Randye Kaye: The broadest spectrum of live entertainment and cultural exchange is essential to the vitality of our society. Well, that's the passion behind the Fairfield Theater Company. It's a nonprofit center for the arts and culture, and it's located right there on the heart of downtown Fairfield, Connecticut, actually right by the train station. It is a center where Broadway talent comes to your backyard and is also trained to go to Broadway eventually. They bring together a community of not only theater people, but musicians, actors, artists, writers, fans, and supporters. And I'm proud to say I'll be performing there as part of an innovative new series called Midday Matinees, which takes place once a month on their Stage One. There's so much more to Fairfield Theater Company. So with me today is Maureen Hamill, who not only runs their Summer Cabaret Workshop for kids in grades two to 12 for years, but now is also, I love this title, Artistic Director of Theater Education and Curated Programs. Welcome Maureen.
Maureen Hamill: Thank you, Randy. I'm so glad to be here.
RK: Full disclosure, we go way back. We have a history together in theater, in and out. Tell me a bit about your history as a theater performer and director.
MH: Well, actually, I started right here at Sacred Heart University, and it was with the cabaret performing group that Claude McNeil started, and he taught me a lot, and also the performers I worked with about telling stories through music and the lyric, the most important. And so through that, I ended up in Lake Placid, New York, and my good friend Jean Mich from the Winter Equestrian Festival, the show jumping horse equestrian group, saw me and brought me down to Florida, and we did cabaret reviews for the horse shows. And from there, I was singing in a bar in Norwalk, Connecticut, and these two guys were sitting out there, and they said, What the heck do you do? Because there's nobody else in the audience. And I was singing for like, like I was singing with 1000 people. They happened to be the convention planners for Pepsi Cola. Six months later, I was in Los Angeles with my company at 20th Century Fox Studios. And from then on, we just kept going, getting jobs with corporations, events. I ended up directing a lot here at Sacred Heart. I did over 30 main stage shows.
RK: I was in a couple of them.
MH: You were great as Adelaide. Yeah, that was great. And I just continue to go on and try to create different events around the country. I've been in Tampa Stadium for the World Cup, the opening of the World Cup equestrian event with 350 voices and a 90-piece symphonic orchestra, and just so many crazy things.
RK: So you know, there are many people, especially in Fairfield County, Connecticut, because we're so close to New York, kids, anyway, who have the ambition to eventually be a Broadway star. But when I get a chance to talk to them, you're a perfect example of this. You can create a career in the arts. And I know you have performed in New York, also, you're a great example of making a living in the arts by creating your own business. And now you are the artistic director at the Fairfield Theater Company.
Could you tell me a bit about their mission and what your job entails?
MH: Well, that's very interesting. You actually described it perfectly.
RK: Took it right off the website.
MH: Well, you know, we have a lot of competition now. There are so many people in our area who have live bands. We are noted for that. And so we decided to go back to our roots, because we actually started as a theater that would bring off-Broadway shows to Fairfield once they closed in New York. Oh, I remember, okay, and it was hard because, you know, it's very difficult to do theater, as, you know, and to make a living. So that's why they went to live bands. And so we've decided to go back to our roots, theater, and they brought me in to create different programming. That's what curated curated event. I love that one curated events.
RK: So what does that mean, curated events?
MH: Well, different from, you know, we have master classes on Saturday mornings. I'd like to offer workshops, such as dance workshops and fight choreography workshops.
RK: For kids or adults?
MH: Both.
RK: Really!
MH: Yes, I have access to some of the finest teachers in the country, and I am very, very blessed to have worked with so many. Rick Sordelet, who is one of the leading fight choreographers, I'd like to do master classes with him, too, and then he brings people up and works with them. But then also do workshops, different children's shows, you know, shows by professionals to perform for kids. I have a show called The Elf Christmas Spectacular, where we've done silly stuff.
RK: But they love it. Audiences love it.
MH: Oh yeah. We started at Sacred Heart with children's theater here, and I came up with this thing called Midday Matinees. They are on Wednesday. Tuesday or Wednesday, one o'clock. It depends on the date.
RK: And one a month, right?
MH: One a month.
RK: And what was your idea for this?
MH: I had a mom, and she was 93, and she lived with me, and I thought, what can I do with her? Bring her out to lunch? And I thought, you know, you have to have things for people to go to, like if you can bring your mother to a matinee show, because a lot of people don't like to drive at night. There are a lot of people who are retired. There are a lot of people who retire very early in life. Now too, 60 years old, and they don't want to truck down to New York. So, try to bring New York quality professional theater at one o'clock in the afternoon. So we started in the spring, and we did my friend Reyessa Katona Bennett, who played Christine and Phantom.
RK: Yeah, she's incredible.
MH: We did an hour and a half concert. My favorite one was David Friedman. He's a Drama Desk Award winner, and he also musically directed Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, and Disney Animation. He did a day called The Thought Exchange. He does it at the Canyon Ranch, and it's a workshop. So we tried it, and we had a big audience, and the therapists came. It's just what we're trying to do is give something else for people to do in the afternoon, right? And not just, just, not Broadway. I have coming up you and then after that Holiday in the Warehouse, where we'll be doing Broadway in 1940s music, and I'm just going next year, starting with a friend of mine, who has it called Broadway Lights, Catskill Nights, and it's direct from the Forestburg Playhouse in the Catskills. He's going to do his one-man show. I just spoke to Jim Canning, who was the original Grease member from the first show and also appeared on M*A*S*H. He's going to present his recently finished album.
RK: See. That's wonderful. And I went to the one, the October one, and that was wonderful.
MH: Oh, that was great. Julie Feldassi.
