By Rachel Galvin
Marcie Gorman-Althof has a passion for theatre. She has kept her foot in the theatrical community in one way or another for most of her life. She taught and has been a guest director at the Dreyfoos School of the Arts. She even worked in directing and producing a film called “Incubus,” and has helped with other film productions, but has found that she prefers the stage.
Today, she runs her own nonprofit theatre company, MNM Theatre Company, founded in 2014, and has plays at the Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach. Her last play was “Man of La Mancha.” Their next production is “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.” It runs Nov. 22 through Dec. 8. After that, “Cabaret,” running May 15 to 31.
But putting on plays is only one part of her contribution to the theatrical community. She also has a 3,500 sq. ft. space in Boca Raton on NW 2 Avenue near 10 Street that she rents out to productions. Production companies can build sets there, hold classes, do rehearsals and more.
Many times, theaters are booked up with other productions, and once a production company finally gains access, they must scramble to put on a show. With this space available, producers can build the sets in advance and have plenty of time to practice and then sets can be moved to the Kravis Center. That way, once the actors go there, they already know their blocking and can just focus on a last-minute tech rehearsal.
The location, she feels, is perfect, being centrally located between West Palm Beach and Miami. She also operates during off season so as not to compete with everyone else. Her goal is to bring jobs to actors and production people. She wants to let everyone know they don’t need to go off to New York or Los Angeles; they can stay right here. She hires both Equity and Non-Equity performers, live musicians and top-notch designers and technicians.
“Every waitress in New York is waiting to be discovered. Come back here. Everyone I hire has grown up here, lives here. I want to bring talented people back to South Florida,” she said.
“For each show, we hire over 50 people,” she added. “There is too much competition during season. Everyone is running shows. We are a smaller fish. Off-season, I am the only game in town. I am trying to fill a niche that no one is doing.”
She continued, “I love watching live theater. I love to watch it grow. [Live theater is different — like when actors are faced with a situation where someone forgets a line and they are forced to deal with it]. I love watching it morph from day one to the last day.”
In addition, she partners with other groups, letting them build sets or rent space for their productions, including the Shakespeare Troupe of South Florida and Primal Forces, which has shows at Sol Theatre.
For Theater Arts Productions, a nonprofit working with middle and high schoolers interested in the arts at Wellington High School, MNM provided monetary support and set building services for a three-week run of The Lion King Jr. presented at their school.
She also works with a group called Imagina, a U.S. based nonprofit that supports disadvantaged Mexican nationals, collaborating with them by providing a choreographer and letting them perform here at Rinker Playhouse on Nov. 10. In order to be brought to America to perform, the students compete, and the best ones come over, and she also provided a dance workshop for disadvantaged Palm Beach County children and the Imagina cast.
This work is done under the auspices of their Emerging Artist Initiative. MNM Theatre Company recently kicked off a $100,000 campaign for their job training program, as well as to increase the number of jobs they can offer and opportunities for students who want to intern or get community service hours.
Before she took on MNM Theatre Company, she owned several Weight Watchers franchises. The skills she developed there, employing more than 400 staff members, translated into her work in live theatre, including overseeing staff, training, problem solving and building teams.
She has been married to her husband, Stan, now for 16 years. She named her company after her children Michael and Mark. (Instead of M&M, she made it MNM). She has become a well-known asset to the South Florida community for her contributions.
To find out more about opportunities available at MNM Theatre Company, including how to get tickets for upcoming productions, visit www.mnmtheatre.org.