The Good Company Players’ 2nd Space Theatre was started by a group
of former Fresno State students and is entering its 30th season.
Pictured above is a group of actors performing a play at the theatre.
Photo Courtesy of the Good Company Players’ 2nd Space Theatre
For nearly 30 years the Good Company Players’ 2nd Space Theatre has entertained Fresno residents with a wide variety of live performances on a stage specifically designed to captivate and engage the imagination of the audience.
The Good Company Players was formed in 1973 by a group of former Fresno State theatre students under the leadership of owner and managing director Dan Pessano. The company started as a summer theatre group and focused mainly on musicals, he said.
Yet Pessano dreamed of a new space that would allow plays and comedies and let players train and perform.
After acquiring loans and spending a lot of time building it from the ground up, the 2nd Space Theatre opened on July 16, 1982 with its first play, “The Elephant Man.”
Pessano described the opening of the 2nd Space Theatre as one of excitement and perhaps some youthful ego as well.
“You’re arrogant enough to think that you can be great,” he said, “and if you just do good work people should come ”” you have that demand. But you’re stupid in not recognizing how tough an economy can be.”
For Pessano, to survive as a business in theater arts for nearly three decades is no small feat.
“For anything to survive for 30 years means that we’ve probably done a good job in the long run,” he said.
Pessano said the Good Company Players will celebrate its thirtieth season starting next year. While the main significance of the milestone was made clear by Pessano, he said the company has tied something else of great importance to the turning point.
Last year the company lost Nancy Miller, a woman who dedicated many years of her life in over 30 performances, most she directed, at the 2nd Space Theatre. The company is dedicating the 30th season in her memory.
“It was the love and the commitment and the enthusiasm for this space that always protected us in our choices,” he said. “She always wanted us to be better. You need that.”
The 30th season begins Dec. 28, Pessano said, starting with “Crimes of the Heart,” a play Miller was particularly fond of.
Pessano said the company has since learned from its early mistakes, but still recalls the blissful years with a laugh, even though the economy remains difficult.
The company faces the second major economic downturn since its inception. Linda Thayer, the company’s business manager, expressed optimism for the company even against the country’s recent financial strain.
“We still have people coming in ”” that’s very heartening,” she said.
Thayer said she believes the key the company’s strong resilience to buckle under the rough economy is the strength derived from Pessano’s leadership.
“You don’t work for somebody you don’t respect,” she said. “There’re a lot of us that have been here for a very long time and that’s because of Dan. He’s the driving force. But he’s also a source of inspiration.”
For those unfamiliar with the theatre, it can be surprising to some when seen for the first time. The stage is surrounded by chairs set up in stadium-style seating, arranged in a horseshoe shape.
The stage itself is on the same level as the lowest chairs, which are seated only a couple feet away. This closeness, Pessano described, is deliberate and invites the audience to be a part of the experience.
Dan Pessano’s wife, Laurie Pessano, said she believes actors share a close relationship with the audience which they perform practically right next to.
“You are very close to the audience,” she said. “I believe the audience takes an active role in the performance. It’s so close ”” they’re very involved in the performance.”
Pessano explained that one of her favorite moments in theatre happened when the 2nd Space Theatre was still young and not so well known, and during a night a performance only attracted four people.
“It was like they were sitting in the living room of the home of the characters in the family that I played,” she said. “You have to be very much in character. But when it goes well it’s like a mutual effort by the audience and the actors. It is a team sport involving everyone.”
Dan Pessano said that live theatre has the ability to offer something to an audience that no other form of entertainment today can. It is the mutual relationship between audience and performers that catapults the experience beyond anything that flickers on a screen.
“You may like it, you may love it, you may hate it, but you experienced it,” he said. “So what’s good about theater? It’s live; it’s the moment. You are seeing, you are sharing and you have responsibility as an audience to be part of that.”
