THE
BEGINNING : ALLEY PLAYHOUSE
When the
lights came up for the Alley Playhouse's first production, "Bell, Book
and Candle" on November 14, 1964, it was the culmination of a dream.
The Alley Playhouse was located in Morris Alley behind the old Chamber of
Commerce building. The building was converted from a warehouse into a
125 seat theatre-in-the-round, which was still in an experimental period and
not widely used across the country. The traditional proscenium stage was
the most popular. The Alley Players were the successors the Bowling
Green Community Players. The original Alley organizers were Dr. Russell
Miller, the producing director, L.O. Underwood, Asa Raymond, Doug Robertson,
Dr. Jim Burt, John Burt and Autumn Carol.
The Alley produced
five plays the 1st season. The most popular being the children's
production, Cinderella, and the musical The Fantasticks, which were always
sold out.
FOUNTAIN
SQUARE PLAYERS
In the summer of
1977, a group of determined, star -struck individuals, aided and abetted by
Whit Combs and Bill Leonard of the WKU Department of Theatre, set out to bring
the defunct Alley Players back to life as the Warren County Community Theater.
WKU provided direction, funding, and space; the community responded with
actors and enthusiasm; and a Thurber Carnival was presented in June with great
flourish.. A second play, Spoon River Anthology, followed in late July.
So successful were these efforts that two more plays were produced in
collaboration with WKU the next summer. In 1978, the name was changed to
Fountain Square Players; Articles of Incorporation were filed; and the first
"season", 1978-1979, came to pass.
One of the first
hurdles faced by the fledgling group was "Where shall we have the
play?" During the first three full seasons, plays were produced in
theatres at WKU (Russell Miller, Snell Hall, Gordon Wilson, and Van Meter); in
the Warren County Courthouse; In State Street United Methodist Church; in two
different stores in the vacant Bowling Green Mall' and in a motel (the
Holidome.) But in April of 1981, The Capitol Arts Center allowed us to
present Little Mary Sunshine in the (almost) renovated Capitol Theatre
building. And the 1981-1982 season saw us ensconced in the
Capitol, opening with Our Town.
Next, FSP began to
feel the pinch in the area of set construction. Board members' garages
were quickly outgrown, and borrowed space developed a habit of being needed by
others. So, after a very successful production of Annie left us a bit
more affluent, a major investment was made: our scene shop and a studio at 313
State Street. Several members, in a leap of faith, signed the note and
held their collective breath until the mortgage was burned in the summer of
1989.
In August of 1993,
Public Theatre of Kentucky allowed us to use their Phoenix Theatre, the old
Alley Playhouse, to produce Cemetery Club. FSP has since presented
several other plays at the Phoenix.
FSP has been
fortunate to have had great directors, dedicated Board members, a supportive
community, and enthusiastic casts and crews for twenty-plus years.
As we begin our twentieth season (1998-1999), we send kudos to all of these
and to all who may become involved in our future productions. FSP cannot
exist without you.
SCENE SHOP
What do you do with
two dozen 4 foot by 12 foot flats, plastic columns, chairs, and cut-outs of
automobiles after the play is over? For the first seven years of our
existence, Fountain Square Players borrowed space...and moved, borrowed
space...and move!
We were quite a
stimulus to previously inactive real estate. The Daily News let us use
two of their buildings. The first was torn down for WKCT's satellite
dish and antenna tower; the second to provide more parking after their
expansion.
English, Lucas,
Priest and Owsley let us store, hammer, saw, and paint in the old Gulf station
next to the post office, but their new offices were then built there.
The folks of Capitol
Aluminum hadn't used the State Street school gym for sometime, and graciously
let us have it until Junior Achievement became its tenant.
We thought the
Medical Center would never have another use for the old hospital when
they let us use a wing on reservoir hill, but once we moved in, it spurred a
very active remodeling program, and the fire cinched it.
The summer of 1985
provided us with our own (OWNED) scene shop at 313 State Street. An
auction of that property was anxiously attended by enough members of FSP to
encourage the auctioneer to believe he had lots of bidders, but really very
few others were interested in the office and warehouse at the time.
Since then, Fountain
Square Players have gradually painted, patched and roofed. The 3000 square
foot warehouse into our SCENESHOP. Any Saturday leading up to a
production you can find from 1-15 persons building or painting something to
embellish the plays we present.
If you would like to
drop by and give us an hour or more of your time, we'd love to have you!
And you might love to join FSP.
