WCT - Waiting For The Parade - 1984

I've been looking at the WICHITA COMMUNITY THEATRE website and being amazed at their clever and creative use of the space at what was once just our Workshop rehearsal hall and summer COMMEDIA venue. They are really doing some incredible things now in a place that always cried out to be a more open performance space.

Back in 1984 I staged the play WAITING FOR THE PARADE  there. It was in fact my last work with WCT before leaving Wichita for Fort Worth, Texas and my stint as Designer/Puppeteer/Actor with the  HIP POCKET THEATRE.

I was originally only acting as Set Designer for a play which  MARY LOU PHIPPS WINFREY  had been scheduled to Direct. When she got a job offer out of town, and it looked as if the production would have to be cancelled, I stepped in and Directed the show as well.

I believe this was the first time in the Workshop's history that a show was staged on a thrust which extended the small stage area out into the audience, as seen in my original groundplan above. The play involves a small group of Canadian women who were coping with the war effort during WW II. The "communal" feeling of Cast & Audience occupying the same space seemed to suit the intimate action of the play.