The Last Great Days of the OB Theater Company

By Sara Blanche Hayes

Jennie Gray Connard is a passionate and fierce woman. She’s a wife, a mother, a new grandmother, a business owner, a director, a choreographer. She’s a certified powerhouse in the San Diego community theater scene. And, after seven incredible years of running The OB Theater Company, she and her husband Bill have no choice but to shut down for good.

“The thing I loved and will miss the most was Bill and I sitting together in the back of the theater on opening night, after tech week and feeling that beautiful, intense, loving energy spilling out from all of those wonderful people.”

“When we opened in 2016, we poured all of our savings into the theater. We worked our asses off (literally, sleeping at the theater sometimes in the beginning) getting it ready for audiences and performers and getting shows up and running.”

The meteoric rise of The OB Theater Company cannot be understated. Starting a non-profit is difficult on its own, but creating theatrical work is expensive. Between licensing fees, sets, costumes, rent, a 5-week run of a show can cost $25,000. Yet Jennie and Bill were determined to make a space that threaded the needle of the familial and the professional. And, after a couple years, it seemed to be working.

“We always had people around town telling us that they’d seen this or that at the theater and they were never theater people before but became so because of the theater being so accessible right in their “backyard”. We even received awards from the city for our cultural contribution… We built the theater over 4 years’ time and got it to a place where it was running easily and smoothly AND we were excited to implement our goal of paying stipends to actors by 2021.”

I came into the local theater scene in 2021, just after COVID restrictions began to lift. Everywhere I worked, I would hear stories about The OB Theater Company, which had just gone on an indefinite hiatus. Actors would go on and on about what a good experience they had, how much they missed working in OB, and how they hoped that the hiatus would end soon.

“For me, working with Jennie and Bill was my first intro to the San Diego community theater scene. It’s safe to say when I walked in it felt like home. They were welcoming, encouraging, collaborative, and a fantastic blend of the OB local scene and what San Diego community theater should be.”
— Jillian Anderson, a local San Diego actress.

This theater company had become a cultural monolith, drawing in volunteers and audiences alike from all over the county. But, in 2020, COVID put an abrupt end to theater at any scale.

“I’m sure it’s going to sound like a broken record to some, but the pandemic was what did us in as far as the theater goes. We pivoted so many times during the shutdown. Mounting a fully streamable production done with no actors on the stage together with the use of green screen.

We also put out a virtual cabaret and eventually were able to screen The Rocky Horror Picture Show with masked “go-go” shadow cast dancers. All of this was done while we continued to pay full rent on a theater that was dark for most of that time.

We finally were able to open back up but the restrictions and the continual closings due to illness eventually brought us to the decision that we just didn’t have it in us to basically start all over. And this time without our savings. All of this coupled with the fact that we had our first grandbaby on the way, and we decided we were done.”

As it turns out, this wouldn’t quite be the end. Wildsong Productions, a new non-profit theater company, led by Brooke Aliceon, moved into the space at the beginning of 2022.

“We sort of fell into the OB Playhouse space. It came at the perfect time. We were a new group eager to prove ourselves, and the community here welcomed us with open arms. OB has become a home, not just for me, but for all of us.”

It was, in many ways, a perfect fit. Brooke’s philosophy of radically inclusive theater was backed up by years of experience. Wildsong has a small team behind it, often with one individual being credited with many roles in a production, but you wouldn’t be able to tell from the caliber of the shows they put on. Brooke had created a space that, like The OB Theater Company before her, threaded the needle between the familial and the professional.

For the first time since the pandemic started, a future once began to take shape. Wildsong was only barely self-sustaining, but Brooke and her team were determined, and the broader community was beginning to take notice.

“I found Wildsong Productions shortly after I moved to San Diego in 2021… Being with the company has been exactly what I needed. As a woman of trans experience in the world of theater I felt like I’d have a hard time getting cast, especially coming from a small community in Kansas. But after just seeing a show at WSP I could clearly see the inclusivity and the emphasis they put on diverse casting and representation. I feel like I’ve found the home I’ve been looking for.”
— Ava Castaneda, a local San Diego actress.

Perhaps there’s a world where OB became Wildsong’s new home, and the community got to continue to enjoy the theater that it had grown to love so much. Unfortunately, this would end up not being the case.

“We found out that our rent would be nearly doubled by reading the listing for the property online in mid-november. It was so, so shocking, and also so sad. Suddenly, we needed to find a new space, but we couldn’t stop making shows either. It was all hands on deck from then on.”

The last show being done here in OB will be RENT, Jonathan Larson’s unfinished musical about the art, passion, and love that connects us all. Brooke laughs about the irony of the situation, although her demeanor betrays a certain level of uncertainty.

“We’ve visited over a hundred commercial spaces. We got very lucky when we partnered with Jennie and Bill. The stage was already here and they didn’t charge us many upfront costs.

However, that won’t happen with any new space we get. Construction costs, first and last month’s rent, deposits… these costs add up. $30,000 isn’t a stretch goal, it’s the bare minimum.”

It seems that creating theater at the community level is becoming more and more difficult as prices rise and audiences have less and less money to spend. While large businesses have the capital to lean on while recovering from the pandemic, small non-profits have no such luxuries.

One may then look back on all of this work, all of these years, and wonder what the point of it was. Yet the dedication of individuals like Jennie, Brooke, and Bill has shown that community theater is a project worth the nights spent working until 4am. The impact of The OB Theater Company and Wildsong Productions is difficult to measure simply because it is so vast. For some, it has even been life-saving. When asked about her hope for the future of Wildsong, she had this to say:

“We always wanted to make Wildsong an arts collective. I think we are essentially a bunch of artists who have trauma from past theater-experiences. We want to undo these traumas and provide a safe place to play and explore. Theater everywhere is built to support conventionally attractive, white, cis, able-bodied individuals, and we are tired of it. The ‘old ways’ are no longer the only way to make art. Hopefully, others will resonate with this message and join us in changing the game.”

As for Jennie, she hasn’t given up on theater just yet. Outside of running OB E-bikes with her husband Bill, she directs and choreographs for kids at the elementary school level. She is also one of her granddaughters’ primary caregivers, which is one of the best things she’s ever done.

At the end of it all, she had this to say:

“I think we just want to express our gratitude for all of the people who made our time at the theater so much fun and so incredibly meaningful. We truly loved our time producing at the theater and we believe that had the shutdown never happened, we’d still be there. Additionally, we are so very grateful for Wildsong. Not only did they help us to move on when we needed to, but they have a similar sensibility to us when it comes to community theater and it’s been a
pleasure watching what they’ve created and developed.”

I recently had the opportunity to meet Jennie’s granddaughter, Cece, at the theater. It was during the OB Christmas Parade. Jennie and Bill had cooked vegan chili with a side of brisket for onlookers. Cici and Jennie were wearing matching pink OB E-bikes jumpsuits. The toddler was riding up and down the hallway on a small scooter, giggling as Jennie pretended to chase her.

Cici wished us good luck for the show at the behest of her grandmother, who was smiling brightly. Wherever Jennie ends up, it’s clear that she’ll land on her feet, Cece bouncing in her arms.

Wildsong is currently hosting a fundraiser so they can move into a new space by the end of the year. If you’d like to support their mission, you can do so here: https://givebutter.com/RGnix4.

RENT, the last show at OB, is running until 12/23/23. If you’d like to buy a ticket, you can do so here  http://wildsongproductions.showit.site

OB E-bikes will be moving to a building on Bacon St. in Ocean Beach. You can find more information about them here  https://shop.electricbikesupershop.com