Comments by Michael (Coquat) Graves at the 40th Anniversary Celebration

First of all, let me say that when we met in that little room and decided to start a theatre because we were bored and restless, and needed a creative outlet of some kind, the idea that it might be around for 40 years never occurred to us.....As John Lennon said when a reporter asked him in later years how the Beatles got started, "We were lookin for something to do....." ........Boredom has had a bad press.....

The creative drive is basically very selfish and "of the moment." And theatre is even more of the moment than any other are form.....Because we do it and it is gone.....no bood to read or painting to look at.... only a few photographs and a review or two............Why is it like that?

I thing because it is, as Shakespeare said, holding "A mirror up to life." That's the way life is..... I don't take a breath this moment because I'm planning to live to be 105....although I am....so let's keep this community of creative people going, so I can come back and visit every ten years...

Community theatre is one of the most creative and healthy things any community of people can engage in....It brings people together from all walks of life.. "all sorts and conditions of men" (and women)...and engages them in a team effort to build a work of art....people encounter people they might never have otherwise met...new clusters of friends for....couples form....I'm sure you don't have any idea what I'm talking about....and people have to work together who don't particularly like each other, and sometimes they discover things about themselves and other people that they never knew before.... sometimes more than they ever wanted to know.....

It's a very intense experience, putting up a play....and not always a completely happy, easy one....but you know what? Think about how many times it has happened that your disagreement with someone has ended up in a compromise that works for everyone and is "artistically right." It seems to me that Community Theatre is a constructive way for creative disparate people (and all creative people are disparate, aren't they?) to learn how to live and work together...a microcosm of the outside world that, because of it's intensity, creates life and sparks and energy and fun and the joy of seeing a work of art come together and breathe its own life because of what you did...like making a baby without the wet diapers...and aaaaaaaaaalmost as much fun.....

So I'm glad I did it....I plead guilty....although I had no idea what I was doing...that's probably why it succeeded....none of us knew it was a fragile and ridiculous idea....

When I started this theatre, it was for me a chance to practice my arts outside the school setting...I could act in adult plays, direct what I wanted in whatever vizarre sitting I chose, and have a voice in choosing the unexpected....for instance, one of the first things we did early on was a silly ridiculous comedy called, believe it or not, "The Man in the Dog Suit" and later we did a festival of Avant-Garde One-Act Plays....we had great fun with Albee and Ionesco and Yeats...and then to be able to turn around and do something wild like the original "Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street", an old fashioned balls to the wall Melodrama in the Grand Guignol fashion, giving Bill Alford a chance to chew what little scenery we had into tiny bits each night.

And people actually came to see us! Wow! We hadn't thought that far ahead....suddenly, because of the support of the Sun-News and word of mouth, we had an audience! It was there, and it loved us...for the most part.

So the only excuse I have is that sometimes an impulse you have to do something is the right idea at the right time....and that's what this theatre was...accidentally the right idea at the right time......

A great theatre teacher I once had said to me once, when he felt I was editing my performance and being too careful, "Michael, never write your own reviews...you are probably a better actor than a critic." So if anyone ever tells you that an idea you have is probably not practical and can't be done..tell them to go to hell...the most unlikely germs take on a life of their own, and grow and prosper, not unlike some of our children..."Who'd have thunk it?"

So, in closing, just let me say that I'm surprised and glad you're still here...you are the theatre...there is no "it"...and I'm surprised and glad I'm still here....so we're on the same page...but I know that...I really did...thanks for having me here...let's do it again soon!