Andoe's Society Page: Why St. Louis Is a Great Arts Town

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SEAN GOTTLIEB

RFT society columnist Chris Andoe makes his fringe debut in the one-man show he wrote and will star in The Final Performance of Midnight Annie.

At the historic Lafayette Square home of Matthew R. Kerns and Sean Gottlieb, I finished a read through of my upcoming STL Fringe show, The Final Performance of Midnight Annie, for theater guru Joan Lipkin, producing artistic director for That Uppity Theatre Company.

At the beginning of January, I was approached by Kerns, St Lou Fringe president and artistic director, about headlining the festival.

While my primary medium is the written word, I've been around the theater as long as I can remember. When I was in middle school and my brother Bill Andoe was in college, he was the technical director for the long-running Trail of Tears play in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. I used to spend summer weekends with him and wandered the set befriending the cast. In my adult life, I've covered theatrical productions. Still, I've always been an outside observer until January, and it's been fascinating to watch Kerns practice his craft, masterfully turning my stories into stage direction and dialogue.

Lipkin had terrific notes to share after my reading, and then the conversation turned to why St. Louis is a good city for the arts. The consensus was that our city is large enough to have great resources, talent and audiences, but is infinitely more accessible than larger cities. Having lived in places a third this size as well as in coastal capitals, I was in agreement.

"People always ask why I have stayed in St Louis and made it my base, especially since I have worked all over the country and also in Europe," Lipkin said. "In addition to the essential greater affordability for many who live here, my answer is scale. In a smaller city, there may not be enough resources and institutions with which to connect. In a larger city, like New York or LA, it is possible to get things done but there is such mass and density and clamoring for opportunities that it is much more challenging."

Kerns added, "Being an artist in St. Louis offers the opportunity for creative work makers to leave an indelible imprint on the region through their artistic expression. There are resources, info-structure and an ecosystem of support at all levels of the community all meant to support the artists' work."

"If you are diligent and have something to offer, you can get things going," Lipkin said. "Performing and being seen is not a pipe dream. It's a real possibility. And that's a beautiful thing."

I mentioned that my next stop was a dinner party in the Bevo Mill Neighborhood. The always-scheduled Lipkin had also been invited, and seemed perplexed by what was to her an out-of-the-way location. "I live in the Central West End, I don't just pop in to Bevo."

Saw this on Facebook, how do we feel about it? "Map of STL for NYers"
by u/trumpet_23 in StLouis

I was reminded of the "Map of STL for NYers" that was going around a while back, showing areas of St. Louis as New York boroughs (with Illinois as New Jersey). According to the map, Lipkin lives in St. Louis' Manhattan, while Bevo is part of Staten Island. Lipkin, a Chicago native who spent many years in actual New York, certainly meant no disrespect to Bevo. It's simply out of her orbit. St. Louis is, after all, a constellation of tight orbits. The map identifies the part of south city where I live and play as Brooklyn, and as adventurous as I strive to be, my default is to stay roughly within those boundaries. When I was recently invited to dinner in Maplewood, for instance, I went, but it somehow felt like an off-the-wall place to go.

As opposed to New York Harbor, only a line on a map separates our Brooklyn and Staten Island, so I was easily able to make Grayling Holmes' intimate dinner party where he served an exquisite tray of Chef Heidi Syke Hamamura's sushi, complete with edible flowers and flakes of gold. Holmes had just interviewed Hamamura for an upcoming story in Sophisticated Living Magazine St Louis. Taberu, Hamamura's delivery and catering business, has a months-long wait list, so getting to experience her artfully constructed sushi was a treat. A perfect ending to an evening about creating art in this byzantine metro.