RK: Her voice…
MH: Oh my gosh…
RK: She was singing Joni Mitchell and Brandi Carlile and her own songs, two musicians filling the stage now that was held, and most of the midday matinees are going to be in Stage One, which is a smaller theater, correct? That was where you originally began. This one we saw in the warehouse.
MH: We kind of decided to go to the Warehouse, in some ways. It's a little safer for you know, because Stage One has levels, and so if we wanted to open it up to people who have, you know, who are in wheelchairs or walkers, more accessible and more comfortable, you know. So we decided to do the shows that fit there, like the music shows there, and shows like yours, which would want a more intimate kind of show in Stage One, because I have a show actually coming in March. It's called The Tales From the Connecticut Witchcraft Panics. And it's two one plays about the accused. You know, Women in Panic in Connecticut, Accused Witches Have Their Say, is one of the titles.
RK: Is this part of the midday series?
MH: Yes.
RK: Okay, so Fairfield Theater Company has so much to offer. They have musicians on stage one, and they have concerts. You know how it goes, you watch the Oscars, and you're like, where do you see these short films? And they showed all of them in an evening event, and you got to see all of the amazing short films that were up for the Oscars. So there's a lot going on there. Do you find it's hard for people to know that this is right here in the backyard, this kind of entertainment?
MH: I think that's my mission, to go and try to have people be more aware of it, because it is new programming, and you just mentioned the documentaries and the short films. That's Brian Russell, who does a phenomenal job, and James Naughton is very involved in that. As a matter of fact, we have a screening coming up. It's called The Strange Dark. It stars one of our teachers, Nili Bassman, and it's been nominated for several film festivals, and she won the honor for Best Actor Award and Best Screenplay. Different films we want to bring in. And also I'm looking at later on down the road, you know, professional one or two people shows that are out there that go, come out of New York, going sort of back again to our roots.
RK: Well, you know, there were things back in the day that got developed in Connecticut and then went to Broadway, and also can be on Broadway, and then when they close, can go out on the road and be brought to Connecticut. And so let's talk for a minute about the. See what a solo show is, because I found that a lot of people don't know what it is. Still, the best definition I heard of it is it's a story about life, in my case, a series of stories about life, like My Big Fat Greek Wedding, that movie that started out as a solo show, one woman talking about her Big Fat Greek Wedding was one long story that weaves her Greek background and her parents. It ended up being seen by Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson and became a movie. That's an example of a solo show, one person getting up and telling a story. Or there's the mosaic style, which is a bunch of stories from someone's life that answers one big question, like, is there a god, or can we survive trauma. So my solo show is called Cracks and All: Perfectly Imperfect Life. And the big question is, you know, are we worthy of love, even if we're not perfect, and things in our life haven't been quite what they're cracked up to be, including ourselves. And so that is, you know, usually there are stories that people can relate to and see themselves in. So that's a bit about my show, which happens on November 12 at one o'clock. What's beautiful about your location is that it's right by the train station, and right in that area are places for lunch, beautiful shops, and the Fairfield libraries, right there 16 handles. You can get ice cream after the show, so it's a really lovely way to spend an afternoon. And usually these shows are about an hour in length.
MH: Well, my favorite thing is, when you told me about your show, I thought, Oh, I'd love to have that. And you said, Are you sure? I said, Yes, because what I want to do too is I want FTC to be a space where you can try out these, you know, one-person shows, a lecture, find things that are different, not just. I love The Sound of Music, so I'm sometimes I shouldn't use it as an example, right? No, I mean that. But I mean, I would love that. I would love to sing along with that. But what I'd like is original pieces that are intriguing, that, as you said, answer questions. I want the Midday Matinees to be sophisticated. And I know this sounds funny, but just because you're retired or or from, you know, an assisted living, I don't want you to be sung down to, spoken down to, I want to be still creative and still, you know, challenging, so you're not sitting there just saying, Oh, isn't this nice, you know.
RK: So, in Fairfield Theater Company, can people get a membership so that they're informed about everything? Or how can they help the theater? How can they get involved in the theater, at least be informed about what's being offered?
MH: Well, that's a great question, because we are a non-profit, and so you can donate, which is great. You become a member, which gives a lot of wonderful things, you know, discounts on tickets and some fun free events. And we are very community, you know, outreach kind of people, as I said, when I teach my kids the same thing, we're trying to teach them how to be good community people, how to be good citizens, how to communicate. FTC has always been a place that encourages that, you know, community spirit. We just had a wonderful event there. It was an international food event, and it was great because of all the different foods, all the different people, and there were so many different ways of communicating through music, poetry, and comedy, and that's what they're trying to bring in. As I said, we're not a for-profit organization; we do appreciate grants and gifts. And you know, we have a wonderful sponsorship team. Megan Quinn is our Director of Development, and Tim Foley is our sponsorship development person, and they're phenomenal. And you know, we also rent out our spaces for Bar Mitzvahs, weddings and again, many different fundraisers.
RK: Right in your own backyard or a Metro-North train ride away. Fairfield Theater Company. The website is…
MH: https://fairfieldtheatre.org/
RK: And is there anything I haven't asked you that you wanted to say, and we've left out?
MH: I. Just thank you for letting us tell you about us and our new vision and our rebirth. And oh, it's our 25th anniversary. We're having our 25th anniversary gala on November 8, and now we hope to go 25 years more and keep growing.
RK: And as part of the Midday Matinee series at Fairfield Theater Company, you can come see me. Randy Kaye, my solo show is called Cracks and All: Perfectly Imperfect Life. It answers the question: Are we worthy of love, even if our lives and perhaps ourselves aren't all they were cracked up to be? It happens on November 12 at 1 p.m. at the Fairfield Theater Company. For tickets, go to https://fairfieldtheatre.org/.
