Off the Rails Theatre, one of several well-regarded community theaters in the Roanoke Valley, is going dark for the rest of 2020. Kathy Guy and Miriam Frazier have run Off the Rails for the last several years and their productions have been considered front-edge work, featuring some of the best theater people in the Roanoke Valley, but generally with small audiences.
Says Guy, “It is really a hard slog to produce shows that play to 10 to 20 people. The actors and crew put in large amounts of time, energy, effort and talent. Then only a couple of folks show up at each performance. Without audience feedback and reaction, it is difficult.
“Personally, I am fairly certain I have rattled my brain by beating my head against the wall. Without audiences it is just plain hard to keep going. It feels like the worst sort of vanity in a way. I am hoping somehow during the next bit of time we can regroup and re-energize. I am hoping I can conjure up new “blood” and/ or energy or motivation. I don’t know what the next play will be… yet.”
Off the rails made an initial announcement that it was suspending production in September 2019: “OtRT has been through a lot the past few seasons. We’ve lost people close to us, as well as board members, recently. We are taking this time to reflect, regroup, and reinvent.” It had planned to perform “The Thanksgiving Play” by Larissa FastHorse, but that was cancelled.
It did “Clue” at Three Notch’d Brewery Sept. 22 in a “pay what you can” production. Its most recent full production was “Agnes of God” in June at the June McBroom Theatre at Community High School, which had been its home for several years.
About the Writer:
Dan Smith is an award-winning Roanoke-based writer/author/photographer and a member of the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame (Class of 2010). His blog, fromtheeditr.com, is widely read and he has authored seven books, including the novel CLOG! He is founding editor of a Roanoke-based business magazine and a former Virginia Small Business Journalist of the Year (2005).
