Shakopee's River Valley Theater Company Staging for Growth

The River Valley Theatre Company was formed by accident. Or maybe it was fate. Four years ago, as part of Shakopee’s sesquicentennial celebration, a group of local actors got together to put on a show. Amy McGarness, River Valley Theatre Company’s president, was one of those actors.

“I had moved here five or six years before that and hadn’t met any other theater people," McGarness said. "They all came out of the woodwork and we went, ‘Oh, thank god, there’s more of you here. We have to start a group!’ And so we started a group.” 

McGarness said there’s a strong base of support for theater in the community, but not a strong history, so it’s up to (RVTC) to forge its own path. The organization is still in its infancy and its leaders are taking care not to go the way of Shakopee’s last theatre company.

“There was a group that got started probably 40, 50 years ago and that’s all that I know of,” McGarness said. “They did a few shows and then they petered out.”

Strategic Theatrics 

To succeed as a young theater company with a small budget in a down economy takes strategy and foresight. 

The RVTC recently punched up its performance schedule to two shows per year, and last year was the first time the company asked for sponsorships from local businesses, a request that was met with abundant support. Next on the community outreach docket is a call for membership and the organizing of fundraising events. 

Currently, the company is focused on its latest theatrical offering, “Lend Me a Tenor,” a farce that the director claims is “probably one of the better written modern farces–and probably one of the better written plays since 1980.” 

The show opens this weekend–coinciding, not unintentionally, with another local event.

“That’s when is having their big arts and crafts show,” Daphne Siegert, RVTC’s publicity manager and set designer, said. “People are coming from all over the Upper Midwest and they’re staying in hotels and need someplace to go on Friday and Saturday night. So we’re looking to play into that convention and visitors stuff and be a part of the community.”

Siegert also said that in some ways, the recession has helped RVTC.

“Everybody still needs leisure time,” Siegert said. “And, actually, since they’re not spending much going on vacations and going elsewhere, they want more things locally. Going to the Guthrie is wonderful but it’s not an inexpensive evening by the time you drive there, eat and do the show and pay for parking. They can get a good quality here and not have to go across the river, so there’s a real plus to that economy-wise.”

Still, RVTC would like to double its audience base over the next couple of years, from an average of 100 audience members per show to 200. Siegert predicts the 2012 musical, “The Wizard of Oz,” will help do the trick. 

“The Wizard of Oz,” like the other 2012 selection, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” meets the RVTC criteria of being attractive to audiences and challenging for actors. This fall’s play does just the same. 

A Fantastically Funny Farce

Directing his first show for River Valley Theatre Company, Minneapolis-based Christopher Tibbetts brings with him over 20 years of directing experience and more than 30 years of acting experience. After all that time, Tibbitts has grown to love community theater. No one’s in it for the money–and, in Tibbetts’s opinion, that’s part of what makes it great.

“It’s one of my favorites because everyone has other jobs and other lives and other families, but they make the commitment to do all this work because they love it,” Tibbetts said. “That enthusiasm and passion is just infectious and fun.”

He also said he’s lucky to work with such a talented group: an eight-member cast hailing from all over the metro area, each one skilled at the unique demands of a farce. It’s a perk of the robust theater scene in Minneapolis, Tibbetts said, that plenty of actors go to the suburbs to perform, lending small, young theaters like RVTC high calibre talent.

“The actors branch out and go to lots of auditions and do lots of shows and we’re reaping the benefits,” Tibbetts said. “It really is a gift that these artists give to the community, to the audience, to us.” 

IF YOU GO:

"Lend Me A Tenor" is playing for two weekends only, November 11-13 and 18-20 at Shakopee Junior High.

Friday, Nov. 11 at 7:30 PM - Opening Night
Saturday, Nov. 12 at 7:30 PM - Sponsor Reception
Sunday, Nov. 13 at 2:00 PM - Audio Described

Friday, Nov. 18 at 7:30 PM
Saturday, Nov. 19 at 7:30 PM
Sunday, Nov. 20 at 2:00 PM 

Tickets are $14, $12 for students & seniors and can be purchased online or at the door.