Culture of Belonging

WHEN I THINK ABOUT THE CREEDE REPERTORY THEATRE, I think of the stunning remoteness of Creede. I think about the excellent caliber of the shows I’ve seen there — how the performances feel intimate and fantastic but not budget. I marvel at the talent that the CRT attracts from around the country; it brings to …

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Exit Stage Left: The Demise of A Community Theater

By Elliot Jackson

Every community gets the community theater – if it gets one at all – that reflects it in some way. Its beginnings, its tenure, the choices it makes along the way in which plays to produce, which performers to feature, what sort of audience it is trying to attract and, finally, its exit from the community stage, all say something about the nature of the community itself.
Salida’s Stage Left Theater Company has made the decision to close its doors after its September 2017 production of John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt, and this decision reflects an ironic fact about Salida itself: that despite its growing reputation as an “arts town” – its status as one of the original Colorado Creative Districts, for example, its numerous arts and crafts festivals, or its many galleries featuring local potters, painters, sculptors and photographers – many of these artists are noting that it is getting more and more difficult to produce their art here.
The reality that theater is a collaborative process, dependent on many people working together in tandem, who may or may not be getting paid for their efforts (mostly not), compounds the difficulties that theater artists face. The other reality is that with the best will, or the best volunteers, in the world, running a theater company is hard work. “I ran myself into the ground trying to keep financial flow going, and then keep everything else going,” says Devon Jencks, the current Creative Director of Stage Left. “We needed more people who knew how to tap into the community – we were exhausting resources everywhere.”
Jencks stresses that money to put on productions never seemed to be as much of an issue as finding enough people to do everything that needed to be done, whether it be acting, providing backstage help, or serving on the Board of Directors. “The young people don’t have time – they’re working three to four jobs just to try to make a living. The retirees say they want to help, but then when you call on them, they’re out of town!”

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Love and laughter for Creede theater’s 39th season

Article by Marcia Darnell

Theater – June 2004 – Colorado Central Magazine –

CREEDE REPERTORY THEATRE opens its 2004 season on June 4 with a blast of laughter, by presenting The Foreigner, by Larry Shue, author of The Nerd, and winner of two Obies and an Outer Critics Circle Award.

In The Foreigner, an Englishman arrives at a fishing lodge in the South, where the locals talk to him as if he can’t understand English. The visitor plays along by inventing his own language. David McClendon of the Denver Center Theater Company will direct.

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Is there a legal limit to the snow in Gunnalot?

Brief by Central Staff

Theater – March 2004 – Colorado Central Magazine

One of our favorite local theater productions is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year: the annual Son-of-a-Gunn in Gunnison.

Usually it’s a comic parody of some popular Broadway musical — past productions have included “Gunnisoon” (from “Brigadoon”) and “Alice in Gunderland” — and this year is no exception.

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A new leader for a new season at Creede Repertory Theatre

Article by Marcia Darnell

Theater – June 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

“IT REALLY FEELS LIKE coming home,” says Maurice LaMee, surveying his new office. The creative director of Creede Repertory Theatre has only been on the job since October but has already sparked a revolution — CRT’s 2001 season will extend into fall.

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