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| PostStar article about Psychoneedles! who
performed at the Fort Salem Theater August
3 -5, 2007. |
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Fort Salem Theater owner has some dramatic
plans |
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By AMANDA BENSEN
abensen@poststar.comPublished on 12/16/2006
Arts & Life
THE POST-STAR |
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SALEM -- It might seem
rash to make a major business investment
and career shift at 60, when most people
have their eye on retirement. But when
Jay Kerr is asked why he decided to buy
the Fort Salem Theater, he sounds rational.
"It
was for sale," he
said. "You know, sort of like the
mountain that you climb because it's there."
Kerr, a Manhattan-based theater
composer and vocal instructor with a part-time
residence in Hebron, bought the cash-strapped
historic theater last month from longtime
owner Quentin Beaver. Kerr plans to continue
running it as a professional summer theater,
and add a cabaret stage for smaller acts
like stand-up comics, poets and singer-songwriters."
My
wife and I had been looking for an excuse
to move to Hebron permanently, so we had
been looking at things for sale up here," Kerr explained. "One
day, the realtor -- not really knowing
what I do for a living -- said 'Gee, there's
this building for sale, but I really don't
know what you'd do with it. It's the Fort
Salem Theater.' I said, 'How about running
it as a theater?'
"That was exactly
what Beaver wanted to hear from a potential
buyer. He had already turned down offers
from buyers who would have turned the building
into something else. But when Kerr approached,
Beaver's reaction was, "Boing! This
is the guy."
Although he's sad to say
goodbye to the place he has poured so much
of his life into, Beaver said he's ready.
"We
did well, I'm proud of it, but ... I'm getting
old. I'll be 77 on my next birthday. It's
time," he
reflected.
Beavers have been busy at
the Fort Salem Theater for most of its
35-year history.
Quentin started acting there
in the 1970s, bought it in 1979, and oversaw
about 400 productions over the next two
decades.
When he wanted to partially
retire in 2000, his daughter, Kathy, stepped
in as artistic director.
She continued his tradition
of bringing classic Broadway musicals and
professional performers to this small-town
stage, something she says would have been
impossible without the community's strong
support.
"I'll miss it, but I
hope I can go back up there and perform,
and stay involved somehow," said Kathy,
who lives in Westchester.
"I think it's
a really good change for the theater. I so
hope that it gets some of the influx of cash
that it needs."
Staying solvent is a challenge
for most theaters, as Kerr recognizes.
On top of his initial investment -- the
theater's list price was $125,000, he said,
which included all the costumes and props
packed inside -- he faces the prospect
of necessary renovations to the nearly
200-year-old structure.
"It concerns
me, because I know it's not the most practical
investment," he
said. "However, you've just got to
seize opportunities sometimes, and accept
that they've come for a reason. And I have
a sense of being able to make it work."
In that case, he's already
following the advice that Quentin Beaver
said he considers most essential for his
successor.
"If you really believe
something will work, do it. Don't let people
talk you out of it," Beaver said. "Try
to be honest with yourself, and with your
people, and just follow your gut instinct." |
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Fort Salem Theater
© 2007 |
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