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09/04/2024 08:30 AMWhat would you serve at a Jimmy Buffett-themed party? It has to be cheeseburgers for the man who famously sang “Cheeseburger in Paradise.” Well, Katie Barton is working on creating a paradise for the upcoming fundraiser for the Ivoryton Playhouse on Saturday, Sept. 14.
The party itself is named for another Buffett classic, “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere.” Katie, who is organizing the event, hopes that attendees will feel inspired to wear a Buffet-themed shirt or at least something in the spirit of the evening.
“It’s going to be casual, tropical, Hawaiian. Come in a Parrothead shirt,” says Katie, employing the term which Buffet loyalists use to describe themselves. “It’s meant as a beach party.”
There will be beach-inspired cocktails, a tequila tasting, and live music, and as well as live and silent auctions at the event.
The Buffet-inspired show, Escape to Margaritaville, will just be ending its run at the Ivoryton Playhouse after an enthusiastic audience reception led to an extension of the original closing date.
Katie and her husband Ben Hope, whose title at the Ivoryton Playhouse is executive producer, are post-COVID hires as the organization expands its staff from the bare-bones cuts which the pandemic imposed on its operations. Ben appeared earlier this season as one of the two performers in Everly, the Music of the Everly Brothers; while Katie was the drummer in the all-girl band featured in Swingtime Canteen.
Along with the upcoming fundraiser and overall development of the Ivoryton Playhouse, Katie’s responsibilities also include dealing with one of the perennial challenges facing the theater: finding housing for the actors appearing in the productions. Katie not only has to arrange for the housing, but she also has to change the linens, clean the premises, and make sure everything is ready for the performers. Katie explains that Actors’ Equity, the union which most performers belong to, specifies the requirements which must be met for the players’ housing.
Katie and her husband are not new to performing and not even completely new to the Ivoryton Playhouse, where Ben has previously appeared. However, there is much that is new in their lives, starting with their children: Dorothy Jo, 2; and James, 15 months. Now, the couple meshes day care schedules with work hours as they try to become familiar with their new surroundings.
“The biggest new thing is learning about the community, learning what people are interested in, responding to that,” Katie says of her new responsibilities.
Katie feels that the divisions in the country make theater an even more important resource for everybody.
“You can sit in the...theater next to a person you disagree with and have similar emotional experiences,” she says. “And when hateful rhetoric surrounds our lives, what you can learn through the arts is empathy.”
Katie, who comes from Georgia, met Ben at a theater apprenticeship in North Carolina. Katie had sang, danced, and played drums in high school. Ben played a variety of instruments, among them upright bass, electric bass guitar, and piano.
As performers, they toured the country, stuffing all their instruments into a Mazda3 and even including camping gear.
“We camped in Florida, in Texas. Not all the time, but sometimes,” she says.
Katie and Ben managed to maintain their traveling life when their first child was born, but they also kept an apartment in New York City, in Queens, as a base of operations between theater appearances.
When she wasn’t performing, Katie worked in Manhattan at a hedge fund in accounting. As a musical theater major, this was not something she had studied in college.
“I learned. I just worked hard on the job,” she says.
In fact, Katie worked so hard that she was offered a permanent job at the hedge fund. It included the things which she did not have as an actor, among them insurance and retirement.
Katie was tempted, but at the same time, she got an offer for an engagement in Houston.
“I took Houston. It was opposite Ben. I chose the path of acting,” she says.
However, the path of acting came to an abrupt halt during COVID. One by one, all of Katie’s appearances were canceled, eight contracts in all. With no work, the couple chose an innovative way to stay afloat. They bought a fixer-upper in Sparta, New Jersey; flipped it; and were able to buy a house in Connecticut with the profits.
Of course, it’s not that moving was easy. Katie was pregnant with James, but the position at the Ivoryton Playhouse offered the couple the permanence which life in a loaded Mazda3 could not. Connecticut was a surprise on many levels.
“So many transitions at once—new place, new job, new parents,” she says.
Still, they are enthusiastic about the area.
“We love it. It has everything we need—proximity to New York, the ocean, hiking, outdoor activities, friendly people. I had no idea at first all that was here,” she says. “But we’ve ended up in a dream place.”
There is something else which also is different these days. Instead of the tiny Mazda loaded with musical instruments, Katie is now driving around in a Subaru Forester. It is still full, but the baggage is now car seats and toys. The musical instruments, however, are not gone from the scene.
“They are in Ben’s car,” Katie says.
The It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere party and fundraiser for the Ivoryton Playhouse is taking place on Saturday, Sept. 14 at 5 p.m. For tickets, visit ivorytonplayhouse.org or call the box office at 860-767-7318.