LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - THV11 staged a production at the Arkansas Repertory Theater on April 27.
It was entitled "The Show Must Go On" and the stars were THV11 viewers who went on line at therep.org and donated over two thousand dollars. It was a fun production and came with a soliloquy.
You know not all the memories of the Rep happened at the Rep.
I say that because I was a huge fan of the TV show Seinfeld.Back in the 90's, I never missed it. Two summers ago, late one night, I was leaving my Kroger in the Heights and walking right past me, in an obvious hurry, was George Costanza from Seinfeld. Of course the actor, Jason Alexander, was in Little Rock to direct an original play about winning lotteries.
As he passed me I didn't say anything, didn't go back to find him. I just walked out to my car, impressed that he had chosen our Rep to come direct an original play. I was impressed that my town mattered.
People may not know this, but when the rep would hold auditions in New York City for upcoming productions, hundreds of actors would turn out.
Our stage was an equity stage. Our city mattered. The Rep was one of our city's jewels. One that we all now realize may have been out of our city's price range.
But because of the memories that included the Rep's production of a Reader's Theater involving my wife's first novel. Because of the laughter and the tears and the growth of 42 years, I am convinced it will never die.
It will remain.
Maybe not in its current form but we will see it come back. There are simply too many people pulling for it, including THV11, and George Constanza.