In the mid-1960s Creede, Colorado was a town
without many prospects.
Silver mining, once its lifeblood, was drying up.
Nestled in the San Juan Mountains,
the remote town's Chamber of Commerce
recognized they needed to create a reason for people
to travel there.
Could a theatre do the trick?
12 theater students from the University of Kansas
caught wind of the idea and thought it could.
But there was little money and no theater to speak of.
Sweat equity and a desire to see the project
thrive filled that gap.
And 50 years later Creede Repertory Theatre
is the small community's largest employer.
We visited to bring you this unique, and at times
unbelievable, origin story.
Christy Brandt's commute to work is two blocks.
Still, most days it takes nearly an hour to navigate.
Traffic can't be blamed for the delay.
Nope, Creede is not prone to that.
What holds Brandt up?
Her fans.
I think some people that come here
aren't necessarily that attracted to everybody
knowing who you are, everybody knowing what you do,
and where you are every day.
I truly feel like I'm a part of this community.
That sense of community has had a more practical purpose, too.
It has helped the Creede Repertory Theatre to thrive.
[music playing]
Understanding that, though, means looking back 50 years.
Well then, you see then the mining shut down
and we was afraid that the town would dry up and blow away.
So we created this to keep the town a goin'.
Phil Leggitt was 23 years old when
Creede Repertory Theatre put on its first productions in 1966.
This is a mining town and it was rough and tough,
and we had never seen anything like actual theater.
So it was, it was just mind boggling how those people could
remember all of those lines.
But before a single line was spoken,
Leggitt and Jim Livingston had to pitch the theater idea
to its Junior Chamber of Commerce;
a foreign concept in the small community 250 miles
southwest of Denver.
Not everyone fished and not everyone went around
and partied from ranch to ranch.
So there might be something in town,
and it might be good for the economy,
and it might also be good for the local people who didn't
get to do a whole lotta things.
Creede's Chamber of Commerce agreed.
Still, a key component was missing, the talent.
I knew that if we were going to do it,
there was no frame of reference here for theater.
I knew a drama department at one of the major universities
would be able to supply that, and if someone
were crazy enough to come here, because we didn't have
any money, just raw material and an old opera house,
and a few other things, well then
maybe we could pull it off.
A dozen theater students from the University of Kansas
caught wind of the idea.
Crazy or not, Steve Reed was among those who embraced it.
I was thinking, OK, coming out to Colorado,
to the Rocky Mountains, starting a theater
in an honest to goodness, old west, mining town?
This is an adventure.
You know, we opened our homes and our community to those kids
to put those plays on.
We gave them a chance and they gave us
a chance to learn what theater was all about.
So it was a two-way deal.
I've never been to a place like this,
where you feel like people want you in their family.
CRT garnered national attention during Maurice LeMee's 12 years
of leadership.
As former executive and artistic director,
LeMee also helped expand its footprint,
both in and out of Creede, adding a second theater,
and staging work in Denver.
I think you have to be more cautious when you're the Denver
Center Theatre Company or you're a major theater company,
in a way.
There's more at risk.
Here, you can kind of take chances;
no one's gonna know (LAUGHING) if you mess up.
Jessica Jackson is Creede's current artistic director.
I found an audition advertisement
for the 2015 season and it said, quote, "We're
hiring a family of artists."
Does that stem from the fact that the community
and the theater are so tightly knit?
When we bring in our summer company of about 90,
we're increasing the population of Creede
by 20 something percent.
And so, we feel like we have a responsibility
to bring in people who are going to,
not only be good company members,
but be good community members, too.
Because whether you like it or not,
you are not anonymous here.
You are a member of this community.
As a founding company member, Gary Mitchell
was among the first to experience
the close relationship between the theater and the community.
Well, it was Mr. Roberts.
It was June 26, 1966.
We'd been working on this play for 10 days,
but we'd also been working on building a theater for 10 days,
and surviving as a company for 10 days.
We were having so much fun finally doing a show, even
though the paint was wet, and there
was this incredible feeling; an energy.
The theater has had less than incredible moments, too.
But then in 1970, when the theater burned,
that could have been it.
I mean, the managing directors that year,
you know they could have just said, we can't do this anymore.
But they came out here, they met with some of the townspeople,
and they all got together and say, we can do this.
Let's just do it.
And they did.
Restoring the theater's scorched interior in one month's time.
Audiences then, and now, are eager to fill seats.
Jessica Jackson pointed out part of the reason
for strong ticket sales is CRT's long-standing, and exceedingly
rare choice, to run performances in repertory.
There is the opportunity for audience members
to see six different performances in one weekend
here, and that is a monumental task.
For an actor that means being able to run four
different shows in one week.
And for the production and technical crew, it means this.
[music playing]
There's something else that sets Creede apart
from other theater companies.
Instead of its actors slipping out the stage door
after a show, they do the opposite.
This is very valuable experience for Creede.
It makes everybody that comes to the theater
feel more a part of the theater, and it
makes us understand what this art can do for people.
And there've always been ups and downs,
you know, there always are, but this community
is just so amazing.
I'm mighty proud of what they're doing.
And we had no idea that it would last this long.
It's grown beyond anything that I ever could've imagined.
This is something great.
But for Christy Brandt and everyone else
at Creede Repertory Theatre, it's just another day at work.