By Shamrock McShane, November 2008
Let us now, in the manner of the great humanists, give thanks to ourselves. The reason that Satellite is “The Finest Arts and Culture Magazine in North Florida” is that Gainesville is the finest arts and culture city hereabouts.
We make art here. And we export it. From the renaissance painting of Anthony Ackrill and the fiction of Padgett Powell to the thespian talents of Sara Morsey. The Hippodrome star is newly returned from a triumphal run in Fort Myers, where she won acclaim as Amanda in the Florida Repertory Theatre’s production of  Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie.
Elsewhere in Florida, the culture seems more pervaded with crassness. There, the life of the mind seems more nakedly subject to commercial pressures than here in cerebral, collegial, green, liberal, libertarian, radical, anarchist Gainesville.
The news from elsewhere
The critics on the Fort Myers’ theater beat are tough and hard to please. Witness these hard-knock notices of Glass Menagerie from the duo that appraises productions there.
First, from  Nancy Stetson of Fort Myers Florida Weekly.
“While some productions present this play as non-stop psychological torture, a family that cannot help tormenting each other, Florida Rep’s production is much more nuanced. While it contains pathos, it is not the grim, tortured experience you might expect.
“In fact, I was surprised at how often I laughed during the performance. Under Chris Clavelli’s direction, his quartet of highly talented actors reveals the humor of certain dialogue and interactions.
“Sara Morsey plays the role of the matriarch with dignity. It’s obvious she loves her children, but she can’t stop herself from hounding them with constant advice. Morsey is a skilled actress; she’s naturally girlish while bantering with her son on the fire escape, but transforms into a caricature of her younger self when flirting with Act II’s ‘gentleman caller.’
“Those who expect they’ll have to grit their teeth for an evening of unending grimness will be pleasantly surprised; Williams mines the humor among the pain.”
Even tougher is Chris Silk of the  Naples News.
“The Florida Repertory Theatre tackled Tennessee Williams Friday night with an intense production of The Glass Menagerie that had its bright spots but never truly brought the playwright’s luscious prose alive.
“The hour-long first act seemed to last an eternity, while the second half, most of it played out on a near-dark stage, felt mechanical and failed to push many of the emotional buttons the play is known for. It was almost as if efforts to bring the complex themes into strong focus burned away everything around them, leaving no context behind.
“Sara Morsey earns high marks for her portrayal of deflated Southern belle Amanda Wingfield. You can see the beginnings of Blanche DuBois in the character (Streetcar would come two years later), yet Morsey owned the stage with her shrew’s affectations of forgotten glory. She exaggerated the character’s mannerisms, yet kept the needy woman within firmly grounded in reality.
“Despite the uneven nature, the production certainly has its attractions. The words of Tennessee Williams never disappoint and Morsey’s pitch-perfect performance as a faded flower fighting her wilt with every fiber of her being shouldn’t be missed.”
Points of view
My son Mike McShane, coincidentally, is the sound designer at the Florida Repertory Theater, fresh from a season of summer stock at the Barn Theatre in Michigan. The kid is learning the ropes, but he grew up on Gainesville theatrics.
Here’s Mike’s take on the Fort Myers scene.
“Florida Repertory Theatre performs now in the Arcade Theatre, which is celebrating its centennial. Glass Menagerie is the season opener, with a limited engagement of 12 shows. The play is part of their One Book, One Community. It is similar to the One City, One Story series at the Hipp. Massive budget cuts have hit Florida Rep this year, as with most of the arts. But the director of the theater, Robert Cacciopo, wanted to keep their World Classic Initiative running.
“The Hipp has really figured out how to get the whole town going with the idea with all the library discussions, readings and scenes performed all around town.
“Next, Florida Rep is electing to go with an Election Special, as the director of the theater Robert Cacciopo likes to call Born Yesterday, written in 1946,  about a rich and corrupt junkman trying to buy off a politician.
“During Halloween season, the entire city about shuts down for “Zombiecon.” Many horror movies have made Fort Myers their home. The undead have walked the downtown streets many times.
“It is hard times for theater in Fort Myers. One of the dinner theaters in town doing Forbidden Broadway had to let go two of their people with budget cuts. They had relied on a loan they had been getting yearly to keep the theater running. It was to come around October, just when the $700 billion bailout by President Bush was signed. Now, they are unable to get that loan.”
Sara Morsey’s report is similarly bracing and dire.
“It is a wonderful production, and I’m having a relaxing time here. To tell you the truth, I can think of little but the state of the nation at this point. Tennessee Williams’ words about ‘the fiery Braille alphabet of a dissolving economy’ are hitting very close to home right now.
“As a nearly lifelong fan of the works of Tennessee Williams, I couldn’t be more blessed than to get to perform in them. This one is particularly apt right now, and the audiences here are very tuned into that. It’s an older crowd overall than in Gainesville, of course.
“I have to say, that from my point of view as a ‘blue-collar actor’ - a term coined by one of my colleagues down here - things are pretty much the same all over.  Regional theatre is suffering from budget cuts and general arts malaise and ignorance.
“But we go on. Why? Because we believe that ideas are important and have the power to lift us up as individuals and as a society. I just read in the paper here that the city of Fort Myers has budgeted more money than ever before for arts funding. Of course, people who support the arts realize their profound positive effect on a culture.
“Most people don’t know the extent of lost funding the Hippodrome has suffered of late. $700,000! And this is not money that was just handed over by the state, but money that was justified by grants for educational needs and cultural needs in our community. The people of Gainesville have many jewels in their arts organizations. But unless we demand the best for our children and our future, we may lose them.”