All the World’s a Stage and El Cerrito Is a Player (part 2)
CCCT Ready to Stage Post-Covid Comeback
This is part 2 of a history of the Contra Costa Civic Theater, founded in 1959 in El Cerrito.
The Contra Costa Civic Theatre enters its 65th year in 2024 facing a number of changes, including drawing post-pandemic audiences in a time when other theaters are closing, new regulations for staff and the need to ensure financial stability.
But there are constants to make the journey easier. Descendants of CCCT founders Louis and Bettianne Flynn are deeply involved, the theater has a stable home at the corner of Pomona Street and Moeser Lane and a highly regarded program for young people continues to thrive.
The CCCT’s after-school programs continue to thrive and bring in revenue to support other programs. CCCT photo.
“We are one of the oldest and largest community theaters on this side of the East Bay,” said outgoing CCCT Artistic Director Marilyn Langbehn. “Sadly, many theaters our size and smaller didn’t survive the pandemic. And we’re not completely adjusted to the new reality.”
Marilyn Langbehn left CCCT in early 2024, with Joel Roster joining as the new executive artistic and managing director.
In 2020, CCCT was getting ready for its next show when COVID hit and everything shut down on the eve of opening night. The set for “The Waverly Gallery,” a play by Kenneth Lonergan about a grandson watching his grandmother slowly die from Alzheimer's disease, collected dust as it sat unused on the stage. When the Bay Area and the rest of the country began to open back up, the theater entered a new era.
“It’s a different game than it was in 2020,” said former CCCT board of directors member and president Kimberly Mayer.
During the shutdown, current board president Kathleen Perka secured a number of grants, bringing in tens of thousands of dollars from federal and state programs.
“Kathleen stuck with it and saved us through the pandemic,” said board member Steve Kirby. “Now we’re looking for creative ways to find more funding.”
Adding to the financial pressure is AB 5, the state law passed in 2019. Originally introduced to require ride-sharing companies treat drivers as regular employees, the bill has wider effects. Among those affected were CCCT volunteers who helped with the summer program and were given a stipend at the end of the term. Under the new law, they receive regular pay and workplace benefits.
One likely result of the financial changes will be fewer shows, for which the theater pays royalties.
Langbehn, who had been working for both CCCT and TheaterWorks Silicon Valley since February 2023, moved to the Mountain View theater full time in February. She says that theaters need to both re-engage past audiences and find new ones.
“We have to recognize it’s not the same experience,” Langbehn said. “How do we serve our audiences in this environment?”
At the same time, she is proud of the stories that CCCT has told since she began her 10-year tenure here. “We successfully transitioned from old-style kitchen-sink dramas and living-room comedies to more contemporary programming,” she said. “We featured works by more women playwrights and had more diverse and inclusive casts and crews.”
Kathleen Flynn Ray, daughter of CCCT founders Louis and Bettiane Flynn, credits Langbehn with doing a “Herculean job” to keep the theater going during a time with “no classes, no shows, no income.”
In turn, former CCCT board of directors president Kimberly Mayer credits the dedication of the Flynns and Ray to establish and keep the theater going for the community for more than 60 years.
Succeeding Langbehn is Joel Roster as the new executive artistic and managing director. Roster is no stranger to CCCT, having acted in the 2011 production of “Big River” and later in “Barefoot in the Park.” At CCCT, he also directed “Bleacher Bums” and “Steel Magnolias,” which were both critically and financially successful. He brings more than 20 years of experience as an arts educator and work with community theaters in Antioch and Lafayette to the job.
“Coming back to work in such a welcoming place is a big part of the appeal of the position,” Roster said. “When you talk to anyone who’s worked at CCCT you would be hard pressed to find a person with bad memories.”
Roster sees CCCT as moving toward more intellectual productions, more character driven.
“The world has changed dramatically and patrons of entertainment have also changed,” he said. “We have to ask ourselves three questions: Why are we telling these stories?; Why are we telling these stories right now?; and Why are we telling these stories with this group of actors and this stage team?”
“That said, I’m very excited about what the first season will bring,” Roster said.
Although a number of theaters in the Bay Area and beyond have closed due to the pandemic and financial reasons, Ray sees the theaters that have survived as partners in bringing people back to fill the seats.
