With the Murfreesboro/ Rutherford County Center for the Arts in the midst of a key transition, a variety of opinions are coming from those involved with the dramatic arts in the area.

Some say the formation of a new non-profit organization to oversee the College Street venue and naming a new acting troupe called the Center Players as resident troupe is the best way to ensure the theater can survive financially and continue to produce stagework for years to come.

Others maintain the key players involved with the Center are trying to consolidate the power of deciding who and what appear on the stage to an even smaller clique of people and force out “unsavory elements,” i.e. drunks, gays and productions including profanity, nudity, drug use and other adult themes.

Andrew Ford directs many of the musicals at the Center for the Arts and supports the idea of the nonprofit organization and the all-volunteer Center Players, which he will head, taking the reins.

Ford says he just wants to see the theater support itself and host plays of a consistently high caliber.

The Center for the Arts is currently governed by the City/County Cultural Arts Commission, which, with only 10 sitting members is actually violating its own bylaws. A group approached the commission in June raising this concern, among others, but still answers seem scarce.

“I’d like to see the arts commission answer the questions put before them instead of surrounding themselves with a shroud of secrecy,” said local actor Tony Lehew.

Additionally, critics say Ford’s taste is limited to the more “family friendly” works, but what plays on the stage is simply determined by local audience demand, Ford said.

“Traditionally, the musicals and comedies do the best at the box office,” he said.

He said the amount of money and ticket sales a production generates should absolutely be a part of what drives a public theater, since it has to support itself to continue producing shows.

Some, such as Shane Lowery, want to see more diversity in the Center and do not agree with the proposed transfer of power.

“They are trying to present an image they would define as ?family values.’ But I try to think of the community as diverse as it actually is. Some people’s values are miles away from others,” said Lowery, who volunteered at the Center for the Arts for eight years and is involved with numerous acting troupes and stages around Tennessee.

“It’s really ridiculous the way they’re trying to structure it,” Lowery continued. “They’re taking a building owned by the city, funded by the city, but having a small group of people make all the decisions.”

Ford said he offers an invitation to everyone wanting to offer input and become involved in community theater.

“Everyone is welcome as long as they’re willing to be constructive and help,” Ford said.

He said many involved with other theater troupes are simply disappointed they would not have the opportunity to make money from the plays they stage in the Center.

“The only thing they’re being left out of is the ability to make money there,” said Ford in reference to past arrangements troupes have had with the CCAC to split the box office total.

The Center Players would put all of the money made from productions back into the theater, he said.

Meanwhile, across town, 25-year theater veteran George W. Manus Jr. has recently resigned from his position at the Theater at Patterson Park, saying he has become exhausted with the politics surrounding local theater.

“I’ve been going from show to show to show,” Manus said. “I just needed some time for myself. I don’t feel forced out. I’m grateful for the opportunities I have been given and I wish everyone the best.

“There were just too many strong personalities and I needed a break.”

He served as the Center for the Arts director until last year, when he left and took the newly created position at Patterson Park.

While he clearly has a love for stage production, Manus says he can not be involved with the Center for the Arts any longer, partially due to the type of productions presented as of late.

“They keep saying they’re all-inclusive, but I like more challenging, thought-provoking theater?and that’s not what they’re trying to do at the Center for the Arts,” Manus said.

He said the community is ready for edgier material.

“I think the audience is there,” Manus said, citing the large crowds such productions as House of Yes and Sordid Lives drew to the Center.

While these plays were successful and received well in the community, that was not the case for all of the works by Manus’ Out Front Productions, Ford said.

“Unfortunately, that same company did some productions that were complete flops,” Ford said. “The quality was quite variable. The next show might keep people from ever coming back.

“There’s a place for everything,” Ford continued, including edgier works, but he says the more mainstream plays have more potential to draw a good crowd.

Manus said he wasn’t as concerned with the box office totals.

“I was just trying to produce good art,” Manus said.

While outspoken artists may have strong opinions and small-town politics may be rabid, all of the players seem to have one thing in common.

“I just want there to be good theater in the community,” Manus said.