renaming ‘The Rep’

Seacoast Repertory Theatre is a place where you can be assured of seeing seasoned performers entertain you with plays you’ve grown to love over the years. It is even a prime piece of real estate, considering it sits right on the waterfront, near some of the area’s best restaurants and shops.

Just don’t call it SRT any more.

“We don’t call it SRT anymore,” board member Trudy Brown says. “They’re calling it ‘The Rep.’”

The theater’s former nickname—its initials—has become such a catchphrase that changing it seems a harbinger of really shaking things up. Which is exactly what executive director John McCluggage plans to do.

The shift stresses McCluggage’s desire to bring “repertoire” back to the area. The idea of a “rep” company is that it offers a different show every night. Through Aug. 12, spectators can see “Damn Yankees” and “West Side Story” on alternating nights, Thursdays through Sundays. This type of theater, though a staple for decades, has lately fallen out of fashion.

“Too expensive ultimately,” muses McCluggage. “Perhaps initially there was a bit of artistic compromise in that you might have an actor perfect for one role that you’d have to find something for (him/her) to do in the other show.”

But McCluggage doesn’t see that as an obstacle. Instead, he sees it as a small hurdle that he’s more than willing to jump.
“We’re fortunate here to have access to housing, which enables us to put the company up for the summer,” he said. “I see it as an opportunity for the Rep to add to the artistic buzz that happens around here every summer. Visitors coming to the Seacoast for the weekend now can see one terrifically talented cast do two different shows on back-to-back nights.”

The Seacoast is holding onto its reputation as a place where people from across New England come to develop original art. There’s less money, but more raw art created simply for the love of the craft. It was this notion, perhaps, that inspired McCluggage’s “September to Remember,” a month of shows put together entirely by area artists. “I agree,” nods McCluggage, “though I’d like to see the artists share in the financial prosperity (and) boon that results from diverse and exciting programming.”

Although art is necessary to our life’s blood, it also costs money, much to many an artist’s dismay. “We need corporate patrons, to be sure, and pleasing them is less of an issue when you find common ground,” McCluggage said. “FPL (Energy) wanted to help increase arts in the schools and the Rep wanted to tour Shakespeare . . . a match was made.”

And thus begins a whole new era for the Seacoast Repertory Theatre, complete with a new executive director and more accurate nickname. Don’t close your eyes—The Yankees are Damning, the Siders (both East and West) are dancing, and September is on the way.