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Show IEdlnTt0)irnaill What now, Egyptian? Whatever happened to Park City Performances? We've asked ourselves that question in recent months, like somebody recalling an old, fondly-remembered movie star. In the last year, PCP's creative profile in Park City has been lower than it used to be. The company developed "This is the Place" as a tourist attraction like the old melodramas the Egyptian once staged when it was the Silver Wheel Theater. For two plays "Dracula" and "Come Blow Your Horn" they enlisted the services of Ron Burnett, from the group, Intermountain Actors . Ensemble. And with the choice of "Oliver" as a Christmas musical (done previously in 1979), the company seemed to be looking back nostalgically at its . past. But if PCP's activity was sluggish, there was a good reason for that. You see, a creative diverse theater season is nice, but it has to give way to other priorities. Priorities like fiscal survival. For the last two years PCP has worked to get out from under a $55,000 debt. That burden will finally be liquidated, if the company has a successful auction this May. Park City Performances will stand at a watershed year, a time to begin again. It is also a year to look back. Over the last five years PCP changed the Egyptian from "the melodrama place" to a yital community center. Two people were most important for that change. Don Gomes not only started community theater here but created a community of actors and led them to a home in the Egyptian. Along with that, we remember the help of the landlords at the time, Randy Fields and Mike Doilney. Gomes scheduled a full schedule of productions into the theater. And people like Teri Gomes and Katherine Janka made sure you knew about it. You always felt something in the air when a production was underway. PCP experimented with concerts, movie series and other programs. Certainly his tenure ended with some questions about finances, but there is no doubt that behind it there was a vision that showed us the theater could be a living community service. Then came Ann MacQuoid, who proved some old cliches about tough Texans. Ann did not plan to spend two years in this role. The job of PCP president almost fell into her lap in 1983. She kept the theater going, while generating activities to win Park City financial support -and using "company nights" to attract audiences from Salt Lake businesses. - While the schedule has been conservative in MacQuoid's tenure, behind it all was the single-minded desire to put the Egyptian on a safe footing. And we have still had quality productions such as "Death Trap" and "Charlie. Brown." (In addition to Ann, many PCP members provided support and continuity, especially treasurer Frank Harris and the Egyptian's housemother, Nancy Harris.) After Gomes and MacQuoid, new president Richard Scott follows in some large footsteps. But he's preparing ambitious plans for PCP. And after the company goes working beyond staying afloat, the actors have the -opportunity to define some basic questions about the theater. First of all, how will it be administered? PCP must choose (a) a professional staff or (b) an extremely dedicated corps of volunteers or (c) some ingenious idea that nobody's mentioned yet. Second, everyone wants a constant flow of activities to take place in the theater. But how to do it? To begin with, we could ask ourselves: What kind of entertainment and civic affairs already occur in Park City? Why can't they be held in the Egyptian? We know that the theater isn't just for one group. The Intermountain Actors Ensemble has done productions there. Their forthcoming summer opera "Tosca" will be in the Egyptian. Park City High School could perform plays there, in addition to other school events that have a wide community interest. Theater students at the University of Utah or Brigham Young University often stage plays on campus. Why not produce one in the unique setting of a resort town? The theater could be the site for lectures; for special town meetings inter-denominatfbnal services on holidays, meetings for civic groups; for music from chamber groups or Joe Muscolino's Big Band; for presentation of sports movies, special programs from the Utah Media Center or U.S. Film Festival programs in their off-season. Complaints are growing about the lack of night life in town. Before we can become a four-season resort, Park City will have to think about providing an entertainment base. Why not then, use a historic, and still functioning, show house? Finally, the city council says it has a responsibility to promote the town's economic health (via money for Chamber Bureau activities). In the same vein, grants for Park City Performances and the Egyptian would be appropriate. Not all these ideas are workable. But we welcome the fact that Park City Performances can start to dream and plan again for the Egyptian's long-range future. The Egyptian has been one of the town's most valualila' , resources. With further imaginatiqn and work, it canbe even more so. We hope the theater will exist for many years to come, so that Parkites walking inside can say, with real pride and feeling, "This IS the Place." -RB |