Mary Catherine Schimpf Launches Theatrico

For 17 years Chattanooga Christian School musical theater teacher Mary Catherine Schimpf has watched her star students leave Chattanooga for careers in New York City. But she wants her new theater company Theatrico to give them a chance to pursue a career at home.

“I don’t want to be the launch pad,” Ms. Schimpf said. “I want this to be a good home for them.”

Theatrico’s first show “The Fantasticks” opens July 27. The stage is outdoors, in the street, in West Village downtown. Ms. Schimpf, the creative director, has styled the small-cast love story from 1960 as a travelling circus. Acrobats and ringmaster wander into West Village, come upon the audience and begin their story on the summer night pavement, as if lead actors Michael Johnson and Jack Roden have traveled back home from the big city, this time to stay.

“I think the audiences will see something they haven’t really seen,” Ms. Schimpf said, and “Fantasticks” is the world’s longest-running musical.

All theater should be new, she said. Her new stage is “our own version”: immersive, experiential, built around these actors, this audience, what is happening in the world right now, down to the fleeting minute. She said the performance will be affected by neighborhood sound and passersby.
“A show should reflect all of those realities,” she said. There’s no dark theater, no stage and no curtain.

“In the street, all of that’s gone,” she said.

West Village developer Byron DeFoor is Ms. Schimpf’s business partner and sponsor of her art. He and his brother Ken own the Westin, Marriott Downtown at the Convention Center, Days Inn and Hotel Indigo that define West Village from Carter Street to Sixth Street. His Chattanooga Motorcar Festival began in 2019 and supports the CHI Memorial Stroke and Neuroscience Center.

“Theater is community,” Ms. Schimpf said. “He has built a very cool community called West Village. Put the two together and it’s a very obvious collaboration.”

“It’s such a cool area and he really wants people to be out and about at night,” she said.

Artists are always defending what they’re doing, Ms. Schimpf said. They must ask for any money and all support, and they must justify their requests, she said.

“I didn’t have to do any of that. He was immediately on board,” she said. “I can’t really quite explain how he is.”

Ms. Schimpf said the two met while Mr. DeFoor’s grandchildren attended CCS, with many of them in her musicals. He asked her to work with him on a few projects including the motorcar festival.

“He has become a friend and a mentor,” she said. “He’s built so many successful companies in Chattanooga.”

Mr. DeFoor came on board in December. Ms. Schimpf said his support allowed the company to embark with “excellent” professional cast, crew, costumes, orchestra, lights, paid internships, everything, and “turn this dream I've had for so many years into a reality,” she said.

“Theatrico is right now just a collection of artists,” she said. But she collected the best, tapping her former students who studied acting, directing, choreography and theatrical tech after high school.
Theatrico fills a void in the city, too, she said. The Broadway tours are fun to watch, but Theatrico offers a chance for more professionals to participate. Community theater is open to all, but Theatrico can inspire amateurs with a human-scale example.

“There’s levels and all of it is really important,” Ms. Schimpf said.

Many Theatrico cast and crew join Ms. Schimpf to direct a two-week summer camp for children at CCS, this year staging “The Jungle Book.”

The Tivoli Foundation’s summer camp for children is also directed by Ms. Schimpf and other Theatrico artists, who will stage “Raise Your Voice.” The Tivoli Foundation Director of Education Ellie Austin is a former student of Ms. Schimpf’s who also serves as Theatrico’s production manager.
Both theater camps teach kids how to do an entire show from start to finish. Afterward they’re usually inspired to pursue an interest such as painting for set design, tap dancing lessons or voice lessons.

“That’s a very natural way to hook people,” Ms. Schimpf said.

Ms. Schimpf also consults with schools throughout the year about their own musical theater programs. She said she has answers to break the barriers of space, money and training.

“That’s sort of our bread and butter,” she said.

“The Fantasticks,” theater camps, consulting and a busy CCS lineup every year all aim to answer Ms. Schimpf’s most important question: Where are the needs?

“I didn’t want to say no to anything and then miss out. I’m just owning the crazy,” she said.

“It’s going to morph. It’s going to be exciting to see the ways we can serve the city,” she said.

“The Fantasticks” performances are July 27, 28 and 29 at 8 p.m. in West Village. Tickets are on sale now. www.theatricochatt.com