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The stage at the River City Yacht Club means a lot to Chuck Ross. For the eight years the River City Players have used the Yacht Club as their home base, the stage has been his second home.

Saturday night Ross took that stage for probably the final time at the RCP Abbott Awards, ending what he calls his local 15 minutes of fame in the community theater spotlight.

"I've just got so many mixed emotions," Ross said Tuesday. "It's kind of like when a child leaves home, you want to step back but you'll be there to catch them if they fall."

Southeast Missourian file Chuck Ross performed in a 2001 River City Players production, "Finger Painting in a Murphy Bed," with Debra Barnhouse.

After nearly four decades on the local community theater scene, Ross is now retiring from the RCP, only sticking around in an advisory role.

"I told them I'll only be a phone call away," Ross said.

These days a lot of young, fresh faces dot that stage Ross will miss so much. They mark the continuance of community theater in Cape Girardeau, and Ross has become the old man of the stage. Ross wants to make room for those fresh faces to shine.

"You kind of have to pass the torch, since there's so many new people coming in who want to be involved," said Ross.

But without the efforts of Ross and other early pioneers in the city's community theater scene, there would be no torch to pass. Ross was one of the early followers of local community theater founder Ann Abbott.

The two were friends in college in the late 1960s when Abbot decided to try to give community theater a go in the city. At the time, Ross was an English major with a theater minor and the idea of community theater appealed to his acting bone.

They got together with like-minded people and performed small shows where they could, when they could.

More than 10 years later in 1983, the first local community theater troupe was formed with Ross as a key member. Known then as Associated Community Theatre, the group started putting on productions in the location of the current River Heritage Museum, the old firehouse at Independence and Frederick streets.

The audiences were small, and the money came only from donations.

For Ross and the others involved with those early days, the only reward behind the community theater experience came from their passion for theater.

"We really didn't put a price tag on it, because we were passionate about theater, and we wanted to do it, so basically we were working free," Ross said.

"If we did three shows a year we were elated. It was just kind of a core of 10 people that really did the performances and did everything. Basically we didn't have any lighting, we used painters' lights and clipped them on to the stage."

Ross was there when the Players, then known as the Concord Repertory Players, started a stint at the old Rialto Theatre after the firehouse. The audiences were growing, the theater troupe was growing and he was growing as a performer and director.

But community theater (now known as the Broadway Players) in the city was still young, and still had its difficulties. The players were greatly appreciative of the new space in the theater, but there were still problems.

The roof leaked, and once the audience was moved back two rows during a performance to keep them from getting wet. As Ross remembers back on that night, he can't help but laugh.

After the players simply couldn't afford the upkeep on the theater, it was Ross who approached Dennis "Doc" Cain about hosting the RCP dinner theater shows in the Yacht Club. The arrangement has been beneficial for both parties, providing the Players with a dinner theater venue and bringing in more business for Cain on show nights.

Despite the sacrifices and the hard times, Ross still has fun doing theater. That attitude has endeared him to so many of the members of today's Players. They say Ross is a fun-loving guy with a real passion for theater, but who respects everyone.

"He has his heart in the theater," said Kathy Heckman. Heckman recently came to the Players in 2004, and only had the chance to work with Ross on one production -- this year's "Wait Until Dark." With Ross as director -- his favorite part in theater -- Heckman said the production was just that much easier.

"He's a very laid back director," Heckman said. "He knows what he wants, but at the same time he really treats the actors as professionals."

Among the people Heckman has worked with she ranks Ross "right at the top."

Those who have worked with Ross longer have the same sentiments. Stacey Storey, current president of the RCP board, has worked with Ross since 1995. Together they went through some rough years in the late 1990s, when the only thing that held the Players together was the work of a devoted few like Ross.

"I would say he's been kind of what's held the community theater together because we've had some pretty dark days over the last several years," said Storey. "We almost went underwater."

With only four board members and lagging membership, Storey, Ross and other die-hards struggled to do everything to make the show go on. Ross, said Storey, sacrificed himself for the survival of the RCP, even when he took over ownership of Rhea Optical and all the time involved in owning a small business.

Dr. Roseanna Whitlow knows about Ross' sacrifices. Whitlow said Ross is the kind of guy who will do anything that is needed -- "whether it's playing a character who consumes -- on stage -- a box of Twinkies each night of the performance or working on set, lighting and sound throughout the day and into the night."

Ross is a giver, giving not only at RCP production time but throughout the year. He sees a duty to give back to a community he loves that has been great to him, so he also volunteers with the Knights of Columbus and Old Town Cape's Scholarship Garden.

But despite being in the spotlight so many times, Ross prefers to back off from publicity. He seems amazingly shy and humble for someone who loves to act and direct.

In 2001, Ross won the American Association of Community Theater's Spotlight Award for his long commitment to community theater. He beat more than 4,000 entries from across the nation. Ross doesn't boast about it, but sees the win as a great honor.

Nor does he boast about his work with the Players and elsewhere in the community.

"You do what you can around town and then lay low for a while," Ross said of giving his time. "And then you smile if you've done something that matters."

Ross is done being active in the organization he helped grow, but not totally out of the picture. Of course, he'll always be just a phone call away, but he'll also always be watching.

"I wouldn't miss a show," Ross said. "I'll be here backing them all the way."

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182