On Monday afternoon at the Creamery Building, Jacqueline Dandeneau stands with her thumbs tucked in purple overalls, grinning as David Ferney explains the Flynn Creek Circus’ Russian swing act to Vicki Ozaki of Humboldt Taiko. Ferney spreads his hands, pantomiming the “boat” the acrobats stand on, rocking higher and higher — to the mounting rhythm of the taiko drums — until one on the end launches off the end.
The circus troupe will loan their talents and their tent for the July 31 Arcata Playhouse 20 Years of Wonder Gala, along with a host of local and Bay Area performers. Over two decades, the theater and its nonprofit Playhouse Arts have been a hub for music, plays, cabarets, youth arts, community gatherings, local organizations, festivals, parades and programs for the unhoused. It is just as — and more than — its founders Dandeneau and Ferney imagined.
Dandeneau grew up on a small farm in Alberta, Canada, and graduated from the University of Alberta with a BFA in theater and music, heavy on classical training. She moved to Vancouver in the early 1990s, doing TV and film work, including a part in the movie Bloodclan, a cannibalistic horror mystery. “It was a short part. I was killed in the movie,” she says with a laugh. The industry, she found, “wasn’t very good for women. If you weren’t a certain type of woman. If you were young, you were an ingenue, or if you were older, you could play a grandmother. But between that there wasn’t much.”
In 1992, she found a pair of like-minded women and formed Full Figure, a feminist sketch comedy troupe. They took on topics like sexual harassment and sexism in media, touring Hong Kong, Australia and the United Kingdom.
Meanwhile, Ferney, who’d grown up in southeastern Idaho and later Napa Valley and San Francisco, first came to Humboldt County in 1986 to study at Dell’Arte International. “I was always a performer,” he says. And with Los Payasos Mendigos, he found his groove. The four-person comic acrobatic troupe, he says, had “the rare thing with physical comedy that resonated with kids and adults … kind of the Three Stooges meets the Mexican circus.” It’s an apt description for acts like bouncing from a mini trampoline through a ring of flaming machetes and being caught with a blanket held by audience members.
Touring on the Fringe circuit in British Columbia around 1995, the two groups crossed paths. Dandeneau says she found Ferney unique. “He would go off and take his van and look for hot springs in B.C. … He’s really comfortable being alone and he does things on his own.”
Ferney describes their courtship as an adventure. “We met and chased each other around the world for a year,” he says, traveling to Wales, France, Belgium, Ireland and Holland. They can’t remember exactly when they married but settle on 1998 and are more confident in agreeing their daughter Leo was born in 1999, the same year Dandeneau was on a world tour.
The couple moved back to Humboldt in 2002, when Dell’Arte hired Ferney to handle booking and Dandeneau to teach voice and apply the marketing skills she’d picked up in previous theater work. The plan was to settle down and join the next generation running Dell’Arte. Instead, within a few years, they ended up taking their skills to their own theater.
The Creamery Building was then home to the Star Garden Theater run by Carole Wolfe. Wolfe and Corey Stevens were originally in on the plan to take over the theater, but within two years, Dandeneau and Ferney were on their own.
“Both of us came from a robust theater background,” says Dandeneau. “The idea of running a theater ourselves really appealed to us.” The rent for the 150-seat theater and its connected studio was around $800. Building owners Brian Finnegan and Lisa Thonson had a history of keeping it affordable and renting to artists.
“They’ve been really great partners over the years,” says Ferney, marveling at the rent compared to today’s market. “It’s funny, as sort of starving artists, I was worried. ‘Can we do this? Can we come up with it every month?’” he recalls wondering.
Their second child Cora had just been born. Dandeneau recalls, “I was nursing and I was like, ‘I don’t have time for any bullshit … we’re going to take over the lease and everybody can pitch in.’”
The two-month whirlwind renovation of the 1910 building was largely funded by Arcata Sunrise Rotary, which pitched in money and labor for new lighting, a kitchen overhaul and a 90-degree shift of the stage. The stage itself was donated by Blue Lake Casino. “We got martini glasses from the casino, too,” trills Dandeneau.
