Carolyn Griffin with Zoe (who joins her at the theatre every day).

Bill Grimmette and Nat Benchley in American Showcase Theatre's production of Blood Knot.

Michael Bugbee

Natascia Diaz, Sam Ludwig, Bobby Smith, Bayla Whitten in MetroStage's production of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris.

Christopher Banks

Natascia Diaz and Doug Kreeger in MetroStage's production of Rooms.

C. Stanley Photography

Gia Mora and Jahi Kearse in MetroStage's production of Cool Papa’s Party.

C. Stanley Photography

Jennifer Mendenhall in MetroStage's production of Electra.

Christopher Banks

Susan Lynskey in MetroStage's production of Girl in a Goldfish Bowl.

C. Stanley Photography

John Dow, Ralph Cosham, and Michael Tolaydo in MetroStage's production of Heroes.

C. Stanley Photography

Bernardine Mitchell in MetroStage's production of Mahalia.

Chris Mueller

Veronica Del Cerro and Michael Kevin Darnall in MetroStage's production of Savage in Limbo.

C. Stanley Photography

theatreWashington will present Helen’s Star at the Star Gala & Benefit Auction on Friday, October 26, 2012. Just like the Helen Hayes Award, Helen’s Star, is named for the First Lady of the American Theatre and native Washingtonian who epitomized excellence and accomplishment. In that spirit, the evening also serves as an occasion to honor and thank extraordinary individuals who, with their generosity and efforts, have changed the landscape of Washington theatre.

This year’s recipients are three daring dreamers who adroitly harnessed the transformative power of theatre. With an arsenal of fortitude, leadership, and vision, they literally reshaped and redefined the District, Maryland, and Virginia. The 2012 Helen’s Star will be presented to Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith, Imagination Stage Founder/Executive Director Bonnie Fogel and MetroStage Producing Artistic Director Carolyn Griffin.

Our coverage of this year’s recipients of Helen’s Star continues with the following edited version of a recent interview with Carolyn Griffin.

tW: Congratulations for being honored with Helen’s Star! Helen’s Star is presented to daring visionaries who have shaped and redefined the landscape of Washington theatre. In your words, how do you think you have changed the landscape since 1984 when MetroStage (under its former name, American Showcase Theatre Company, Inc.) was founded?

CG: We started out in the mid 80’s when there were only a handful of professional theatres. We were one of the first to use the Actors’ Equity Association Small Professional Theatre (SPT) contract. Small professional theatres were hardly a household name at that time.

The value of the small professional theatre has continued to grow and be recognized as a unique, powerful experience, and MetroStage since 1984 has been in the forefront with some of the other remarkable first generation theatres, as I like to call them. We all helped to introduce audiences to the powerful experiences that can happen in a small venue (our first production in 1987 was Athol Fugard’s Blood Knot, a two character play, with both Bill Grimmette and Nat Benchley receiving Helen Hayes nominations.)

When you are that close to the stage (at that time our theatre had 65 seats!) and the actors, there are no secrets. MetroStage in its three stages over the last several decades has never wavered on its mission and its core values. We have helped audiences understand the value and rewards to be gained from attending, supporting, and believing in the small more intimate venues.

We are the oldest professional theatre in Northern Virginia, which is a little crazy when you think about it. I believe in the professional actor; I believe in the small work that can be done in a small space that really engages an audience in a way that simply is not going to happen in a 2,000 seat opera house.

tW: How did you become involved with MetroStage?

CG: I did not found this theatre; it was founded in 1984 by an acting teacher in Alexandria who wanted to open a professional theatre. I had just graduated from Georgetown with my MBA and was wondering why I had wanted to go into business. I already had been a psychologist. Business already was my second career. I had three kids at the time. I met with the founder. I started helping and overnight I was managing director. It evolved from managing director to producing director to producing artistic director over 25 years.

I had never imagined there was a career in theatre. I had been going to theatre with my family from childhood on and had always loved theatre. I remember the intense feeling at the end of theatre productions as a child — the overwhelming need to applaud. It left a huge resonance of emotional feeling.

tW: What is your vision going forward for MetroStage?

CG: What we actually can offer to a theatregoer is something that has never wavered from 1984 on and hopefully we will be doing it for the next couple of decades as well.

I’ve never wavered in terms of being in Alexandria. It’s very important to me. I live in Alexandria. I believe every city should have a professional theatre — and in our case, a professional theatre honoring the professional actor. I believe the professional actor is not honored enough. Honoring the professional actor in work that has enormous importance and emotional resonance for my audience has been a dual purpose all along. I really do have tremendous respect for those people who are out there on that stage baring their soul every night. It’s more than I could do.

The biggest privilege I have as a producing artistic director is choosing a season of plays that I feel will serve an audience and offer amazing roles to actors. I could wax poetic about dozens upon dozens of shows. It used to be (I’m better now) I would weep at the closing night performance because I so believed in it. It wasn’t just that I was going to miss it. I believed in what was happening on that stage. I believed in what was happening to that audience as they were a part of that production. And that’s what has always been hard about regional theatre. You don’t open something and have it run a year until it goes on tour. You open something for 6 or 8 weeks and then you close and you are on to the next thing.

I can still tell you moments in my childhood where I can still see, I can still feel, and I can still taste that emotional resonance that came from a performance, came from an experience. A moment on stage can be worth the price of admission.

tW: The description of Helen’s Star mentions “dedication and unwavering spirit.” Tell me about a time where those characteristics were needed.

CG: Mine is displayed every single day. Look around this office. Do you see anybody else here helping me? Yes, I have a theatre full of electricians and carpenters at the moment but I am at a desk covering the finances, the production, the marketing 24/7 all year, every year. The only way you can do that is if you absolutely believe in the final product. If I didn’t have shows that I thought resulted in something very important, I couldn’t be here at a desk alone.

tW: Why is receiving Helen’s Star meaningful to you?

CG: It’s such a tremendous honor to be recognized because there are so many amazing, dedicated artistic directors and people at every level who are contributing to theatre in this area. I couldn’t be more proud of being a part of the Washington area theatre community.

Click here for additional information regarding theatreWashington's Star Gala & Benefit Auction.

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