Ken Smouse, a retired Antioch Community High School drama and English teacher, and his wife, Betty, a former pediatric nurse at Libertyville’s Condell Medical Center, successfully turned their avocation into their vocation.
The Antioch couple helped found PM&L Theater, a small community playhouse located in the heart of downtown Antioch. Amazingly, in a field that can be as transitory as wind, particularly at the level of community theater, PM&L is celebrating its 37th season. Ken Smouse (right) recently discussed the enduring appeal of this modest theatrical gem.
Q. What is your theater background?
A. Both my wife and I were involved in the theater department while attending Hope College in Holland, Mich. I also sang with California’s San Diego Starlight Opera and helped create the Bowen Park Opera Company in Waukegan.
Q. Why start your own theater?
A. Betty and I were in a PTA play at Antioch High in 1959. So many people showed up for auditions that 12 of us decided to start PM&L in 1960. It was originally intended as a production company, not a collection of actors.
Q. What does PM&L stand for?
A. Palette, Mask and Lyre. Palette & Mask was the name of Hope College’s theater department. We added Lyre so the name would reflect music as well.
Q. Where were early productions held?
A. In the summers on a patio at Antioch High until a mini-tornado tore our set apart. In the early 1960s, we began renting our present facility at 877 Main St., which we purchased about 10 years ago.
Q. What about the theater itself?
A. It seats 183 people and dates to the pre-1920s. It was once both a legitimate movie house and one of seven theaters on a stock show circuit that originated in Kenosha and Racine (Wis.).
Q. What is your production schedule?
A. We do six productions a year, two musicals and four non-musicals. We have an open casting policy for auditions, despite the fact that we have a membership of some 80 actors. Rehearsals are held for six weeks before a show opens, and sets are built on weekends. We currently have 800 season ticketholders, and our tickets are reasonably priced: $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and students.
Q. Any famous alumni?
A. Anthony Starke of Antioch has appeared on “Seinfeld” and “Beverly Hills 90210”; Dawn Ferry of Gurnee coordinates set decor for Showtime movies; Elda Minger of Antioch is a romance novelist.
