Theater group killed in a clash of egos

Theater group killed in a clash of egos

Once upon a time there was a merry troupe of actors and artisans known as the Calabasas Players. Whether you know it or not, my fellow citizens, you had for a brief period your very own community theater.

People that were involved on both sides of the curtain as well as the audiences we had, the pleasure of entertaining seemed to have loved the experience.

I truly believe that the quality of a town can be judged by its cultural offerings.

Calabasas is filled with educated, well-heeled, sophisticated, fun-loving, hip people that would enjoy an evening out without always having to go to a movie or make a long drive to another community.

We were slowly building a following with our performances of "Tom Jones," "Murder on the Nile," "Fools" and "The Curious Savage." We were rehearsing our next production when the rug got pulled out from under us.

Basically, there are people on the board of the Calabasas Players clashing with creative members of the group.

To be fair, while I was not privy to all the minutia of each meeting, the general thrust seems to be a lot of finger-pointing and power playing going on between the two camps.

What has resulted basically is that our town has been deprived of what could have been a wonderful and mutually beneficial experience. We essentially have no place to perform.

Each camp has its own story to tell as to the whys and hows, but as in the case of a bad divorce, it is the children (i.e., the performers and the audience) left out in the cold.

Our troupe may survive. Perhaps we will perform again. It just would have been nice to stay in our own town with you, our friends.

Joey Levin

Calabasas