THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 22, 1996 TAG: 9605210150
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JENNIFER BENNETT, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 73 lines
If shoppers are looking for something different at Pembroke Mall these days, they can go to a show.
Not just the movies, but live staging.
Now offering its first season of Theatre on the Mall, The Actors' Theatre at Pembroke Mall is presenting ``Parallel Lives: The Kathy & Mo Show.''
``This is really a cultural mall now,'' said Ed Anderson, house manager of The Actor's Theatre. ``What other mall can you go to and see movies, a visual gallery . . . and live theater.''
During the play, Norfolk natives, Pam Good and Anne Morton, yuk it up, playing 36 male and female characters who engage in humorous discourses about love, life and relationships. The show, written by Kathy Najimy and Mo Gaffney, contains material that may not be suitable for children, said Teresa Bryan, marketing and audience development director.
The theater company allows local actors to showcase their talent in a professional setting, Anderson said. At the same time, the group hopes to increase public awareness of the arts in Hampton Roads - an idea theater members shared with James Hill, the Pembroke Mall general manager. Theater staff longed for a place of their own, and Hill, whom they refer to as ``our angel,'' made their wish come true.
Pembroke Mall donated a vacant space near Sears that once housed a men's store to the theater group to complement the mall's art gallery called Visions.
``It was the next logical choice,'' Hill said. Everyone benefits from the arrangement, he added. Customers get an added attraction, the mall increases its traffic flow, local artists display their talents and Hampton Road's cultural scene broadens.
``For the mall, it creates the flavor of downtown,'' Hill said, ``making the mall an entertaining place to come, not just to buy things.'' For its innovation, Pembroke Mall will be featured in the June issue of a national industry magazine called Shopping Centers Today, Hill said.
Anderson said support has been widespread. Retail merchants have loaned clothing for shows in exchange for advertising. Businesses have donated office equipment. Theater-goers have mailed financial contributions.
And mall patrons of every ilk have invested their time and energy to volunteer to help build and maintain the theater. Flipping through pages and pages of sheets listing the names of citizens who signed up to volunteer at the nonprofit mall theater, Anderson said volunteer work has run the gamut - sewing, sweeping, cleaning, painting, data entry. The reward, however, is an extra benefit.
``They get to meet new people and have fun,'' said Anderson, a former professional dancer and self-taught costume designer. ``It's amazing that you just meet friends.''
Everyone from teenagers to grandmothers have crossed the small theater's threshold since it opened last year, according to both Bryan and Anderson. ``We get everything from cut-offs to suits,'' Bryan said.
The theater group is also toying with the idea of dinner/theater packages. Last week a dinner/show combination was offered by the theater and Federico's Italian Restaurant on Independence Boulevard. Two more restaurants also have expressed interest in offering packages.
In June, the theater begins its Summer Youth Program, a theater camp designed to teach young people about both the live arts and themselves, Bryan said.
Anderson, who works directly with the artistic director, Joe Sasso, said he looks forward to the future.
``We really do have a loyal following,'' he said, ``and it's growing every single day . . . every single day.'' MEMO: ``Parallel Lives'' runs through Thursdays through Sundays through
June 2. For reservations or information, call 557-0397. ILLUSTRATION: Pam Good and Anne Morton yuk it up in ``Parallel
Lives: The Kathy & Mo Show,'' playing 36 male and female characters
who engage in humorous discourses about love, life and
relationships. by CNB