Before it became the Academy Playhouse, this venerable theatre institution located in the Cape Cod region of Orleans, MA was known as the Orleans Arena Theatre. As such, it the was the first summer stock theater-in-the-round in the United States, established in 1950 by the Argo family to present, among other things, early works by celebrated author Kurt Vonnegut.
Vonnegut is one of the people reminiscing in Stagetruck: Confessions of an American Theatre Family, a wonderful new documentary crafted by Emmy Award winning filmmaker-sisters Liz and Allison Argo who, growing up, had to share two bathrooms at home each summer with some two and half dozen crashing thespians. Screening here and there on the East Coast, this labor-of-love-redux doc is most likely eventually headed for PBS and made use for its staged re-enactments of 50 local Cape Cod actors.
[Argo Films]
Friday, April 16, 2010
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In he summer of 1950, I was the counterman at the Harborway Restaurant in Orleans and lived in a cabin next door to the actors snd actresses of the Arena Theater. I went to some of their performances and played charades with them. I remember the Argos, though I didn't know them well, and I recall two of the actresses named Pamela Vivers and Jacqueline Kellum. I wonder how I might be able to see the film that has been made about the Arena Theater.
ReplyDeleteHarold:
ReplyDeleteI'm sure if you contact Argo Films (info@argofilms.com), they will be happy to help you obtain a copy of the film. Should bring back memories!