Dave Olmstead & Brenda C. Eppley
It happened quite by accident, in the midst of a conversation that Brenda C. Eppley, professor of theater at Harrisburg Area Community College, was having with a director at Allenberry Playhouse. At the time, the economy was taking a downturn, and that director noticed that this region didn’t have a mechanism by which theaters here could support one another—each seemed to be going it all alone.
“The news was saturated with stories of theater closings due to financial loss,” Eppley recalls. “Theater is my passion, and I am connected both professionally and personally as a performer, educator and audience member.”
So Eppley took that passion and got to work. She approached her friend and HACC colleague, Dave Olmstead, a theater instructor/director/designer, and the two discussed the idea of creating the Harrisburg Area Theatre Alliance or HATA, which would join together this area’s regional theaters to strengthen their missions and help ensure their longevity. As educators, the two had witnessed theater’s powerful effects on their college students. They saw how, even if a student decided not to choose theater as a career, that influence proved positive as he or she became an involved member of a community.
Eppley and Olmstead approached Gamut Theatre, Open Stage of Harrisburg, Theatre Harrisburg, and HACC’s theater program, believing that each represented a cross-section of theater in the area. They discussed HATA’s mission of uniting, strengthening, promoting and advancing the theater community in Pennsylvania’s capital region and forming a central hub of information for those working onstage and behind the scenes.
“We thought it was fantastic, but what if they thought we were out of our minds?” Olmstead says. “Thankfully, as we talked to each group, it was so exciting to see their reactions and their enthusiasm for this project.”
Indeed, Samuel Kuba, executive director at Theatre Harrisburg, thought it was a great idea, although the theaters had already formed close relationships over the years.
“The fact that we all knew and actually liked each other made the hard work necessary for the creation of HATA a much more pleasant process,” Kuba says. “We definitely had—and continue to have—a good time.”
Several networking events have already been held and another is coming up this month. It is a free event that is open to theaters, schools, actors, designers and patrons.
“It will be a wonderful opportunity to meet and greet with other theater lovers and practitioners, share resumes and headshots and generally bask in the gloriousness that is the theater community of central PA,” Olmstead says.
Despite theater’s long history and multitude of transformations, the struggle for survival continues as financial support from government, community and arts organizations decrease. Eppley and Olmstead want HATA to be at the forefront of ensuring theater’s continuance and growth in our area.
“We know that in order for (theater) to continue to survive and thrive, we must nurture and advocate for it,” Olmstead says. “We must be willing to adapt and change, as well. We are in the midst of a maelstrom of technology and social media revolution.”
HATA’s board currently consists of representatives from the four theater groups, and memberships have begun from other area theater organizations and colleges. Soon, individual memberships will be accepted. Membership is open to any theater, professional or amateur, including high schools, and anyone with a shared interest in theater.
As far as the future for the organization, Eppley is very hopeful. Her vision, she says, is to expand the impact of theater by greatly increasing the audience base and strengthening support in the community and government to “ensure that we don’t merely exist, but thrive.”
“We simply, as a society, cannot afford to lose theaters or theater programs,” she says. “Our region is rich with theater offerings, and I am still surprised that a significant number of theater enthusiasts are unaware of much of the theater activity in this area. That needs to change.”
With HATA’s help, Olmstead is confident that it will.
“I believe that theater will see a renaissance in this area,” he says. “But wouldn’t it be great if someday we didn’t need an organization like HATA because theater had become an integrated part of our culture, our schooling and our lives? We would all truly embrace the power of live theater, and that would be a great thing.”
HATA holds its next networking event on Saturday, Nov. 9, noon to 2 p.m., in the Rose Lehrman Arts Center at HACC. You can visit HATA on Facebook.
*William Shakespeare, “Much Ado about Nothing”
