Theatre Company Celebrates 30 Years of Memories

Artistic director Sandy Boren-Barrett is quick to describe Stages Theatre as “one of the most vibrant arts organizations in the Twin Cities.” And she means it. On the eve of its 30th anniversary season, Stages has not only stood the test of time, but the company has also repeatedly broken sales records, increased efforts to make shows accessible to all children, and remained both financially and artistically viable. Stages Theatre is looking to continue this vibrancy as it plans for the future. What started as Child’s Play Theatre Company in September 1984 has matured steadily over the decades. The theater came to be because a group of parents in the Minnetonka area saw a need for more children’s theater. The first few performances of Child’s Play Theatre operated on a shoestring budget; performances were held in the Burwell Community Center in front of a small but staunchly supportive audience.After short stints at the Burwell Community Center and the Eisenhower Community Center, then-director Steve Barberio began to orchestrate a permanent home for the company. Barberio’s vision was to build an arts center on Mainstreet in Hopkins. Boren-Barrett had been hired at the company as an education associate in 1990, three years before Barberio began to advocate for the arts center. Boren-Barrett recalls that during the early 1990s, the downtown area of Hopkins seemed like an unlikely setting for a children’s theatre company.“When we moved here, the downtown area was not a hub or a destination for anyone,” says Boren-Barrett. Over the last 20 years, she has seen other local businesses flourish because of Stages’ presence. “The traffic that Stages brings to Mainstreet is unique. Stages has become part of the destination.”The symbiotic relationship between the city of Hopkins and the theater company greatly benefited both parties from the start. The city began building the Hopkins Center for the Arts in 1996; in the two years that followed, Child’s Play Theatre nearly doubled its annual budget and started The Next Stage, a program geared specifically toward teens. In 1998, one year after the inaugural performance at Hopkins Center for the Arts, the theater company topped $100,000 in ticket sales for its production of A Little House Christmas. Meanwhile, downtown restaurants and shops were benefiting from increased traffic due to show productions. Boren-Barrett says that new businesses opened and were successful in part because of the theater company’s presence.In 1999, Child’s Play Theatre Company was renamed Stages Theatre Company. As Stages, the company has seen continued growth and success. Boren-Barrett credits the young actors, their families and the professional staff. “We see anywhere from 80 to 150 kids for auditions,” says Boren-Barrett, noting that many actors travel from counties all over the metro.  In any given production, about half of the actors are veterans of Stages Theatre. These young actors are talented, enthusiastic and committed—and so are their families.“The contributions the families make are an amazing gift they give this theater,” says Boren-Barrett. “Our families become loyal volunteers. They’re advocates for the organization.”  Stages Theatre Company is also a working theater, employing production, education and teaching artists.  Boren-Barrett describes these adults as “artistic mentors” and says they are carefully chosen to help develop, educate and support the young actors.“I have an amazing staff,” Boren-Barrett says. “They are the lifeblood of this place. They are the best people at serving families and audiences in the Twin Cities.”This triumvirate of talented kids, dedicated families and mentoring actors has proven key to Stages Theatre’s success. By the time Boren-Barrett replaced Barberio as artistic director in 2005, the company had grown exponentially in operating budget and staff size. In the years since, Boren-Barrett has overseen many “firsts” in her tenure at the helm of the company, including the first major fundraising endeavor (the campaign for Stages Theatre Company raised an additional $1.5 million dollars between 2007 and 2010), the first show to travel overseas (How I Became a Pirate, performed in Bath, England), and the first show to exceed $250,000 in ticket sales (Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells).  In addition to these remarkable achievements, Boren-Barrett also has some personal highlights.“My favorite production was actually this [past] season: Owl Moon,” says Boren-Barrett. “It was commissioned as a ballet, so there was no dialogue at all.” Stages Theatre collaborated with Escalate Dance & Theatre Studio; the production included a voice-over of the story, which was based on the book of the same name, a 1988 Caldecott Medal winner. Boren-Barrett described this show as “jumping over a cliff. You have no idea where you’re going to land, but you have complete confidence. That show was a gift.”Another favorite part of Boren-Barrett’s work at Stages is one the public doesn’t get to see: It’s the long-lasting relationships that are built and sustained during each show. Laura Mahler, who choreographed Aladdin this past summer, exemplifies the life-changing impact that Stages Theatre can have on a young person. Mahler was 8 years old when she acted in her first play, Handful of Rocks, at Stages. Throughout her childhood and teenage years, Mahler performed in other shows and took many acting classes. “I was really able to experience all types of theater,” Mahler says. Now, as an adult actor and teaching artist, she is able to help other kids have those same Stages experiences.For Mahler and others, the stage—and the Stages family—are hugely influential during adolescence. This is a place where kids learn, grow and thrive and Boren-Barrett is passionate about that aspect. “Education and production are hand-in-hand,” Boren-Barrett says. She guides the company by first considering how decisions will affect kids. As Stages looks to the future, the emphasis on education will become even more pronounced. With the successful conclusion of their 2011 fundraising campaign, the company can invest even more in educational opportunities.One way the company plans to do this is by breaking down barriers that currently keep some kids and adults from attending or participating in theater. Stages already offers a Pay What You Can program for most productions, which allows everyone to be able to afford a theater experience. But increasing accessibility to the theater means more than just financial aspects. It also means offering ASL-interpreted, audio-described, captioned and sensory-friendly productions (modifying features such as the sound and lighting) so that all patrons, including those with disabilities or other diagnoses, can enjoy performances. “We are the first theater in the Twin Cities to offer sensory-free productions,” Boren-Barrett says.The company is also pursuing theater for the very young. When The Dandelion Seed debuts next August, it will “blend sensory activities and children’s theater,” she says. Small children will be encouraged to interact with the show and the teenage actors will be their guides. Boren-Barrett says this type of theater is “quite popular internationally, but what’s unique about Stages is that our young people will be the docents.” While toddlers and preschool-age children are often discouraged from attending theater performances, The Dandelion Seed is an invitation specifically for them and, Boren-Barrett hopes, a positive introduction to the theater.Bruce Rowan, who by his own definition has worn “a lot of hats” over the last 21 years as a Stages employee, is particularly excited about these changes. “It’s nice to see the access improving year by year,” says Rowan, who is currently the manager of new play development. “It’s meeting a demand. Our education classes are getting younger and younger. It’s fun to meet that challenge.”Education also occurs outside the walls of the Hopkins Center for the Arts. Stages Theatre Company currently partners with several schools in the metro area and around the state of Minnesota to offer resident theatre programs, bringing teaching artists to schools where students who might not otherwise be able to participate in a Stages Theatre Company production can have an authentic and powerful theater experience.The 2013–14 production season will be a big one, full of learning opportunities for the young actors, Boren-Barrett says. But even as she celebrates this landmark year of Stages Theatre Company, she is also doubling her commitments to the kids and community around her. “We want to remain in Hopkins, and we’re very grateful to be here,” she says. “Our goal is to serve better, not grow bigger.”