When the curtain falls

In my two-plus years in Cape Girardeau covering local theater, I've had few contacts as close as Bart Elfrink. That is, unless you count Bryan Parker, but he works here at the Southeast Missourian, so we'll just leave him out.

Those of you who don't know Bart and his wife, Meredith, have missed out -- they're intelligent, funny and, most importantly, friendly. It's easy for people engaged in artistic pursuits to become quite enamored with their own talents, but not these two. "Down to earth" can only begin to describe this husband-and-wife team.

But if you haven't gotten to know the Elfrinks already, it may be too late. For the entire duration of my time here at the Missourian, the Elfrinks have been two shining stars of the River City Players, Cape's own community theater group. Both of them acted and directed at different times, and as with all the Players, probably filled other support capacities as well. Those Players work hard, even though they also have fun.

In fact, Bart provided myself and his audiences with some of the funniest moments I've seen on the Players' stage. Take the recent Players production, "The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (abridged)" (yes, the spelling is correct). Elfrink cracked me up as one of three guys running through the Bard's complete catalog using the absolute height of humor -- cheap juvenile gags and wordplay. It was awesome -- the funniest Players production I've ever reviewed.

Of course, Meredith directed the production, as she did with another Players comedy this past season, "It Runs in the Family" (which also featured Bart). Yes, these two are involved in just about every Players production -- or were.

When the new RCP season starts next month with Neil Simon's "Barefoot in the Park," Bart and Meredith won't be a part of Players. They're done, moving away from our area in May, taking their talent with them.

This was not the news I expected to hear last weekend when I attended the Players' annual awards dinner, but I got it. Needless to say the news put a bit of a damper on my evening.

To me, the Elfrinks stand as the epitome of my prescription for the arts in Cape -- two fairly young, creative people who do what they love because they love it. The only awards they got for their work with RCP are the awards the RCP gives out itself. And they were never, ever pretentious. If anything, the Elfrinks were self-effacing -- never talking about their own worth, instead talking about what they could be doing better.

For me the Elfrinks have been the face of the River City Players, and those qualities that make them great people are the qualities the entire community theater organization possesses. The Players know their productions aren't perfect, but they try hard to make them as good as they can be. These people love theater and each other's companionship -- you should have seen them at the dinner last week, whooping it up like fans at a rock concert.

The best part about them is that the members of the Players go above and beyond, just to add some diversity to our arts community. Players are normal folk like you and me -- they have jobs, families, school, etc. But when they're working on a production, they spend all their free time on the second floor at Port Cape Girardeau, dedicated to making a theatrical production that will please Cape Girardeau audiences.

And the Elfrinks were more involved than just about anybody. Look over the Players' productions over the past couple of years, and you'll see at least one of their names attached to most productions in one capacity or another.

Yes, I hate to see the Elfrinks go, but I guess change is inevitable. They're not the first people to leave Players, and they won't be the last. Kathy Heckman, a faithful member of the Players for the past couple of years, also announced last weekend that she's moving and won't be a part of the next season.

Such is life. But as long as other thespians are there to take the place of people like the Elfrinks and Heckman, the show will go on. But it won't be the same.

~Matt Sanders is the Arts & Leisure editor for the Southeast Missourian and the editor of OFF Magazine.