Call of the Nightingale
By MICHAEL SMITH, 03/14/2005
The Nightingale Theater specializes in presenting offbeat live entertainment, even when the playwright is William Shakespeare. In one of the Bard's more obscure works, "Cymbeline," Joseph Gomez (left), Lauren Brown and Sara Cruncleton perform a scene. KELLY KERR/Tulsa World
Despite obstacles, local theater owners keep going
John Cruncleton can fondly recall highlights from the Nightingale Theater's first five years. It's an exercise that happens every time he walks into the building that he and his friends think of as their creative playground.
Just walking into the place, turning on the lights for rehearsal, is moving. Going into the back shop, looking at an array of props and junk from past shows, is an intense and visceral journey for the memory.
"Everywhere you look is some object that represents some really intense moments, and it's very satisfying to just be in the space," he said. "Theater is so physical and present, and yet it's gone in an instant. But a theater itself has all these little charged objects that represent those instants, and it's really kind of magical."
When Midwestern Theater Troupe presented its original play "Down the Ol' Hole" last month, it celebrated an important passage of time for the players.
It meant a decade of existence for the troupe, but perhaps more importantly, it marked five years of live theater, music, circus acts, art exhibits, poetry readings and assorted oddities at the Nightingale, Tulsa's home for unconventional entertainment.
So call it a birthday, or an anniversary. But for co-owners, co-founders, co-everything couples John and Sara Cruncleton and Jeff and Amber Whitlatch, this milepost goes by another name: survival.
At their black box arena at 1416 E. Fourth St., tucked away in a warehouse district, they've produced plays in the winter with no heat, taken the stage in August despite no air conditioning and arrived at the playhouse to find the water turned off.
One might think that after five years the operation funds itself and the daily struggles are in the past, all dues having been paid.
That assumption would be wrong.
John Cruncleton admits that "probably six or seven months a year, every year" the partners wonder how they'll keep the socalled curtain rising.
For every show that fills the 50-60 seats on risers and spills over - like the Tulsa premiere of "The Vagina Monologues" in 2001 featuring standing-room-only audiences that would have frightened a fire marshal - there are many more sparsely attended eccentricities staged at the Nightingale, where the proprietors make it affordable for anyone to come and put on a show.
"I'll tell you this right now: Everything we do at the theater doesn't have a damn thing to do with money," Cruncleton said with a laugh. "So everyone's been doing this for 10 years because they like to be creative."
That commitment is important to acknowledge when considering that it's been laid out for a pretty minuscule reception. Even with Midwestern's big successes, like their pair of circus-themed epics "Romolo the Great" and "Warm, Delicious Play," or "The Golden Ass," Cruncleton's unique adaptation/shadow puppet re-telling of a 2,000-year-old Latin novel, audiences have been modest."What's made this work, I think, is love. This love between us as friends and family and this commitment to making art," Cruncleton said, adding that he knows Midwestern's effort is "not something that matters in this community. But it matters inside of each of these people, and that's important."
Of course, on the flip side of any artistic satisfaction for the founders and their core group of performers is the financial struggles. They're not only supporting Midwestern's occasional shows, but those who also rent the space, like Theater Club, Youth Onstage, New Genre Festival and more.
Every month is an adventure in number-crunching and paying bills, largely living on a month-to-month basis at the theater. It's an accomplishment for which Cruncleton has an unusual appreciation.
"I'm just so proud that we're still here. There's an element of defiance there, that's for sure," he said. "We're all from the punk rock school, and I think that we enjoy pulling it off every month."
Apparently, some combination of pride and pleasure has kept the doors open at the Nightingale Theater since 2000. Despite the ever-present monetary difficulties, Cruncleton swears that the partners have never had a conversation about pulling out.
"I know that's probably stupid, but what else would we do? It's our religion. There's not a way to walk away from it. When we get knocked down, when we get our teeth knocked out, that's when we'll stop. We might even be proud of it by that point. We'll have some scars to show. But we're not retreating."
More information about Midwestern Theater Troupe, Nightingale Theater and the many groups that it serves is available online at www.midwesterntheater.org or by calling 583-8487 [As of February 2007, 633-8666].