After 45 seasons of breaking legs and taking names, BDT Stage will close its curtains

Aug. 26—While health concerns during the pandemic forced arts venues to temporarily shutter, it's Boulder's ongoing development and exorbitant real estate that's pushing some local art organizations out the door.

BDT Stage — formerly known as Boulder's Dinner Theatre — is likely to have its final curtain call in 2023. The land that the beloved venue sits on was sold for a reported $5.5 million to Quad Capital Partners, a multi-disciplinary real estate investment management and development firm.

Originally planning to shutter after its recent family-friendly production of "SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical," BDT Stage will now finish out its 45th season and continue to welcome theater-goers into its building, at 5501 Arapahoe Ave., through May of 2023.

"There are many feelings about the potential end to what has been such a special place for so many people," said Seamus McDonough, BDT Stage's producing artistic director. "But instead of dwelling on the sadness and the unknown, we are focusing on making this next season the best we can so that each night that folks come in they can make another memory with us."

McDonough took on the producing artistic director role after longtime employee Michael Duran stepped into the role of BDT Stage's executive producer.

Operating since 1977, the Front Range theater has seen an array of talented thespians pass through its doors.

Long before she starred in "Big Eyes," "American Hustle," "Junebug," "Doubt" and "Enchanted," award-winning actor Amy Adams was serving up food, dancing and singing at Boulder's Dinner Theatre in the early 1990s.

She jumped at the chance to shine in BDT's "A Chorus Line" after another performer was injured and had to step down from a role.

The dinner theater's productions have also featured actress Annaleigh Ashford before she went on to star in Showtime's "The Masters of Sex" and win a Tony Award for her portrayal of Essie Carmichael in "You Can't Take it With You."

For McDonough, who has taken on a number of jobs at BDT Stage — including technical director, bar manager and understudy — the venue is so much more than a place where over 160 musicals, tons of concerts and plays have taken place.

It's where his parents met. And it's where he literary learned to walk.

"This theater and this company has been my home and family since the day I was born," McDonough said. "My father was the first employee in the building and worked here till 2012 — starting as the janitor, moving to bartender, then to stage manager, working his way up to being the [general manager]. I started working here in 1999, and getting to work side-by-side with my father for so many years was a gift. I can never express how much it means to me."

The impending closure of BDT Stage will no doubt bring a significant void to the art scene.

In neighboring Longmont, Jesters Dinner Theatre shuttered this past spring after staging more than 25 years of musicals. Owners Scott and Mary Lou Moore announced the building was for sale — and after one crowdfunding bid and one declined group offer from folks connected to the theater to save the venue, it closed on May 29 after a final production of "Guys and Dolls."

"We appreciate that there's been enough support to keep it going for 23 years," Scott Moore said in a March interview with the Times-Call. "Most businesses don't even last three, and certainly the arts businesses don't even last that long."

It's about supporters who become family, many of the creatives say.

"So many of our patrons have been coming for years — with their parents or grandparents and now bringing their own kids," McDonough said. "It's a pretty rare thing for a theater to have spanned that many generations, and we want to celebrate that. Our patrons know our performers on a personal level and vice versa. When they come in they are not just coming to see a performance, but going to see old friends."

Finding a new location has been discussed, but with the lack of potential venues in Boulder County, high taxes and rents at an exorbitant rate, the outlook isn't overwhelmingly positive, he said.

"There have been some talks, but nothing solid at this time," McDonough said. "However, you never know. Our owners, Gene and Judy Bolles purchased the building and the company in 2003 when our former owner and founder Ross Haley was planning to close down. So there is always the possibility someone will come along to take the company somewhere else."

For McDonough, "the people, hands down" have been the most rewarding aspect of helping to run this iconic venue.

During the pandemic, McDonough and Duran switched gears and offered streaming options as well as parking lot concerts.

"This company, even more so than most, is a family," McDonough said. "The second someone new walks through the door to work here they become that. They could be gone for a production or for a few years and walk through the door and pick up right where they left off. As well as the patrons who I have gotten to know over the years that continue to support us. Truly it's just the thing that makes us a staple for 45 years in the community."

BDT Stage's run of Nickelodeon's "The SpongeBob Musical" recently wrapped. Up next, folks can catch Dueling Piano Road Show on Friday, Saturday and Sept. 2-3. A cappella rock vocal group Face returns to the stage Sept. 8.

Other September productions include Citizen Dan: A Steely Dan Experience, Mary Louise Lee Band: A Night of Whitney Houston, Cody Qualls and the Brand New Ancients, Those Crazy Nights: The Ultimate Journey Experience, Hazel Miller & The Collective with special guest Claudette King and The Petty Nicks Experience.

"Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story" will hit the stage on Oct. 21 and run through Jan. 28, 2023. Other upcoming productions include "Something Rotten" and "The Sound of Music."

"You know, the things I am most excited for are things we haven't even gotten to announce yet," McDonough said. "So, folks will have to keep their eyes peeled for what things are coming up."

