the set and back drop until we got just the right color to “mix” lights on. I still think fondly of Shirley and give thanks for the joy of that experience and for all that I learned.

I took over the direction and set design for Cookin’ With Gus after it had already started rehearsals. It turned out to be a delight and a very funny show (who could forget Marilyn McNair’s hypnotized chicken?). Cast members Sandi Crawford-Madrigal and Bob Brumback joined me on the WCT Board after the show closed, along with longtime WCT lighting designer, Joe Dowling.

Directing On Golden Pond offered the opportunity to work with my friends Carlin Diamond and Joe Dowling as actors (they both direct too) and I was blown away by the tender, realistic relationship they created. It was the third time I’ve gotten to work with talented Paula Murphy. I’m finally of the age to understand and appreciate this beautiful, funny, moving play. It was a lovely way to end our 29th season.

Of course, there have been dozens of other marvelous productions at WCT in between, but those are tales for others to tell. I’m so grateful to have a quality, live theater in Willits. The people I’ve met have truly enriched my life. What a treasure!

Willits Community Theatre Memory Lane
by Carlin Diamond

There is a delightful treasure tucked away on Van Lane close to the heart of the Willits’ Shopping and Restaurant District. Fifteen years ago a group of hardworking theatre aficionados built a theatre out of a Volkswagen Repair Shop. The result is a jewel, which receives renewal of setting and polish by a capable and caring crew of visionaries who magically transform this gem every production. The transformation is so complete that from the moment the audience enters the lobby the ambiance for the particular production is already being established. The clean lobby and restrooms showcasing art work, music is playing, hand prepared refreshments are ready and friendly staff are greeting the audience. It is a time to enjoy good company, catch up with old friends and introduce ourselves to new ones. Anticipation builds as we await entrance while the actors are preparing and attending to last minute details. The moment comes when the double doors open and we enter the theatre proper and get the first glimpse of another magnificent set, a work of art with detail from ceiling to floor attended to with mastery in design, set building, painting, and properties giving us a preview of the mood and tenor of the play that will soon unfold. We find our seats, glance through the program, the lights dim and another rich theatre experience unfolds with wonderful lighting and sound bathing our actors in the best that can be provided.

Having worked a great deal behind the scenes at Willits Community Theatre the past twelve years, I have a deep appreciation for the tremendous level of cooperation, care, sharing of skills and need to pick up the ball when it is dropped. It is totally amazing how much cooperation and skill is needed to mount just one production from play selection, scheduling, choice of director, actors, sets, costumes, makeup, lights & sound, publicity, posters, tickets, rehearsal space, lobby art, refreshments, theatre maintenance, financial accounting, balancing and backing, overhead, to mention just a few of the concerns of our theatre managers and board. When I stand to applaud for the actors and crew at the end of a performance I am thinking of all of the ingredients that have gone into this evening of entertainment. At least 80 percent of the work to mount any given production is not visible on the evening of a performance. As you pass through our lobby please thank the people taking your tickets on behalf of all the behind the scenes volunteer effort that they represent. It is so amazing how a smile and thank you can warm our souls and remind us why we are putting out so much effort for you.

Memory Lane
By Jay Gordon

My advice to anyone new to Willits who wants to get involved with the community is to sign up as a volunteer for the Willits Community Theatre.

I was working in the Financial District of San Francisco and living in Petaluma and had, frankly, never heard of Willits. I was grieving for the loss of my long-time best friend and was looking for a place to escape. I wanted a piece of property with a cabin to run away to on weekends. I found a promising ad in the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat and drove off to explore the forest and mountains north of Willits with the realtor.

Fast forward a few weeks, and I’m front of the Willits Library reading about a workshop for writers at Brooktrails organized by Nancy Ellis. Nancy introduced me to Carlin Diamond, who introduced me to the Willits Community Theatre. In our innocence and exuberance, my neighbor Stephanie Chatten and I contacted the theater board and said, “We love your little theater; what can we do to help?”

Stephanie would go on to become Producer and Executive Director for the theater. I served twice as President. In the early days, though, we just wanted to pretend we were Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland and “put on a show.” We came up with “Willits, My Kind o’ Town” but changed the name once we were gifted with Susan Monteleone’s delightful song, “I’m Glad I’m Here.”

Nobody responded to our requests for stories and actors that appeared in The Willits News. Carlin gently nudged me that, “This is Willits. Everything is done on the basis of personal relations. You’ll have to call people.” When I looked frantic, she comforted me with, “I’ll give you some names. You can tell them I suggested you call.” And she gave me what I have since called her “Magic Rolodex.” The rest is history. A stellar cast of ten, lead by the legendary Grandma Mavis, entertained sell-out audiences and made us famous for our valentine to Willits, a wonderful place to live.

