Renegade gets new theater, thanks to Zeppa Foundation

The theater’s downtown building formerly served as offices for St. Louis County. Zeppa bought it from the county for $1.4 million and renovated it into an intimate 120-seat black box theater adorned with all the features actors covet: an ample backstage, a green room with a private bathroom, a costume and prop storage room, and state-of-the-art lighting and sound booth. A ticket counter, concession stand with full kitchen, public bathrooms off the lobby, and large meeting room complete the space.

“I’ve been involved with local theater for several years and have been involved with many Renegade productions,” said Zeppa in an e-mail. “One of the missions of the foundation is to support local and regional performing arts, so the connection was an easy one to make.”

Renegade artistic director/executive producer Brian Matuszak said Zeppa approached him with the idea, leaving him stunned. Matuszak had no inkling of Zeppa’s philanthropist status. “I mean, he was on our volunteer cleaning crew at 404 W. Superior St.,” said Matuszak in a reference to a previous Renegade theater space.

The Zeppa Foundation is providing Renegade free space for two years, after which the theater will presumably have a more solid financial footing and begin paying rent. Matuszak sees that two-year window as an opportunity to apply more energy and new ideas to the business aspect of the nonprofit theater. Renegade started up in 1996 and has survived on ticket revenues, an occasional grant and the hard work of committed volunteers.

“If you want to sustain something like this, you need to get someone who thinks that way, or you need to train that side of your brain,” said Matuszak, admitting his business role has been a learning process. He has lined up a professional grant writer and intends to offer program sponsorships to businesses or individuals paying for an ad or listing in a playbill. He has dotted the theater’s lobby with big yellow price tags that specify various theater expenses, (for example, “Tech booth equipment: $5,000,” and “Rights to scripts: $4,000”) with space for patrons to sign their pledge and the amount they’ll contribute to that cost. Ultimately, Matuszak hopes to pay actors and crew and hire fulltime staff.

He’s exploring renting out the facility during downtimes, and a potential relationship with the new Sheraton Hotel opening in May a block away at 311 E. Superior St. The theater’s technology could serve well for conferences and presentations, he said.

Zeppa agrees it will be a multi-functional space with key decisions ahead. “We plan on using the theater for other purposes, but are doing an internal assessment of what our goals and projects will be overall,” he said.

Renegade: a Duluth institution

Though he’s been executive producer only since 2000, Matuszak has been with Renegade since its inception. Matuszak, a theater department lecturer at UW-Superior, where he earned his BFA and MA degrees) originally was part of Colder by the Lake, the comedy group that performs in the Spirit of the Lake Theater in the Fitger’s Complex.

In 1991 Colder opted not to stage its annual holiday revue, a sketch comedy show spoofing the major local stories of the past year. Matuszak and other performers decided to put on their own, agreeing not to use the Colder name. Hence, the birth of Renegade Comedy Theater.

While several actors have maintained links with Colder, Renegade gives them a venue for “edgier” comedy and to focus on works by other playwrights.

They were so edgy, in fact, that in 1994 then-management at Fitger’s objected when they wanted to stage Arthur Kopit’s “Road to Nirvana,” known for its shocking and bizarre humor.

This motivated Renegade to find alternative performing space and the group spent the next couple years performing in various venues, including the Dreamland Ballroom above the former Shish-ka-Bar and the historic NorShor Theater, both in downtown Duluth. The Holiday Center at 207 W. Superior St. became a more permanent home for Renegade in 1997.

“That was when we took off,” Matuszak said.

The group’s offerings expanded to include its popular Comedy Olympics, currently on hiatus. The improvisational/ audience participation show was similar to the hit television series “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” The 1997 holiday revue generated Renegade’s highest gross revenues, until that record was surpassed by it’s December 2006 show in the new theater.

After a few years in the Holiday Center, Renegade shifted to a small black box theater at 404 W. Superior St. (now used by the Duluth Playhouse); then spent a couple years performing at random venues. In December, Renegade settled into its custom-built space at 222 E. Superior St.

Duluth theater: varied and vital

With so many performance companies drawing audiences, Duluth theater is alive and well, according to Matuszak. He quickly rattles off a list of organizations: the Duluth Playhouse, Colder by the Lake, the Play Ground (owned by Playhouse, it allows anyone to propose, then stage a performance), the newly founded Working Class Theater, and the UMD and UW-Superior drama departments.

Matuszak estimates that during a performance’s full run, a Renegade play typically draws 300-400 people; a children’s play (by Renegade’s Tugboat Children’s Theater), 400-500; and an annual holiday revue, 700-800.

There are surprises, though, such as the huge turnout for Tugboat’s performance of “Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business” at the Play Ground in September 2006. Parents and children were showing up at show time without reserved tickets. “We had to turn away kids,” said Matuszak, recalling the crushed looks on the faces of disappointed children. “It was terrible.”

Renegade couldn’t extend the show’s run into another weekend because the Play Ground was booked for another event. That’s just one problem the new theater alleviates, said Matuszak, adding Renegade will reprise “Junie B. Jones” for three weekends this April.

Julia Durst is a Duluth freelance writer.

Useful Link:

Renegade Comedy Theatre

Community theater thrives in region

When it comes to local theater, larger cities like Duluth have advantages: facilities, audience potential and financial resources.

Undeterred, smaller communities in Northwest Wisconsin and Northeastern Minnesota have found ways to make their community theaters thrive.

Dinner theaters, such as those staged at the Pinewood Country Club in Harshaw, WI, are a popular draw. The Pinewood Dinner Theater puts on five plays annually, starting in June. The Shack in Superior, Bennett’s On The Lake in Duluth, and Barnum’s community theater also have capitalized on the trend of dinner and show.

Limiting the performances to the summer season is another strategy of smaller theater groups. Northern Lights Playhouse in Minocqua, WI schedules musicals, comedies and children’s plays between May and October. Tourists can take in a play and children on summer vacation can participate in the productions.

Some other community theater groups that dot the region include:

Grand Marais Playhouse

Grand Rapids Players

Northern Lights Players (Biwabik)

Bemidji Community Theater

Amery (WI) Community Theater

Gogebic Range Players (Ironwood, MI)

Theater in the Woods (Shell Lake)