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Special Section: Community Theatre
The Avalon Theatre storefront inside the
Crestwood mall
Kevin M. Mitchell
Larry Mabrey, co-founder
and artistic director of
Avalon Theatre, and Erin
Kelley, co-founder and
managing director
St. Louis Mall Opens
Doors to Theatres
In a merger made in heaven, barren mall lets arts groups in
By Kevin M. Mitchell
Just a few years ago, Laura Ackermann was that typical suburban
Mom who would drop her daughter Ali off at the bustling
Crestwood Mall so the teenager could do the “mall rat” thing.
Ackermann would shop and then eat dinner with her later.
Today the long time beloved St. Louis actress goes to the
Crestwood Mall for a very different reason: To rehearse for The
Subject Was Roses at Avalon Theatre’s new home—a former Men’s
Alive retail clothing store. In a first-ever move, a mall in serious
decline has opened up its increasing empty retail spaces to the
arts, with Avalon being the first to stake a claim.
“It was such a pity for all those empty spaces to just sit there,”
Ackermann says. “Now the mall has taken on a different flavor.”
What is happening at this archetypal place redefines the
phrase “win-win.” You have a mall hemorrhaging stores, becoming
a disheartening ghost town that is increasingly unappealing
to shoppers, which leads still more retailers to leave. Then you
have all these smaller theatres in typical less-than-ideal places in
often questionable neighborhoods (“I’ve played places where
you’re lucky your car is still there when you come out at night!”
Ackermann not-so-jokes).
So the 51-year-old Crestwood Mall is inviting those theatres,
and other arts groups, into their space, bringing new life to its
barren corridors. Avalon is taking advantage of the low rent (as
low as $50 a month), 24-hour security, and plenty of free covered
parking. Larry Mabrey, co-founder and artistic director, and Erin
Kelley, co-founder and managing director, are absolutely ecstatic
to be there.
“We applied for the space in November, signed the lease
December 12, and will have our first show up in February,” Mabrey
says. “It’s good for us, and is a way to revitalize the mall.”
Nine Theatres Moving In
Leisa Son, Marketing Manager for the Jones Lang LaSalle
Company, which owns the mall, says this idea sprang from one of
the owners, Sol Barket, an arts-lover with a son at Juilliard. Faced
with increasing vacancies, he asked if there was something they
could do for the arts. “I couldn’t come up with angle, so I called
the St. Louis Regional Arts Commission,” Son says. They more than
helped get the word out.
“I thought I’d get five or 10 applications, and we received more
than 100,” notes Son.
With everything, there is a catch: the mall owners estimate the
economy will turn around so they are only committing to the arts’
group for two years (though many insiders think that could last
up to five).
“The brothers were raised in St. Louis and they are driven to
create something new and exciting,” says Son. “Our audience
for this project is small theatre and dance companies, and artists.
We’re business people and we want to make money, but our goal
is much greater than just that.”
Son is pleased that Avalon was able to get up and running so
fast. “They are amazing people to work with, very professional,”
she says. “They are very creative and we’re delighted to have
them be part of this project. I’m going to quickly become a theatre
buff!” Currently eight other theatre organizations are slated to join
Avalon. Some will set up their entire home there, while others will
use it for classes, rehearsal, and/or storage.
And the global commercial real estate services company is
already being rewarded for their altruism. Theatres moving in
have not only excited retailers still in the mall, but Son says it’s
already fueled interest in other retailers moving in. This is certainly
a welcomed development—just in the past year two of the three
big anchors, Dillard’s and Macy’s, have left.
The Road for Avalon
Mabrey hails from San Diego where he started singing and
dancing at age four. While working on his BFA at Columbia
College in Chicago, he met Erin Kelley. They were cast as husband
and wife in I Do, I Do and later would marry for real. Kelley grew up
in Nashville, and like Mabrey, performed in Chicago and New York
before the two moved to St. Louis.
Kelley notes while the town had a decent theatre scene, the
20 April 2009 • www.stage-directions.com