“The paragraph starting with ‘I don’t want to get rich’ is pure gold. Dennis Gilmore taught me a long time ago, if you are in it for the money or fame, you are in it for the wrong reason and to quit while you can. That’s what it is all about. In my childhood, one of the only releases I had were those moments on stage, before the show, with the lights out. I can smell the theatre even now. If this is your reasoning for following your dream, you have already won. No one can take that from you. Beautiful, just beautiful.” — Lauren (Hopper) Roerick (former YES! Company Member)
By Dennis Gilmore/HCPAC
When that small band of volunteers got together back in 1964 to discuss the possibility of developing a live theatre in Athens, I wonder if they thought it would still be running strong 50 years later.
From those early beginnings where shows were presented at the Junior College, to the move into the facility on Gibson Road, to the construction of the new 10,000 square-foot theatre on the same property, Athens Little Theatre has gone through some major moves that included 25 years of all volunteer-directed shows and the major renovation of the first theatre.
In 1989, the Board of Directors made the bold decision to hire a full-time executive director for the purpose of expanding the programs to a regional level. The theatre added a full youth program that brought a new level of involvement to the theatre. Over the past 25 years, the theatre has expanded to 8-10 shows a year with a summer youth musical that is celebrating its 25th Anniversary this year as we present “Annie Get Your Gun” with 35 talented youth from the area.
The theatre added the name of Henderson County Performing Arts Center in 1995 to encompass all of Henderson County and the East Texas region. We have participation and patrons from all the adjoining counties. We have an education program that encompasses all of the Independent School Districts in the region. In 2001, we changed our mission statement to read: “We Entertain, We Educate and We Change Lives.”
With that mission statement in mind, you read the quote at the top of this story. We are looking for other quotes from volunteers, actors, youth company actors, past supporters — anyone who would like to share a comment about their involvement at the theatre. We will be doing a story about the 50th Anniversary in each of the monthly newsletters through December 2014, and will start each story with a quote. So send them to me at [email protected].
We will be presenting eight shows in 2014 and all will be on the main stage. We will be doing shows from past seasons that were crowd favorites. We encourage all actors out there to consider auditioning for these shows. We will be posting the 2014 season in the August issue of the newsletter.
(Story originally published in the Henderson County Performing Arts Center July edition of “Encore.”)