The 21st century has brought the entire universe of music and video to our fingertips. And the party never stops, except to recharge your phone battery or reboot the WiFi.
This sounds like very bad news for theater operators. But Allison Larena is not the least bit apprehensive.
“I think the possibilities are endless,” said the president and CEO of Morristown’s Mayo Performing Arts Center, which kicks off its 25th season this Friday, Sept. 13, 2019, with a concert by Katharine McPhee (American Idol, Smash, Waitress).
MPAC starts its silver anniversary with a new logo, expansion plans, and Larena’s unshakable belief that wherever technology takes entertainment over the next quarter-century, the Mayo Center will be right there.
“If you think about it, last year we had a hologram on stage. I mean, Roy Orbison came to life on the stage. How exciting is that? So we’ll have different types of programs, more innovative programs, more spectacles,” Larena predicted.
One thing that never will grow old, she contends, is the excitement of theater-going.
“I think people need to feel like they are part of something even bigger. And I think that’s the way people feel when they come here. They feel like they’re part of a family, they feel like they’re part of the community,” Larena said.
It was called the Community Theatre, after all, when it opened as a movie palace in 1937. Generations of young people had their first dates there, and Larena suspects many generations to come will make cherished memories in the 1,300-seat hall.
The last 25 years have been a weeds-to-riches story for the nonprofit. Make that mushrooms. That’s what was growing inside the neglected, dilapidated structure when an army of local volunteers rallied to save it.
Today, MPAC is a showcase for the likes of Tony Bennett, Liza Minnelli and Ringo Starr. The theater presents around 200 performances annually, plus dozens of special shows that draw busloads of schoolchildren.
Some 240,000 people attend these events, pumping $15 million into the regional economy, by Larena’s estimate. MPAC’s performing arts school–which has sent its future stars to sing on Broadway and at the White House–has a waiting list. An arts program for autistic children is thriving. Arts in the Community, another recent addition, spotlights local artists at free concerts in parks and galleries.
Generous donors and trustees, supportive town officials, and 150 volunteers have made this explosive growth possible, Larena said.
“To me, what’s been so impressive and so wonderful about this theater is really the phenomenal community support,” she said.
Of course, some growing pains were inevitable. Success brought bigger acts, and bigger tour buses and equipment trucks, which for a time posed parking conflicts along Pine Street. MPAC worked with the town to iron things out.
During her 18-year tenure, Larena has guided MPAC through three campaigns that have raised $17 million to upgrade the stage, backstage and lobby; and to add dressing rooms, offices, rehearsal spaces and a loading bay.
More expansion plans are percolating. In recent years, MPAC has acquired three properties on Pine Street and the former Junior League thrift store on King Place. Larena envisions an educational center with a performance space seating “a few hundred” people.
She anticipates this will dovetail with the Morristown Parking Authority’s plans to erect a parking garage just off Pine Street, in Lot 10 at Dumont Place — a short walk from MPAC.
That’s important for older audiences drawn to MPAC for its popular tributes to acts that topped the charts in the last century.
“I think that’s another great piece of what we’re able to do, you know, to just keep the legacy acts, and that feeling of nostalgia alive here in the theater, and we’ll continue to do that for future audiences as well,” Larena said.
Which is good news, near-term, for fans of the Boss (don’t make us wait for the hologram, Bruce!), and farther down the road, for Swifties.
“They all come to Morristown eventually,” Larena said with a laugh.
