{"id":19092,"date":"2022-12-14T01:41:56","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T01:41:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=19092"},"modified":"2022-12-13T19:45:08","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T19:45:08","slug":"theatre-company-fundraises-to-hold-on-to-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2022\/12\/14\/theatre-company-fundraises-to-hold-on-to-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Theatre Company Fundraises To Hold On To Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Relight the Liberty\u2019 close to deadline<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

BY DANA DUGAN<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
The iconic Liberty Theatre on Main Street in Hailey. Photo courtesy The Liberty Theatre Company<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Locally owned businesses such as markets, restaurants, a bookstore, and a live theatre venue are what arguably make a town viable. A place you might want to live. And certainly a place worth visiting. The town of Hailey contains many historical gems, but one of its standouts has always been the Liberty Theatre. \u201cRelight the Liberty\u201d is a fundraising effort to save this unique Art Deco theatre. Built in 1938, it\u2019s now in need of structural and industry standard upgrades, along with an operational endowment.<\/p>\n

In a new video for \u201cRelight the Liberty,\u201d Kaz Thea, Hailey City Councilmember, said the theatre \u201cprovides the needed vitality that any community strives for.\u201d<\/p>\n

First some history: Beginning in the mid-1990s, the Liberty Theatre was home to the Company of Fools, an independent theatre company founded by actors Denise Simone and Rusty Wilson. Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, who owned the theatre itself, were its earliest patrons. Willis was known to appear on stage from time to time.<\/p>\n

In 2013, Company of Fools became part of the Sun Valley Museum of Art (then Sun Valley Center for the Arts), and in 2016 Moore and Willis donated the Liberty Theatre to SVMoA. The theatre provided an essential venue for arts and theatrical programming for the Wood River Valley. In 2021, after seven years of joint programming, the organizations mutually agreed to become two independent 501(c)(3) arts organizations. Thus, The Liberty Theatre Company (TLTC) was born, made up of performers already associated with both organizations. However, the Liberty Theatre itself remains an asset of the SVMoA.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Liberty Theatre has been THE arts anchor on Main Street in Hailey for decades,\u201d said Kristine Bretall, SVMoA public programs director. \u201cIt\u2019s served as host to countless plays, concerts, authors, community events and productions featuring students from our local schools \u2013 events attended by tens of thousands of people. There truly isn\u2019t another venue in the south Valley tat holds such deep memories and history. And today, the Liberty Theatre has tremendous potential to continue serving as a home for arts events in Hailey for decades to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a tremendous gift,\u201d said TLTC executive director JD McDonnell. \u201cUnfortunately, the building needs structural work, seismic and gravity load upgrades, and new HVAC for Actors\u2019 Equity standards post-COVID.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company must raise $1,700,000 by the end of 2022 \u2014 Saturday, Dec. 31. About $1,200,000 of these funds will be dedicated to necessary renovation costs and the remaining $500,000 will provide an endowment to ensure ongoing care and upkeep of the building.<\/p>\n

McDonnell, who has both a financial industry and a theatrical background, moved to the Valley two years ago with his family. He said he wanted to get involved with the arts again. At the time, the Liberty was looking for someone with financial expertise, to help guide them through this process.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going well,\u201d McDonnell said. \u201cSince March [we\u2019ve raised] over a million dollars. It\u2019s mind blowing. My mission with this building is that it must get going. I hope we get a Christmas gift.\u201d<\/p>\n

Initially, SVMoA donated $200,000 to seed The Liberty Theatre Company.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great start, and very generous,\u201d McDonnell said. \u201cThey want to gift the building. She\u2019s an old gal. But there were all these circumstances to make it very difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

Echoing the words and feelings of many in the community, Hailey resident Joan Davies said, \u201cIt would be such a void not to have it.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDonnell said the original date [for the fundraising deadline] was March of this year. \u201cThe Museum has been working with us,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we still can\u2019t use the building, due to structural needs, and equity rules. I hope we can come to some fruition here. The theatre provides an economic driver for the local businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

TLTC is accepting donations at libertytheatrecompany.org, and will also accept pledges. \u201cIt\u2019s process,\u201d McDonnell said. \u201cWe can be flexible.\u201d<\/p>\n

A new fundraising video, shot by Wyatt Caldwell and Chase Cleveland of Stellar Media, can be viewed on TLTC\u2019s Instagram and Facebook pages.<\/p>\n

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\u2018Relight the Liberty\u2019 close to deadline BY DANA DUGAN Locally owned businesses such as markets, restaurants, a bookstore, and a live theatre venue are what arguably make a town viable. A place you might want to live. And certainly a place worth visiting. The town of Hailey contains many historical gems, but one of its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":19094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,4,78,88,18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19092","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-community","8":"category-entertainment","9":"category-hailey","10":"category-local","11":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19092"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19095,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19092\/revisions\/19095"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}