Catching Up With Fiona Hutchison (ex-Gabrielle, OLTL)
Soap Opera Weekly: Tell me how the theater company started. Did you know it would be a success?
Fiona Hutchison: We didn’t really know because there’s a whole bunch of fields with a whole bunch of cows around here. So we weren’t really sure. We did two shows before Christmas which both sold out. And we started the not-for-profit status. It’s the kind of thing that’s done when you’re outside of the city, as opposed to producing for profit. Because obviously you don’t have the volume up here. You don’t have the people walking by on the street. So you need to get the support of the community, the businesses, you need to get local governmental and federal funding. It’s a whole different way of doing theater outside the city. Anyway, it has turned into the Copake Theatre Company and the revitalization of downtown Copake.
Weekly: Oh, my. So you really started something.
Hutchison: Oh, yeah. We have got limited partnerships going with investors coming up from New York to see about transforming old buildings, creating new bed and breakfasts and really making it a special little town, keeping it old. It really has frozen in time. If you start a theater you will start to see the revitalization of the town. That’s been proven over and over and over again. Without having that as my plan, the minute we did it we went, “Oh, I see how this works.”
Weekly: So you’re living up there full time now?
Hutchison: We have been living up here full time for the last two years. Nobody knew it really. I did all my commuting from here to ONE LIFE TO LIVE.
Weekly: So do you still have a place in the city?
Hutchison: Yes, we do. The thing is, we just never use it. I go down any time there’s an audition or a meeting, do all my stuff and come back. I’m in the city about three times a week. But it’s nice to have the choice. No complaints. And the boys are in school up here.
Weekly: You’re not doing the home-schooling anymore?
Hutchison: That’s right. We took the lead of Hutch, our eldest, who said he wanted to go back and give it a try. And we said great, that was always an option. So, they’re both in and they seem to be having a very good time.
Weekly: Tell me about the latest show, which you’re starring in?
Hutchison: There are two one-acts by Donald Steele. The first one is The Weight of Miami. It’s about a retired couple who are faced with selling their family home and moving to Florida. Then the second one, which is the one that I’m in, is called What’s On Her Plate? It’s about a relationship with a daughter and a father. The mother died six months ago and he’s now remarrying. And it’s on his wedding day. Therefore, the conflict.
Weekly: Have you been in one of the productions before?
Hutchison: Nope. This is the first time. John’s the artistic director, I’m the managing director. And we didn’t want to go anywhere near being on the stage for the first six months. But Donald Steele came and he said, ‘Look, when I wrote this I had you in mind; would you please read it along with all the other people.’ And John is directing it and that’s wonderful for me because I’ve worked with John many times and it’s nice to have the opportunity to work with him again.
It’s been exciting, it really has. It’s a world of fund-raising, it’s a world of watching community change. It’s very fulfilling. One of the things that’s very comforting when I go to sleep is that I don’t have to worry that the writer is going to change the direction of the show and kill me off.
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