It’s 10 a.m. on a weekday morning. When the doors open, the theater is dark. You peer in. Where’s the magic? It’s just a big black room with a lot of chairs.
"Oh," says Nikki Emerich, walking in, "Let’s turn on the lights.”
Sure enough, you’re transported. A bright white stage. An austere setting except for hats – black hats, white hats, pink hats, satin hats, beribboned hats – situated at dramatic intervals around the stage.
Of course, it’s hats. The current production at Pistarckle Theater is "Crowns," a gospel musical featuring voices of African-American women, their joys and sorrows, and a pageant of hats, their "crowns," according to director Frank Bartolucci.
Emerich is nothing if not dramatic; theater is her passion and her mission. She arrived on the island in 1988 with her husband and new baby, Maxine, and founded the Pistarckle Theater in 1991. Except for two years lost to Hurricane Marilyn, it has produced 88 full scale plays and musicals.
After its inception at Coral World, moving to Frenchman’s Reef, then back to Coral World, the theater found its perfect home at Tillett Gardens in 2000. It is a not-for-profit, fully licensed 140-seat facility.
Pistarckle is the island’s hub of drama; it’s the place where talent is nurtured. Much of the talent gravitates her way, and much is sought out by Emerich from her years in the theater world of New York and beyond. And some simply drop by.
Such is the case with the theater’s education director, Larry Bryant. A St. Petersburg, Fla. native, Bryant had taken up the offer of a friend who was from St. Thomas to visit the island, "a random vacation." Bryant now laughs at the memory. He and his friend had wandered into Tillett Gardens, and that was it. "We almost hired him on the spot," says Emerich.
Actually, Bryant led the 2008 Leadership Performing Arts Camp in a production of his play "Follow the Beat," which follows the evolution of urban music up through hip-hop.
Bryant is a natural lyricist. He received his technical training at the International Academy of Design and Technology, where he learned digital techniques. Those skills are evident on a DVD of the play, a download of which is available on Pistarckle’s website.
Bryant bursts with ideas, energy and purpose. He has packed a lot into his 26 years. He cut his theatrical teeth at the Royal Theater Boys & Girls Club Arts Academy in St. Petersburg, Fla. "When I first went there, they welcomed me," he says, "Herbert Murphy, the director, basically told me to ‘make it my home.’" Bryant took him up on the offer, working there five years until he came back to St. Thomas in 2009.
"We asked him back to direct the 2009 Leadership Camp," says Emerich. "He said he desperately wanted to stay on, but we didn’t have a paying job for him. Then, our education director Megan Howey quit to go back to the States, and we called him right back."
The Pistarckle after-school program started five years ago. Emerich says the theater was not used in the late afternoon, and it seemed an ideal venue. And it has turned out to be a blessing to the community. "Parents and students really liked the idea. We’d had requests from parents of the summer camps," Emerich says.
Bryant is passionate about bringing children into their own creativity. "The gift I have," he says "is to be able to relate to youngsters." His philosophy is right to the point: "Children won’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care."
Bryant cares. This year’s after-school workshop is "Poetic Beginnings," a 10-week course for students from 11 to 17 years, taught by PJ Crosby and overseen by Bryant. It begins Monday.
Bryant says, "The students will learn the basics of expression, the use of simile, metaphor. It teaches them that writing can be fun, and is fun. It’s designed to enable youngsters to express their true feelings. And they will get a taste of Shakespeare, too."
This year’s summer camp production is "The Wiz," followed by the 2010 Leadership Performing Arts Camp, conducted by Bryant. (See related links.) The programs are sponsored by the Lana Vento Charitable Trust.
Emerich, turning the lights back off and leading the way through the doors to the lobby, introduces Pistarckle production manager Lisa Bryan, another 20-something, who Emerich says brings her own magic to the enterprise.
Throwing out her arms, Emerich says, "Lisa expands us in all areas. She completely designed our website."
Rounding out the 2009-2010 season, "Crowns" ends Feb. 13, followed by the comedy "Other People’s Money," by Jerry Sterner, beginning March 4. The last production is Neil Simon’s "Come Blow Your Horn," beginning April 8. More information can be found on the theater website.
Pistarckle’s 2010 fundraiser is a roast of George Blackhall March 6 at Coral World, beginning with a champagne reception at 7:30 p.m., followed by dinner and a silent auction.
