Jewel of the Prairie celebrates 50 seasons
By Kristi Niemeyer
When the Fort Peck Theatre opened in 1934, silent movies ran 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to accommodate the flood of workers who were constructing mighty Fort Peck Dam. Even though it was built as a temporary structure, the elegant chalet-style building survived the test of time. In 1970, an enthusiastic group of community members launched its first season of summer theater.
Fifty years later, the “Jewel of the Prairie” continues to bring live theatre “to the middle of nowhere,” attracting audiences from across Montana, North Dakota, Canada and beyond.
The theatre’s many friends and fans gather June 27-30 for the 50th anniversary celebration, which kicks off Thursday with an alumni rehearsal for Saturday’s revue. At 7:30 p.m. Friday, enjoy the frisky musical, “Mamma Mia!” A “Black(ish)-tie Gala” follows for the cast, board and professional theatre alumni.
Saturday brings Art in the Park from 9 a.m.-3 p.m., theatre tours, brunch, and a matinee performance of “Mamma Mia!” Barbecue is served at the Fort Peck Hotel at 4:30 p.m. and the theatre doors open for “50 Years of Fort Peck Summer Theatre” at 7:30. Reunion coordinator and company actor Christen Etchart expects at least 20 alumni to join the resident cast in the show. “We’ll be giving the original cast members the stage in the second act,” she says.
Festivities wrap up with a Theatre for Young Audiences production of “Alice in Wonderland” at 10 a.m. Sunday and a 4 p.m. performance of “Mamma Mia!”
Bringing theatre to the hinterlands
When the theatre first opened, 50,000 people lived nearby; now, the town of Fort Peck is home to about 200 year-around residents.
Actors are recruited from Montana and beyond, mixing professional performers with up-and-coming high school and college students and community talent of all ages. They typically live in Fort Peck during the summer, in a duplex purchased by the theatre, and share their talents with kids from around the region during a two-week performing arts camp and with two Theatre for Young Audiences shows. A “pop-up” production with a smaller cast (this year, it’s “Pinocchio”) travels to several underserved communities, and a larger production plays only in Fort Peck (this year’s “Alice in Wonderland” was written by artistic director Andy Meyers).
It was this early exposure to theatre that brought Etchart to her career path. She grew up in nearby Glasgow, and auditioned every summer beginning in 1996. “My sister and I lived for it,” she says. “That was where my love of acting and entertaining people sprouted.”
She earned a degree in acting, directing and arts management from Carroll College in Helena, and headed to Los Angeles with her sister, also a theatre professional. When Meyers encouraged her to return to her home stage, she began spending summers in Fort Peck – this time as a paid actress. One of her first roles as a child was as “the tiniest pirate” in “Peter Pan.” This season, she stars as Peter, and also performs in “Lend Me a Tenor and as Tweedle Dee in “Alice in Wonderland.”
The theatre’s unique reputation helps draw such talent to the hinterlands. “Honestly, my favorite part about the job is the people,” says Meyers. “It is so rewarding to assemble the cast and crew … I think I have been very fortunate in my career to collect and maintain a large Rolodex of amazingly creative and talented friends. Many of our company members may be 'past summer stock' at this point in their careers, but they’ve always been intrigued by Montana and jump at the opportunity to travel to Fort Peck for a show or two.”
The building’s charm, coupled with a commitment to quality theatre, keeps audiences coming back year after year too.
Although the theatre seats 940, most shows draw an average of 330 a night during the season (with an occasional full house). This year’s offerings are “Lend Me a Tenor,” May 31-June 16; “Mamma Mia!” June 21-July 7; “The Marvelous Wonderettes,” July 12-21; “Peter Pan,” July 26-Aug. 12; and “On Golden Pond,” Aug. 16-Sept. 1.
Etchert notes that when the cast arrives for a play, the town is typically quiet and the parking lot empty. They step on stage to a sea of faces, “and by the time we take off our costumes and go outside, it’s completely deserted again.”
Artistic director Andy Meyers acknowledges that running a theatre in one of the most rural regions of Montana poses challenges. “Sometimes specific materials needed to execute the design elements are just not available,” he says. “It’s hard to wrap the designers' heads around this, and get everyone to adjust their timeframe accordingly, thus allowing time for online ordering or finding different creative methods to create the final project.”
It helps to have designers who have returned for five or more seasons, and instinctively build the lag-time into their sets. He’s also grateful to other companies – including Arizona Broadway Theatre, Missoula Children's Theatre, Montana Actors Theatre and Bigfork Summer Playhouse – “who are always willing to help us out by sharing resources.”
When the reunion comes around this summer, Fort Peck Theatre has plenty to celebrate.
Together, the community and nonprofit theatre have raised more than $750,000 to restore “a shell of a building with a costume shop in the church across the street” into an architectural gem. With plenty of “blood, sweat and tears,” Etchart says, they’ve also built a scene shop and costume shop/rehearsal space on the theatre property, and purchased cast housing, all of which is debt free.
They continue to make headway on the theatre’s “biggest mission and challenge,” investing more than $100,000 to improve sound in the “beautiful but massive barnlike space.”
On the eastern Montana plains, where it’s a long way to anywhere, Etchart understands first hand how a touch of culture can change lives. “There’s nothing like live performance,” she says. “The laughter and applause, the way you arc through the story with the audience.”
For more information, visit fortpecktheatre.org.
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