Across the borough, the caliber of Queens-based theater groups continues to evolve and produce shows that would fit nicely below 23rd Street in Manhattan.
Productions from Titan Theatre Co., Variations Theatre Group, Queens Players, the Astoria Performing Arts Center and the Chocolate Factory have lifted the designations of productions in Long Island City and Astoria from Off-Off-Broadway to Off-Broadway.
Now it’s time to focus attention and money on the borough’s smaller community theater groups.
Specifically, as TimesLedger theater columnist Ron Hellman writes this week “we need in Queens more theater buildings, venues with the look and feel and state-of-the-art technology of real theaters.”
It is a good thing the U.S. Constitution makes no mention of separation of church and theater since the dozen or so amateur companies in Queens make their homes in places of worship.
Granted, APAC is in the Good Shepherd United Methodist Church on Crescent Street, but its space feels like a theater with a good-sized stage, excellent sound and lighting systems and sloped seating via risers.
Contrast that with the Andrean Players at St. Andrew Avellino in Flushing, Maggie’s Little Theater at St. Margaret Parish in Middle Village and The Gingerbread Players at St. Luke’s in Forest Hills.
Queens’ list of makeshift theaters also includes the Free Synagogue of Flushing, the Colonial Church of Bayside and the Zion Episcopal Church in Douglaston.
Anyone who has had to sit under a basketball net or been stuck in the last row of folding chairs on the same level knows that has the makings of a so-so night at the theater even before the (non-existent) curtain goes up.
None of these groups are grumbling about their performance spaces. The people we have talked to are grateful to the churches and synagogues that allow them to use the space to put on their shows.
Without the support of these congregations, many of the groups would be hard-pressed to find a suitable or affordable location, and Queens would be poorer for it.
Hellman is correct in his assertion that Queens’ civic and artistic leaders need to take their cues from their Brooklyn and Manhattan counterparts and offer up naming rights to pay for some new theaters.
If it’s good enough for Lincoln Center and Theatre for a New Audience, it is reasonable to do it here.
Queens has the talent to create top-notch theatrical productions. It just needs better places where these artists can prove it.
