Community theater is packing a punch in a small space.
It has been decades since Sparks has had a community theater, and now Restless Artists Theatre Company, or RAT for short, has opened its doors in Sparks. Now I know what you are thinking: “All The Way In Sparks?” But they are just on the border of Sparks and Reno, with very easy freeway access or just off of Fourth Street where it turns into Victorian at 295 20th Street.
So getting there is not a problem, but what will you find when you get there?
The theater is a small black box style space that lends itself to the audience feeling one with the actors. I feel RAT is bringing the best parts of community theater to its audience.
Their current production is a thoughtful play called Grand Concourse, written by Heidi Schreck and directed by Kira Temple, which centers around a nun at a soup kitchen and the life situations of the people around her.
This is NOT a play to bring your children to as there are very adult themes. I thoroughly enjoyed the show, and the acting and the production was first rate with a story that compels you to find sympathy with the characters. At times the events in the story will bring you to a place of discomfort, but that for me was part of the journey of the story and the sympathy for what the characters are going through in their lives.
I highly recommend seeing Grand Concourse, and I am excited to see what RAT offers next.
With so much wonderful theater in the Truckee Meadows, it may be easy to not notice a small community theater in Sparks, but you will be doing yourself a disservice if you don’t check out what RAT is doing — first rate productions in an intimate space celebrating community theater.
Take a look at the video below of the opening and the ribbon cutting by the Mayor of Sparks and Councilwoman Julia Ratti.
For more information on Restless Artists Theatre Company, check out their website: http://restlessartiststheatre.org/
