Local theater celebrates 25 years

No Strings Theater Company, fueled by volunteers and donations, celebrates 25 years in Las Cruces with an upcoming season tailored with familiar and unusual plays, the owner said.

Ceil Herman and her husband, Peter, both former biology department faculty at New Mexico State University with an interest in theater, decided to open No Strings Theatre Company (NSTC) after retiring in 2000.

They opened the theater intent on introducing theater goers to plays the Hermans consider “a little bit off the wall.”

As artistic director, Ceil Herman is ultimately in charge of deciding which seven plays will be performed for the season and likes to direct three herself. The remaining four plays are done by guest directors and selected based on their interests.

While they’ve accepted original scripts written by local playwrights in the past, this upcoming season consists of already-existing productions.

“It’s got some drama, comedy, thrillers and absurd,” Herman said. “It’s got a real good mixture of genres, which I think is good.”

Herman hopes having plays this season with name recognition like “Frankenstein;” the works of Jane Austen and Stephen King will get people out of their houses and into the theater.

“We need an audience,” Herman said. “It’s really important for the actors to have people there seeing the play, and support for us as directors after putting in all that time and work.”

Passionate about what they do, the theater’s directors often take on multiple roles. In fact, one of the biggest challenges planning out the season stemmed from Autumn Gieb, NSCT’s stage manager and costumer designer, needing to find a director to replace her for the Jane Austen play. She’s a big fan of Austen’s work and wanted to act in it. However, given her existing workload, she had to sacrifice her directing spot.

Ceil Herman expects to face some challenges as well, particularly with staging “Frankenstein.” While she is excited about everything she directs, she said thrillers are not a genre she’s experienced in and directing five actors is difficult.

“It’s a story everybody knows, but the play itself is very interestingly structured,” Ceil Herman said. “So, the trick of this play is to make sure that the audience is with it and not going in with preconceived notions of the Frankenstein story.”

While filling seats is important to Ceil Herman, she prefers measuring “artistic success more than commercial success.” She loves receiving positive feedback from attendees, whether in person or online. She also knows a performance went well when the actors feel “involved and invigorated.”

When Ceil Herman isn’t using the NSTC theater space for shows, she likes to host other talents. Before their premier show on Aug. 15, No Strings Theater Company presented a dance company from El Paso, a Gilbert and Sullivan production and a CD release performance by local musician Chris Sanders.

With more volunteers, the theater compay would like to bring back activities they’ve done in the past like make-up workshops, acting workshops and table reads, Ceil Herman said.

“We’re still here,” she said. “We’re still in business after 25 years. We’re still doing things that are unusual. Still come and see us. That’s what we hope for.”