Rocky Mountain College to run Virginia City Opera House
Published: May 4, 2009
The home of Montana’s oldest professional acting company will be operated by the state’s oldest institution of higher education when the curtain goes up in the Virginia City Opera House this Memorial Day.
The Montana Heritage Commission has designated Rocky Mountain College as the official managing operator of the historic theatre, announced Tenlee Atchinson, commission program director.
“History lives in Virginia City and, besides our work with preservation of historic sites, we have a commitment to education about the history. Partnering with Rocky Mountain College is exciting because of the importance of that educational role,” she said.
For Rocky, the opportunity to have a high profile at a major tourist location, coupled with the opportunities for Rocky students to serve as the historic Virginia City Players, “is a wonderful challenge and a wonderful opportunity,” said RMC President Michael Mace.
Rocky Mountain College.
Overseeing the project is Gearld Roe, RMC professor of theatre arts. Roe’s link to the opera house dates back to 1978 when he first came to Montana to teach at Montana State University. “I was told about it, went to see it, and the next thing you know, I was in it,” he remembers.
He spent a season acting with the company. “I played Sweeney Todd during the year I was there,” he recalls. During one show, “I was standing in the wrong spot, and the drop came down and knocked me flippin’ out.”
Another time, when the demon barber’s razor disappeared, Roe says he commanded his victim, “Here, eat this poison jelly … I was crazed.”
“Aggie, the Mail-Order Bride, or a Damsel in di’ West,” which Roe will adapt from Moliere’s “School for Wives,” opens the season May 23. “Rustle Your Bustle,” a musical melodrama written by company member Jimmy Moore, opens June 12; and “Sweeney Todd,” the original melodrama by George Dibdin Pitt, returns to the Opera House stage July 3. Finally, “The Marriage Proposal” by Anton Chekhov joins the repertory line-up Aug. 7. Each show is followed by the Opera House’s trademark “varied, vigorous vagary of vivacious variety acts.”
Performances are presented Tuesday through Sunday, Memorial Day to Labor Day.
Roe says this year’s troupe is comprised of three RMC students and several graduates, with a core of veteran actors from last season. “I’m really jacked,” he adds. “It’s a lovely group of people coming.”
RMC will offer a number of paid internships for students, including positions for actors, a stage manager, a technical director, a business manager and an education program director.
“This is especially exciting for us because we want to create a strong educational component with what we’re doing,” Roe said. “Educating people about the history of the opera house and the history of Virginia City is as important as the entertainment we’ll provide.”
His students, he adds, reap the benefits of professional theatre experience. “They’ll have no choice,” he adds. “It’s called building your way to stardom – pick up that hammer, move that bale, tap that tap, sing that song.”
The college takes over on the troupe’s 60th anniversary, and Roe is already gearing up for a reunion weekend July 26-28.
“I feel humble going in there,” he says. “It’s such a tradition – the oldest summer theatre, the state’s oldest college and,” he adds gleefully, “quite possibly, the state’s oldest living director.It’ll be fun.”
The opera house boasts the one of only a handful of Cremona players – a photo-player, circa early 1900s, used to accompany silent motion pictures – in the world. The theatre has also secured the services of one of the few Cremona players. Dave Calendine, who played the organ for nine years for Radio City Music Hall’s Christmas Spectaculars, will operate the Cremona at 1 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, beginning in June.
For details, call 406-843-5314 or 800-829-2969 or visit www.virginiacityplayers.com.
