... and so, Good Night.

There is a theatrical tradition that a light bulb should be left upon the stage in a theatre, so that the ghosts and spirits may have light by which to perform and rehearse shows of their own. In some ways, individual theatres (as institutions) were linked to their lights in terms of their fortunes.

On the evening of April 29th, 2009, one of Savannah's lights was put out for the last time. With it's revival production of An Apology for the Course and Outcome of Certain Events Delivered by Doctor John Faustus on His Final Evening, Cardinal Rep closed its doors and turned out its light, closing the book on four years of setting benchmarks for quality, artistic achievement, and community involvement. Those four years began, interestingly, with a production of the above.

As a dramaturg, it is often difficult, personally and professionally, when such a light is extinguished. But then the habits of a working lifetime take hold.

Begun in 2005, and performing in any venue they could find, Savannah Actor's Theatre/Cardinal Rep was founded to bridge the gap between a fairly progressive SCAD Department of Media and Performing Arts and a more conservative community theatre. If anything, SAT/CR has succeeded in pushing the envelope and opening new horizons for other theatres in town. Indeed, it seems interesting that SCAD is now resorting to musical revues such as Beehive and dinner-theatre fodder like Lend Me a Tenor while groups like Little Theatre of Savannah explore the wilder side of camp in Psycho Beach Party.

Further, SAT/CR has perhaps come closest to ideals of tribal theatre and communal involvement with production as set out by Scott Walters at Theatre Ideas and endorsed here in the pages of The Savannah Dramaturgy. In the halls of the Freight station during productions such as Catch-22 and The Rocky Horror Show, this author can attest to a real feeling of true collaboration and mutual ownership of the project between all participating artists. This is, in some ways, more a tribute to the collection of people involved in the work than to the institution in and of itself, but what a group.

Further, SAT/CR has set a high standard for quality on a shoestring. This author once had a sign over his desk the read:

We, the willing,
led by the incompetent,
have been doing the impossible
for the ungrateful.

We have done so much,
for so long,
with so little,
that we are now certified to do anything
with nothing.

This is precisely what they have done, sometimes with nothing more than a table, some cans of tuna, and the recycled set from a Little Theatre production. While the SCAD answer seems increasingly to be throwing a chequebook at any problem, SAT/CR made it abundantly clear, with works like Laughing Wild, Doubt, and Pillowman that excellence isn't about depth of pockets, but about depth of character (both on and offstage).

At The Savannah Dramaturgy, we must give credit to Cardinal Rep and Ryan McCurdy for their support of our operations, even when we were less than enthusiastic about some of their productions. Our reviewers were always welcome, and for that, and much else, we are thankful.

Mr. McCurdy, rumour has it, will be departing our environs in fairly short order. We wish him the best of luck, and look forward to his continued success. Because, though we have not always agreed in regards to aesthetics, his achievement has been substantial.