THORNTON —The city is reviving its theater program this year after its core group of actors and organizers broke off to start their own nonprofit theater company three years ago.
“‘Break a Leg’ started years ago as a group of people from the community, almost 70, actually,” said Buz Hedglin, the arts and cultural division manager in Thornton. “From that core group was a smaller group of people who came together and became . That ended Break a Leg, so we’re just trying to recreate it.”
The first city play since the program was suspended after the theater company split is Aug. 27 at the Thornton Arts & Culture Center. It’s a musical called “The Claim Jumpers,” that Hedglin helped write and will also act in. It’s also the first original theater production for the city.
“We’re very excited that Break a Leg is coming back,” said Kenneth Wilcox, a member of the Thornton Arts, Sciences and Humanities Council, a citizen-led committee that distributes funding for the city’s arts and culture programs.
“Our program is young , but it just takes a while,” he said. “It’s takes people who are interested and have time to bring these types of services to the public.”
The Thornton arts and culture division itself was started just 10 years ago by Hedglin, who jumped departments after serving as Thornton’s purchasing manager for 20 years.
He said 2016 programming will focus on seeing music in a different light through education, conversation and spontaneous involvement in making music. About 35 separate events are being planned around this theme.
The division’s annual operating budget is $412,826,which is made up of city money and funds from the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District.
“When compared to arts programming and facilities that have been around much longer, I am pleased with our progress,” Hedglin said. “I believe we are laying the proper groundwork and arts infrastructure for future success, which will result in continued growth and enhancements over the next 10 years.”
And a strong community theater is part of that.
, Heather Cleveland and Heather Ramirez. But inconsistent practice space due to a fully booked out Thornton Arts & Culture Center — which is actually a renovated church — left them too frustrated to stay.
And when they left Break a Leg, they effectively became the only theater company in Thornton.
“We just received our nonprofit status,” said Cleveland, Creative Revolution’s managing director. “It makes everything much easier for getting donations and being able to grow here” in Thornton.
Creative Revolution is currently doing a series of murder mysteries that they perform for the Thornton Senior Center, as well as in other cities.
Hedglin envisions the reinvented Break a Leg collaborating with Creative Revolution and other theater groups.
“The intent of what we’re doing now is to get that core group of community theater actors back up again and do some additional shows,” he said. “Things just didn’t work out last time, and so now we’re trying to resurrect this activity.”
Ramirez, the creative director of Creative Revolutions, thinks that’s an interesting idea.
“We haven’t heard anything from the city yet,” Ramirez said. “But we’re more than open to a discussion about collaboration moving forward.”
Megan Mitchell: 303-954-2650, mmitchell@denverpost.com or twitter.com/Mmitchelldp
“The Claim Jumpers”
When: Aug. 27-29
Time: 7 p.m.
Where: Thornton Arts & Culture Center, 9209 Dorothy Boulevard
Price: $7
Call: 720-977-5885 to buy tickets
