CENTER STAGE: Larry Houbre leaves the wings to take helm of Your Theatre
 
Larry Houbre feels that the eminent savant and philosopher Ringo Starr, M.B.E., hit the nail squarely on the head when he once observed, "Tomorrow never knows."
Never has the future been so sagely pegged, the longtime New Bedford theater aficionado intimates.
In his wildest dreams, for example, Larry could never have envisioned his own metamorphosis, from behind-the scenes caterpillar in the New Bedford High School and UMass Dartmouth productions of his youth, to the out-front butterfly he is today at Your Theatre.
As the newly named president of the New Bedford theater group -- replacing the venerable Cynthia Messier -- Larry says he has turned a corner he never would have believed possible, even a few short years ago.
Not only in this executive capacity, the erstwhile notoriously stage-shy 43-year-old New Bedford man adds, but also in putting himself on stage as both actor and director as he has in the past five years.
Currently, for instance, Larry is hard at work in his third directorial stint, finalizing the endless details of a play called "Deceptions" by Paul Wheeler.
Penciled in for a nine-performance run from Sept. 18-28, this two-person mystery, starring Charles Kehres and Linda Tarricone, will pack quite a dramatic punch if Larry Houbre has anything to say about it.
Yet, curiously, directing is also something Larry never cared to do previously.
"I was always technically oriented. When I started, for example, I always wanted to be backstage at New Bedford High for Armand (Marchand) and George (Charbonneau) and later at SMU for Angus Bailey," Larry says of the three local theater directors.
Sound. Lights. Curtains. Drops. Carpentry. Stage management. Wherever needed behind the scenes.
Both schools were a fabulous learning experience, he says. "I really enjoyed taking a technical problem and making it all work."
Indeed, Larry recalls with pride one particular show at New Bedford High in which he was required to rig up a telephone to ring at specific intervals during the course of the play.
And the "trouble" he got into when he made it all a bit too real.
"I rigged it so that not only the phone would ring, but also so the actor could actually have a conversation," he laughs.
"At the first rehearsal the actor picked up the phone and I started talking to him, and he started messing up his lines. When Mr. Charbonneau asked what was wrong, he said, 'There's someone on this line!'"
That's when George Charbonneau screamed, "Larry!!!"
"He knew ... automatically who was to blame," Larry Houbre chuckles. "That's the kind of trouble I got into all the time."
For as important as his high school and collegiate drama careers, however, Larry is the first to emphasize how all-encompassing has been his tenure with Your Theatre.
You name it -- he's done it.
Starting in 1974 while still in high school, Larry's Your Theatre duties have progressed from lighting technician, to lighting director, to assistant business manager, to publicity chairperson, and now to president.
And everything in between.
"But, I'm certainly not 'replacing' Cindy Messier ... nobody could possibly do that," Larry hastily explains. "It's just that after doing everything for so long, 26 years was enough for her, I guess."
Besides, she's only retiring as president... she'll still be as active as ever as box office manager and administrative office manager... all that behind-the-scenes stuff she does so well, he adds.
Thus, Larry Houbre's job, as he sees it, will not only be to chair the board meetings and sign the official paperwork, but, more importantly, to attempt "to set a vision for the organization ... a new direction."
His long-range goals are sparking community awareness, building attendance levels, recruiting personnel, and searching for a larger space. His timeline, on the other hand, is simply to get the board thinking about it, which Larry says he already has.
However, change, of course, takes time, and lots of it. Indeed, with only 24 hours in any given day, some might say time is at a premium for a married father of four young children.
Being a self-employed computer consultant with flexible hours certainly helps. So does having a realistic agenda.
"I can't envision myself being president for 26 years like Cindy, that's for sure," Larry concedes. "But in the short term I hope to serve the organization."
His most significant objective, he feels, will be to spearhead a drive for more space and bodies.
At 88 seats -- with less than 20 committed volunteer workers -- the present theater located at 71 Maxfield St. is simply too small and too under-staffed to rise to the level of greatness that Larry, for one, sees on the far horizon.
"I like to call us the most professional non-professional theater group in the area," he says. "And I believe that. But with only 15 people on the board, at least half of whom are overlapping on other duties, we simply need more people."
That's why he'd like to see an additional 40, 50, 60 people join the group. Not only actors, he specifies. But volunteer workers for set construction, lighting and audio set-ups, props and stage crews, as well.
By the same token, moving from their present location would appear to be imperative.
"I'd like for us to have between a 200-250 seat capacity. Hey, if we can remodel, fine. But we may have to move. (The vacated) Cinema 140 (for example) would be an ideal location for us to renovate into a live theater/performing arts center."
If not there, Larry feels there are any number of other area possibilities -- from Fairhaven to Dartmouth -- though he's loathe to consider them.
"We want to stay here," Larry Houbre says emphatically with a lopsided grin.
"Our hearts and souls are in New Bedford."
Hank Seaman paints "Portraits" for you every Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. E-mail: hseaman@s-t.com Telephone: 508-979-4504
This story appeared on Page B1 of The Standard-Times on September 6, 2002.
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