After celebrating New Year’s Eve in the space, they launched the Family Fun Series, using Ferney’s experience and contacts to put on three shows a year featuring acts from Scotland, Australia and Canada. (Blue Lake Casino helped out there, too, sponsoring accommodations for touring acts.)
“There’s a lot of investment from the community itself,” says Ferney. “I think there’s a sense of ownership with the theater. It’s part of why it feels so cozy. … People feel welcome and at home.”
Ferney has fond memories of the music promoter aspect of his role, of bringing in relative unknowns that packed the house. Especially since COVID-19, “It’s really meaningful to be in a room with other people and experience something that’s alive and will never be the same again.”
That includes performing himself, too. He recalls playing a hairdresser in the Club Shampoo cabaret show with Dandeneau. “I cut her hair during the act which was crazy,” he says, “and people freaked out.” She was in on the plan, he says, but holding up 5 or so inches of chopped hair shocked the crowd.
The Playhouse team also pulled off a holiday show in one week during the pandemic. It was touch and go. “A lot of the holiday shows are kind of a crazy free-for-all, and you don’t always think it’s going to come together,” says Ferney, noting they involve community members and a live band. “You don’t know if you’re going to get 20 tap dancers or a flute quartet,” he says, laughing, “and sometimes they were terrible.”
Their children participated in the holiday shows, too. “The kids basically grew up in the theater, which is cool,” says Ferney, who made a little bed in the light booth “that Cora would crash out on when she was tired.” The kids also had a little fort behind the last row of the audience.
Soon, the Playhouse expanded beyond its stage. Grant money from the National Endowment for the Arts allowed Playhouse Arts to do more with the city, moving into the literal streets with more art and parades.
Dandeneau remembers it was during her College of the Redwoods bookkeeping internship at the Ink People that Libby Maynard suggested Playhouse Arts become an arts agency for the city of Arcata. That, says Dandeneau, was advice she followed, starting arts programming with the city in 2012.
Even if you never set foot in the theater, you’ve likely come across some of the many Playhouse Arts projects done in partnership with local organizations, whether it’s taking children to make paper lanterns or watching giant puppets circling the plaza. The Humboldt County Office of Education’s Reserved Seats program brings kids from more rural and remote areas like Orleans to the theater, as well as to the symphony and art studios. And the Playhouse Arts’ Artists in Schools program sends 16 artists to classes around the county, showing kids how to craft masks and perform in them, among other activities.
Through Skue-Yech Son-Ee-Nah (We are Becoming Well), a collaboration with the Yurok Tribe, children learn about ways of seeking help and more through traditional storytelling by elders, shadow puppet crafting and performances. And the Our Space project works with houseless people, drawing funds from the city of Arcata for arts activities and a California Coastal Commission Whale Tail grant for excursions and connecting participants with nature.
The annual roving Migrations event crosses genres and borders, winding through Arcata with cultural performances along the way. Migrations has been produced in partnership with Centro Del Pueblo, Humboldt Asians and Pacific Islanders in Solidarity, and Chubritza. “By living in the community, we kind of made these connections,” says Ferney.
Humboldt Hot Air, a low-power FM station boasting some 80 volunteer DJs, is another project that Playhouse Arts helps power with fundraising, which, fittingly, comes partly from ticket sales for music events. Dandeneau, however, isn’t ready to call their music shows a cash cow. “It’s more in the black,” she says.
Neroli DeVaney, station manager of Humboldt Hot Air, came through the Arcata Playhouse apprentice program, says Dandeneau. Devaney also works with the Playhouse on Porch Fest, the Sunny Brae neighborhood music festival now in its third year.
Dandeneau and Ferney say they were always aligned in their goal of running a theater. “David wanted to bring in music, and I wanted to do theater. And it just made sense,” says Dandeneau. “It was a good sympatico thing, even when we divorced. We just had to be.” Ferney did however step back for a while, and she took over most of the running of the theater. But 11 years later, they are still working together, if not quite as much.
