Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

The journalistic outfit in Salem – Salem Reporter — did all of us another favor this week with a report on a theater production at Capitol Manor, the facility in Salem that houses, pardon this phrase, “old folks.”

My wife I have signed up to go there when the time is right, but even now, as “future residents,” we have a lot of friends at Capital Manor.

Now, though, the subject of this post draws on work by Salem Reporter, which provides interesting stories on-line about the Salem area community.  Good for the reporters who work there and the editor, Les Zaitz, a long-time friend, and, in his past, a recognized investigative reporter for the Oregonian newspaper.

This time, reporter Abbey McDonald spent a lot of time at Capitol Manor and came up with a long story, with photos, of the theater production of Fiddler on the Roof.

First, here is how McDonald started her story:

“Rows of wooden dining chairs lined the small stage inside Capital Manor, loaned from various homes and apartments in the West Salem retirement community.  Behind them, a hand-painted backdrop featured a village, a setting sun and the silhouette of a fiddler on the roof.

“That’s who Carolyn Van Otten is playing in the community’s first-ever theater production.  Her prop fiddle, broken and missing a few strings, came from a downtown Salem music store’s junk pile.  Her costume, like others in the play, was tailored by residents and staff.

“She opened ‘Fiddler on the Roof,’ leading the cast of 36 in through the back doors to take their place on stage for the first song, ‘Tradition.’”

For attribution, I note that much of what follows is due to the good work of McDonald and Salem Reporter, not me alone.

The cast, all over age 70, has been in rehearsals for over two months to ready four performances over a two-week period in March. 

The 1964 musical takes place in the early 1900s in a Jewish community in Russia. The main character, Tevye, is a father of five daughters who want to marry for love amid a time of political persecution.

Capital Manor is performing a specially-made version of the play for seniors, which condenses the 2.5-hour run-time into an hour by shortening songs and cutting scenes.  Actors can carry their scripts with them on stage.

“We can sing, we can remember lines and we can move around on the stage.  But not all three together,” said Jane Murch-Billings, who plays Bielke, the youngest daughter.

The production has been dubbed “recreational theater” by Music Theatre International, the company that revised the scripts.

It’s a term that Dave Votaw, who plays the lead Tevye, appreciates. The performances aren’t open to the public, and the audience will be filled by residents and their families.

Votaw, who directs the choir at Capital Manor, said it’s the largest project happening in the community.  The 40-acre property is home to about 460 people who live in a mix of homes, apartments and assisted living.

Votaw said the musical endeavor began last year, when Robert Salberg, who directs Salem’s Children’s Educational Theatre, reached out with the news that productions of Broadway shows for seniors were available.

Salberg knew the director for the job:  Deborah Johansen, who has been a theater director for 45 years.  She’s worked as a middle and high school drama teacher, at Salem’s Pentacle Theatre, and at local churches.

Due to the community’s enthusiasm, the production added costumes, more choreography and more complexity to what began as a largely stationary script-reading, she said.

“This has challenged me more than anything I’ve ever done in 45 years,” Johansen said.  “As it got more and more involved, I’m like, ‘Oh, what have I created?’”

But there’s been visible progress.  Johansen said every performance has gotten better, and everyone has gotten more confident. 

“The biggest highlight is just how enthusiastic and excited this group is,” Johansen said. “They have been a delight to work with.  Positive, so supportive of me, wanting to do their best, just really trying hard.  And I think it shows.”

Because I am not in Salem until early April, I won’t be able to see the show, though, as a future resident, I might be able to wedge my in.  There, I could see one of my wife’s and my best friends, Rosemary Wood, who has role as one of the sisters in play.

A great singer in her day, Rosemary says she is enjoying the show and credits all her friends at Capital Manor for carrying an exciting load…a first for the Manor, a piece of well-known theater, Fiddler on the Roof.