At The Civic: 'We're creating something bigger than ourselves'

A relatively new guy on staff at the Kalamazoo Civic, Todd Espeland is looking at the 87-year-old community theater company with fresh, enthusiastic, eyes.

He was worried about sounding too "Pollyanna" during his talk with Second Wave. But, really, the only other way to describe him, at the start of the Civic Theatre's 2015-2016 season, is as a kid on Christmas morning.

Espeland is the new artistic director of the Civic. The directorship had been cut due to the recession in 2009. Thanks to recovery and long-term stabilization efforts, executive director Kristen Chesak no longer has to cover both positions.

"The recession did not spare the Civic, and we had to make some tough decisions," Chesak says. In 2009, ”seven positions were cut, and the remaining staff took a pay cut to be able to maintain a balanced budget as we regrouped.... We are now in a stable financial position, with a diversified income and strong community support."

The Civic is no longer hampered by the Great Recession. Espeland sat in his office at the Carver Center, gushing about what he has to work with. On hand are full-time set, light, sound and costume designers; production managers, and many, many interns. "That's amazing for a community theater."

"Have you seen the basement? Come'ere, you gotta see this." He grabbed his keys, and we're off to the basement.

The Carver's basement is huge. After a prop shop, there is much set piece storage. It feels a bit like a low-ceilinged big-box lumber store. They have another space the same size at the Park Trades Center just for furniture, he says.

Hanging in rows are flats, walls, doors. "I don't just see a bunch of lumber--" Espeland points out an actual red pickup truck chassis that will be on stage for "Hands on a Hardbody"  "-- I see the ability, just from our stock, to do hundreds of different kinds of shows."

We pass rows of fireplaces, banisters, a whimsical vehicle, "our Dr. Seuss cart. Pianos, at least 50 doors and windows.... We've still got pinball machines left over from 'Tommy.'"

Again, he bursts out with a "Holy cow, this is amazing!"

Espeland had been teaching and directing at Kalamazoo College, where he didn't have such a toybox to work with. He's been at professional regional theaters that didn't have such resources, he says. "This is a real gift that we've got, and not everybody knows it."

From a jester to a director

Espeland grew up in a stage-dominated town. But his Las Vegas had different kinds of stages.

He got into classical theater but was also a Caesar's Royal Jester at Caesar's Palace. On traditional stages he acted in, and directed, many productions of Shakespeare (including ”Romeo and Juliet,” ”Hamlet”)  Shakespeare, and at the casinos he was doing "variety programming with circus people. And I really loved the two kinds of performing -- theater, traditional theater, and variety theater."  

"It was a weird," he says, "learning traditional theater techniques, and doing this kooky variety theater and making money at it -- and thinking, both of these are fun."

Espeland went to the Dell'Arte School of Physical Theatre in northern California, to learn "outside-in actor training techniques, with masks and physical theater." He formed Commedia Zuppa with then-wife Alison Williams, and toured renaissance fairs teaching and performing a mix of 16th century masked comedic theater and circus stunts such as fire-eating.

"Part of the training I had at Dell'Arte was all about popular theater," he says. He had some focus on "melodrama, clown, and commedia dell'arte, and the thing that unified all those is they were all popular form.... And all about being able to mess with popular form, and push popular form, but also understanding what popular form is."

He came to Kalamazoo in 1998 to teach a WMU master class in mask. That lead to a 2000 sabbatical replacement position at the university. He returned to his hometown to earn an MFA in directing at the University of Nevada. Then it was back to Kalamazoo, where he filled in during Karen Berthel's sabbatical at K.

While working at K, Espeland showed a directing style that pushed shows in new directions. He took a dusty translation of Ibsen's 19th century take on Norwegian folk tales, "Peer Gynt," and made it modern with punk rock music and style, along with physical humor. He flipped genders for "Romeo and Juliet," with women playing male roles, men playing female.