Over the years since I have made the acquaintance of a number of extraordinary people, among them Bob Brumback, with whom I appeared onstage briefly in “Greater Tuna.” (Admittedly, my costume as a Baptist preacher got more applause than my performance – but it was a glorious experience.) For years now, in a life filled with the joy of new friends and a community I love, many of the most cherished memories are associated with the Willits Community Theatre. To know the hundreds of volunteers who have worked onstage and behind the scenes -- and see how their extraordinary gifts percolate through the community in so many other ways -- has been a continuing inspiration for me.

Me and WCT
By Bob Brumback

As WCT begins our 30th. season, I think back to my initial involvement with this little gem of a theater. The first production I was involved with was Arms and the Man. Under the joint direction of Carlin Diamond and Freddie Long, it was a lot of fun working with some very talented actors including Joe Dowling and Carly Stewart, as well as two women who’ve since relocated – Wendy Norris and Michelle Athanasiades (she of the big booming voice we all went ga ga over in her performance of Blues in the Night.)

The yearly tasks of selecting and producing a season’s entertainment is filled with challenges and more collaboration than you can imagine. Literally dozens of people are involved with each show. Even if the cast is merely one or two members, there are many people behind the show. For example, when we did Greater Tuna in 2002, there was a cast of three. Counting the director, stage manager, light designer, sound designer, light & sound operators, producer, costumers, set design and construction, prop master, poster design and each performance required the volunteer effort for ticket and house staff – you’re looking at 40 people or more – ALL volunteering their time and talent to bring one show to life. Personally, my favorite part of putting a show together is the “family” that’s created each time. Creating a mutually shared vision of each show always brings out an air of compatibility and vibrant artistry in so many ways. I’m always impressed that each production brings in so many different people. As usual, there’s typically a “core” group of people that continually return. We call them masochists. I don’t know of any cure for such people. I’m hoping to discover one myself.

I am currently in rehearsal for the Ukiah Player’s Theatre production of Greater Tuna (we open in mid-March – come on down and see it!) I continually think back to WCT’s production of this show and all of the people that were involved. The same thing (of course) is happening with the UPT production – my new UPT Greater Tuna “family” gets larger each week as we get closer to opening. Getting to opening night is such an exciting time!

If you’re reading this, more than likely you have been somehow involved in one or more productions. If it’s been awhile, come on back! You know we’ll find something for you to do! If you haven’t been involved with a WCT production – what are you waiting for?! It’s a bunch of fun and you’ll meet the widest spectrum of interesting people around!

A Walk Down Memory Lane
by Dr. Bruce Andich

Love Letters revisited… For me, acting represents the pinnacle of Anxiety with a capital "A" because the actor is so completely exposed upon a stage and utterly alone, yet must maintain a believable character and interest with others.

My conscious mind then chimes in with, "Wait, what's the big deal? This isn't life and death, this is playing! You should have fun!" This speaks to what anyone who ever stood on a stage knows in their gut: "playing" another person is a gift from the gods.

These two opposing forces, anxiety vs. play, account for the lows and highs of the craft – the devastating stage fright that causes nausea, sweating and a profound sense of impending doom vs. the indescribable rush that follows a performance, a "high" that far exceeds any pharmaceutical drug, legal or not, I've ever heard of.

The net effect for me is that I love rehearsing and despise performing, the former because of the intense bonding that tends to naturally happen, the insights that occur as you explore a character with others, the latter because an overwhelming sense of your rapidly approaching death can ruin your whole day.

And then comes the post-performance "release", so powerful that one is soon tempted to gird the lions and proceed once again. The roar of the greasepaint is highly addictive.

Enter "Love Letters". This was a dream come true for an acting dilettante like me – lots of rehearsals for bonding & then you get to read from the script onstage! Little memorization of lines and movement means less pressure and more opportunity to actually relax while performing, losing fear and stiffness to really becoming another person, not just spewing back rote memory.

The characters in a reading, then, have for me a wonderful opportunity to come alive, using the basic tools of words and voice. Think "radio" not "giant-sized multiplex action/adventure movie screen". Our human-ness ultimately flows from the smallest of gestures and nuance, rather than exploding automobiles.

I owe a great debt in "Letters" experience to Henry Shebitz, the director who invited me to read, feeling more comfortable than I that I could portray a "stuffed-shirt U.S. senator". We spent hours deciding which word to emphasize in a sentence and where to put a pause.
Now comes another production with new interpretation of the text. The theatre persists because it gives endless opportunity for us to explore the ultimate question: What does it mean to be human?

Willits Community Theatre is located at:
37 W. Van Lane
Willits, CA 95490
Click Here for a Map

WCT patrons can purchase tickets by credit card, check or cash at:

Leaves of Grass Books
15 S. Main St., downtown Willits
(707) 459-3744.

Or Purchase Tickets Online Here

$500 Theater Arts Scholarship
Available from WCT.

The Willits Community Theatre annually honors the late Brooks Darrow, a distinguished leader of the theater for many years, with a college scholarship in his name.