THE NEDERLAND BACKDOOR THEATER:
MOVIES,MELODRAMA AND MAGIC

by Pam North

True vision, coupled with a lot of hard work, has brought about a
major miracle in Nederland - the Nederland Community Center Backdoor
Theater.  No longer do we mountain dwellers have to journey down to
Boulder or Denver areas to take in a movie; we've got it close by, and
we've got it good.  Five dollars buys a ticket to a weekend evening
film, refreshments are reasonable as well, and gas to get there is
minimal with the short driving distance.  Civilization has come to the
mountains.

The old Nederland elementary school, purchased by the town of
Nederland as a community center several years ago, was not being used
to its full potential. The five-member Backdoor Theater Guild,
consisting of Kayla Evans, Ruth Baldwin, Jan Cooper, Brent Warren and
John Levanthal, went to the Town Board to suggest using the school's
auditorium as a movie theater.  The town embraced the idea and bought
projection equipment for the project, and in August, 2000 the first
movies were shown. The audience viewed the films from the 1950s
folding wooden chairs original to the auditorium, not the most
comfortable in which to be seated for the duration of the movies, but
fortunately only a short-term inconvenience.
 
The town subsequently bowed out of its sponsorship of the theater for
various reasons, but the guild members continued their efforts to
sustain the theater, applying for a grant from the Boulder Arts and
Humanities Board to fund second-run movies and classics.  Colorado
non-profit status was then attained, making The Backdoor Theater one
of only a handful of non-profit theaters in the country.  Grant-seeking
remains a continued effort to fund its ever-expanding scope. The theater 
now has upgraded to showing first-run movies within three to four weeks 
after larger metropolitan theaters feature them; obtaining these takes 
place through film brokers in cities such as Dallas.

In October, 2001, a lease agreement was reached with the town of
Nederland, and by December the theater was edging into the black,
bringing some solid optimism to the prospect of continued success.

Renovation of the theater has been an ongoing process. Comfortable
theater seats, sound panels for better acoustics, and a bank of
theatrical lighting were donated by the University of Colorado when
its student union was remodeled.  The transportation of these
eagerly-awaited gifts fell upon the Guild to orchestrate, and the
community rose admirably to the task when its cooperation was
solicited. Scores of volunteers appeared to load, haul and install,
and before long the old seats had been dismantled (and sold as
souvenirs to raise funds), and the vastly more comfortable
replacements stood in their place.  The backstage area was repainted,
and also the walls surrounding the stage.  The result is a clean,
attractive, modest but adequate theater that stands out as an
outstanding and proud accomplishment for a town the size of Nederland.

The latest goals are to raise $6,000 to replace the curtains, and as
much as $150,000 to improve the sound system and lighting for quality
live theater productions. Clearly the aims are ambitious, but the
guild's success rate thus far is enviable, so odds are this
"work-in-progress" can only get better.

The first live production staged by the Backdoor Theater is just
around the corner.  The "Masked Canary," a musical melodrama that has
been in the works for several months, will go onstage this coming
weekend.  Auditions were held last October, with weekly rehearsals
beginning in November.  After a break for the holidays, the cast began
an arduous three-rehearsals-a-week routine, so a lot of hard work has
been poured into this project.  The original version of the play was
set in Tombstone, Arizona in the 1880s, but some license has been
taken to "Nedernize" it with local references and inside jokes.  All
of the classic melodrama elements will be there - the villain, the
hero, the damsel in distress - and the audience will have plenty of
opportunities to boo, hiss, cheer and laugh as talented locals (some
with professional experience) bring the production to life.
Performances will take place on Friday and Saturday, February 22nd and
23rd at 7:30 p.m. each evening, and there will be a 2:00 p.m. matinee
on Sunday, February 24th.  Tickets are $6.00 if purchased ahead of
time at Off Her Rocker in Nederland, or $7.00 at the door. The
Backdoor Theater is located one-half mile west of the Nederland
traffic circle on Highway 72 in the Nederland Community Center, lower
parking lot entrance.  For more information, call (303) 258-3044.

The production is directed by Kayla Evans, with a variety of talented
players cast in colorful roles.  You won't want to miss the fun of
this lyric comic ride, and (very important) to support an endeavor
that we mountain folk are privileged to have right in our own back
yard