the stagehand
Meet the man behind the curtain at The Campus Theatre
ll morning long, Mike Strecher has been shuttling between The Campus Theatre stage and his scene shop backstage, ferrying the lumber he will need for an upcoming play. His electric buzz saw comes to life as he cuts the wooden planks with precision for a scene he hopes will transport theatergoers beyond their everyday lives into the world of the next play. His thin figure bends to build a wall using the planks and thick glass blocks. Mike works alone, a “tool time” guy enjoying his behind-the-scenes role.
Local venues like The Campus Theatre continue to thrive thanks to people like Mike Strecher. As facilities director, he not only builds the sets and sees to building repairs, he also acts, creates posters, hunts down props—and cleans the bathroom after weekend shows. “It’s the best job I’ve ever had and I love it,” he says, showing it. As a carpenter and art major in his past life, he combines real-world experience with a penchant for the fantastical. His job, he says with typical self-deprecation and a laugh, is simple: “Making sure everything doesn’t fall down.”
The Campus Theatre was itself once a derelict movie house off Denton’s main Square. After opening in 1949, it had a three-decade run, featuring film classics such as “West Side Story” and “Gone with the Wind.” When the movie “Bonnie and Clyde” opened in 1967, Warren Beatty showed up for the regional premiere in Denton to see how audiences rated his performance as bad-boy shooter Clyde Barrow. (John Wayne was another visitor.)
Movies moved to the malls in the mid-’80s, leaving the Campus screens silent for a decade, but the Greater Denton Arts Council stepped in to buy and revive it for live production performances, spending $1.95 million for restoration before reopening in 1995. Today, the “company in residence,” the Denton Community Theatre, stages both musicals and plays in the 300-seat theater 30 weekends a year. In 2010, DCT will mark its 40th consecutive year of putting on shows.
The Campus is not only a symbol of Denton’s respect for the past, but a potent force in its nightlife. The pink and green neon lights of the old movie house welcome guests year round with plays such as “Plaza Suite” as well as musical offerings such as “Forever Plaid,” “Cinderella,” and “The Producers.”
Though the actors are local, there is nothing small town about the talent. Denton Community Theatre won top honors in 2007 from the American Association of Community Theatre for its show “Crowns,” which featured an all African-American cast. The theater group also runs a performing arts school for kids and its outreach programs cater to schools, day cares and adult groups. There’s even a group for people who just like to read plays aloud.
With only three full-time employees, hundreds of volunteers get involved in the theatrical productions, taking roles as actors, directors, set designers, costume designers and stagehands. Mike Strecher began his work at The Campus Theatre as a volunteer. His doorway to the theater was the stage. “They needed guys for this play,” he says modestly, admitting that he was “just scared to death.” His performances are not limited to minor characters. In his first speaking role, he played an old man in the show “Bus Stop.” Later he progressed to more prominent roles such as George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” Sancho Panza in “Man of La Mancha,” and the lead role in “The Mousetrap.”
For Mike, the acting is fine, but building sets is his dream come true. “I kind of like being out of the limelight, in the back room, scurrying around,” he says, chuckling. For the first six years, he pitched in as a volunteer to help build two to three sets a year. Though he had a degree in drawing and painting and had worked for 10 years as a carpenter, theater work was new to him. Now as part of the paid staff as facilities director, the “Tim Allen” of The Campus Theatre shows up when a new play needs a backdrop and sets to work after a stiff cup of coffee and a Sudoku puzzle.
Set designing is all about creating an atmosphere to captivate the audience, says Mike. He studies the script for each scene, then draws a blueprint design or makes small models. Because the theater has no fly system to drop scenery onto the stage, he uses turntables—literally, sets on wheels—to spin different scenes in and out. “It’s like this magical thing happening. You know you’ve got this little town village and all of a sudden it’s a castle or something,” he says.
Although much of what he experiences at work every day seems mundane, it is not without challenges and rewards. In 2008, Mike was nominated for a Column Award (given to recognize excellence in the Dallas/Fort Worth theater world) for best scenic design for “Beauty and the Beast.” The production featured three different sets spinning in and out, requiring a crew of 10 to move them at times. Mishaps do occur. In a final showing of “Dial ‘M’ for Murder,” a series of accidents—involving food spilling all over the actors and their costumes—turned the drama into a comedy, with the audience laughing at everything. During a live production of “Damn Yankees,” baseball bats started falling out of the rack one by one. “It was almost like it was choreographed,” he says.
When he’s not acting or building, Mike’s making sure all the auditorium lights are working, that the air conditioning and heating are functioning, or that the theater is sealed tight for the night. Sometimes, it can get scary in a big old quiet theater. In the middle of the night after “Beauty and the Beast,” Mike was shutting down when he heard noises and something big crash upstairs. As he walked across the catwalk, he says, “I just got the creeps so bad, the hair all stood up on my arm and on the back of my neck.” Maybe, he says, ghosts of years past haunt the building.
Stop by The Campus Theatre to watch the professionals and Denton locals bring stories to life through great music, great acting and great stage designs. Who knows, you may catch Mike Strecher, the man who works behind the scenes.
by whitnee lowe