The Sun Valley Performing Arts Center board of directors, which runs Ketchum's nexStage Theatre, has hit a milestone in its effort to buy the theater from its current owner, The Mott Family Foundation.
With approximately $700,000 raised, the organization is nearly halfway to its $1.5 million goal.
"Everyone's really interested, and we have 100 percent board participation," Development Director Prue Hemmings said Monday. "We're excited by the residents' eagerness to keep a theater here, but we're still a long way from our goal."
Last year 14,000 people "sat in seats at the theater or worked behind the scenes," Hemmings said. "It's such a community asset."
Tim Mott has agreed to give the board until March 31 to come up with the funds.
If the board doesn't hit the mark, the theater on Main Street at Ketchum's southern entrance could go up for sale.
"God forbid somebody else buys it and puts up a development," Hemmings said.
After phase one of the capital campaign, the organization hopes to raise another $1 million to develop the "back building" into new performance and educational space, which would double the facility's useable area.
The theater was created in 1992 in a former Jeep dealership. The Mott Family Foundation bought the nexStage Theatre property in July 2000.
The theater is administered by nexStage theatre manager Kathy Wygle and is overseen by the Sun Valley Performing Arts Center board of directors.
They rent the theater from the Mott family for $1 per year.
The theater serves as the permanent venue for productions and classes. The Sun Valley Performing Arts/nexStage Theatre produces the Sun Valley Shakespeare Festival, plays, musicals, play readings and children's theater workshops and classes.
"We do have a lot of support, but we don't have any major leaders yet," Hemmings said. "We're looking for a challenge grant. We're working on that."
Kathy Wygle and her dog Prika is the manager of the nexStage Theatre and artistic director for the Laughing Stock Theatre Company. Photo by Willy Cook
