Milestones - - -
MILESTONES - - over 40 years’ worth - - a few of such great magnitude that they’ll always be remembered, and millions of tiny ones long-since forgotten, have united to bring Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre to a place few could have imagined when our curtain first rose in 1967. (Well, we didn’t really have a curtain then and still don’t - - but never mind. The day will come.) Read on.
A new 300-seat theatre is in the very preliminary planning stages. We have purchased the perfect piece of land, thanks to an anonymous donor’s $720,000 gift, and it’s right on Grand Avenue! (Now THAT’S a MILESTONE!) We have completed a feasibility study to determine if we not only can raise the funds to build it, but also raise the additional funds to insure RMRT’s future. The Board of Trustees is moving forward cautiously and methodically, and in the words of Board President Judy Jensen, “intend to get it right every step of the way.”
Simply put, our much loved, cozy and warm Grand Lake Community House and its 192 seats just isn’t big enough to allow RMRT to fulfill its Mission.
One hundred seventy-eight sold out performances in the last three seasons and a 95% of tickets sold has been yet another MILESTONE in the annals of RMRT. That’s the good news. Here’s the not-so-good news - - an average of 68 people had to be turned away from each production, missing their chance to escape the day-to-day and experience the inexplicable restorative transformation that live theatre offers.
So what happened in the last 40-plus years to bring RMRT to this delightful dilemma as we dream of a state-of-the-art venue? MILESTONES. An abundance of MILESTONES.
In 1966, David and Audrey Thompson and their family, assisted by the Grand Lake Arts Council, launched The Troupe of American College Players in Grand Lake where it remained until its move to Colorado Springs in 1976. Grand Lake area residents, then as today, realized the value of theatre in their community and established the Grand County Theatre Association. In conjunction with Kansas State University for two years, and then with Loretto Heights College for eight years, the Association produced summer theatre in the round room of the old Pine Cone Theatre (in what today is Pancho and Lefty’s Restaurant), and even in a tent when no other venue was available. Community support and personal finances kept the theatre alive until 1986.
In 1989, the Town of Grand Lake asked the Thompson Company to return to its Grand Lake roots and Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre obtained its initial nonprofit 501(C) 3 status. David and Audrey Thompson and their six children kept the theatre alive until David’s untimely death in 1993.
A glimpse into the early 1970’s found the company’s first choreographer, Judith Goodman, meeting a young man named Skelly Warren when he joined the company in 1973. “This is a MILESTONE?” you ask. Yes indeed. For it is these two individuals, now married for nearly 34 years, who in 1995 brought live, professional theatre back to our town. For four years the Warrens literally DID IT ALL from auditions to fund raising to bookkeeping to directing to set building to choreographing. Their “quest for the best” for RMRT is evidenced by their immediate hiring of a fine musical director named Michael Querio! (Does that name ring a bell?)
The Youth Theatre Workshop Program, from its inception in 1998, has offered professional theatre training to Grand County children ages eight to eighteen. Originally operated jointly by RMRT and the Grand Lake Metropolitan Recreation District, the program is entering its second year under the sole direction of the theatre with Sally Scott serving as its administrator. Hundreds of our children have gained in self-confidence and learned that they could be more than they thought they could be as a result of this program. Beginning in 2006, the Judith and Skelly Warren Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre Scholarship has been presented to select Grand County High School Seniors planning to pursue theatre-related disciplines at the college level.
From the beginning, procuring summer housing for RMRT’s staff and actors was a real challenge and became more so in the ‘90’s. Grand Lake, a well-kept secret for a very long time, was “discovered” in that decade and with the discovery came decreased rental availability and increased rental costs. During this time, housing for RMRT staff, actors and musicians was spread from one end of Grand Lake to the other end of Granby! What RMRT needed was another MILESTONE. This one presented itself in the form of an opportunity to purchase what is now known as the Betty Dick – Off Broadway Cabins. This opportunity was met by a Board of Trustees that possessed the courage to see that although this purchase was far from an easy choice, it was the only choice. RMRT now had housing at a non-escalating price for its actors - - a very real MILESTONE. We also had a mortgage. A very real mortgage.
Then evolved the next MILESTONE - - a decision to mount a capital campaign and burn that mortgage. Thus the ENCORE! Capital Campaign was born in November of 2003. In 2005, an anonymous donor reduced the mortgage by half; in June of 2006, yet another anonymous challenge grant was issued; was met in 55 days; and on August 14, 2006, that mortgage went up in smoke! Talk about a MILESTONE!
In 2005, Michael Querio became RMRT’s Artistic Director; Chad Scott became our Managing Director; Sally Scott became Company Manager; and Carol Wolff became our Executive Director. Each had experienced Rocky Mountain Rep and the spirit of the Town of Grand Lake before, and brought with them a collective and profound love of our theatre and the little town where it lives. The Board of Trustees saw the assembling of this group as a MILESTONE with amazing potential and the years since have shown that we were right. The results are in - -
Sold-out seasons. Terrific productions. Amazing talents. An A-1 reputation among actors from across the country. Patrons whose increasing support is seen as a vote of confidence for what we do. Volunteers who do whatever it takes. A burned mortgage for our housing complex. Free and clear title to prime property on Grand Lake’s “main drag” with meticulous planning underway for the funding and building of a new 300 seat, state-of-the-art theatre on that site. A Staff and a Board of Trustees committed to making it happen.
We are in the midst of history in the making! If you have not yet done so, please consider becoming a part of our RMRT Family, We’re about as functional as you can get!