Theater group afraid the show won't go on
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER
Staff Writer

BRICK TOWNSHIP - Not everybody in town applauded the news of the impending purchase of the Ocean Ice Palace property for use as a community center. Especially not the Brick Community Players.

"I think they did us dirty," Ada Cole says bluntly.

Members of the Brick-based theater group thought their search for a permanent home was over last November. Township Council members voted unanimously to adopt a bond ordinance that included over $100,000 for a black-box theater for the group in the township-owned Civic Center on Chambers Bridge Road.

But now the township plans to sell the Civic Center and put the money toward the $5.25 million purchase of the 13.34-acre Ocean Ice Palace property. The sale of the Civic Center would leave the Brick Players "homeless," Cole said.

"When the Civic Center closes, we will have no place to perform," she said. "We've been pushed from pillar to post."

Theater group members were given no advance notice the Ocean Ice Place purchase was coming, Cole said.

"They should have called us ahead of time and advised us as to what was going to happen," she said. "They didn't tell us anything. We had no hint it was coming. Absolutely none."

But Township Council President Stephen C. Acropolis insists "nobody is going to be homeless.

"If it seems feasible to actually incorporate that function at the new site, we will make arrangements to house them over there," he said.

The decision about how the Ice Palace property will be used will be a community decision, made with the input of many groups in town, Acropolis and Township Administrator Scott M. Pezarras said.

"This is something I don't think is going to move forward without public input," Pezarras said. "This was never going to be decided by seven, eight or nine people in Town Hall."

Cole said the theater group members don't object to using the Ice Palace property for a community center, but felt they should have been kept informed.

"We really feel betrayed," she said. "I can understand what they are trying to do. They are trying to consolidate all the services spread around town. But to handle it the way they did and just brush us aside like we were nothing, after all these years? We are tired of fighting for a little space."

Both Acropolis and Pezarras said township officials could not discuss the negotiations for the purchase of the ice rink property until the deal was completed. The township spent months in closed negotiations with owner Joan Dwulet, they said.

"This was a property that became available just recently," Pezarras said. "You can't put everything out there. You can only put it out after it's been negotiated. You can't play poker with your cards face up on the table."

It was always the intent to proceed with the black-box theater, Acropolis said.

"That was before we knew the Ocean Ice Palace was available," he said.

Loretta Campagno, the director of the Brick Children's Community Theater, said she assumes the township will have space in the new community center complex for the children's theater group, which requires more space than the Brick Community Players.

"We are looking for a theater," she said.

Campagno said her group was not aware of the Ice Palace purchase either.

"But there were rumors for years they would be selling the Civic Center," she said. "We wouldn't be happy. But hopefully, it would be replaced with something else. We hold our auditions there. I would hate to lose it. But if we will be gaining a decent-sized theater … it's a very gray area."

Moving all the senior services and other organizations to the Chambers Bridge Road site means the Brick Players will have to compete for space again, Cole said.

"We would be placed in the same situation we have been in for the last 15 years, fighting for space to put on a show," she said. "The demands of the town for recreational facilities are astronomical. That's why we wanted our own small black-box theater, which would not take up that much space."

The Brick Community Players had to scramble in July to find space to put on "The Music Man," after they lost their spot at Brick Township High School because of the carnival to celebrate the high school's 50th anniversary.

"Andrea [township recreation director Andrea Zapcic] gave us space at the Civic Plaza," Cole said. "We filled the house. Every performance has been wonderful."

"Right now, what I have is what I have here," Zapcic said, referring to the Civic Center. "I've been able to help them with what I have."

But that will change when the Civic Center is sold and the recreation department is moved across the street to offices inside the Ocean Ice Palace, she said.

The Brick Players do four shows a year for free for the township, Cole said.

"We wanted to contribute to the township," she said. "We gave free shows. Our services to the community mean absolutely nothing to them. They did us dirty."

Acropolis said he hopes the Brick Players will talk to the administration and the newly formed Brick Recreation Advisory Committee.

"You have to have all the information first before you make any decisions," he said. "Nobody is going to be homeless. I hope they don't feel that way. We want to be able to work together, not as adversaries."

The Township Council voted 6-1 on July 24 to introduce an ordinance that appropriates $5,450,000 in bonds or bond anticipation notes to buy the landmark at 167 Chambers Bridge Road. The purchase includes the ice rink, an in-ground outdoor pool and 13.3 acres of fields.