Curio Theater Group moves to Calvary
Here's an article about the Curio Theater Group which debuts its first show in its new home at the Calvary Center. May 6-21 is Calvary's "Spring Arts Festival" including shows by Curio and Spiral Q, art shows by neighborhood artists and tours of the Calvary building on May 14th.
www.calvary-center.org
215-724-1702
Quote:
The very concept of the Center at Calvary United Methodist Church has taken hold and has experienced a kind of unprecedented growth that would have seemed unimaginable just a decade ago, when the very future of Calvary was seriously in doubt and the building was deteriorating at an alarming rate. Nowadays, you just never know what's going to happen next in this hub of activity!
Curio Theatre Company finds new home at Calvary Church, leads off with Frog Prince.
Perhaps one of the most amazing turn of events came about this past fall, when Calvary was approached by members of the Curio Theatre, a young traveling troupe from the burbs, who had been looking at several neighborhoods in the city to plant its roots, and fell in love with ours! They wanted to open a theater here, and someone directed them to Calvary! For Calvary, it was like the last piece of the puzzle falling into place, a compelling and real reason for restoring the sanctuary as a working theater space!
Curio Theatre is a very promising company with actors classically trained in internationally acclaimed institutions. Some of the troupe will be moving into the neighborhood this fall. And their first two seasons in Philadelphia will be split between the Walnut Street TheaterÐ and CALVARY! They are deep into classic theater, particularly Shakespeare, but they are into lots of other stuff, especially children's theater and acting classes. They will be offering acting classes beginning this summer at Calvary! And they are dead serious about serving our whole community. Their first partnership in West Philadelphia, going on right now, has been working with the Lea School this spring. All of their grant proposals contain requests for scholarship money so that any kid can come to acting class! And they want to do more!
Calvary Center is planning a big celebrationÐ the upcoming Calvary Arts Festival, three weekends in May, 6-7, 13-14, and 10-21, welcoming the new theater (theatre, that is), which will be presenting the childrens' play, "The Frog Prince", adapted from the famous Grimm's fairy tale, and they will run a three-Saturday acting workshop for teens. The Arts Festival will put legitimate theater on Baltimore avenue AND much, much more, just a taste of good things to come!
The final two Crossroads Concerts for the Season are planned for the Arts Festival. There will also be presentations of medieval dance and fencing, presented by the Society for Creative Anachronism. There will be two live poetry events. There will be visits from Spiral-Q Puppets, looking for a home! There will be a display of art from the Lea School, and an arts and crafts display and sale. On Saturday, May 14, the University City Historical Society's Trolley Tour and House Tour will both start at Calvary. All in all, spring will get one of its warmest welcomes in the neighborhood in many a year, together with Spruce Hill's May Fair, the gala Arts League Dinner Auction, the Party for the Park, and so much more. Maybe this is why we all live here! For a complete schedule of the Calvary Arts Festival, check out the NEW Calvary Center web site at www.calvary-center.org!
In a way, the Calvary Arts Festival, sponsored by the Calvary Center for Culture and Community, is a real celebration, and there is much to celebrate. The Trustees of Calvary United Methodist Church and the CCCC have been working hand in glove nonstop for many years now to turn around a dire situation at the once magnificent church at 48th and Baltimore. Some years ago an agreement was reached in which the Calvary UMC Trustees would work with the community to redevelop the large building for three purposes. Focus groups and other means were used to determine community needs and interest. Everyone wanted the Methodist church congregation to stay and to use the place as it was so obviously intended, as a sacred place. Second, there was a real need for a working community center in the neighborhood which could serve the larger community. And finally, there was a desire to see the building redeveloped as a venue for culture and the arts.
The Calvary Center for Culture and Community was incorporated in 2001 as a 501 (c) (3) organization, to oversee the transformation of the building and to find means of restoring the Calvary building to safe and usable condition, while preserving and restoring its exceptional beauty and historic character.
As a community center, Calvary often holds town meetings, special events, and other activities which center on community use. Cedar Park Neighbors, the community organization which serves the immediate neighborhood, established its permanent offices at Calvary, as did the University City Historical Society. The leadership of both organizations clearly understood the strategic and artistic importance of the building and the need to preserve Calvary as a permanent asset. Calvary United Methodist Church itself adopted three active twelve step programs, and established a food referral service, contributing to efforts to serve all of our community. The International Action Center, a political action group, had been in Calvary for many years, and it is still there! And Prometheus Radio Project is a special group who takes an vital stand for freedom of speech and of the press, and against total consolidation of the media. They train groups interested in forming independent radio stations.
As a sacred place, Calvary has flourished. The original United Methodist congregation is still proud owner of its building and hosts all the other activities going on there. For many years now, West Philadelphia Mennonite Fellowship has been the largest and most active congregation on the site, and many of its members have now bought homes in the neighborhood. Two Pentecostal congregations also worship at Calvary: Thompson Temple of Faith, and Grace Chapel. In the past few months though, one of the most amazing things has been happening at Calvary! Kol Tzedek: The West Philadelphia Synagogue has been formed there, and there is much excitement about this, as it marks the first time a synagogue congregation has been active in West Philadelphia in many a decade. Kol Tzedek (Hebrew for "voice of justice") is a Reconstructionist congregation and makes a unique contribution to our community by its presence.
What of the building itself? Calvary now has a workable roof and a new boiler. The chapel ceiling deep relief plaster has been repaired and that room is in quite presentable condition. In fact, all of the building is usable except for the largest space, the main sanctuary auditorium!
Calvary Center's most notable accomplishment financially speaking is that it has raised a third of a million dollars for the building's most pressing structural repair project. The external construction work that we have seen in place all winter is visible evidence that a milestone for the turnaround for the Calvary Church building has been reached after almost seven years of hard work! This project involved dismantling the giant stone gable walls leaning over the street and hanging precariously above the largest signed Tiffany window ensembles in Philadelphia, and then rebuilding the gables back up straight and reinforced, stone by stone replaced in its exact original spot, so that the building will stand for another hundred years. The reconstruction on Baltimore Avenue is complete, and the same problem on the 48th Street side is now being addressed. It is expected to finish this mammoth project in May or June. Next it is time to turn attention to restoration of the amazing sanctuary space.
And as a venue for culture and the arts, the Crossroads Music Series has now been established for over three years, presenting a wide variety of musical offerings, everything from African drums to Korean drums to Brazilian drums, from traditional folk to gospel, to jazz, and world music. It is a good venue to hear music you know you love, and an even better place to learn to love a new kind of music! With Curio Theatre added to the mix, there will be culture and the arts almost non-stop, in a building that is itself a work of art.
As you can see, there is much to celebrate. But the reality is, we do not have to look too far back to remember the nightmare of the building's deterioration spiraling into uninhabitable condition, becoming dangerous, possibly being abandoned, watching helplessly. And there is a long way to go.
The financial situation at Calvary is always tenuous at best, and although CCCC has raised over a half a million dollars total, there is about a million and a half to go! All that happens at Calvary already adds so much richness to our entire community, but at the end of the day, its success ultimately depends on the amount of base support that must come from the community. If you care about this community, you should care about what happens at 48th and Baltimore! To find out how you can help, and much more about Calvary Church, Calvary Center and all that goes on there, log into the new CCCC web site at http://www.calvary-center.org.
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http://www.philly1.com/story3042705.html
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04-25-2005, 01:27 PM
Calvary United Methodist Church
Their webpage
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