Actors Studio: In Its New Home

REGIONAL — Marc Clopton calls the Actors’ Studio’s circuitous path from the Tannery Marketplace in Newburyport, where it operated for more than two decades, to its new home on the border of Amesbury and Salisbury “a sojourn.”
“I never dreamed it would take so long,” the veteran acting coach, director and producer said.
The Actors’ Studio, which has been teaching locals to act and write for 30 years, has been looking for new space since it closed its studio during Covid-19. It moved several times until it has found a permanent home in the Crossroads Plaza, a retail strip center in Salisbury amid pizza shops, driving school, yoga, fitness studios and UHaul trucks.
“The longer we have been here, the more I love it,” Clopton said.
In adding to its administrative office at the Tannery, the new 62-seat theater at 1 Merrill St., Unit #3, gives the popular Actors Studio a higher profile, surrounded by Salisbury, Newburyport, Amesbury and Seabrook, Kimm Wilkinson, the executive director, said. Because it is close to two highways, the studio is even marketing into Hampton and Rye, NH, she said.
The new studio has 2,000 square feet of open space, which allows Clopton and Wilkinson to produce shows and offer classes and have two rehearsals happening at the same time. There is plenty of parking for students and audiences.
And it is on street level with a front door and a large back door that makes it easy to load sets.
With almost $20,000 raised through Giving Tuesday and its Annual Appeal, the studio is being renovated, designing light and sound capabilities, adding a technology booth in the back of the audience, hanging new darkening curtains and black curtains over mirrors that will be useful in the future. The stage is being extended and a partition is being built to separate the lobby and the audience.
If a bank loan comes through, the plan is to buy mobile risers and staging to host meetings, dance performances and anything that may not need a stage.
The new theater is also handicapped accessible, which was the challenge that killed their dreams of finding a home at the Amesbury Theater. After leaving the Tannery, the studio relocated with much enthusiasm to the theater, built in 1912 as the Strand Theater. In downtown Amesbury, it had 753 seats and could serve food and alcohol.
But it turned out to be “a nightmare,” Clopton said. It had holes in the roof, which leaked during performances. The Achilles heel was its lack of an elevator, which the landlord agreed they could install, but reneged six months later after it produced a couple of plays.
“We put a lot of money, time and effort into it, but it didn’t come to fruition,” Clopton said at the time.
Wilkinson said, “We still were able to perform at the Firehouse and Zach Fields Studio, but no matter how well we publicized the events and where we were going to be, ultimately someone would miss our show because they arrived at the wrong location. Like most people, we all like to nest, and we needed a home.”
The new space is affordable, Wilkinson said. And because all local theater companies have trouble finding space to rehearse, she and Clopton are able to rent out some of its space at an affordable price.
With the new space, the Actors Studio can resume its regular schedule that includes six story slams, published and locally written plays and performances, plus youth performances. Clopton is most excited that the new space will reinvigorate the Northside Readers Collaborative, Writers and Actors Ink and the Workshop Product Series, all vehicles to develop and promote local talent.
Salisbury, which may not have ever had a theater, has welcomed the Actors Studio warmly. Wilkinson said she and Clopton were invited to a chamber of commerce event.
“Everyone seemed very excited that we had moved to town,” she said. “Since moving to Salisbury, our donations are up, our volunteers are coming back, and we are starting to collaborate with new and familiar partners,” Wilkinson said.
The studio has already hosted a weekend of short plays, titled Coming Home. “You could feel the energy in the room. Everyone was so happy to be back. The shows were sold out and during intermission and after the show was over, people stayed to tell tales of when they started acting at The Studio and the joy that it brought them. They cannot wait to start working with us again.”
On Feb. 16 through 25, the Studio will host OUTSIDE MULLINGAR by John Patrick Stanley, a heartwarming, 90-minute Irish play that has been greeted with rave reviews.
To join in the fun, visit www.newburyportacting.org.