Edutainment In Detroit

"The main thrust here is to present art that clarifies and rectifies," Ron Milner tells us, waving an arm at the empty interior of the Midtown Theatre, currently in the throes of renovation and repair. Milner has written the Broadway smash What the Wine Sellers Buy, which broke attendance records at the Fisher Theatre, and his new Seasons Reasons (which debuted across town at the Langston Hughes Theatre) opens the Midtown August 26.

"There will probably be something happening here seven nights a week," Milner enthuses. "We plan a series of seminars - speakers on cultural, political, and social issues will be brought in. There will be concerts and lots of theatre, particularly children's theatre. We will have a series of documentaries, short subjects, and experimental films by new film makers.

"Heritage House is going to do their puppet theatre, and we 'II also be providing space for Highland Park Junior College. Plays by Detroit playwrights will be scheduled along with things like two plays by Richard Wesley of New York that will be here."

Standing under the Midtown's marquee you can look east and see the huge, well-kept Victorian mansions, shade trees and neat lawns of the West Canfield Historical District. Look the other way and the Jeffries Housing Project looms from across the John Lodge freeway, and just around the corner are some of the sleaziest hangouts in Detroit, including Anderson's Gardens and the Willis Show Bar.

The contradictions don't disturb Milner, whose Season's Reasons, Inc. runs the Midtown. "Art is on the upswing in Detroit, and I feel good about what's happening here. Our building is sitting in the center of a neighborhood undergoing rebirth, due in large part to its status as an official Historical District. We're part of the new, positive movement here, and I think we're going to help promote a new creative image for the area, rather than the destructive one it's been stuck with for so long."

The Midtown started as a neighborhood movie house, was used sporadically for "psychedelic folk-rock" concerts n the sixties - featuring locals Ted Lucas and Steve (Maruga) Booker in a group called the Spikedrivers - and saw use in the last few years as a revivalist church. It has a capacity of 500 and, once the finishing touches are put on the place, Milner plans to keep those seats hot.

"We just want to provide a vehicle for all this talent that's basically just sitting here in Detroit," he says. If he applies the same discipline and genius to the Midtown that he has put into his plays, it can only mean success for the theatre and its community.

Like Milner, Roy Brooks returned to Detroit after winning considerable artistic acclaim in New York City. He says he carne back after some 16 years to "do something on a different level." Last year those aspirations were translated into the Aboriginal Percussion Institute, a center for training young folk n the percussive arts that Brooks founded with Detroit drummer Burt Myrick. This spring he helped put together Musicians United to Save Indigenous Culture (M.U.S.I.C.), an artistic cooperative that had a very successful kickoff concert at the Showcase Theatre last May. When space opened up n the Trapper's Alley complex in Greektown, Brooks claimed it for his new MUSIC Station.

The MUSIC Station has already featured the likes of Eddie Jefferson with Brooks' Artistic Truth band, saxophonist Sonny Red, Sam Sanders & Visions, and more than a few heavy jam sessions, particularly during the Homecoming Festival last month. Brooks expects artists like joe Henderson, Milt Jackson, Max Roach, Betty Carter, James Moody, and a return engagement by vocal innovator Jefferson, in the next three months.

Jams currently fill weekday evenings at the MUSIC Station; the place runs from 9pm until 5am on weekends with feature artists.

"Soon we'll be showing films, having lectures and many other things dealing with the arts," Brooks adds, pointing out that his Aboriginal Percussion Institute now holds sessions at the club. "All kinds of talent will be brought in from everywhere - don't be surprised if you come down and see Aretha Franklin performing!"

The fact that accomplished artists like Brooks and Milner have chosen to return to Detroit to work and build here is going to have a very significant effect on the city's cultural atmosphere. Also trying to expand the area's cultural opportunities are Gary MacDonald and Chris Jaszczak, who, as Probity Productions, have just dusted off and opened the ballroom in the Showcase Theatre building.

Probity means "high principle," and that seems to apply quite easily to the Showcase Ballroom. "This will be a mixed place for all types of people," Jaszczak points out. "We want to reflect the activities of the community - and provide for people who can't afford to go to Masonic or Pon-Met." 

MacDonald (with a Masters in Finance and Marketing from Wayne State) and Jaszczak (who attended Law School at Wayne) started producing occasional but extremely tasteful concerts at the Showcase Theatre (the old Eastown Theatre) last year. They recently discovered the little-used ballroom in the same building and started working on it almost immediately. The Showcase Ballroom has a capacity of 300, which is perfectly suited to a lot of smaller applications. It's the right size for an intimate crowd, but it has the  grandness and ornamentation of a larger ballroom, with its French windows and winding staircase.

continued on page 12 

EDUTAINMENT
continued from page 11

They expect to add a delicatessen in the lobby of the building as a "finishing touch."

And, like the other new edutainment centers, the Showcase Ballroom will be a multi-purpose affair. We'll have the place open for community meetings or other use once a week," Jaszczak explains, "and we'll have plays and films, too. There will be benefits given for struggling institutions in the community such as the Harbinger Dance Co. (scheduled for September 11 ), Wayne State's Monteith College, and M.U.S.I.C."

The Showcase's new ballroom opened July 24 with a special Detroit Homecoming Festival "after party" featuring Shoo Be Doo, and a gospel show has also been presented there.

To keep up with what's happening at these three new spots, check the Calendar in every issue of The Detroit Sun, where you'll also find listings for just about every other place in town as well. Happy edutainment hunting!