A CENTURY OF ANTIOCH CULTURE The Lawrences of Antioch Tell their Story
	OCTOBER 2005

by Don Huntington
Photos by Russell Byrne

Between the two of them, Tom & Betty Lawrence have been promoting the arts for almost a century. They have spent nearly all of that time working with performing arts in Antioch. Tom and Betty have each created a separate and wonderful legacy.

Tom — Master and Practitioner of
The Theater Arts
Tom worked on a play for the first time in Antioch in 1962, the year after he and Betty arrived in town. He began his extraordinary run in Antioch theater arts while teaching music in junior high and elementary schools. He had run up a debt in a previous place putting on a Christmas program.

“How will I pay for this?” he asked the school administrator. “Put on another performance and charge for it.” Tom turned the suggestion into a workable plan and during the next several decades he produced two shows every year, one to pay for the other.

Tom learned a lot of lessons from that school of experience. In that first Christmas program, for example, he learned not to create a blue sky in a set by covering plaster of Paris with paint. Five minutes before the curtain went up, Tom said, he found himself lying on his back like a distracted Michelangelo, desperately spray painting with a flit gun sprayer the spots that had suddenly begun appearing in the sky as the paint had begun dropping a blue snowfall onto the set below.

Tom was never afraid of a challenge. Right from the beginning he staged demanding productions and in the process mastered all the parts of musical theater. He produced Pinocchio, and a play called Mrs. Wiggs and the Cabbage Patch that had an unpredictable plot about the Spanish American War featuring the love of a girl named Eurasia for a spavined swayback horse name Cuba. Tom said they paid royalties for a musical production of Tom Sawyer, but weren’t satisfied with the quality, so he decided to begin writing his own music. For example, he wrote the music for the caterpillar in the musical recasting of the Alice in Wonderland story.

Early in his career as theatrical producer and artistic director, Tom put on six major productions in six years, including Guys and Dolls, Li'l Abner (twice), Oliver, Once Upon a Mattress, and Charlie Brown — all of these performed by children who were not yet in high school. Tom did the set design for every production. Oliver was the biggest production, Tom said, with over 100 kids involved. The choir at that time was especially great. Tom took two choirs to the California Music Theater Festival that year and both received a Superior rating.

The second year he was in town Tom branched out into Community Theater by becoming involved in the Rivertown Theater back when it was still called the “Antioch Little Theater.” Over the subsequent years, Tom said that the name changed a number of times, to “Antioch Performing Arts Guild,” then “Antioch Regional Theater,” before finally settling on “Antioch Rivertown Theater.” The theater members particularly appreciate their current name, because it forms the acrostic, ART. Over the years, Tom said, the theater group has paid the City of Antioch more than $125,000 in rent.

Tom credits much of the success of the theater group to a fellow retired schoolteacher named Margaret Wilcox, who he called the real mover and shaker behind the theater. “Margaret is a remarkable woman,” Tom said by way of summarizing her character.

Tom was involved in all parts of his productions, including acting, directing, and designing and building sets. When the theater put on Life with Father, Tom designed and built the set, and played the lead role. He wrote a fresh script and built the set for Dickens’ Christmas Carol. Tom’s production of The Best Man forced him to create an onstage illusion of an elevator and two apartments. He produced separate productions of Arsenic and Old Lace in two different theaters. Arsenic was a challenging piece, Tom says, because it features a staircase. This was particularly difficult for the production at the Nick Rodriguez Center, which has sufficient space in only one place for a staircase.

Tom did a lot of acting but said he was no quick study. His difficulties in memorizing parts forced him to do things like write his lines on his sleeves, on the margins of his book, and on pieces of prop furniture. He played the character named Whiteside, in a production of The Man who Came to Dinner. He said that after working on the part for six months he still was unable to memorize his first line so he wrote it on the margins of a prop book he carried in his lap while sitting in a wheelchair. The first time he came wheeling onstage, however, he discovered that he was carrying his book upside down.

