NOT just anyone can be named citizen of the year. It takes hard work, passion, dedication, and involving one's self altruistically in the community. These are all qualities which describe accomplished Bermudian theatre director Joel Froomkin, this year's Citizen of the Year for Huntington, Indiana. Since moving there in 2007 he has become an essential part of the Huntington community and has brought new life to the small town's entertainment scene by purchasing and restoring The New Huntington Theatre. The historic art deco theatre is also a supper club where people can eat some of the finest food and watch some of the best entertainment in Indiana.

Mr. Froomkin spoke with the Mid-Ocean News about his career in theatre, taking over The New Huntington Theatre (he's pictured outside it at right) and being named Hometown Hero and Citizen of the Year in Huntington, Indiana along with his with his partner Rich Najuch.

"I'm artistic director of a young theatre company called The New Huntington Theatre which I founded with Richard Najuch," said Mr. Froomkin. "I studied at the University of Southern California, receiving a BFA in performance, and then stayed on to complete a MFA in design. I then moved to London, England where I apprenticed and worked for three years as a an associate producer in the theatre district of the West End and as a director regionally."

Mr. Froomkin was living in New York City when he started his quest to purchase his own theatre. He said the search to find the right theatre took some time but the wait was worth it. "Rich and I decided to move to Huntington from New York City in order to start our own theatre company," said Mr. Froomkin. "After looking for three years at different buildings around the US we found the theatre in Huntington. Everything seemed to fall into place there. The building was great, the town was great and we decided it was the right place.

"We learned about the theatre being for sale from online real estate listings. We found many theatre spaces that were available through online searches and ended up going to visit 12 of them. The Huntington was the twelfth. It was all about the building. It was a great venue for us to do long term what we hoped to accomplish."

Mr. Froomkin said becoming part of the community was essential to his and Mr. Najuch's mission. "Rich was very aware that our project would never succeed if we were viewed as outsiders," he said. "He started working on the boards of a lot of community projects and events and very quickly people seemed to value a fresh set of ideas. We began by speaking to almost every service organisation in the community and that lead to a number of invitations to work on boards and civic projects. One of the most unexpected things we were asked to do was host the Miss Huntington Pageant and we ended up doing a bunch of silly gags onstage with Miss Indiana,who had just won Miss America."

Mr. Froomkin also helped to raise money for The Arts Council in Huntington. "The local arts council sponsors arts programming for school children mostly," he said. "They try to help in the areas of the arts where the stretched-thin school budget can't. They bring professional programming into the schools, give grants and scholarships, and also provide programming for the community in the summer months. They are non-profit and are completely funded through fundraising efforts around the community."

Mr. Froomkin's and Mr. Najuch's dedication to their new home did not go unnoticed. In the year and a half since they have been there they have been honoured twice, first as Home Town Heroes and now as Citizens of the Year. Speaking about the honours, Mr. Froomkin said: "The Hometown Hero award was given to us because the committee felt that our project at the theatre was worth recognising. It was a wonderful affirmation that the community understands the hard work that is going into this project and is supporting it from the ground up.

"Being named Citizens of the Year is a great honour. It's a wonderful feeling that after such a short period of time we were awarded with this. We believe that you need to take an active role in the community as a business owner and as a member of the community and it is wonderful to have that belief confirmed and recognised in this way. Especially after only being in Huntington for a year-and-a-half."

Since moving to Huntington Mr. Froomkin and Mr. Najuch have started renovations on the elderly theatre and have already breathed new life into it by creating a supper club. "The theatre is going to be a live entertainment venue where our theatre company will stage plays and musicals," said Mr. Froomkin. "This portion of the theatre will be open following renovations in a few years. Right now our smaller space, The Supper Club, is open for upscale cabaret style entertainment. We are staging intimate shows with professional singers from New York for audiences of about 50 per night. This is like an appetizer for shows we will be doing in the full space when we finish renovations and so far the town is loving it.

"The Supper Club started because of the interest from the citizens of Huntington in us doing a show right away. When people found out about us purchasing the theatre and renovating it they started asking about when the first show would be. Since we knew we had a few years' worth of renovations to take care of before we could do shows in the main theatre we started to brainstorm about what we could do with the spaces we had already remodelled, mainly the theatre's art-deco inspired lobby. We came up with the idea of The Supper Club where about 50 people come in an evening to have a gourmet meal and see a cabaret show with four professional singers."

Mr. Froomkin, a seasoned actor, has also performed in Huntington and staged a one-man adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. "It was really wonderful," recalled Mr. Froomkin. "I did it as part of an event they have in Huntington right after Thanksgiving called 'Christmas in the City'. I was terribly nervous about it, largely because it was something I'd always wanted to do. I love the material and I love doing accents and it provided such a rich opportunity to play so many characters. It really is kind of like running a marathon but it was thrilling and the audience response we received was just fabulous. I never imagined this would happen but it seems like it's going to become an annual tradition which we offer to the community. It has been adapted so many times that people don't realize how potent, witty and poignant the original novel is."

Though Mr. Froomkin lives in Indiana he still finds time to work on projects nationally and internationally. "I still come back and forth to New York City to direct projects. I last came back a few months ago to workshop a new play with Molly Ringwald. I've also returned for a few voice-over jobs. I get hired when they need someone to do 17 different obscure accents on the same gig. And then, of course, we're back in the Big Apple right now in the thick of rehearsals for the upcoming Bermuda Festival production of William Shakespeare's The Tempest he's directing.

"The Tempest will be the culmination of almost a year of planning. It's a huge project logistically so that has needed to consume most of the early part of the year. Then I get exactly one week off and we have a full line up of productions at The Supper Club beginning in April and continuing through until the Christmas holidays. When we aren't putting on a show at The Supper Club we are working full steam ahead renovating the larger theatre."

Mr. Froomkin has words of encouragement for people in Bermuda thinking of pursuing their theatrical ambitions professionally. "I think everyone needs to find their own way," he said "I am profoundly grateful for all the theatre experience I enjoyed on the island before I went away and I think that young artists can really cut their teeth within the excellent local theatre community. Pick the best training programme you can that will really challenge you and then whenever you have the opportunity, try to work with people who will make you raise the bar and inspire you to grow. I always love working with people who know more than I do. It's means you keep developing as an artist. I think both Rich and I would chuckle to think of ourselves as role models. And it's particularly ironic that the two of us have relocated to the heart of the Mid West, a very traditionally-minded area, and we've been embraced so wholeheartedly. We never could have anticipated that folks in a 'Red State' would be so enthusiastic for a gay couple to move into the heart of their downtown and put on musicals. But we both love what we do and I think passion is infectious.

"And I think you have a responsibility as a business owner, particularly in this economic climate, to try and help your neighbourhood succeed and keep moving forward if you want to be able to continue to have an audience.

"I think very often people might be afraid to become involved in their community because they don't feel they have anything to offer. In a million years we never would have anticipated being considered the Huntington Citizens of the Year but the community is hungry for the arts and for a fresh enthusiasm and people seem to have been touched by our willingness to do whatever we are asked whenever we are able.

"Put yourself out there and if you share your passions willingly, you'll be amazed how much value people may find in your contribution. People always leave our theatre every night thanking us for choosing Huntington and it's just incredible. We're the ones who need to thank them for wanting us to be a part of their lives." - Alex Scrymgeour