ANTAEUS COMES TO GLENDALE

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Chuck Wike and Cindy Cleary

At a ‘groundbreaking’ ceremony on Broadway in Glendale today, it was announced that the critically acclaimed Antaeus Theatre Company will move operations from their tiny theater on Lankershim in NoHo to a brand new space in Glendale.  The new Antaeus will feature an eighty seat primary theater as well as a flexible forty seat Black Box.  In a gathering of about 150 well wishers, including City Manager Scott Ochoa and Library / Arts and Culture Director Cindy Cleary along with Council members Paula Divine and Laura Friedman, memorial scrolls were presented and the welcome mat was rolled out with red carpet on Broadway.

 Kurtwood Smith hosted. Smith was joined by company members including a moving speech by Chairman of the Antaeus Board, David Gindler, 

Board Chairman David Gindler

who made a promise that no one would ever be denied access to seeing a play for lack of funds.  Jokes were made about investing in an organization whose goal was not to make money.  Highlight of the gathering was a genuinely moving recitation by  Ramon de Ocampo… slightly altered from Shakespeare’s words from Henry V as the king stirs his troops to battle at Agincourt. 

"This day is called the feast of...  Groundbreaking: He that outives this day and comes safe home, will stand a tip-toe when the day is named .. and rouse him at the name of... Groundbreaking!" 

Ocampo raised the banner high and roused the troops… the troopers and supporters.  I shall remember this day, when Glendale embraced true art and pledged to move forward into making the Glendale’s Arts District and all the City friendly to all of the Arts that make us human beings. 

I  wax poetic as a citizen of Glendale, where the arts have struggled in the past, but with the renovation of The Alex Theater; the coming of the Museum of Neon Art just down the street on Brand, and now a professional theatre company of our own, there may be hope yet for our fair city. 

Photos by Geoffrey Wade