The news that Gloucester Stage Company is embarking on a major capital drive, and set to undertake a significant facility improvement project, is indeed big news within Gloucester's and Cape Ann's theater and arts community.
And the stage company's commitment to the future of professional theater on Cape Ann shines through in its hiring of architects Alan Joslin and his wife, Deborah Epstein — the same team that created Rockport's glistening Shalin Liu Performance Hall.
But the news of Gloucester Stage's planned improvements — to be developed in part through input received in a June 1-2-3 series of open workshops with the architects — extends far beyond the traditional arts community.
Indeed, improving Gloucester Stage and marketing it even more as a destination point for the high-quality theater it already features bodes as another positive step for Gloucester's and Cape Ann's creative economy.
It's important to note that, as Joslin, Board Chairwoman Bea Waring and theater Managing Director Andrew Burgreen all emphasize, the theater will not be expanding beyond its current 200 seats. And, noting that music and theater spaces are "very different," Joslin noted that Gloucester Stage is, in no way, "building another Shalin Liu."
But the concept of better utilizing current interior space to allow for different creative opportunities — like actors entering the stage, for example, from above or below — holds a wealth of potential for works the stage has not been able to handle in the past. And improving space for the theater's acclaimed youth theater workshops, also opens new doors for the theater and the community.
In that vein, this project stands as an important one for an organization that is already an important community resource — and for the community as a whole.
