Local Man and his Crew Keep the Criterion Curtain Rising

Theater proves family, community, and story are the keys to continued survival

Aug 18, 2023

On a show day, the Criterion Theatre’s Managing Director Taylor Valarik moves through the art deco theater with long strides, Hawaiian shirt flapping behind him as he fields eight questions at once, one after another they come. He answers them and maintains his focus.

“Can you . . . ?”

“How does . . . ?”

“This broke.”

“Taylor . . . !”

There’s a poem by Rudyard Kipling called “If” that Valarik reads to his kids.

It begins,

“If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you . . .”

Valarik is a performer, a musician, a woodworker, a builder, a father, a techie, a husband, and a man who can run simultaneous lines on a video-creation platform like Adobe Premier Pro and make it all come together into something fluid and brilliant. That’s what he does in his life as he balances being a dad and husband with running a theater that can house more than 700. It’s also what he does at the theater itself as it hosts powerhouse shows like the Wallflowers or GZA or Matt Kearney and David Sedaris or when it hosts community-oriented events that include kids dancing across the stage or getting to interact with the Duke Ellington Orchestra Quintet.

Valarik will be the first to say that he doesn’t do it alone. Yes, you’ll see his six-year-old son sweeping the Criterion stage with a giant broom sometimes after a performance, but Valarik is quick to credit the Criterion staff, board, and volunteers for all their support since he first became executive director 3.5 years ago.

“It’s such a great spot,” he said. “It’s such a cool piece of history in our town.”

Built in 1932, the theater, on Cottage Street in Bar Harbor, is only one of two that still exist in Maine. Built by George McKay Sr., the theater has a lot of nooks and crannies in its basement and a feel of old school opulence. McKay had been jailed for bootlegging in the 1920s. At the theater he began a bit more of a respectable life, hosting events for charities in the 760-seat venue. He also became a member of the Lion’s Club (a service club) and St. Savior’s Episcopal Church. There were four shows a week.

The June 4, 1932, Bangor Daily News headline wrote that McKay was a “popular Bar Harbor man.” His wife is quoted as saying, “I am proud of our new theater, and hope that folks will like it.”

They have and they do.

In 2012, the theater began its latest incarnation when Michael Boland created a nonprofit, the structure was restored, and an anonymous donor gave $2 million in 2014 to help the theater survive and revive. The board is currently lead by Stephen Leiser, Nicholas Schoeder, Steve Parady and Susan Raab.

Valarik returned to Mount Desert Island from Nashville to take the job, which requires a lot of fixes to the 91-year-old structure. He grew up on the island, went to Mount Desert Island High School and likes being back.

He quotes Mike Rowe about his journey back home again, “Passion is too important to be without, but too fickle to be guided by, which is why I’m more inclined to say, ‘Don’t follow your passion, but always bring it with you.’”

That passion is his family, it’s his staff, it’s his music, it’s the creation of community and story, and it’s very much the theater.

“They love it here,” he said. “It’s so cool to get them involved in the theater.”

The Criterion is already making memories for Valarik’s kids, but it made memories and shaped him when he was young, too. He saw his first rated R movie at the theater, sitting up in the balcony with his friends, watching Will Ferrell.

“I felt so tough,” he said, laughing. “It’s really cool to be on this side and keep the theater up and running.”

He can’t stop working and fixing and promoting, he said, because there are so many things to be done. One of those things is getting people to come and see the space, watch the performances, maybe even rent the space.

“So many things are pulling at our attention now,” he said. “So the question is how do we get more people here? We’re all being pulled in so many different directions, so keeping people’s focus is tough.”

It’s worth it though. “One of my favorite things is when all these people are here, and all the seats are full, and all 720 people are here laughing together at the same time,” he said. Then he gets to breathe out for a moment and think, “We did this.”

And those seats where he felt like a tough guy watching Will Ferrell’s R-rated antics? They are still his favorite seats in the space.

SHARING STORIES

The story of the theater itself, of the community that houses it, and of the people who step on its stage, interact with the performers, or sit in the audience and watch a live performance are all important to Valarik and to the continued success of the community space.

Sometimes sharing those stories isn’t as easy as other times.

During COVID, Valarik created a podcast to give local musicians a chance to share their art and craft.

“They said to me, ‘I feel like I’ve played all around town, but’s cool to get people to hear my story,’” Valarik said. Those stories, before Valarik, hadn’t really been told that way. Some of the episodes had more than 1,000 hits.

It also had the added benefit of keeping the theater in people’s minds and hearts. “I don’t want people to think that the Criterion was shut down,” he said.

Every story shared expands the theater. Every performance, every interaction, creates a bigger story for Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Island.

CHANGING LIVES

It’s not typical to think of a theater as a place where lives are changed, but Valarik knows the power of interaction first hand in his own life and in the theater.

So many local nonprofits have an impact that’s obvious. They help people have food. They preserve Acadia National Park. They help people impacted by domestic violence or substance abuse.

The theater’s impact is a little harder to pin down. It’s a gathering place for people to come together. It’s a place where people explore the arts and where they make stories of their own.

It’s a place where the direction of people’s lives might change or where they can at least become fuller and richer through the exposure to arts, artists, actors, musicians, writers, and comedians.

