"Source" of Knowledge

Recently, I had the opportunity to help Pat Murphy Sheehy, Producing Artistic Director Emeritus of Source Theatre Company, organize old Source archives. All I can say... WOW. Source has such an unbelievably rich history. Being from California, I did not have the benefit of growing up with the Source Theatre Company. I do, however, have the unique perspective of having only gotten to know Washington over the past year. So I can see what a night and day difference there is between the 14th Street of trendy stores and hip restaurants and the 14th Street where a police officer once warned Pat to go home quickly for her own safety. Flipping through twenty five years of photos, the building changes only a little, while the changes around it are incredible. You realize what an impact the scrappy theatre community had on what was, after the '68 riots, a pretty bleak neighborhood. And simply because it refused to go away, decided to give 14th Street a go, even when others left for greener pastures. Rehearsals sometimes took shape in the back alley, alongside other, less legal activities. People lived in the second floor of Source. Pat was warned by the police to go home before she became the victim of a crime, and, more memorably, was once stopped by officers who thought she might be - as a lone female pacing the sidewalk outside of Source - perpetrating a crime of her own. Looking through pictures, you see not only up and coming actors, directors and producers, but Washington lumineries and power players - Mrs. Walter Mondale, even! Something special must have been going on. Another thing that sticks out when you are shuffling old papers and flipping through programs of plays long since gone are the names. Even for someone whose knowledge of Washington theatre is, admittedly, underdeveloped, the names speak to how important Source was in the lives of so many. Actors, directors, playwrights, producers, costume makers... so many people in the Washington theatre community got there start at Source. One of my favorites was a snapshot of Patrick Stewart, Executive Director of Atlas Performing Arts Center, as an intern at the Washington Theatre Festival. It is, at the end of the day, wonderful to know that the work I am putting into saving Source for a new generation of theatre professionals and 14th Street residents will someday give someone their big (or little) break.