bupeopel19
by Laura Hoover
Sitting next to a nine-foot green and gold sofa in his office, Keith Baker says nonchalantly, you can hide a body in there. The couch, which is not the most comfortable, was used for a murder mystery. In fact, every piece of furniture in his office comes from one production or another. Same with the posters. That’s what happens when you’ve been the artistic director of the Riverside Theater for 27 years. That’s certainly not the only thing that has happened.
Baker, who just received an award for his contribution to the community, says he feels lucky to still be able to do his craft. “I’m very privileged to have the chance to direct, act, to be an all-around theater person. To be a part of a community that is so inclusive in its very heart, and to still be able to do that especially as you get older.”
Baker was 11 years old when he moved to New York. His mother had packed up her two children, folded up a $300 check and left her family in Georgia to pursue a career in opera. “She was remarkable. She had me when she was still in college,” Baker said recently. “She was brave. Nothing stopped her.”
Baker grew up on the Upper West Side in the late 50s and 60s. Not only listening to a ton of opera and classical music, he was able to mingle with musicians in the neighborhood, many refugees from the second world war.
“In those days the old Metropolitan Opera was at 39th and Broadway. For $1.50, you could queue up outside. For a teenager, standing was no big deal. You were 30 feet from some of the greatest opera singers in the world.”
After attending the prestigious preparatory high school, the McBurney School, he went onto the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theatre and Juilliard.
Baker never thought he’d live anywhere but New York. But after a career on Broadway, stints at the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, Florida Repertory Theatre and studying in Germany, there was the job in Bristol, a stop-over place between Washington and New York for many artists. “It took some adjustment when I moved here. It was an extremely depressed area. There was no new business. No vitality,” he said.
The theatre, which opened in 1986, had been used as a former movie house. With $2 million from The Grundy Foundation, it was transformed into the 300-seat theater with a view of the Delaware River.
“We hit rock bottom when one day the owner of the movie theatre turned it into an x rated theatre,” said Bill Pezza, chairman of Bristol nonprofit Center of the Arts and chairman of the civic organization Raising the Bar. “It was on the river, in the middle of the historic district. That became the symbol. The event that was the beginning of our renaissance was when the Grundy Foundation purchased the theatre and turned it into a performing arts center.”
Over the last four years, the town has received grants to restore the facades of 23 stores to historic standards, added a park to the entrance to the commercial district, and completed a three million-dollar boat dock to the riverfront, Pezza said. In 2017, The Bristol Borough won the grand prize in a national contest for Small Business Revolution on Main Street. “The convergence of those things is really why we are seeing the change we are today,” Pezza said.
Every day Baker walks five blocks to the theatre from his restored Victorian home that he shares with his wife, Jo Twiss. From the same green chair, with a photo of himself in a 2000-200I production of A Moon for the Misbegotten in the background, he says the suburban theatre faces the challenges of theatres across the county, retaining subscribers, attracting new audiences, connecting with the community that lives just outside its doors.
“Most people that live here can’t afford a $45/$50 ticket,” he said. However, the theatre offers $5 tickets for Bristol Borough residents on the first two previews of a mainstage show (the first Tuesday and Wednesday). Subscribers can come back to see the same mainstage show again for free. “When I liked something, I wanted to see it again,” he said simply.
A recent play, The Christians, had 26 community members in the choir. Baker has also helped young artists at the Center for the Arts. On May 23, Baker will be added to the center’s Walk of Fame for his contribution to the performing arts, Pezza said.
The theatre announced its next well-rounded season, which will include An Act of God, Next to Normal, King Lear, Cabaret, and A Leg Up. This summer will include three original concerts including Love is Here to Stay, Woodstock at 50: a Celebration, and Broadway Summer Spectacular plus the holiday concert An American Christmas Songbook.
“We face the same dilemma as every arts organization the older generation doesn't look at their theater experience as dealing with hard issues. They prefer happy endings, down to earth, reality and kindness. They don’t like language … sexual situations. We have to address forward- thinking subjects that actually matter. But you don’t alienate your subscribers for 25 years.”
So what’s left? For himself, more travel with his wife. More composing. “A couple of things I’d love to do now, by some stroke of fortune, Tyrone in Lord’s Day, Lear. I prefer the very dramatic and engaging,” he said. For the theatre? His wish list includes Amadeus, more Shakespeare. “I know it's a hard sell but if you know how to do it, it becomes very accessible,” he said. “Mostly, where (the theatre is) going is to become an ever-growing, integral part of it, the community, not just Bristol but Bucks County as well.”