On with the Show> Belfast Maskers taking unique approach to artistic direction

If you can figure out whom to ask, anyone at the Belfast Maskers will tell you the theater is in fine shape. And they’d be right. With $25,000 in the bank, an endowment fund of $100,000 and growing, plus amiable support from the grass-roots arts community in town, the Maskers, which is housed in an old railroad garage on the waterfront, is the little theater that could.

Except that it can’t find the right artistic director. That little conundrum began when the company’s founder and luminary, Basil Burwell, stepped down in 1995 from the position he had held since the theater’s inception in 1987. Since then, two artistic directors have sat in his chair.

The first, Gardner Howes, was retired from a previous career and had moved from Alaska with a full head of steam for theater. Howes’ year was successful, but not without stress. Others say he “burned out” from managing too much of the business. The upshot is that Gardner, who spends winters in Mexico and was unavailable for an interview at this time, quit after a year and founded a separate, smaller theater up the hill.

After Howes, Robert Hitt, a Yale-trained actor best remembered in Maine for a 1991 performance of “Love Letters” with the actress Ali McGraw, took over and pushed the theater toward a professional aesthetic. With Hitt came expertise and theatrical savvy, but also one caveat. He would do the job for a year but then, as father of a young household, he insisted on a salary.

Again, the theater had what can generally be called a successful season. Some shows sold out, others didn’t. But the high standards for community theater stayed in place.

In September of last year, the board was unable to assure Hitt a salary, so he left the theater — some say controversially, others say not — and is now performing at Mad Horse Theatre in Portland.

With no captain at the helm, the board of directors formed an ad hoc committee to schedule a new season for this year. The members solicited proposals from anyone who wanted to direct, and then got to work — making decisions as artistic director by committee.

The outcome is the typical six-show season with an untypical six-director lineup.

In other words, the show will go on — and happily, say the theater’s organizers. The first offering, a collection of one-act plays, was performed at the end of last month to mixed responses from insiders. In the spirit of educational participation, the theater also was host to a night of high school performances. At the end of the month, Wendy Schweikert, a longtime associate of the theater, will present “Whodunit,” a fund-raising dinner theater piece she wrote. The season also includes “Much Ado About Nothing,” “Eating Raoul — The Musical,” “A Thurber Carnival,” “Marvin’s Room” and a children’s play to be announced in the fall.

Last week, the board of directors hired two part-time workers. Maskers regular Brian Ross will be part-time theater manager overseeing maintenance of the building, scheduling of shows and some business affairs. Nancy Hauswald, a writer, editor and former board secretary, will handle publicity.

But there is no rush to hire an artistic director. The position is seemingly more critical among actors in the company than with the board, and this issue has caused some tension in the ranks.

“I just want to do the best possible theater with the best possible people,” said Larason Guthrie, an actor. “I’m willing to be in a community production or direct one. But if we don’t have an artistic director with high standards, it will be difficult to keep the high standards.”

But high standards can sometimes alienate those actors who act for amusement rather than passion. In Maskers productions, sincerity has always played a major role.

“That should be the spirit of community theater,” said Lilias Outbridge, an active board member who has seen — and most likely supported — every play since day one. “That to me is more important than having total top quality. It’s really something we don’t want to lose out on.”

On the front page of this month’s The Maskers Voice, the company newsletter, the board reveals goals to hire an A.D. by the year’s end.

“We feel like we’ve got a wonderful theater,” said Jerry Savitz, president of the board and owner of Darby’s Restaurant and Pub in Belfast. “Everything is paid for and we’re in decent shape. We have not found an artistic director that we want, but that has to be a special person and we don’t want to make any mistakes. We can hold out until we find the right person.”

That person, said others on the board, has big shoes to fill. Burwell, who died in 1997, was a charismatic man, with professional credits and a serious mind for theater and acting. Or as the actress Diane Coller Wilson, a supporting force in the founding of the theater, put it, Burwell had a “sparkling personality.”

Rumor has it that Burwell would sit in the local food cooperative and wait for interesting-looking people to walk in, would ask them if they wanted to act, and put them onstage. He found unusual talent that way, and created an aura of professionalism among the townies and talent in the funky neighborhood.

“He had the vision and pulled together all the people,” said Schweikert.

Running a theater by committee is tricky business, as all the Maskers know.

“You can’t expect to have a good team without a coach,” said Hitt, who hopes to direct at the theater again someday. “All good theater comes out of a group led by somebody they respect. If you rate the Maskers on the level of work they’ve achieved, they are one of the best in the state. They do extraordinary work. But you can think of a theater as a company or as a physical place. If you want an aesthetic point of view and vision, then you need a core company.”

While the Maskers searches for the right leadership — either in one person or in a committee — it has some time to ride on its history and solid reputation. Despite minor quarreling about particulars, all of the players agree on two points. They all love theater. And the historical success of this small theater has taught them to believe in the future.

“Let us hope it is going to bigger and better things,” said Nancy Burwell, a strong supporter of her late husband’s work. “I think the theater is badly in need of an artistic director. You can’t run things by committee. At least, that’s what my husband would say, I’m sure.”