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Theatre Economics Preserving History, Paving the Way for the FutureCreede, Colorado. Population 377. With a per capita income 70% less than that of the average Colorado town, and a history steeped in mining and gunslingers, you wouldn’t expect to find a world-renowned cultural organization here. Yet Creede boasts one of the finest repertory theatres in the country—The Creede Repertory Theatre (CRT).In 2003 a record-breaking 17,500 tickets were sold to CRT events. That’s 45 times the population of Creede. To put it in perspective, for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts to reach 45 times the population of the Denver metro area, they would need to sell close to 108 million tickets. CRT is a phenomenon. Additionally, CRT reaches 15,000-17,000 underprivileged children in school districts across the Four Corners region through their outreach theatre program, bringing professional theatre to places like Ignacio, Pagosa Springs, Bayfield, and Shiprock. In August 2004 the San Luis Valley Development Resources Group studied the economic impact of CRT on Mineral County and the surrounding trade area, which they defined as within a 100-mile radius of Creede. The bottom line? CRT pumps $2 million dollars into Mineral County, or 20 cents of every dollar spent. The amount increases to $2.8 million within the 100-mile radius. I recently visited Creede, a bit unsure of what I would find. Like many small towns in Southwest Colorado, the population of Creede booms during the summer when thousands of second home owners invade to escape the scorching heat in Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, and beyond. My visit was during the middle of the week on a chilly Autumn day. The tourists were gone. The seasonal galleries and gift shops were closed. But the number of businesses open year-round surprised me. The town was like a comfortable sweater you put on during a cold day, my visit like curling up next to the fire, reading a great novel. Tristan Wilson, Managing Director of CRT, said the key to their success early on was the level of community involvement in creating the theatre. In 1966 the local Jaycees drafted a letter and mailed it to various Universities hoping some excited students would answer the call to help build a summer theatre. “Operation Summer Theatre” launched when twelve students from the University of Kansas, under the direction of Steve Grossman, began this adventure with somewhere between $32 to $200 dollars from the local Jaycees. “The community as a whole was so excited about having them here, everybody helped. The hardware store gave them a key and a line of credit,” Wilson said. In the early years, it was a novelty and everyone wanted to see the theatre, so they went. “From there it really started to grow and grow and grow. I don’t think the Jaycees had any idea that it would become what it is today.” For the last six years, CRT has offered professional Actors Equity contracts; a move that continues to push the quality of theatre produced a few steps higher. The Denver Post recognized Creede as one of the top five theatres in the state of Colorado. “It’s taken 40 years but the reputation is really starting to build; particularly along the Front Range, people are starting to hear about Creede and see us in the paper,” Wilson said. He acknowledged that 60% of CRT’s audience comes from inside the state. As CRT has grown up, so has the town of Creede. Today they have an active Arts Council, which is a finalist for the El Pomar Foundation Award for Excellence in the Arts & Humanities. Stephen Quiller founded his gallery in Creede in 1970. Jenny Inge opened her gallery in 1974. The thing that struck me about Creede is that they have been able to nurture the arts and culture to revitalize a ghost-bound mining town. And they’ve done it in a community that is not on a major highway to anywhere (Creede is on a Scenic Byway between South Fork and Lake City), not near a growing metropolis (Alamosa is 70 miles away, Denver 265 miles, and Albuquerque 260 miles), and not Aspen, Vail, or Jackson Hole. Creede is a community of artists and performers. There is consistency, stability, and professionalism at every turn. Debbie Whitmore has served for twelve of the past thirteen years on the Board of Directors for the Creede Arts Council. Almost everyone I spoke with had some connection to the theatre at one time or another. Yet as bright a star as CRT is, it isn’t self sufficient. With a full-time, year-round staff of five, CRT operates on a lean $623,000 a year budget, with 55% of their income earned and 45% donated. The donated income comes from sources such as the Colorado Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado, and major foundations from Colorado, Texas, and Kansas. Fundraising is the job of the Development Director for the theatre. Individual donations also support the theatre which has ten to fifteen major annual donors and hundreds of donors who provide anywhere from $20 to $2,000 dollars a year. A Capital Campaign is underway to finish the theatre building and somehow try to provide heat in the main theatre, which was frigid the day I visited. The backstage stairways and halls are drywalled but unfinished, and the theatre’s exterior backside was never completed, with paint peeling from the plywood. A recent endowment of $750,000 from an anonymous donor will help provide financial stability for CRT in the future. Despite all the economic benefit the CRT provides, the Town of Creede and the Mineral County Commissioners provide maybe $100 worth of funding for the theatre each year. Wilson thinks they see the numbers of people in town and the sold-out nights and assume the theatre is rolling in money. The reality is that arts