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| At Cabaret Gala |
I recently returned from a delightful afternoon talking with
Rose Carol Toth, one of the founding members of Saline Area Players. This is our 40th year and we’re
celebrating with a Gala on June 22 at Liberty School Auditorium, which used to
be called the Middle School Little Theatre, and was the first auditorium in
which the Players ever performed. Rose
Carol talked about how the group was formed….
It began when a local resident, Betsy Wellwood, had an
idea. She put a small article in the
Saline Reporter asking if anyone was interested in starting a local theater
group in Saline. The meeting took place
on Monroe street in what had originally been a Catholic Church, but was at that
time a UAW hall. Not sure what it is
now. They met in the basement. In Rose Carol’s recollection, about 12 people
attended that first meeting, most of whom didn’t know each other. Some of the people she remembers, along with
herself, were Ralph Swenarton, Norma Keller, Russell and Marilyn Ellis, Betsy
Wellwood, Leroy King, Dottie Barnes, and Christine Horn, whom she describes as young,
and the only person there who had ever done or studied theater. It was from this meeting that they decided to
put on the first Saline Area Players show, “Was this Murder?”. Rose Carol was in it along with many of the
founding members of the Players. I
looked at her program of the show, and I was impressed at how well-supported
the show was with local businesses. Rose
Carol remembers that her husband, Ted, and Bob Barnes, were some of the first
set builders.
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| Queen in Once Upon a Mattress |
With that first production, and many of the early ones, she
says that people pitched in and did everything.
At that time the theater didn’t have any lights like it does now so they
had to make them using large coffee cans.
They also had to figure out a way to hang them. They moved them in and out of the theater
using large crates. When not in use,
they were stored in various garages, including that of the Toth’s. The biggest storage area, however, as time
went on, was over Big Daddy’s (which is where Mangiamo’s is now). She reports that Big Daddy’s was very
generous, letting them store things there on the upper floor for free. Unfortunately, there was a fire in the
building causing damage to Big Daddy’s, and the Players lost much of their
stuff. So other storage areas were found
and that may be when the Players moved to the Saline Depot. For awhile, the depot was used for storage
and for rehearsals, but later was turned back to the historical society. I personally remember being there for
auditions in the first SAP show I auditioned for, Carousel. Over the years, SAP
has stored things in people’s barns too, including Bill Burnette and the late
Dave Strait, to name a few.
Not long after the group got started, they decided to write
bylaws. Although Rose Carol wasn’t the
first president, she was when they wrote the bylaws, which she describes as a
tedious process. They used other groups,
like Ann Arbor Civic Theater, and CTAM (Community Theater Association of
Michigan) for help. She says that Dottie
Barnes, also on the board, did a lot of work on this project. Rose Carol stayed on the board for years, and
if she wasn’t on it, her husband Ted was.
They were never on at the same time since one of the rules was, and
still is, that two people from the same family cannot be at the same time. (In my opinion that was a great rule because
you could give a spouse a break but they are still roped in by the one who IS
on the board J ).
Rose Carol notes that when they did Oklahoma, their first musical, into the
beginning of the second year, they generated a lot of interest, and the
families came out for that. She
describes it as a “huge community production” and described this as a big boost
for the new group.
In the early days, play reading was a group activity. The chair or co-chair of the committee would
find out about plays through hearsay, CTAM, or perhaps research, and they would
suggest that the board read them.
Everyone would sit around and read through the plays, taking the
different parts. It was from these
readings that the plays were selected.
Then the season was developed and they put out advertisements for
directors. She remembers that Roger
Wertenberger from Ann Arbor Civic directed and Jim Posante choreographed South
Pacific, a huge musical production for SAP.
They were well known in the community.
At that time, the artistic and the music directors were the only ones
paid. The rest, pretty much like it is
now, were volunteers!
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| Ted Toth |
Rose Carol’s husband Ted was one of the main set builders
for SAP for years. Although a pipe
fitter for General Motors by trade, he was in the Air National Guard and
through that erected buildings and made temporary sites. He learned a lot about building from that,
and also worked a bit with Ann Arbor Civic Theater where he learned about set
design and painting. Rose Carol said
that he always carried a small pad of paper and a pencil in his pocket, and
every time they traveled, he would sketch things he saw, like buildings,
towers, etc. hoping to use some of these drawings in the future on a set. While visiting her, I had the honor of
viewing many of his pieces of art throughout her home. We were incredibly lucky to have Ted beyind
the scenes. (And, occasionally, we’d be
able to get him on stage, but only for a cameo role).
Currently, one of the best things about being part of the
Saline Area Players are the parties. It
is fun to work hard on a production and then get to enjoy everyone at a
party. I didn’t join the group until
1984 but was able to participate in some very late night parties. But evidently, they weren’t as late as I
thought. According to Rose Carol, the
cast would frequently go to Big Daddy’s after a rehearsal. The grill would close by 1:00 (a.m., that
is), so they would make sure they got their orders in by then. She remembers the occasional person who had
to rehearse later shouting out their order as others went out the door. The restaurant would stay open later, though,
and she remembers staying until 2 or 3:00 a.m. until they closed. She thinks those were on the weekends. For the cast parties, everybody would come
dressed up, in long dresses (the women, that is). She remembers that the parties went late into
the night, sometimes until 6:00 a.m. After the party broke up, the cast would
go over to what was the Big Apple at the time (now Saline Inn) and have
breakfast. That was before my time! She also remembers the annual picnics at the
Barnes’ home where they have a pool.
Dottie would make most of the food, often spaghetti with garlic bread
and salad. She says that the parties were
so cohesive with no squabbles…just fun, fun, fun!!!
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| "Gooch" |
As we talked, I realize that not much has changed. People come together to create a play and
become part of the group. The people
come from all walks of life and often don’t know each other ahead of time. Families are very much involved and often
share the experience. Publicity, finding
an audience, getting enough funding, and keeping up the enthusiasm remain
ongoing challenges. And, certainly, we
still like to have parties, but sadly, they don’t go until breakfast anymore.
Come learn more about the Saline Area Players and celebrate
with us at our 40th Anniversary Gala on June 22.
