arts & life
theater
Fearless
Suzanne Chessler I Contributing Writer
The new Detroit
Public Theatre aims
to bring a bit of New
York City to Detroit.
details
Performances of American Hero run
Oct. 30-Nov. 22 at the Max M. and
Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center,
Detroit. Curtain times are 8 p.m.
Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays
and 2 p.m. Wednesdays and
Sundays. $20-$45. (313) 576-5111;
detroitpublictheatre.org .
48 October 22 2015
orning concert sounds
of the Detroit Symphony
Orchestra reached the
lobby when Sarah Winkler made her
first space-planning visit to the Max
M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center
(The Max), the performance locale of
the Detroit Public Theatre (DPT) she
envisioned with Courtney Burkett, co-
artistic director.
The music stirred her already abun-
dant enthusiasm for the arts initiative
she hopes will bring fresh stage experi-
ences to the city and expand building
use of The Max into a more varied
performance venue, along the lines of
Lincoln Center in New York City.
Winkler, who has acted on multiple
stages and taken on administrative the-
ater responsibilities in her home state
of New York, did not anticipate being at
the helm of theater development when
she moved to Michigan in 2013 as
her husband, Simon Leopold, entered
an executive position with Taubman
Centers Inc.
Her leadership role emerged while
they both were taking on new career
experiences. As he was serving as trea-
surer and transitioning into CFO, she
was pursuing acting opportunities at
local theaters.
Ideas for the DPT surfaced during
conversations with performers and
artistic advocates. Early fundraising
successes assured a season, which
debuts this month with the play
American Hero by Bess Wohl (see
"Meet the Playwright").
The seriocomedy will be staged
in the Robert A. and Maggie Allesee
Rehearsal Hall, which is being prepared
to convert into a 150-seat black-box
theater for each of four productions,
including From Broadway to Obscurity
by Eric Gutman, Sex with Strangers
by Laura Eason and Detroit '67 by
Dominique Morrisseau.
"That time Courtney and I walked
into the building, we looked at each
other and said this is where we have
to be — at the heart of a bustling arts
organization in Detroit" says Winkler,
who recalled experiencing the transfor-
mative feeling of standing in Lincoln
Center and watching people rushing in
different directions to attend theater,
film, symphony and ballet.
"There's a lot of investment in the
city right now, and it's a new time for
excitement about what is going on.
Courtney and I did a lot of research
before we began the project"
The two established office space at
Ponyride, a Corktown collaborative
workspace.
"We hold our rehearsals in a
Ponyride dance studio" Winkler says.
"Ponyride also has a shop where sets
are being built. Everything will be
transported to the theater on Oct. 26,
and we will have three days on the
stage before our first public perfor-
mance"
Winkler, who has been a producer
and fundraiser as well as a teach-
ing artist, was with the Epic Theatre
Ensemble in New York for more than a
decade and remains a board member.
Burkett was director of theater pro-
grams with Mosaic Youth Theatre of
Detroit, a founding artistic partner
with Breathe Art Theatre Project, busi-
ness manager for the University of
Detroit Mercy Theatre Company and
managing director of the CRLT Players
at the University of Michigan.
Sarah Clare Corporandy, produc-
ing director, has joined as the third
partner. She continues as managing
director for the Chautauqua Theater
Company at the Chautauqua Institution
in southwest New York. Corporandy
has worked with the Breathe Art
Theatre Project and been a faculty
member at Savannah College of Art
and Design and the University of
Kentucky.
"I met Courtney while working in
local theaters [Tipping Point Theatre
in Northville, Water Works Theatre
Company in Royal Oak, CRLT Players
in Ann Arbor], and we started dream-
ing about producing a play in the
city" says Winkler, 47, who lives in
Birmingham and has three sons.
"Very shortly, we decided we were