Early this year, K director Berthel recommended Espeland to take her place as the director of the Kalamazoo Civic's "Richard III."

That, and teaching a few classes for community actors, was his entire experience with the Civic. He "didn't want to be the guy who barged in," but when the artistic directorship opened, Espeland went for it. "This is in my backyard, I love Kalamazoo, I really don't want to leave Kalamazoo, and this is a great opportunity. And no's are free." The Civic gave him a "yes."

Now, after a summer of settling in and getting acquainted with the coming season (selected before he took the job), he's looking at what he could bring to the community theater.

Pushing theater without taking it to 'Crazy Avant Garde World'

The Carver Center is connected to the Parish Theatre, where the Civic stages smaller productions of Shakespeare, classics and lesser-known works--where Espeland's "Richard III" was staged.

We take the short walk down Park Street -- "I get to go by that really cool gargoyle, every day," Espeland says as we pass the Ladies Library Association -- to the venerable 1931 art deco auditorium that's the Civic's main stage. Inside, we watch as props people work in front of a towering Eva Peron bas-relief backdrop.

Their season has a wide array of productions, from old favorites like "Steel Magnolias," hit musicals like "Hairspray," and shows that are new to the community theater market like the country musical "Hands on a Hardbody."

It begins Sept. 25 with "Evita" the "very metaphorical and theatrical" Tony-winning opera.  "Man, who opens their season with 'Evita'?" Espeland thought when he saw the schedule -- they're starting with the season's biggest, most challenging show.

But Espeland wants to push the Civic, and its audience, in challenging ways--but not too challenging. He's bringing to his post "an understanding of mainstream traditional, and then an understanding where can we push popular form a little bit, where can we take some risks or do some things that may be considered outside the norm for a show, but would not be completely alienating for an audience."

For example, in "Mary Poppins" (Nov. 20-Dec. 6) which he's directing, the magical nanny "takes the kids to all of these crazy allegorical places to teach them a lesson." To heighten a bank scene, "and heighten the sense of bankers, people tense and fighting for money, we're going to mask the bankers. We have this chubby authoritative mask the bankers are all going to wear, so everybody who works in the bank looks the exact same way," he says. "Mask raises the theatrical quality of a play just by what it demands of the performer, and what it does on stage."

Espeland is always thinking, "what can I use, what I do best in a way to push at plays, without completely taking them into crazyland. I'm in no way going to say that I am Julie Taymor" -- director of Broadway musical "The Lion King," known for inventive costuming. "But part of what she is doing very well is, she is pushing at what's possible in theater without taking it into crazy avant-garde world. I would like to think that's something I'm bringing into this process."

"I'm also learning a ton by looking at the past programming of the Civic," he says. "The shows that are being picked are there to really feed the community in some way."

What would he like to do for next season?

"I would love to see a continued commitment towards picking work that alternately is entertaining, but says something." He points to "Hairspray" as an example, a feel-good upbeat musical that is also a commentary on racism and segregation.

He'd also like to stage the Bard once a year. "I'd really like to push towards exploring Shakespeare."

Espeland adds, "and, frankly, I'd like to explore more work that allows diverse members of our community to come in and work on plays."

The role of community theater is to work as a facilitator for the entire community to express themselves on stage, he says. "It goes beyond 'hey, I've got a barn and an eggbeater we can use as a prop.'"

He told the cast at the first rehearsal for "Evita" "I'm amazed, here we are, we're from all different walks of life in the community, and yet we're coming together to create something larger than ourselves, for the community."

Once again, Espeland checks himself for his wide-eyed idealism. "But it's amazing that it's been happening here for 87 years."

"I feel really really lucky to have gotten this gig," he says. "It feels really great to be a part of the Kalamazoo cultural world, being able to make a difference in that world. I know it sounds idealistic, but it's a pretty cool feeling."

Mark Wedel is a freelance writer who has covered the Kalamazoo area since 1992.