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FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

The very first time I appeared on
stage as a professional union
actor was the 1990 production of
A Christmas Carol at Great Lakes
Theater Festival in Cleveland.

The production was in its second year
and I had stepped into a track of roles that
included the Ghost of Christmas Future
which was a puppet that rose fifteen feet
in the air. The effect was one of incredible
stage magic and silently manipulating that
puppet remains one of the favorite efforts
of my acting career. I acted many roles in the production for years and after I stopped
performing, I worked with the show’s student audiences for more than a decade.
The production was an annual burst of joy for the Great Lakes staff and artists and
theater-making took on a special place in my holiday traditions.

When I became Artistic Director for Stages, I began to explore ways to create a holiday
theatrical tradition that made sense for us. In 2007, I was introduced to British
Pantomime and started a deep education on the form with the remarkable Genevieve
Allenbury who sat beside me as I joyfully watched the first Panto of my life (Panto
Cinderella, Richmond UK). I recall the ride following that experience with a carload of
Brits telling me that the modern Panto is produced on a very large scale with spectacle
being the primary artistic principal. When asked about our venue I said we had 171 seats
and I recall very clearly the Panto expert in the group—an educator from RADA—telling
me it was “impossible” to produce a Panto in such a theater. I think that was the exact
moment when I knew we would do it. To my mind, the greatest creative power rises from
an embrace of the impossible.

Producing traditional theater during the time of COVID 19 has been impossible.
Producing a Panto, which hosts a singing cast of fifteen, is not permitted or responsible.
But by now, the holiday tradition is well established with Stages. So the question is: How
can we safely bring this tradition to life this year? Our answer—embrace the impossible.
In many ways, our one-man Panto is the most outrageously theatrical pantomime we’ve
produced yet. What began as a plan to perform the show in a plexiglass house on stage
has evolved into a full-on film shot and edited over a two-month period. The luminous
Genevieve Allenbury is along for the ride—filming her material in her London home.
And our resident props genius Jodi Bobrovsky has created a puppet world as joyful as
it is imaginative. At the center of it all is the brilliant Ryan Schabach. It is Ryan, and
his wondrous creation Buttons, that have been part of our holiday lives for more than a
decade in Houston. And it is Buttons who most exemplifies the spirit of one who faces
the impossible with hope and joy. Ryan is the soul for our Stages brand of Panto and
for this year—he is the whole ball of wax. To have created with, and for him is the honor
of a lifetime.