North Coast Repertory Theatre

From the dek of Jenie Altruda...

“Follow your bliss and don’t be afraid, and doors will open where you didn’t know they were going to be.” – Joseph Campbell

There are those individuals whose passions are extinguished by fear and then there is Florence Foster Jenkins – a woman so dead set on singing that she let nothing and no one – not even her inability to sing in tune or in rhythm – stop her from performing. Perform she did, in front of hundreds of thousands during her lifetime and even on the stage of Carnegie Hall.

When researching Ms. Jenkins for this Blog, I kept thinking to myself, “how did she persevere? How could a women so lacking in talent have so much confidence?”

One morning as I sang in the shower (in tune and with rhythm, if I do say so myself) I was reminded that, despite my decent ability to sing, I shy away from singing anywhere but in the shower because of my overwhelming fear of public failure.

Ms. Jenkins, on the other hand, was born without a single solitary fear-of-failure gene. What a gift! Teachers, parents, paramours, every single person with whom she shared her dream of singing discouraged her from pursuing it, yet she turned her tone deaf ears to them and went for it anyway.

As Joseph Campbell so eloquently stated, following your bliss often leads to doors opening where one doesn’t expect them. Florence Foster Jenkins sang her heart out and became a star just like she always imagined — not for her singing ability but her inability to sing and her utter lack of fear. And so, she sang her way – horribly and comically – to great popular acclaim.

Peter Quilter’s play GLORIOUS takes us into the life of this extraordinarily spirited woman and gives us a glimpse into what comes out of following one’s bliss. The result of pursuing a dream may not always turn out the way one imagines, but at the end of the road one will probably find, as Joseph Campbell said, “the life that you ought to be living.”

I look forward to sitting in my season ticketed seat at North Coast Rep and enjoying every screeching, off-pitch, wavering, GLORIOUS note in the life of Florence Foster Jenkins. I hope to see you in the theatre. Jenie

From the desk of Jenie Altruda, North Coast Rep’s newest Board Member…

“A soul cake, a soul cake!
Please good missus, a soul cake!
One for Peter, two for Paul,
And three for Him who made us all!
An apple, a pear, a plum, or a cherry, any good thing to make us all merry.”*

In England during the middle ages, the practice of “souling” was widespread.  Beggars and poor children would go from door to door on All Saint’s Day and Christmas Eve asking the master or mistress of the house for a soul cake – a small pastry filled with allspice and currants – or any small, good thing to eat that would make their soul and the souls of their departed relatives merry.

Although tied to the theological idea that by eating a soul cake the trapped soul of a relative in purgatory would be freed, the reality was that those asking for soul cakes were in need of basic sustenance in order to survive the very real purgatory they faced on earth.  The lush sweetness of an apple or cherry, particularly during the dead of a British winter, was a luxury most people — even those of fine circumstance — would not enjoy in an entire lifetime.

Exposure to thought-provoking, entertaining and quality theatre is a luxury to most people in this day and age, particularly as we face a national economic crisis.  We are all lucky to witness and analyze our own existence in the world through live performance.  Every comedy, drama and tragedy has a piece of our own experience in it.

During this season alone at North Coast Rep we may be inspired by the evolution of Scrooge from miser to philanthropist, haunted by the decisions facing Helene in Ibsen’s GHOSTS, and become empathetic to the plight of pubescent 13 year-old spelling champions in 25^th ANNUAL PUTNAM SPELLING BEE. Through witnessing live theatre we walk in the shoes of heroic and flawed characters and even, at times, feel 13 again.  Every time we see a play we are offered our very own soul cake.

So, good master and missus, during this charitable time of year I ask you to offer North Coast Rep a donation to continue the artistic work and mission of the Theatre.  We may not feed bodies, but the work we do feeds souls.  From the confidence we see growing in our theatre school students with each of their performances to the feeling of community we bring to the first time and repeat theatre-goer, our work positively affects lives.

As 2009 draws to a close, please consider offering North Coast Rep a symbolic soul cake — the size of an apple, a pear a plum or a cherry – in any amount to make us all merry.  Though many believe our ticket sales alone support us financially, in truth it is through the generous donations of our patrons that we are able to continue our artistic mission.

Happy Holidays and a Prosperous New Year to you all.

* Lyrics from A Soalin’, a 1963 holiday song written and performed by Peter, Paul and Mary