Homegrown Theater: Osseo's Yellow Tree did it their way
Editorial
I recently had a lovely conversation with a bright young woman who wanted to know all about starting a “homegrown” theater in a small town. She and her actor husband were living in NYC and had ambitious plans to move back to his hometown in Florida to start their own theater, and from the sound of it, they had all their ducks in a row. In preparation for their big undertaking, she was getting her Masters in Arts Administration at NYU, working multiple internships at various NYC theaters, and soaking up as much experience as she could. They already had jobs back home in Florida lined up that would allow them some financial stability while taking on the enormous task of starting a nonprofit theater, which is smart seeing as it can take years before you’re able to pay yourself. From the sound of it, they are all set for success.
This woman had contacted me with the hopes of obtaining some information for her thesis, which she was writing on small-town homegrown theaters. I was delighted to help, but unfortunately, the conversation happened late at night, and after a long-tech week putting up a new musical and tending to two kids with croup, my brain was in shut-down mode. And while I do recall telling her about how our audience sometimes does the “wave” before a show (somehow in my sleep-deprived state I deemed this nugget of information highly critical for her research), I don’t remember saying anything remotely quotable for her thesis.
Upon hearing about all her meticulous preparation before her and her husband started up their theater, I couldn’t help but feel a bit sheepish. When my husband and I started
