When Marty Fredrick arrived in Mansfield in 1994, there wasn’t much drama going on – at least not on the stage. In the past three decades, Fredrick has watched the city and the theatrics flourish. And she can take credit for a lot of the growth of theater.
Fredrick, who now directs productions for Mainstage Classic Theatre, has been involved in community theater for 56 years.
“We’ve just attracted really good talent,” she said. “People don’t realize the talent they have. I love drawing it out. Character development is the single most important thing in an actor’s development. We have had people who grew up to be professionals.”
Mainstage Classic Theatre produces two to three productions each year, plus holding summer camps for youngsters. The campers stage their own production at the end of their summer term.
This summer, the campers will stage Godspell, the 2012 revival of the musical play and feature film based on the parables from the Gospel of Matthew, on July 19-20 at Willie Pigg Auditorium, 1520 N. Walnut Creek Drive.
The campers will have two weeks to rehearse before they hit the stage, Fredrick said.
“Our camps are hard,” she said. “We call them intensive camps.”
Mainstage Classic Theatre productions feature large casts, a full band, great costumes, and sets built by a master carpenter and scenic artist.
“This is a team effort,” Fredrick said. “This is not your typical community theater. We all do the work together. There’s never yelling.”
Mainstage Classic Theatre, which began as Mansfield Community Theatre in 2009, started with eight original members, including current president John McClain, Scott Ferrell, worship arts director at First Methodist Mansfield and Fredrick.
The theater group has produced huge productions including My Fair Lady, West Side Story, Music Man, and The Sound of Music. In June, Mainstage Classic Theatre staged Fiddler on the Roof.
When Fredrick began producing theater in Mansfield, she was quickly embraced by the community.
“Live theater was nothing then, in 1994, when we moved here,” she said. “We had one high school theater and no one had a group. I rented a place on Cooper Street to give voice, piano, guitar and drama and rented the Scott Theatre in Fort Worth (for shows).
“Scott Ferrell and I did The Wizard of Oz at the Scott and then everyone wanted to take lessons,” Fredrick said. “That just kind of set it off.”
Since then, Ferrell and Fredrick have collaborated on classes, camps and productions at the Art Institute of Mansfield and Mansfield Community Theatre. In 2018, the theater group became Mainstage Classic Theatre.
“We were drawing from more than Mansfield,” Fredrick said. “We were doing plays in Kennedale.”
In the past 30 years, the city has grown and added five community theater groups and all five Mansfield ISD high schools have active theater departments.
Fredrick doesn’t know what the future looks like now that there’s so much drama in Mansfield.
“When we started, there was a need for us,” she said. “We can continue to do two works a year and the camps. We don’t have a technical director. We need to have help. I think we need to do what we do really well.
“We’ve enriched lives,” she said. “I know I will continue to oversee productions and I will direct the big ones. If people would come and see, these are really good shows.
“There is still a niche for live theater done at a high level,” Fredrick said.
For more information, go to mainstageclassic
theatre.org.
