Lexington, KY - As the acting artistic director for the Actors Guild of Lexington (AGL) last year, Eric Seale experimented with a number of different venues around town as the troupe moved away from its traditional stage at the Downtown Arts Center's Black Box Theatre. There was "Santaland Diaries" in the former location of an Italian restaurant on Richmond Road and "Tommy: The Concert" at Buster's Backroom & Billiards, which was also performed at the new Moon Dance at Midnight Pass in Beaumont Centre for the amphitheater's inaugural production.
But for Seale, who has been a fixture on the Lexington theatre scene since he was in high school, making a space his own has never been an issue, so long as there's a place for the audience to sit.
"You give me a room, I'll put a show on in it," he said. "If it's in my backyard, we'll make it work."
Late last year, AGL was on the search for a permanent space for their administrative offices and theatrical productions, after shuffling their operations from various places around town. Somehow that pursuit took Seale, and the AGL board of directors, to the South Elkhorn Village on Old Harrodsburg Road, where a near 3,000 square-foot storefront previously used as a dance studio was opening up.
Where everybody else saw a wooden dance floor and mirrors that ran the length of the walls, Seale saw seating, changing rooms, stage lighting, a concession stand and a box office. He saw an audience and actors and standing ovations. He saw AGL's new theater.
"The moment I walked in here, I said, 'This is it. This is the space,'" Seale said. "Then it was a matter of making it the space."
The transformation was fast and fierce. The place was gutted and repainted; it was rewired; new bathrooms were installed; risers and seats were furnished - all within the span of a few short weeks in December which saw Seale and volunteers hustling (even on Christmas day) to ready the 100-seat theater for the opening of AGL's 27th season on Jan. 13 with a two-week run of the dark satire "Dead Man's Cell Phone." (Along with preparing the theater, Seale also directed the inaugural production.)
For a theatrical organization, having an exclusive venue for your productions and operations - one where you are not beholden to other organizations' schedules or other venue restrictions - is to have carte blanche over your creative vision and the entertainment you provide.
"To have a space that you control is the ultimate goal. With some venues, you're there at the times you can be there," Seale said. "I can come in here and totally decide to change the entire place in between shows if I feel like it - if I feel that's right."
Chances are, the new theater is going to undergo many metamorphoses - Seale already remarked that he's thinking of some things he'd like to change for their production of "Glengarry Glen Ross," which opens on Feb. 23.
In terms of location, Seale believes South Elkhorn Village is going to be a good home for AGL. There's a restaurant (Ramsey's) and bar (Village Vineyard) right next door, and the shopping district has ample parking, an issue that many arts patrons consider to be the scourge traveling downtown.
And while downtown Lexington is regarded as the epicenter of regional culture, AGL's new locale is a good opportunity to bring another facet of the performing arts to Lexington's south side (and it's only slightly over six miles from the downtown corridor - hardly an epic journey for downtown purists).
"To the people who live around here, this is going to be something new," Seale said. "I'm hoping the people from the rest of Lexington can find us - it's just up the road. I'm not asking you to drive to Louisville. Asking people to drive out Harrodsburg Road doesn't sound like a lot to ask."
With solid programming and professional productions, Seale is confident that theatergoers, from around the city, will find AGL's new theatre.
"I'm totally going 'Field of Dreams' here," Seale said. "If we build it, they will come."
If January's run of "Dead Man's Cell Phone" was any indication, they'll be coming in droves: the last two performances were sold out. Seale had to turn people away at the door, something he is loathe to do. "I guess we'll start looking into longer runs," he said.
Now with a space of their own, that won't be an issue at all.