Pubdate: Sun, 08 Aug 2004 Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB) Copyright: 2004 Calgary Herald Contact: http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66 Author: Don Braid PLAZA PLAYS QUELL DRUG DEALING The show goes on every evening at 6:36 in Olympic Plaza -- and the crime rate goes down. The drug deals fade away as an audience of hundreds takes the chairs on the amphitheatre steps. Homeless people gather round and watch, often after helping set up the show, a fine Summerstock production of Fiddler on the Roof. Fiddler started last week and runs every night until Friday, on a stage built over the reflecting pool. Everybody involved notices the positive impact on the whole area. Summerstock is a young people's theatre group that works for nine months at Chinook College to put on its annual show. This year, my daughter's in it, so I'll concede to being biased. But everybody else, including audiences that come to their feet every night, feel that these young people put on a remarkable entertainment. Apart from the pure pleasure of it, the social benefits are striking. "There's no doubt that the crime rate really does go down when there's programming like this in the area," says downtown Ald. Druh Farrell. "Summerstock is absolutely wonderful -- Ald. Madeleine King and I were delighted when they approached us last year about performing in the plaza. "The more of this kind of activity we get, the better the plaza will be." There's more all the time, thanks to the admirable Olympic Plaza Cultural District, which my colleague John Gradon wrote about Friday. John pointed out that on Aug. 12 last year, a shot was fired in the plaza, during an altercation that saw young men running through the reflecting pool. Summerstock was performing Guys and Dolls that week, but the performers had a day off, so the stage was dark. Summerstock security people who were guarding the stage and set called in the shooting. Everybody connected with the plaza feels that if the show had been on, the fight wouldn't have happened -- or at least not there. "We all believe that," says executive producer Brandie Sedore. "There's never any trouble on nights when we're performing." What happens, instead, is generous and friendly co-operation between the show and the street people. "We encourage co-operation with the people who inhabit the area, and we always get it," says director Jim Senft. "The young street kids always get involved and become very protective." Last year, Senft says, a cast member inadvertently got left behind after the LRT closed down. A group of street people walked this boy all the way to his suburban home to make sure he was safe. Druh Farrell says such things happen wherever declining downtown spaces are rejuvenated with performance and artistic events. The best example in the world, perhaps, is New York's Bryant Park, which used to be a needle park shunned by everyone but addicts and criminals. From that condition, far worse than Olympic Plaza's, Bryant Park has been transformed into a wildly popular space with a summer film festival and performances of Broadway hits. That can happen in Olympic Plaza, too, but it's going to take more work from the city, and some money. The reflecting pool has leaked for years. The green space needs a redesign so the sightlines are more open. The Olympic Plaza Cultural District could use funding, although it has done wonders with its shoestring annual budget of $50,000. There's already a spectacular show on the wall of Teatro restaurant by the Springboard Dance Company. The U of C's Wagon Stage does free interactive theatre for children, and Latino Expo is coming up Aug. 26 to 29. For much of the year, though, the plaza remains dark -- and a lure to those who thrive in the dark. Calgary's signature downtown space deserves far more. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart