Coaster Theatre celebrates 50 years of performing arts

Published 9:00 am Wednesday, February 16, 2022

Frank Jagodnik jokes that he’s had 22 wives and counting.

Only one of those women actually wears a matching wedding band. The rest are friends and fellow actors who played Jagodnik’s wives in various performances on the stage at Cannon Beach’s Coaster Theatre.

“We’ve all done all kinds of different characters and relationships,” said Jagodnik, who has volunteered at the community theater with his wife, Liz McCall, for 25 years.

This year the theater celebrates its 50th year producing plays and musicals out of the former Coaster roller rink that founder Maurie Clark renovated to bring performing arts to Cannon Beach. And it’s dedicated community members like Jagodnik and McCall who have made the last five decades at the Coaster a success, according to Jenni Tronier, the theater’s marketing and operations director.

“The Coaster Theatre is, at its heart, a community theater with a big C and little C,” she said. “We rely on our community to support us and we also, hopefully, support the community as an artistic outlet and entertainment on the North Coast of Oregon.”

In honor of the theater’s 50th anniversary, the 2022 season will return several audience favorites to the stage. The season also emphasizes murdery mysteries and romantic comedies, two genres that Coaster audiences tend to gravitate toward.

“It’s all good memories, all of the shows we picked,” Jagodnik said.

This year’s production schedule is as follows:

March 18 – April 16: “The 39 Steps,” a murder mystery farce that features five actors playing dozens of characters.

May 6 – June 4: “Barefoot in the Park,” Neil Smon’s beloved romantic comedy.

July 6 – Aug. 6: “Murder on the Orient Express,” a well-known Agatha Chrstie novel recently adapted for the stage.

Aug. 10 – Sept. 10: “Clue, the Musical,” a riff on the classic board game where the audience determines the final ending.

Sept. 30 – Oct. 29: “Gramercy Ghost,” a romantic comedy in which a young woman inherits her landlady’s house — and the Revolutionary War ghost that haunts it.

Nov. 18 – Dec. 18: “Scrooge, the Musical,” a timeless musical adaptation of the classic holiday story.

Unlike most years, summer productions will show Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. The Coaster will reserve Friday evenings for special programming, including poetry readings, musical and dance performances or table readings for plays.

“It’s going to be a celebration of the arts in all capacities on those Friday nights,” said Patrick Lathrop, executive director.

In addition to the shows, the Coaster will host a monthly concert series throughout the season. Starting March 12, guest performers from the North Coast, Oregon and beyond will perform live in Cannon Beach.

The first four events in the concert series welcome back artists who have performed at the Coaster Theatre previously. “I’m welcoming them back to celebrate their time at the Coaster Theatre,” Lathrop said.

On June 28 — exactly 50 years to the date from the opening of the first production in the remodeled building — the theater will host a traditional 50th birthday party, complete with a band. Lathrop said he envisions the birthday party as the “nostalgic event” to celebrate the last five decades at the theater. He hopes to bring in volunteers and actors from the early years at the Coaster to talk about their experiences and reflect on fond memories.

History of the Coaster

The Coaster Theatre opened its doors 1972 after Clark, a Portland patron of the arts, purchased the old Coaster roller rink and remodeled it into a playhouse.

The theater hosted the Portland State University Summer Stock Company and other area performing arts groups over the summer. However, it was best known locally for its community productions of Charles Dickens plays during the holiday season. Community members would come together to script their own production, usually based around Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”

“Literally, it was families and dogs. It was anybody who wanted to be in the play was in the play,” Tronier said. “It was a really cool community thing.”

In 1985 the Coaster switched to a year-round production schedule, pulling talent from Cannon Beach, Astoria and other surrounding communities. Now, almost all of the actors, stage crew, ushers and other volunteers hail from towns on the North Oregon Coast. Clark continued to support the theater until his death in 2001, at which point the Coaster became a 501©(3) nonprofit. It continues to receive financial support from the Clark Foundation.

“The Clark family still is a part of the Coaster Theatre, which is really nice, because they have that familial connection,” Tronier said.

With the exception of the last two years, the theater has grown to produce seven shows per year, along with hosting other opportunities for the community to get involved with the arts, such as a summer children’s theater or concerts. It is often recognized by theater professionals as one of the premier community theaters in Oregon.

“The extensive effort that is put into doing great sets and having the community all involved means it just isn’t a typical community theater. It’s a step above,” said Cathey Ryan, board president. “The fact that we have been around for 50 years really says a lot about the energy that’s put into it, the connection with the community.”

Returning after COVID

During the last two years, productions at the Coaster have scaled back due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The theater produced a radio play for the 2020 holidays, and brought just two shows to stage in 2021. “We are just excited to be having a season at this point,” Tronier said of the 50th anniversary. “That is, in a sense, a huge milestone for us in our COVID world.”

The theater has implemented a COVID policy to keep actors, volunteers and audiences safe. That policy requires all cast and crew members to be fully vaccinated and for audiences to wear masks at all times in the theater. Despite those changes, most members of the theater agree that it feels great to get back on stage with a near-full season of six shows.

I think it’s going to be a lot more open as the season goes on. That’s what I’m hoping,” Jagodnik said. “And that will make (the 50th anniversary) really significant, if people can start coming to the theater on a regular basis again.”