A little miracle can be viewed at the corner of Lafayette Street and Bank Street in what used to be a church but now houses Cape May Stage. It is impossible for a small, non-profit theatre to have a Broadway calibre set on its stage. How that came to be is the story of how unique and extraordinary is the community of Cape May.
Like most small theatres, Cape May Stage had mostly used a bit of
furniture or a fence to suggest the location for a play. "Social Security" required what is called a "box set" with real walls and doors and platforms. On Broadway, a producer would hire a director and set designer and they would consult with each other until a final plan was approved. Those plans would be sent to a shop where carpenters would build what was required and then scenic artists would paint what the carpenters had built. The set pieces would be trucked to the theatre and then stylists would do the final touches of curtains and pillows. The designer would have a crew of shoppers to find the correct furniture and the final bill could be more than a hundred thousand dollars.
There is no shop to build sets in Cape May and the budget for a the set is a tiny fraction of that aforementioned number. When Alicia Grasso mentioned that her friend's husband was a designer, Roy Steinberg called him and looked at his portfolio. It turned out that Robert Martin made a good deal of his income as an assistant to William Ivey Long, one of Broadway's most prolific costume designers but he loved designing sets. Many emails with sketches of possible sets followed. Robert found examples of 1980's furniture and sent color swatches and choices of floor coverings. After many consultations, the choices were finalized and that is where this story really gets interesting.
Nathan Ruffan is a student at Highpoint University in North Carolina who met Roy Steinberg when Roy participated in a symposium at the university. Nathan signed on as an intern and played Indian #2 opposite Shirley Stiles in "The Chronicles of Cape May". It turned out he is also a skilled carpenter. A garage on Lafayette Street served as a make-shift shop and Nathan worked for more than a month building platforms and stage flats (used for walls) as well as hanging doors on specially constructed door flats. Tools were borrowed from Mal Knapp and Tom Cutler. Nathan built a bar and coffee table and a modern side table. Dave Clemans offered his shop for furniture building. Heather Turner donated half of her garage and that became the painting shop so the walls were painted to Robert's specifications.
When "Say Goodnight Gracie" closed on a Saturday night a crew of volunteers appeared to take down that set and build the set for "Social Security". Dottie Knapp painted some of the artwork including the portrait of Sophie (played by Lynn Cohen). Don Schweikert contributed an abstract expressionist painting he had and Robert Martin painted another canvas in the style of the Russian Suprematist, Malevich. Fred Van Cott appeared like an angel in the night. He had not been involved with the theatre before but knew his way around power tools and stayed until early the next next morning building the set. Don Toal and Monte LoSosso and Hannah
Schaeffer and Adele Marks and Dottie Knapp (along with her friend, Mary) worked all night - some slept in the theatre helping Nathan Ruffan and Martin realize their project.The next morning Vickie Tryon added her expertise and reupholstered a chair and found matching curtains. She had previously transformed a worn, stained sofa into a cutting edge modern statement of design. Vickie had found most of the costumes with her expert eye for period and color detail. Some final choices were loaned by Victoria Clayton to give a sense of glamour!
This rag tag team of volunteers became a family and built what was impossible. The community of Cape May created a set that is extraordinary in every sense of the word. Perhaps most extraordinary is the spirit and desire to help that exists in this town!
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