organizations cannot be compared to other nonprofit groups. “The theatre is not the same as the Boy Scouts,” Wilson said. 40th Anniversary Season Summer 2005 Broadway Bound (Main Stage) by Neil Simon Picking up where Brighton Beach Memoirs and Biloxi Blues left off, Broadway Bound finds Eugene and his brother Stanley trying to beak into the world of professional comedy writing while coping with the breakup of their family. Their efforts to come up with an idea for a comedy sketch sparkle with hilarity. When their material is broadcast for the first time, the family is upset to hear a comedic rendition of their trials and tribulations. Eugene wraps up the play by explaining that his parents finally divorced and he and Stan are launching writing careers. “Contains some of the author’s most accomplished writing” – NY Times. “A lovely play: warm, perceptive, and gently humorous” – Newsday. “Expectedly funny and unexpectedly moving”- NY Daily News. Noises Off (Main Stage) By Michael Frayn This wonderful Broadway play is a farce about farce. The play opens with a touring company’s dress rehearsal of Nothing On, a conventional farce. Mixing mockery and homage, Frayn heaps into this play-within-a-play a hilarious melee of stock characters and situations. Caricatures – cheery char, outraged wife, and squeaky blonde – stampede in and out of doors. “ Voices rise and trousers fall…A farce that makes you think as well as laugh” – London Times Literary Supplement. “As side-splitting a farce as I have ever seen. Ever? Ever.” – NY Magazine. “A joyous and loving reminder that the theatre really does go on, even when the show falls apart.”- NY Times Light up the Sky (Main Stage) by Moss Hart Light up the Sky is an outstanding hit of the Broadway theatre, a gorgeously amusing comedy about show folks. The comedy revolves around a group of New York theatre folks who attend the opening of their new play in Boston. They are in seventh heaven at the prospect of tremendous success, which they hope for in the work of their new, young writer. When they believe the play to be a flop, they instantly turn on each other in an attempt to destroy themselves and their hopes. Instead, the play is a success and the tables turn once more. But the playwright, who has suffered both from the enthusiasm and pessimism of his associates, has decided that he is through with the theatre. At the last moment he is persuaded to stay, but he is so disgusted with the temperamental shenanigans of his associates that he turns the tables once again and lays down the law. A Tale of Harbledown (Black Box) Music and Lyrics by Mark Houston Book by Dianne S. Sposito A Tale of Harbledown is an original musical created at CRT in 1982 by Mark Houston, one of CRT’s most creative and prolific artists. This heartwarming musical tells the story of Emily, a young girl on the eve of her confirmation in Victorian England. She ventures into the night where she meets an eccentric group of street characters who are gathering to fight an evil force in their town. Lead by Addie, a blind bagwoman, the rag-tag group shows Emily the power of love and friendship, and helps her conquer her fears and accept the responsibilities of becoming an adult. Filled with beautiful music and heart-lifting songs Harbledown is a musical for all ages. “A gem of childhood entertainment almost too vibrant for its intended audience. Harbledown is an impeccably conceived and realized fantasy about the coming of age of a girl in Victorian England.” – Kansas City Star Slabtown (Black Box) By Steve Hughes In the storytelling tradition of Louis Lamour and Zane Grey, Steve Hughes peers into the rough and rollicking past of a hard rock mining town in Colorado: Oro City. With colorful characters peopling this gritty comic tale, Slabtown tells the story of a man who will do anything to follow the desires of his heart. The Creede Repertory Theatre is proud to present this world premiere in their own authentic Colorado mining town. Lumberjacks in Love (Main Stage) Book & Lyrics by Fred Alley Music by James Kaplan Lumberjacks in Love is a poignant and hilarious story of mistaken and disguised identities, of loves lost and found and of manhoods doubted and exalted. Based on the book by the late Fred Alley (author of The Spitfire Grill) and music by James Kaplan, this family favorite is full of humor and universal truth. The North Woods will never be the same as these hilarious geniuses convey sentiments of the heart where labor, lumber, and love come together in lyrical harmony. The Creede Repertory Theatre All Year/Seasonal (Performances May-Sept) 124 N. Main St., PO Box 269, Creede, CO 81130 719-658-2540/866-658-2540 ~ FAX: 719-658-2343 crt@creederep.com ~ www.creederep.org Abbey Lane Gallery (Cheryl Stream) Seasonal (May-Oct) N Main St (next to Amethyst Emporium) 719-658-2736 Artspaces by Angela (Hague) Rose of Creede & Silver Thread Gallery All Year (10 AM-5PM, M-F) 280 Main Street 719-658-2777 Bristol Yarnworks (Teri Inman) All Year (by appointment) 39788 W. Hwy 149 (toward Lake City) 719-658-2455 Creede Arts Council P.O. Box 392, Creede, CO 81130 719-658-0888 Eagle Nest Art Studio (Doloris J. Pederson) All Year (by appointment) 439 W Pine Drive 719-658-0307 J. Thompson Gallery (Jan Lovering Thompson) Seasonal (May-Oct & Chocolate Festival; 10 AM-5 PM, M-Sat) 111 N Main Street 719-658-0880 Quiller Gallery (Stephen Quiller) Seasonal (May-Sept, 10 AM-5 PM, M-Sat) 110 Main Street 719-658-2741 Rare Things (Jenny Inge) All Year (May-Dec, 9:30 AM-5 PM, Daily; 8 PM CRT nights; Jan-Apr, M-Sat) 106 Main Street (Elks Building) 719-658-2376 Shawnodese Art and Photography Studio All Year (11 AM-6 PM, W-Sat & by appt) 303 S Loma (1 blk west of Main Street) 719-658-2706 Shepperd Woodworks All Year (8 AM-5 PM, Daily) 108 W. Seventh 719-658-2925 |