Montana Actors Theatre: Helping theatre thrive
Published: March 29, 2010
Excerpted, with permission, from a story that appeared Feb. 13 in the Great Falls Tribune (www.greatfallstribune.com)
Theater can be full of clichés — the dramatic diva, the demanding director, the hapless husband and the lovelorn lad.
Unfortunately, another cliché is theater dying out in small towns. But in Havre, the Montana Actors Theatre has found surprising success – so much so that it's also keeping theater alive in much larger Missoula and now Great Falls.
The Montana Actors Theatre is operating Great Falls' Center Stage, which struggled financially before closing its doors in the fall of 2008.
Center Stage's 15 to 20 members mistakenly lost the group's tax-exempt status when they failed to send in the annual fee … Montana Actors Theatre President Jay Pyette clipped a newspaper article about Center Stage closing, at first considering it an unfortunate reminder of the risks involved with community theater. But it wasn't long before that article inspired the idea to expand the Havre group to Great Falls, creating a network of theater groups to share resources and performances.
Under the Montana Actors Theatre umbrella, local actors won't have to establish their own nonprofit foundation. And all three theater groups – in Havre, Great Falls and Missoula – can use the same insurance.
Beyond the business advantages, the Great Falls branch can lean on the established actors and directors in Havre and Missoula. The three groups also can share props, sets, costumes, manpower and know-how.
"They've got a lot of experience and they've been very successful for a number of years," said Brian Court, the Great Falls branch's artistic director.
Montana Actors Theatre already is investing time and money into fixing up the Center Stage Theatre, a downtown staple for more than two decades.
Four plays and a fundraiser also are in the works.
The idea is for the groups to produce their own plays, but also perform them at the other theaters so that live theater will be a constant in each town.
"The more people who see good plays, the more people there will be who want to see more good plays," Court said.
People from Missoula and Havre already are volunteering their time to remodel the Center Stage Theatre.
Pyette said the building needs thousands of dollars in basic repairs — first and foremost to the leaky roof.
The group also plans to redo the lobby and outside façade to give it a fresh feel.
Eventually, the three groups will produce around eight plays a year, performing both at their home theaters and in the other two towns. Pyette hopes to build up Montana Actors Theatre's reputation to the point where the group is known widely, much like the Montana Repertory Theatre and the Fort Peck Theatre.
"The one thing I most love about MAT, there's nothing that we don't think we can do," Pyette said. "We've never been a group that does things cautiously. We jump in with both feet."
MAT brings "The Diary of Anne Frank" to three towns
Montana Actors’ Theatre opens its touring production of “The Diary of Anne Frank,” starring Jessica Pyette, at the University of Great Falls Theatre with shows at 7:30 p.m. Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, May 14-23, and wraps up in Missoula, June 11-13.
“The Diary of Anne Frank,” written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett and adapted by Wendy Kesselman, is one of the most renowned stories of the Holocaust. Based on a book by the same title, it brings to the stage the diary of a young Jewish girl, as she hides from Nazis during the German occupation of the Netherlands.
Jessica Pyette, whose 15th birthday in 2010 comes one day before Anne’s 15th birthday in 1944, portrays the brave heroine. No stranger to the stage, Pyette has performed in several children’s and youth productions, including her lead as “JoJo” in 2008’s “Seussical.”
“Jessica effectively captures Anne’s sense of humor and enthusiasm in her spirited performance,” says her proud father, MAT president and founder Jay Pyette.
For details, visit www.mtactors.com.
