1 week Ago By Kenny Choi
A long-running and unusual theater tradition in the North Bay is in jeopardy of coming to an end due to budget challenges. Like many performing arts groups across the country, organizers at Mountain Play are struggling to increase attendance numbers. Whenever Mountain Play Executive Director Eileen Grady visits the Cushing Memorial Theatre atop Mount Tamalpais, it's a walk down memory lane.
The venue has entertained generations, hosting musicals and plays for over a century. "It goes back to our core experience as humans gathering in caves for storytelling," said Grady. Rows of stones, enough to seat 4,000 people, were installed in the 1930s.
The outdoor theater has spectacular views of San Francisco Bay on clearer days. "The architect was Emerson Knight, modeling the theater to Greek and Roman amphitheaters of old," said Grady. Hikers and theatre lovers first trekked up the mountain to watch the first play, "Abraham and Issac," back in 1913.
It's been an annual tradition ever since. "There's something very communal about this space. And you know, you can kind of feel the mountain talking to you sometimes," said Grady.
But Grady says COVID disruptions, years of changing patterns of entertainment, including the rise of streaming, and rising costs to fund full productions, have forced Mountain Play to go on hiatus. "Every arts organization is having concerns. Is this the end?" asked Grady.
What's on the line is a tradition of more than a century of theatrical performances in an iconic outdoor setting. Actress Susan Zelinsky has performed in eleven Mountain Play productions. "You're on stage and there's no fourth wall.
There's no curtain, right? There's no camera. It's a sea of people that you're connecting with right in the moment," said Zelinsky. But it's not just entertainment in the spring that organizers are fearful of losing.
It's that communal aspect of connecting at a deeper level supporters of Mountain Play are hoping to save. "I'll talk to people sometimes and they say, 'My family used to bring me all the time when I was a little.' 'Oh yeah, I forgot about the Mountain Play.
We should go up there.' We just need to get that back into people's minds so that they get excited about it as much as they were when they were little kids," said Zelinsky. "Bringing the community together.
I think we need that more than ever, and arts, and the outdoors are great ways to do that," said Grady. Grady isn't sure how to save 112 years of tradition. They're organizing to raise funds , hoping they won't have to walk away after building a firm foundation of history, culture, and community.
A longtime supporter is offering to match any donation up to $100,000. Mountain Play will also host a fundraising event in June..
