MADE
Photos courtesy of Cascades Theatrical Company
FOR THE STAGE In its 33rd year of providing live theater to Central Oregon, Cascades Theatrical Company began as a grassroots effort by local thespians. by Gregg Morris / for The Bulletin Special Projects
Thirty-three years ago, a local group of thespians came together to remedy the lack of quality community theater in Bend. The recently deceased Carol Johnson Bryant lead the charge to bring productions to Bend’s roughly 17,000 residents. Lack of an actual theater, including the yet-to-be-renovated Tower Theatre, could not stand in their way, and the Community Theatre of the Cascades was born. Fast forward through a couple of decades and a name change, and the Cascades Theatrical Company (CTC) is still working to provide Bend with a wide range of shows and musicals. “We are here to provide the community quality productions,” said Lana Shane, CTC Theatre Operations Manager. “We try to be as diverse as possible with our productions — new and old 10 | Central Oregon Living | Early Spring 2012
works, different themes and styles.” Shane’s path to the manager position illustrates her love of community theatre. “I came to Bend in 2003 to check it out,” she said. “I volunteered for a play and ended up staying. The hardest part was having to leave and get my stuff from California.”
History
CTC’s growth over the last 30-plus years has been impressive for a volunteer-based organization. What began as a traveling theatre company putting on shows in schools and churches has morphed into the Greenwood Playhouse-based organization Bend now knows. According to their website, “... plays were rehearsed in an abandoned church and presented in
the gymnasium of Kenwood Elementary School.” “Romanoff & Juliet” was the first play to be performed, while the first dinner theater performance of “Don’t Drink The Water” entertained diners at Le Bistro. It took four years to gather the support needed to rent and renovate an old auto garage into the Greenwood Playhouse, their current theatre. Located at 182 NW Geenwood Ave., the Greenwood Playhouse’s 5,000-square-foot building seats 131 patrons. CTC was able to purchase the building in 1990 with direct contributions from their patrons and grants from the Chiles Foundation, S.S. Johnson Foundation and the Bend City Commission. Today, CTC features updated sound, lighting and production equipment with support from Oregon Community Foundation, the James F. & Marion L.