An article in the Post and Courier today noted that PURE Theatre has decided to move to Noisette. This isn’t accurate. There’s talk of moving, but no action yet.
PURE’s co-founder, Rodney Lee Rogers, was profiled in the newspaper’s feature section in recognition of his new one-man play, The Tragedian, about the life of Edwin Booth, the celebrated 19th-century American actor who specialized in portrayals of Hamlet.
The article noted that:
Future productions will be presented in a new venue as Pure Theatre plans to move into a space at the former Charleston Naval Base in North Charleston in an arrangement with the Noisette Co., which owns the area.
“We are so pleased the Noisette Co. is offering us a 150-seat space at a reasonable rent,” says Rogers, who searched downtown but could find nothing remotely affordable.
Yes and no.
The acting troupe has been approached by the Noisette Co. and there is serious discussion underway that may lead to a decision about taking up resident at the Old Naval Yard.
But thus far nothing has been decided.
According to Sharon Graci, wife of Rogers and PURE co-founder, the ensemble has recently received a grant from the city, making relocation to Noisette a sticky issue.
PURE wants to stay in the city limits, she said. If forced to, however, they will do what is necessary to continue performing shows like The Tragedian, currently being produced at the Circular Congregational Church on Meeting Street.
The fact that PURE hasn’t decided to move to Noisette (not yet anyway) and wants to stay within Charleston’s city limits is good news for those who believe that PURE is the canary in the coal mine: What happens to PURE is what happens to the arts in Charleston.
Dan Conover, a feature writer for the Post and Courier, wrote to me this morning, in response to post yesterday about the lease issue of the Redux Contemporary Art Center:
I’ve got a bad feeling about this. Downtown rents are based on value to high-end retailers, etc., not on arts venues, mom-and-pops, diners and other enterprises that make the city livable.
PURE is going to Noisette, and I expect we’ll see a lot of arts related endeavors settling around the old navy base or the special district North Charleston set up along Montague between the high school and the tank farm.
If Charleston wants to keep its actual artists, it’s going to have to work to keep them. Otherwise they’ll move north, leaving the Old City will have nothing but the appearance of an arts scene. Talk about fooling the eye…
2 Comments
Looks like the city better get moving and turn the Old Trolley Barn on Meeting Street into an affordable arts center. Just think how that would transform the downtown landscape for artists. We could house Redux, Pure, and any struggling new arts group in a cool, spacious low-rent setting. How many more groups do we have to lose to Noisette before the City jumpstarts this project?
I find it curious that the City Paper staff is so concerned about the possible relocation of PURE Theatre from the peninsula to (GASP) North Charleston. It would be wonderful if the City Paper had a slightly less provincial attitude toward what exactly makes up the “arts scene” here in the low country. I am originally from Los Angeles. This nonsense about an “arts scene” existing in a five mile radius is laughable. Angelenos don’t think twice about driving 45 minutes to their favorite Mexican food joint, art gallery or theater venue. After more than a dozen years here I am still surprised by the small minds that would define a community by such tiny perimeters as “peninsula Charleston.”
In the summer of 2001 I took a trip downtown, all the way from Mount Pleasant, to meet with a senior member of the City Paper staff and tell her about a new theater arts venue opening east of the Cooper; the Village Playhouse. She told me that “nothing would induce her to ever drive all the way to Mount Pleasant to see a theater production.” True to her word, seven seasons, and 65 mainstage productions later, she has never been to the Playhouse. While that one woman’s fear of driving 10 minutes, kept her from our doors, I can assure you thousands of folks from all across the greater Charleston area have managed to find us “way out of town” in Mount P. We consider ourselves to be a vital part of the Charleston “arts scene” even with the 29464 zip code!
The Noisette people will be lucky to get PURE Theater, and if they choose to make a home there, I am confident, many, many people will follow, and ,more importanly, many new faces will be exposed to their terrific productions. Their move will only EXPAND our growing theater community. Having such an energized, professional theater company in the heart of that redeveloping area should be exactly what we want for our larger community. Why would you advocate to keep all the arts in one place? It is time the City Paper reflected our entire community with vibrant and exciting art happening all over the low country, not just downtown. You guys really need to think BIGGER not smaller.