After 30 years of spotlighting original local works, a Fort Worth theater group will bow to audiences this weekend for the last time. SceneShop will take center stage at Arts Fifth Avenue on Aug. 7 and 8 for the collective’s final show. “Don’t Dream It’s Over” will feature six performances, highlighting themes around endings, beginnings and transitions.
A Legacy of Local Theater
Co-founder and artistic director Steve McGaw described the group’s end as an emotional moment but said it was better to call it quits now on its own terms. SceneShop was founded in 1996 by McGaw, Les Hofheinz and Elizabeth Sexton Morrison. The trio wanted to focus on original short plays and monologues backed with live music, coined “bistro theater” at the time by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The group performed its first collection of plays that August at the former Seventh Street Cafe in the Cultural District. Star-Telegram theater critic Perry Stewart described the troupe’s first show then as “short plays with legs.” SceneShop continued to perform over the next few years at the cafe. The troupe found a permanent home at Arts Fifth Avenue in the early 2000s.
The troupe welcomed an array of emerging and established performers over the years but has flourished with a committed group of 10 to 15 members, McGaw said. “We never made an enormous amount of money. We never played to huge crowds, but for the people who participated, it’s been a very grand experience,” McGaw said.
A Lasting Impact
Arts Fifth Avenue founder Gracey Tune said it has been a great gift to have the group’s performances at the Fairmount arts center for more than 15 years. “What Steven Alan McGaw has done for theater and the arts in Fort Worth is totally remarkable,” she said. “So many were given the opportunity under his direction to reach another level of live theater.”
SceneShop will be remembered for consistently recognizing local playwrights, longtime member Natalie Gaupp said. Her involvement with the collective since its inception ranged from writer to associate director to performer. Gaupp’s dark comedic monologue “Hotter” will be performed by a local actor during the final show.
Original reporting: Fort Worth Report — read the source article.