“None of us went for counseling.” Laughs “I think there was just a larger vision involved and this is how it had to be.”
“It was really hard,” says Ferney. “We were a couple that everybody knew. We were a family, and everybody knew us as that, and it was jarring.” But, he continues, “We still had a mission that tied us together.” They were able, he says, to adjust. “OK, we have two kids and we have this nonprofit. Let’s figure out how to get through these really hard first couple of months. … The main thing is we’ve really stayed friends, which doesn’t always happen in these situations.”
During the COVID-19 shutdown, Ferney studied in CR’s digital media program. The timing was fortuitous, as he was able to set up the equipment to stream from the Playhouse and keep it connected with the community. He still handles tech issues, video editing and recording at the Playhouse.
“I took a big break from it, but in recent years I’ve come back into performing,” says Ferney. Most recently, he reunited with former Los Payasos Mendigos member Rudy Galindo for Quixote in April. He’ll be both behind the scenes and on stage with a pair of other performers for the July 31 gala.
“It’s great to see young people taking over key positions,” says Ferney, “seeing it kind of blossom as an arts organization and seeing Jackie being able to craft that is amazing.” Even though he’s less involved these days, looking at what he helped build is satisfying.
Not that it’s all roses and applause. “There’s less funding and there’s less opportunity for straight-ahead theater and straight-ahead music,” says Dandeneau. Not relying too heavily on grant money and having multiple income streams kept the theater going through COVID, she says. “A lot of grants you write … want to know you’re reaching 3,000 people,” she notes, but in a rural area, hitting those numbers is tough. While local arts organizations work well together within the county, she says, they’re often in direct competition for grants.
Ferney sees the impact of the economy on local theaters, too. “It’s harder to fill up houses. But one of the things that has remained is the openness of the Playhouse and the accessibility … lots of people using it from day one.”
“I believe that the arts are an essential service,” key to survival, Dandeneau says. Leaner times like now call for locally based productions, so she’s working on building the theater’s own company of performers. The newly formed Playhouse Ensemble has already performed its inaugural show with The Bear in the Backyard. It’s part of her plan for the next generation to run the Arcata Playhouse.
“It’s hard as a founder to let go of your vision and your dreams. And now as a founder of the Playhouse, it’s like, hold up, I still have plans,” says Dandeneau. There’s a succession plan, she says, for stepping back and passing torches, but also to allow her to focus on her own projects. At 62, she says, “I don’t want to be working this hard for always.” There’s a young, dynamic group at the Playhouse now, “a lot of people who are like 35 and under, taking over seminal roles.”
“Having your own space is just a miracle and a gift,” says Ferney. “I still walk in a most days and think, ‘Wow, we are so lucky to have this space.’” Even when it’s a little panicky near showtime.
As for the upcoming gala, the plan is to shuffle local and Playhouse performers with Flynn Creek Circus acts. He’s hoping Dandeneau will do a song and monologue. Old friends Coventry and Koluza, a clown duo, have slots on the bill, but Ferney doesn’t know what they have planned. Even the slots that are planned will include some improvisation. “We have to put all of this together in a show, but we’ll never have a full rehearsal. It’s kind of fun to put this together with all these great performers … but it’s kind of stressful,” he says, his laugh going a little wheezy.
“I feel pretty awesome about what we’ve done in 20 years,” says Dandeneau. Echoing Ferney, she says she sometimes walks into work saying to herself, “Look at what I get to do.”
Working with artists and community members, from seniors to school children, is still exciting after two decades. “Just the people who walk through that door on any given day, it’s like this place is really going. Full steam ahead.”
Jennifer Fumiko Cahill (she/her) is the managing editor at the Journal. Reach her at (707) 442-1400 ext. 106, or jennifer@northcoastjournal.com. Follow her on Bluesky @jfumikocahill.bsky.social.
This article appears in 20 Years at the Playhouse.
