The show must go on. That often-repeated backstage aphorism is particularly relevant for Workshop Theatre, as the venerable arts group prepares to kick off its 50th season with a production of Marc Camoletti’s Boeing Boeing, a sexy French farce set in the swinging 1960s.
While Workshop is in the process of refurbishing a space on the Sparkleberry Lane Extension in northeast Richland County that will serve as a semi-permanent performance venue, unforeseen obstacles have necessitated a last-minute relocation for the season’s first show, which will now take place at Columbia College’s Cottingham Theatre, located near the intersection of North Main Street and Columbia College Drive.
Executive Director Jeni McCaughan explains that a dialogue was opened with the College about possible collaboration four years ago, when the theater was preparing to leave its familiar location at the corner of Gervais and Bull Streets, where USC subsequently built its new Law School, but dates and specifics were unable to be worked out.
“As fate would have it, a Columbia College board member had reached out to me in December to let us know they were starting to look for local arts groups to work with,” McCaughan says.
As anyone who has ever opened a business, or built or renovated a home has learned, complying with county regulations, codes and permits can be a lengthy, laborious and labyrinthine process, especially when planning to accommodate 150 or more audience members, to use electrical equipment for lighting and sound, and/or to serve alcoholic beverages. McCaughan describes these issues as just “a few hiccups with getting the space perfect with regards to some county inspections,” but significant enough to push back the original season-opener, A Raisin in the Sun, to April, and to require a change of venue for Boeing Boeing while they “cut through the last of the red tape.”
‘[Workshop] has been a traveling theater for the past three seasons and we were eager to find a new permanent home,” McCaughan says, “where we could return to offering a full year-round season, including musicals and many of the fun events we used to do between shows like our jazz nights, cabarets, and late nights.
“The space fits our needs wonderfully, with plenty of room for a performance space and spacious dressing rooms, space for the business office and box office, a wonderful lobby, and eventually a separate bar and concessions area.”
McCaughan notes that the move to the Northeast has been well-received by the theater’s patrons, many of whom live near the new location.
“The Richland County Accommodations and Hospitality tax grant committees have been very supportive of us through the years, and are eager to have a live theater in the Northeast,” she says. “Our new location is also conveniently located to many restaurants so our patrons can enjoy dinner and a play and have a nice evening out.”
There’s historical significance as well, as the very first shows produced by Workshop took place in the Northeast — on base at Fort Jackson, outdoors in Sesquicentennial State Park, and later in A.C. Flora High School’s auditorium.
Directing the season opener is Frank Thompson, who helmed last season’s Don’t Dress for Dinner, a sequel to this earlier work by Camoletti. Depicted here are younger versions of womanizing leads Bernard and Robert — portrayed in a 1965 film incarnation by Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis — as the former juggles three international “air hostesses” (i.e. stewardesses) as his mistresses, their conflicting flight schedules ensuring that only one is in Paris on any given day. Until the airlines upgrade to faster Boeing planes, that is.
The English-language version of Camolleti’s French original ran for seven years in London in the 1960s, and was cited in the 1991 Guinness Book of Records as “the most performed French play throughout the world.” A 2008 revival on Broadway, with a cast including Gina Gershon and Christine Baranski, ran for some nine months, and garnered multiple Tony Award nominations, winning for Best Revival of a Play and Best Leading Actor.
Thompson, who does triple duty as Workshop’s box office manager as well as board vice-president, says that directing this cast has been “an absolute joy.”
“First, it’s a slamming-door farce set in mid-60s Paris,” he says, laughing heartily as he observes, “I think we can safely say that material falls within my wheelhouse.”
Thompson adds that he has been pleased to see a few familiar faces as well as several Workshop newcomers get involved.
“Seeing that level of fresh interest, especially from a younger, 20-ish, 30-ish group, is encouraging and exciting to me,” he says. “It shows that the message is getting out there that Workshop is alive and well, and producing shows.”
What: Boeing Boeing
Where: Cottingham Theatre, 1301 Columbia College Dr.
When: March 16-25
Price: $20 ($17 seniors 60 and up, military; $15 students)
More: 803-799-6551, workshoptheatre.com
