The Central New York theater community is close knit and small, a group of talented artists who are so close they refer to each other as family. So, it’s not surprising, given the especially small pool of male actors and qualified directors, that they sometimes direct each other. Such is the case for two upcoming productions at CNY Playhouse.
Liam Fitzpatrick, 25, will direct Abel Searor, 31, in Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,” opening March 11, and Searor will make his directing debut in July with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Evita,” in which Fitzpatrick plays Che. Acclaimed for his work as a music director of dozens of area productions, Searor stepped in as director for “Evita” when the person originally scheduled for the show had to withdraw.
“I’d already been hired to music direct,” Searor said. “I realized it’s basically an opera with little scene work. After talking to key people, I said, ‘Yes, I can do that.’”
Searor of Liverpool will keep the music director position, too, and he doesn’t view performing the two duties as a problem.
“If there is a show in which to take on this double role, ‘Evita’ is it,” Searor said.
He has already worked with Fitzpatrick in several shows and said he is perfect for the role of Che, who serves as narrator and a quasi-Greek chorus for the musical. “Liam becomes his character,” Searor said. “When he is on stage, he is thoroughly, one hundred percent invested in the show.”
Although Searor is completely comfortable behind the podium or at the keyboard, providing music in theater productions, he’s never before taken an acting role, never had to memorize lines or move on stage. Having been cast as the stage manager in “Our Town,” he said he looks forward to the show as a learning experience and a chance to perform for audiences in a new way.
“Our Town” is especially meaningful to Fitzpatrick, a Syracuse resident who has wanted for years to direct it and often has imagined how he would interpret the 1938 drama. Three years ago, on his first Sunday singing in St. David’s Episcopal choir in DeWitt, he heard a hymn tune and thought it could be perfectly integrated into the play. Now, that hymn will be part of the spring production.
“The CNY Playhouse venue in Shoppingtown Mall is ideal for a production of “Our Town,” Fitzpatrick said. “And each season, the company has produced a show from the traditional canon; this year I get to direct one of my favorites.” The show was cast in late fall and features an ensemble of actors from age 9 to 60-something.
Although Searor and Fitzpatrick have worked together on musicals at CNY Playhouse before, this is the first time either of them has done a play there. Fitzpatrick says directing Searor will be a learning experience for both of them.
“Abel has always had amazing instincts for theater, and with experience he has become more aware of character development,” Fitzpatrick said.
“The biggest thing I had to learn,” said Searor, who earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in organ from Syracuse University’s Setnor School of Music, “is that I have to pay the same attention and strive for the same exactitude in musical theater as I would in classical or liturgical music.
Searor is director of music and worship at DeWitt Community Church and an adjunct professor of music at Setnor, teaching piano and ear training. Fitzpatrick is a student of voice at Onondaga Community College and a soloist/reserve cantor at Holy Cross Catholic Church in DeWitt.
It’s no surprise that the two are involved in Baldwinsville Theatre Guild’s current production of “Sweeney Todd,” considering the size of the core group of committed artists in area community theater. It’s Fitzpatrick’s third time in the show; he’s playing the Beadle in this one. Searor will be in the pit, conducting the ensemble and directing the music.
And, when the show closes, it’s on to the next one, and the next.