Tom praises the power of live theater to bolster a young person’s sense of self-esteem and self worth. He said that he has seen young people transformed by a role — from being shy, self-doubters to projecting vibrant self-confidence. He recalls that the boy who got the lead role of the Jester in Once Upon a Mattress, for example, was very reserved and possessed poor reading skills. Through the acting experience the boy developed his reading skills, learned to dance, and acquired some wonderful techniques for surviving and even thriving in life.

Tom said that the theater provides opportunities for people from the community to explore their abilities and to meet new people. Needs abound for skilled people like carpenters, electricians, soundmen, beauticians, seamstresses, public relations specialists, and grant-writers to help with productions.

Rivertown Theater produces three adult shows and two children shows every year. Children are bussed in from the elementary schools and are given what will be, for some, the first opportunity to watch a live performance.

Through community theater and school stage productions, Tom spent decades in shepherding people to personal success and fulfillment. In the course of doing so, he has also brought great entertainment to thousands of us East County residents.

Betty — Bringing Children to Music While Bringing
Music to the Community
Tom’s wife, Betty got into music as a child when a salesman appeared at the door of her parents’ house, selling music lessons through an organization called The National Institute for Music and Arts. She took her first violin lesson before she was six years old. Lessons were conducted in groups. Each lesson lasted only 15 minutes and cost her mom a quarter.

Betty advanced to the Berkeley Youth Symphony when she was nine years old, which made her the youngest musician in the symphony. The printed program prominently featured her picture. It turned out that young Thomas Lawrence, who was 15 at the time, looked at the likeness of the little girl and said to his friend, “Look how long that girl’s hair is!” It never occurred to him, of course, that one day he would marry that little long-haired girl. Betty eventually graduated from the University of the Pacific in Stockton and began teaching in Stockton in 1952. She and Tom married, had three kids, and then moved to Antioch in 1961.

Betty spent her entire professional life teaching music to children. Through private lessons she continues teaching to young people, beginning the first lessons when a child is only three years old. At that age, she said, you can teach music only as you would teach the child a new language. She said that rhythm, the basic syntax of all music, is the first subject in the primer of this new “language.” Three-year-old children have limited attention spans so she gets the little ones up on their feet and around the room they will go, marching and clapping to the music.

At the early stages, Betty said, she would involve a parent in playing games with the emerging musician. A game might be made out of putting the violin on the children’s shoulders, for example. They would also play Name Your Violin. (Betty said that she named her violin Gypsy Rose.) She would lead the children in clapping games, marching in rhythm while doing an up and down movement of the arm, which is a bow stroke. Or they would play the game of stirring a witch’s cauldron, which is another violin stoke.

Betty’s group lessons provided great experiences for the children! “Kids are natural joiners,” Betty said. “They love doing things in groups with other children.” Betty’s young musicians would learn music with other kids their age, which encouraged an opinion that learning music must be okay. Because of this, children learn music best in a group with other learners. Something magical happens when children watch other children practice and perform. They are inspired to make music also.

Betty started a group called the Antioch Strolling Strings. Since the beginning the group has always been open to anyone who could handle the music. There were no auditions. Anyone could come to rehearsals for three weeks. After that Betty would lead the child in making the decision about membership in the group. Antioch Strolling Strings plays a variety of musical styles, which is a feature that the children like.

Betty began her first Strolling Strings group with 12 kids in the 1984-1985 school year. That number has increased to the current highest level of 43 members. Many of the little performers remain throughout the entire six to eight years of their eligibility. For 18 years Betty’s husband, Tom, served as accompanist, composer, and arranger for the group.

During the first two years the Antioch Strolling Strings performed as part of the Antioch school system. When she announced her retirement in 1987, a board member came rushing up to Betty in a panic, “What’s going to happen to the Antioch Strolling Strings?” Betty indicated that she had no plans for the group. “What if we help fund it?” he asked. Betty was speechless, but she said that the group really was worthy of community support. It provides wonderful PR for the community, on one hand, and creates a positive influence in the lives of the children, on the other. “The press is so full of how awful our kids behave these days,” Betty said, “But here are young people who are achieving something really excellent.

