BY ANDY TAYLOR
Montgomery County Chronicle

COFFEYVILLE — It’s crunch time in a Coffeyville Community College theatre, and director Mark Frank sees a problem.

Just days before the CCC theatre department presents Mel Brooks’ hilarious “The Producers,” one particular notable scene is awfully raw.

A group of eight unhappy accountants sit at their manual calculators, adding up the slow dribble of dollars and cents that have been collected for a Broadway show that has been nothing but a bomb.

“Unhappy, so very unhappy,” sing the accountants in a melancholy voice.

However, Frank says the accountants need more spark . . . something that allows their body language to give off the negative vibe to the audience.

“Come on, guys, this isn’t rocket science,” demands Frank. “Show more animation. Show us that you are unhappy. Don’t just tell it to us in the song.”

And, one by one, the eight theatre students portraying unfulfilled accountants begin the quick evolution from green-behind-the-ears amateur actors to theatrical pros.

Shy expressions turned into miserable frowns. Eyes that once had no feelings about the songs seemed to tell a story of woe and disdain. Body postures that were, at the beginning, nothing more than eight guys sitting at accounting tables turned into slumped specters of torment and unhappiness.

By the end of the number, the cast and technical crew in the Spencer/Rounds Theatre on the CCC campus are rolling in the aisles at the animation and quirky body language that makes the “Unhappy” song such a memorable one.

Frank’s demanding directing style worked.

“When you show yourself to be unhappy, the payoff will be huge,” said Frank. “The audience will love it.”
Chalk one up for Frank — the theatrical teacher who has yielded such perfection dozens of times over his 15-year stint as the CCC theatrical director.

And, when the curtain rises tonight (Thursday) for the four-day showing of “The Producers,” Frank will hit a theatrical milestone: his 100th directed play at Coffeyville.

“I’m totally happy doing what I’m doing here,” said Frank. “I find success to be the happiness you find in what you love to do the most. And, in my case, I love the college theatre.”

Frank came to CCC in 1994 . . . and found a theatrical program that consisted of only two scholarship students and an auditorium in dire need of new blood.

“I literally had to go out and beg kids to be in the theatre program,” he said. “The auditorium itself was something out of the 1960s. I think it was intended to be more of a lecture hall than a theatrical auditorium.”

Slowly, Frank began to put a spark in the fledgling theatrical program. And, he did it be directing plays that were downright fun for the college crowd. Although his repertoire of 100 directed plays over 15 years has been sprinkled with a dose of “serious” theatre (i.e. Shakespeare, Faulkner), it does have a heavy appeal to lively, modern performances, including absurd comedies like “The Producers.”

“Mel Brooks is one of my greatest influences,” said Frank. “It’s the type of theatre I love and the type of guy I am: strange, quirky, absurd and twisted.”

So, the CCC theatre stage often can be found with things that seemed to fall out of a script from slapstick sitcoms. That’s why shows like “Bat Boy” and “Little Shop of Horrors” have found a following among aspiring theatrical students at the college.

And, it’s also why Frank has turned from directing to playwriting. During his 15 years at CCC, Frank has become a published playwright, which includes “A Collection of Plays by Mark Frank” and “A Collection of Plays, Volume II.” He currently is in the process of publishing his third book, “A Collection of Plays by Mark Frank, Volume III.”

The whole playwriting experience — combined with the skill of directing and commanding post-high school students — is a part of the daily life in the college department, which also has included dinner theatre, improvisational comedy, one-act plays, and summer children’s theatre and camps as part of the program.

Today, Frank has 75 scholarship students — a far cry from the days when he entered the Spencer/Rounds Theatre and found two lonely theatre students waiting to cut their teeth on stage.

Several years ago, the Spencer/Rounds Theatre underwent a major renovation, which included a new lighting and sound system — two elements that have enhanced the theatrical performances at CCC.
“For a small community college, we have a fantastic auditorium,” he said.

What’s next for the veteran CCC theatre skipper? Frank said he and his wife, Bethanie, who has assisted him as a theatre instructor over the course of 15 years, plan on staying in Coffeyville and only enhancing the very craft they have spent the past decade and a half nperfecting.

“I would love to do a joint theatre performance with Independence Community College,” said Frank. “ICC has a great theatre program, too, and I think if we could collaborate on one joint performance, we could really impress a lot of people in the area. It would show that we have two colleges that can work together instead of having a rivalry on the football field.”