“It’s not a competition–if people go to a good show at one theater, they are more likely to go to another show at another theater,” she said. “We’re alive, we’re going and we have every intention to be here forever. It’s going to be a brand new world in the next year and it’s going to be exciting.”
From the El Cerrito stage to bigger roles
Robert “Bob” Campbell was an actor in the very first show presented at CCCT. Campbell would go on to other things, including representing west Contra Costa County in the California State Assembly for 16 years.
Laura Dreyer performed as an actor at CCCT and is now a jazz musician in New York City. A saxophonist, woodwind artist and composer, she has headlined at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival, Blue Note Napa, The Montavilla Jazz Festival, The Syracuse Jazz Festival and other festivals and jazz venues.
Lisa Drummond, a former CCCT actor, has worked extensively in the Bay Area and Southern California as a teacher, actor, director and acting coach for the last 20 years. Her acting credits also include productions with San Diego Repertory Theatre, Starlight Musical Theatre, North Coast Repertory Theatre, Sierra Repertory Theatre and the Willows Theater Company. She joined the Diablo Valley College faculty in 2009.
Robert “Bob” Campbell, Laura Dreyer and Lisa Drummond.
Nancy Fineman was an actor and stage manager at CCCT and is now a civil court judge for the Superior Court of San Mateo County. She was appointed to the bench by former Governor Jerry Brown in 2017.
Matt Flynn, son of CCCT founders Louis and Bettiane Flynn, learned set design at CCCT, studied architecture and became a television production designer for more than 20 shows including “The Office” and “Just Shoot Me.” He has also designed theater sets for more than 50 productions.
Asa Kalama was both a CCCT summer drama camper and counselor. He is currently a VP executive of Creative & Interactive Experiences at Walt Disney Imagineering and oversees the development of interactive experiences for Disney’s theme parks. One of his most recent credits was working on Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at both Disneyland in California and Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida.
Nancy Fineman, Matt Flynn and Asa Kalama.
Dena Martinez has 40 years of national professional acting experience to her credits, including touring with the San Francisco Mime Troupe, Culture Clash and El Teatro Campesino. Her theater credits include leading roles at California Shakespeare Theater, Denver Center Theater Company, Marin Theater Company, Berkeley Rep, Word for Word, San Jose Rep, Magic Theater, TheaterWorks Silicon Valley and Shotgun Players. She is also a director and agent.
Dallas McMurray, a native of El Cerrito, was an actor and dancer at CCCT. He received a B.F.A. in dance from the California Institute of the Arts. He joined the Mark Morris Dance Group as an apprentice in 2006 and became a company member in 2007.
Nina Meehan was a director of CCCT’s summer drama camp who went on to found the Bay Area Children’s Theater and now directs children’s theater at the Pasadena Playhouse.
Dena Martinez, Dallas McMurray and Nina Meehan.
Amy Parmeter was an actor at CCCT who became a background actor in Hollywood best known for her roles in “Haunted Planet” (2007) and “Clean” (2020).
Joe Paulino was an actor at CCCT and has been a voice-over actor for more than 25 years, appearing in a wide range of video games and advertising campaigns.
Robert Turturice, a former CCCT stage manager, became costume designer for television and movies and was best known for his work on Batman & Robin (1997), Moonlighting (1985) and CBS Afternoon Playhouse (1978). He was president of the Costume Designers Guild from 1992-96 and received the Costume Designers Hall of Fame Award posthumously in 2010.
Joe Paulino and Robert Turturice.
Elaine Walenta, a former CCCT actor and teacher, has taught classes in drama, advanced drama and theater tech at Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco since 2001.
From the ECHS Drama Program
Jim Letchworth went on to a career in nursing, but also acted on occasion. Most recently he portrayed Ebeneezer Scrooge at the Great Dickens Christmas Fair held annually at the Cow Palace.
Eric Lichtman earned his master’s at UC Berkeley and is director at ETL Consulting, and education and communication consultancy in Paris, France.
Nancy Shelby works at Word For Word Theatre Company in San Francisco as a theater actor and director, public appearance coach and consultant for writers reading their work in public.
Jim Letchworth, Eric Lichtman and Nancy Shelby.
By Jon Bashor. This article appeared in the April 2024 issue of the Forge.
