The Bruka Theatre sneaks up on you.
You're strolling down an unpretentious side street in downtown Reno when you run into a big sign announcing its presence. When you walk into the lobby, it takes a few seconds to get used to the dark. What light there is seems to come only from candles and dim clamp-ons. The walls are rich in art work that require intense concentration to see. A sign warns, "Enter at your own risk."
The main theater just beyond the lobby is a small space, stuffed with couches of various sizes, styles and colors. A tiny, open staircase takes you downward into another performing space, smaller (called "the sub Bruka"), with the same type of seating that encourages relaxation. If the couches don't do the trick, there is an open bar.
"I don't want people to come here thinking theatre or culture is a boring thing," Bruka founder and artistic director Scott Beers says. "I want this to be a place where people come to meet others and have a good time. That's what theatre is all about. I want to make art accessible. For me, the experience of a play starts the minute you park your car."
For this writer what made a recent visit memorable was the production itself--a broad yet disciplined version of Dario Fo's farce, "Accidental Death of an Anarchist." It was natural to assume the actors were Equity.
"No one's Equity," Beers points out. "We have four paid staff positions. Everyone else is a volunteer."
It's obvious from the production, though, that the folk here take their jobs seriously.
"It's all about passion," Beers says. "I can't pay these people, so they have got to love being here."
The 36-year-old former Los Angeles child actor says even though he grew up in the entertainment industry, theatre was not his original passion. The few shows he saw made him think of plays as "artsy-farsty." He dropped out of high school when he was a sophomore (he made up for that later with a degree in math). As a young adult, "I didn't know at first what I was looking for. And I was never in a hurry to make it happen fast."
He slowly drifted into a love affair with live performing. "I found I loved the intimacy of [black-box] theatre. It's a world onto itself."
When he finally found himself in Reno, he liked the "small-town redneck atmosphere where a lot of people still do business on a handshake." But he had his doubts if this was a place where rebel avant-garde theater would be successful.
"It took a while," he says. "But I'm a street-marketer. And I was surprised how much locals appreciated what we were trying to do. I found a lot of like-minded people that I could connect with. We started out doing original adaptations of fairy tales. We've done now about 200 of all kinds of scripts."
The nonprofit theatre, named after the Americanized word for "die Brucke," in
reference to a bridge connecting art and the masses, was established thirteen years ago
and is finally making money. It's housed in a Masonic building on the corner of First and Virginia. Although the audience is mostly locals, there are a significant number of tickets being sold to people who come to Reno once or twice a year.
"Wealthy or poor, people like to sit on grubby couches in their jeans and T-shirt and watch a play," he says. And while the dim lobby lighting adds to the casual atmosphere, Beers admits it masks an ulterior motive: "It looks like a stellar environment, right? But it's not so stellar if you turn on all the lights and really see it."
Has success dimmed the theatre's rebel attitude?
"With more funding, more grants, we're not as free as we once were, when we just did whatever play we wanted to at the time. When we first had to announce a full season, I thought, 'why? I don't know what shows we'll want to do later.' In a season, we do about eight shows on the mainstage, and four or five on the second stage. Sometimes it's like we're a factory. But our rent alone is $3200 a month. We have to think about the box-office."
The concern with art and bucks results in a season mixed with name plays, unknown originals, classics, dance works and children's productions (currently on view is Paul Zindel's "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds)." Admission prices are in the $14 range.
Beers says he's always on the lookout for new talent. One of the official goals of the troupe is to "involve young people and adults in learning and participating in theatre and related arts [including] acting, directing, writing and technical production." He thinks it's important that an actor-hopeful realize there's a time when he has to put aside the textbook.
"The textbook is a wonderful thing," he says. "But when you get out in the real world, you have to toss it aside and learn your own way. We love getting new people involved. It doesn't matter if you have no experience. All we ask is that you love being in the space, whether it's as a box-office person or an actor. Everyone does everything, eventually. Everyone here is a team player."
(More information about the Bruka Theatre is available by calling 775-323-3221 or at www.brukatheatre.org. "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds" plays at 99 N. Virginia St. in Reno 8 p.m. May 27, 28, June 2-4, 9-11, 16-18, 23-25 and 2 p.m. June 12. Tickets: $12-$18.)