'The arts struggle here'

While BDT Stage has hopes to make the 45th season especially memorable, one visual art center has also been forced to close up shop.

The Boulder Creative Collective was founded in 2013 after friends Addrienne Amato and Kelly Cope Russack crafted the idea of creating a platform for diverse artists while on a hike.

From helping creatives of all types exhibit and sell work at various venues throughout town with pop-ups to later securing a brick-and-mortar space at 47th Street in Boulder, the two entrepreneurs worked tirelessly to create a space for new work and creatives to bloom.

In 2021, they moved The Boulder Creative Collective into a dream locale and went to work refurbishing and redesigning the space to better match their vision.

"When we decided to look for a potential new space we knew it had to meet our criteria — location, light and space for a gallery and studios," Russack said. "Walking into 2208 Pearl was an immediate 'yes' for us, and with a signed three-year lease, we felt it was enough time to get on the downtown radar. Just two months after building out the space and opening with our second residency class on March 1, 2021 — to our surprise — a 'for sale' sign went up."

The building was sold in October 2021 as part of a larger deal that encompassed 2206-2210 Pearl Street, which is a 21,209-square-foot parcel of land and its structures.

The buyer, stok Investment Group LLC, intends to redevelop the site for attainable and sustainable housing.

Amato and Russack announced the closure of Boulder Creative Collective — an inviting venue that provided artists with residencies and cutting-edge gallery exhibitions — this past June.

"After four years in our old location on 47th Street, we were tired of paying over $4,500 in rent — before utilities — for a hot, dirty space with a constantly leaky roof and plumbing problems," Amato said. "The new space on Pearl Street was the first one we looked at in our search. The rent was lower, it was a much better location with tons of parking and we had the opportunity to gut and redesign the space that we felt supported the foundation and future of the BCC."

The Boulder Creative Collective even came out the other side after the pandemic, but with the sale of the building, the two don't have a lot of hope for the future of the business.

Amato, an artist herself, is searching for somewhere to work on new pieces.

"I haven't found my own space to create in yet," Amato said. "I'd love to find a studio here in Boulder, but as we know it comes at a premium. I have my own criteria in a workspace, and it's not unlike the BCC studios — good light, a private or semi-private space, a community of artists nearby, close to downtown or centrally located so I could walk or bike."

Russack has turned her attention to other altruistic causes.

"I was gutted by the food insecurity in our local food banks and have decided to spend my free time volunteering and directly serving the community," Russack said.

Amato and Russack have previously utilized crowd-funding platforms to help meet goals, but at this time they said they don't want to go that route to revive Boulder Creative Collective or to reinvent it.

"Although we've had great success with our Kickstarters, it's not how we want to run our business," Russack said. "We had hoped for community engagement and donations, but the community involvement has fallen short. The arts struggle here. People prefer to buy their expensive bikes instead of investing in art. It's a fact. Grants in Boulder are also frustrating. We have tried, and the money seems to go to the same organizations."

During the pandemic, over 30 Boulder County-based arts venues, organizations and live entertainment promoters received financial help from the Shuttered Venue Operations Grant.

As the art scene continues to gain footing and rebuild, many local establishments still struggle to attract the same amount of patrons that frequented establishments prior to the pandemic.

But more funding is being dispersed to help future growth. Boulder's Office of Arts and Culture continues to work with the arts community to remedy the losses brought on by the COVID crisis.

This month, 10 arts organizations were named as recipients of the Arts Administration Rehiring Grants, and $87,900 each will be dispersed over three years — awardees getting around $30,000 a year through 2024. The recipients include Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, 3rd Law Dance/Theater, Boulder Opera Company, Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, Boulder Symphony, Dairy Arts Center, Frequent Flyers Productions, Local Theater Company, Museum of Boulder and T2 Dance Company.

"The arts are vital for the well-being and unity of our community, particularly as we recover from the pandemic and other tragedies," said Lauren Click, arts program manager at the Office of Arts and Culture for the City of Boulder. "We know from the research we conducted when we built the Community Cultural Plan that our community wants to be immersed in creativity throughout their daily lives. These grants keep our organizations, artists and classrooms working and flourishing."

However, the lack of reasonably priced venues for arts organizations still remains an issue.

"It is a challenge we are aware of," Click said. "Next year, we are likely to open up rental-assistance grants again to help with the venue affordability aspect of the issue. The arts industry, and performing arts in particular, have not yet recovered as much as the rest of the economy and performing arts tend to have the most complex venue needs."

Click and others are aiming to address the needs of the creatives in the community.

"We all need to stay diligent in supporting the arts and look for creative solutions," Click said. "For instance, City Council is discussing how the Community Culture Resilience and Safety Tax might help with the facility needs of nonprofits."

With Boulder being home to 5,000 artists — the third-highest concentration in the country, according to the National Endowment for the Arts — competition for funding remains high.

"The General Operating Support Grants are an important piece of our organizations' fundraising portfolios — and it makes them feel that the City of Boulder supports and is invested in their existence, which we are" Click said. "We know that our organizations and artists are integral to making Boulder feel like Boulder."