By Brian Wasson

It's not an impressive-looking building. Made out of cement block and painted a nondescript beige, it sits in an industrial-looking area on the fringes of Norfolk's Ghent section. It looks like a warehouse or a manufacturing company. Actually, it's a vocational-technical school for the city of Norfolk. You'd probably drive by it without a second glance.

A closer look, though, reveals a small green awning with "Generic Theater" lettered on it. Hardly the place you'd expect to find one of the area's most respected small theaters -- sharing space with students learning auto-body repair and bricklaying. The "Generic" name certainly fits the humble environs.

But the Generic Theater is anything but ordinary. And don't call it a "community theater," either. Steve Harders, Generic's artistic director, clears that up right away: It's a semi-professional off-Broadway theater. Quite a mouthful, but an important distinction.

Unlike a community theater, the Generic has a full-time, two-person staff. It puts on plays of national renown, yet it also has the flexibility to try out new or unusual plays, something a large professional theater often can not do.

It's the best of both worlds for a hard-core theater buff like Harders, who joined Generic's staff in 1996 after completing a graduate degree in theater. "It was the shows that drew me," he says, "new plays, a little more risky and adventurous."

And it's the shows that keep him directing actors well into the night, and then get him up again the next morning to return to his small office tucked away in the bowels of the theater. The theater life may seem glamorous, but a look at Harders' office suggests otherwise. A small space heater does its best to take the chill out of the February air seeping in from outside. A blower behind a wall cycles on and off, drowning out conversation. It feels more like an office in a repair shop than one in a house of art. But the humble surroundings do little to dampen Harders' enthusiasm. "Generic does the kind of shows that really excite you," he says, "shows that draw the best actors and designers."

Running a small theater is not without its difficulties, though. "Finding a funding base to do the kinds of plays we want to do is an eternal challenge," says Harders. This wasn't always the case. Generic was founded in 1981, and was subsidized by the Norfolk Department of Parks and Recreation. In 1994, however, the city withdrew funding due to budget constraints and the theater had to make it on its own. Generic went from paying its actors and staff to relying mostly on volunteers for everything from acting to backstage help.

But it's not alone in its financial woes. "The state of theater in Hampton Roads is very diverse, there are a lot of offerings, but all of the theaters are struggling," says Harders.

Generic's lack of a large paid staff is also one of its assets, Harders says, as it provides a certain amount of flexibility and allows the theater to try new things. "Your ability to take risks goes down as you need the income," says Harders. "You can't take those kinds of risks on a commercial level. You've got people to pay. Generic is small enough to take those risks."

Theater is at its best when it gets people to talk about issues, Harders says. "We do get people who might be offended by something in a play, but that's what the arts are all about," he says.

Unfortunately, theaters are finding it increasingly difficult to fill seats. And Generic is no exception. Competitors include not only other stage companies, but films and television shows as well. Without a large funding base, Generic can not advertise as much as it would like to -- word of mouth is still its best "medium."

Yet most of the Hampton Roads community still doesn't know about Generic. "Do I feel like an island? Yes, I feel like nobody really knows about this little island here," says Harders. "If people in Ghent don't know, people in Virginia Beach surely won't."

Despite the difficulties, Harders loves his job. "What keeps me here is the opportunity to work on interesting material, the challenges of facing the obstacles, and the people I get to work with," he says. "When there are a whole bunch of people working together, being creative, all for a common goal. Nothing beats it."

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