spamalot Over 50 Years of Curtain Calls Contra Costa Civic Theatre in El Cerrito SA backstage peek into By Matt Larson photo credits: MeLLopix.coM and Ben Krantz howtime at 8! Fight call at 6:30 to go over the motions. Get those vocal warm-ups down! Make-up? Costumes? Hurry up! “House is open!” calls the stage manager. The thrill sets in to the actors backstage as they hear the chatter of theatergoers fill into the space. Sounds like a full house. The music begins…Showtime. A lot goes on behind the scenes for a theatrical production, especially at Contra Costa Civic Theatre. It was years ago when Marilyn Langbehn first saw a CCCT production, Lost In Yonkers was on the bill. “This theater really knows what it’s doing,” she thought. “This is a theater that I would really like to be associated with.” Langbehn is now in her second season as Artistic Director for CCCT. With its first production opening in 1960, CCCT has kept the interest of the community by producing quality productions over 50 years later. “Our audiences know that they can come to us for an evening of theater, at relatively low cost compared to what you pay at other theaters in the Bay Area, and have a really wonderful time,” said Langbehn. Theatre Bay Area, a local organization supporting live theater in the San Francisco Bay Area, is holding their first annual TBA Awards this year of which CCCT has earned over a dozen nominations, said Langbehn. “It’s among the most that any theater company has received this year.” Not a bad way to celebrate her first season as Artistic Director. “We’ve tried to broaden our repertoire so that it includes more contemporary plays while still maintaining the quality that’s always been there,” said Langbehn. And this quality she speaks of is thanks entirely to the community as they are not an Equity company, which would entail hiring actors and staff that are part of the Actors’ Equity
Contra Costa Marketplace - Dec 2014
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