The group stages between 15 and 25 performances during their nine-month season. The group’s program is varied for the particular audience. The group performs pieces ranging from Bach to fiddle tunes and Irish jigs with almost everything in between. Betty said that the youthful performers are learning not only how to play but are developing performance skills. “We’re glorified gypsies,” Betty said. “We’re playing interesting music sometimes with a spirit of gay abandon.” Some people in the audience who don’t like Strauss clap their hands for the square dance tunes. Betty said, “It’s fun to get the crowd stirred up.”

During February as a fundraiser they also offer musical “Valentunes.” A small ensemble will deliver a Valentine to someone’s sweetheart and then play a schmaltzy version of something like “Over the Rainbow” or “Let me Call You Sweetheart.” The service provides a nice departure for some people from the standard balloon or bouquet of flowers. The kids also really enjoy delivering the Valentunes. Each visit becomes a merry experience for everyone.

All the group members are required to take private lessons and to faithfully attend rehearsals for one-and-a-half hours every week. Some of the performers requested more time and so Betty’s daughter, Katy Lawrence-Burchett, created an Opus 1 Group. In addition, Katy conducts private lessons and serves as the Strolling Strings Co-director. The Opus 1 performers wanted more challenging pieces and performed the First Movement of Bach’s “Double-Violin Concerto in D-Minor,” the most difficult thing any Strolling Strings group ever attempted.

Betty remains the Antioch Strolling Strings’ biggest fan. “I taught in public schools for 22 years and have taught privately ever since I graduated from high school,” Betty said, “And I never saw anything more effective in building a young person’s self-esteem than this group! They learn from each other that it is okay to love music.” The young performers get some heady moments when a crowd of people will give them a standing ovation at the end of one of their performances. “That happens all the time,” Betty said. “It is a completely satisfying experience for the kids. They get the idea ‘I must be good.’ And they are!”

The Antioch Strolling Strings begins each season with a two-day retreat at the Point Bonita YMCA Youth Hostel in September. They spend hours familiarizing themselves with the next season’s repertoire. Betty insists that all pieces in the standard performance be memorized. The program is limited to a half-hour during which the kids play about 14 pieces. The season concludes in May with an hour-long fundraiser pops concert during which the children play everything they’ve been working on.

Betty says that the group has enjoyed some wonderful support from the community, including people at the Antioch Senior Center, the Women’s Club, and LMC. They are currently rehearsing at the New Hope Church offices on F Street at 4th.

Some of Betty’s strolling kids end up playing in the youth symphony in West Contra Costa County but a fledging East County Youth Symphony started this year with seven young performers. Betty said they are doing great things under their leader, Damian Ting. Betty expects the group to really take off.

Antioch Strolling Strings has given birth to some really remarkable talents. Betty said that one of her little performers used to play “Over the Rainbow” while kneeling in front of the people. “She was such a little girl! And the crowd would all end up bawling. Now she’s studying violin in Oberlin,” Betty said, “It’s fun to see how performers develop.”

Another young performer would play the poignant “Ashokan Farewell” and the crowd would just melt. “He looked like a child runway model,” Betty said. After performing his piece in front of about 150 people at a conference in the Sheraton Hotel, a group of women gathered around him and began taking his picture. “What do you think about so many of us taking your picture?” one of them asked. “Oh, it’s just part of the job,” he answered. Everyone cracked up. The boy was in eighth grade, but sounded like he had been performing for decades. “Years later at college he would play out on the lawn or at birthday parties,” Betty said. “He was never afraid of playing sad or serious. He wanted to move people with his music. And he really did!”

Betty is trying to turn the Antioch Strolling Strings over to her daughter, Katy. Katy and her husband, Dell, are a team and often perform together. “She’s really good with the kids,” Betty said in admiration. “She has lots of style. When she fiddles ragtime tunes, people really start tapping their toes!”

Tom & Betty Lawrence have dedicated their lives and passions to the service of promoting performing arts for the people of Antioch and the surrounding communities. Between them, these two cheerful and talented people have spent nearly a century in bringing the arts to the people of East County. They deserve the praise and gratitude of us all.