It’s why he doesn’t want to lose the community aspect of the space, the partnerships with the Abbe, with the Bar Harbor Music Festivals, bringing in kids from Conners Emerson, camps, the MDI YMCA.

After a Duke Ellington Orchestra Quintet daytime interaction with kids from the Mount Desert Island YMCA and Northeast Harbor’s Neighborhood House, Valarik say kids interact with musicians, creating connections and strengthening some that had been created through a special class at MDI High School.

When Valarik saw the kids interacting with people like Paul Ellington, Duke Ellington’s grandson, the value of the theater hit home all over again.

“Maybe that will change his life,” Valarik said of the interaction.

His own life was changed by a musician.

“When I was a kid, I played violin for ten years,” he said. An exchange student from Japan came and noticed that Valarik couldn’t read sheet music. “He would write finger notes,” above the notes on paper. “I feel like that’s why I started liking music.”

It’s because someone took the time to notice and to help despite all the other things that were going on. Taking that time, noticing, helping,

Board member Richard Cleary at a Criterion Star Wars event that closed down a bit of Cottage Street.

THE THEATER’S SURVIVAL

As community theaters across the country close, the Bar Harbor theater’s survival and continuing to serve the community, to make those connections and stories, is important to Valarik. Non-profit theaters are fragile beasts, especially when they’re over 90 years old.

However, this theater has managed through COVID and has survived through multiple organizations. Valarik and the board hope to make it survive and then thrive.

To that end, they’re blending community events with bigger and bigger summer shows and also having events like the upcoming 2023 Gala.

“If I had come back home to the island and the theater had been a brewery restaurant or some sort, I’d have been so sad, “ Valarik said.

COOL NEW IDEAS AND PROGRAMS

Valarik hopes to have a text messaging system up and running soon to let people know what shows are coming up. The system would allow patrons to opt-in to find out when shows are first announced, two weeks prior to the show date and also one day prior to the event.

“A lot of people tell me after a show how disappointed they are that they missed a show,” Valarik said.

Shows are also posted on the theater’s website.

He’s redone the green room, where artists hang out before the show. He’s built a sound booth, installed toilets, fixed stairs.

“I do a lot of fixes around here,” he said, laughing. “It’s a 90-year-old building so things aren’t perfect.”

He’ll see a video or hear a story about someone fixing something or learning something or just doing something and he said, he’ll think, “If that guy can do it, I can do it.”

The Criterion Theater has participated in the Bar Harbor Bed Races, but also been the site for many local films including one by Thom Willey of Southwest Harbor about David Moses Bridges (on right).

THE PEOPLE

And Valarik is the first to shout out that everything he does at the Criterion, he does with help. Chuck Colbert’s chill vibe keeps the sound and lights of the show running, hair tied back, Colbert is also a musician, who has worked the stage from both sides.

Perrenially amazing, Beverley Guay, runs concessions throughout the show. Outside the Criterion, you can see her at the microphone, often holding house at the Finnback, a member of the Worn Out Souls. Productions manager, concession artist and Guay manages the front of the house.

Sophie Joyce is usually in the office, calmly handling donor management and social media with a competence that exudes throughout the space next to the main theater. She’s in charge of ops and development.

“I love our staff,” Valarik said.

That poem by Kipling that Valarik loves and reads to his kids has another couple of lines in it that read,

Those lines can be the story of a person, but they can also be the story of a theater and a community. It’s the kind of story that Valarik wants to ensure continues.

Board member Steve Boucher only partially frozen during an earlier Criterion Star Wars event.

THE GALA

The Criterion Theatre is hosting its 2023 Gala, “An Evening of Music & Magic by the Sea,” at The Bar Harbor Club, 111 West St., at 5 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 24.

“It’s going to be really fun,” Valarik said.

There will be an open bar, hors d’oeuvres, silent and live auctions, and live entertainment. Cocktail attire is recommended.

Tickets are $125 and can be purchased online at www.criteriontheatre.org/2023-gala. Email gala@criteriontheatre.org with questions.

The gala is sponsored by Cleary Law Offices, Witham Family Hotels, Deborah M. Dyer, Two Cats Restaurant, and Bar Harbor Manor.

Performances for and by young people that encourage the youth of our community to find unique creative outlets where they can truly shine and be themselves are part of the Criterion’s Arts Alive programs.

Arts Alive, Emerging Artists and Conversation starters are three of the community-focused programs at the theater.

All proceeds from the gala will support its operations and programs. According to Valarik, “It will be a fun-filled night of live music, entertainment, heavy hors d’oeuvres, open bar, silent and live auction, and paddle raise.”

UPCOMING SHOWS

Comedian Jay Pharoah – Sunday August 20, 8 p.m.

The Wailers, Thursday, September 7, 8 p.m.

Henry Rollins “Good to See You” Thursday, September 21, 8 p.m.

The Fab Four (Beatles tribute act) – October 28, 8 p.m.

Mat Kearney, The Acoustic Trio Tour – November 16, 8 p.m.

Queen Flash (Queen tribute band) – November 18, 6:30 p.m.

GOFUNDME FOR CHUCK COLBERT

Chuck Colbert, part of the Criterion’s main team for years, has recently undergone a nephrectomy for a mass on his left kidney. There is a GoFundMe to help with his medical expenses.