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Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Kevin Courmier, with son Andy, 3, is the choir director and vice president of the Studio Theatre of California and STOCtet, a theater and choral group based in Campbell.
Local plays on a lighter note
By Erin Mayes
Attending the theater to watch a live performance can be a costly form of entertainment. People who go to the theater stereotypically pay through the nose and arrive dressed to the nines.
Campbell resident Kevin Cormier and his co-founders of the Studio Theatre of California decided to start their nonprofit group in 1994 so theater-lovers wouldn't have to shell out the big bucks. The top ticket price for one of its shows is $10, with a $2 discount if tickets are reserved in advance. Tickets for students and seniors are $8, and the $2 discount is also available.
Cormier serves as STOC's vice president, and his home is a makeshift corporate headquarters for the group. He earned a master's degree in music from California State University at Fullerton and taught high school music classes. He now holds private voice lessons in his home and is a stay-at-home dad for his two sons, Andy, 3, and William, 7. His wife, Claire, is an attorney who specializes in environmental law and is a noted expert in groundwater contamination.
Cormier, 42, is a Sunnyvale native, and his parents still live in the house in which he grew up. STOC and its choir, STOCtet, practice in the Congregational Community Church in Sunnyvale and also perform there, although they occasionally hold performances at the Campbell Community Center, 1 W. Campbell Ave. Cormier has directed plays since 1977 and serves as the choir's conductor. The approximately 20-person choir performs during each STOC play and also sings free of charge for interested groups such as senior homes.
None of STOC's members are paid, and all of the donations they receive go toward financing the group's performances. In light of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Cormier said the group may donate money toward helping the families of the victims of the disaster.
"Just because we're a nonprofit doesn't mean we just absorb all the money," he says.
STOC applies for grants from the California Arts Council, and often receives money but also experiences frustration, he says.
"They always recommend raising ticket prices," Cormier says of the council. "It goes against the reason we started [STOC]. We're thinking about the people who can't afford to go to the theater."
Over the last eight years, STOC has earned a good name for itself in the acting community, so much so that noteworthy community actors and directors are more than happy to help produce a play without being paid. As the group has improved, audiences have expanded as well.
"We started off feeling happy if we had 20 [people in the audience]," Cormier says. "Now we have anywhere from 60 to 90."
STOC is planning to put on A.R. Gurney's The Dining Room at Sunnyvale's Congregational Community Church at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday evenings Oct. 26-Nov. 3.
Auditions for The Odd Couple are planned for February. For more information, visit www.stoc.org on the web.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
