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Evansville
Civic Theatre was born in the 1920's when the community theater movement
swept across the country. But Civic Theatre's roots extend far back into
the 19th Century to the days when independent theater companies
performed throughout the Midwest, bringing artistry and entertainment to
people who would otherwise never know the excitement of live theater.
The founder of Evansville Civic Theatre, Miss Frances Golden, brought to
the new community theater (called Peoples Players in 1925-then changed
to Community Players) all of her previous experience as the daughter of
a famous theatrical family. In addition, as artistic director for 17
years, Miss Golden gave to Evansville Civic Theatre a stability and
sense of purpose that has shaped the character of community theater in
Evansville for the past 73 years.
From its humble
beginnings at the Old Central High School auditorium, Evansville Civic
Theatre has had many homes -- Memorial Coliseum, Bosse High School, the
Rose Room of the McCurdy Hotel, the Elks Ballroom, and the Evansville
Museum of Arts and Sciences when the name was changed to Evansville
Civic Theatre in 1956. In 1974, Evansville Civic Theatre acquired it's
own home, the former Columbia Movie Theater at 717 N. Fulton Avenue,
built in 1910. Here, more than half a century of Evansville's cultural
history and innumerable hours of production and performance time are
re-lived every time the curtain is raised on a new Civic Theatre
production. Civic Theatre celebrated its 20th anniversary in the former
Columbia Theater in Sept., 1994, with an exterior restoration as the
building appeared in 1939. In August 1996 New theater seating and a
complete refurbishing of the theatre interior was completed.
In recent
years, Civic Theatre has implemented numerous new projects and programs
reaching more and more audience members. The NEXTWAVE Educational
Program reaches out to children, teens, and adults through classes and
two mainstage shows that have been incorporated into each season. The
Civic Theatre Education Annex in Washington Square Mall has birthed a
new performance space in a flexible Black-Box setting dubbed The
Underground at the Annex, and in 2007 Civic brought Shakespeare in the
Park to Evansville in an annual summer presentation.
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Brian Woods
President
LaNell Lucius
Vice President
Mark Atchison
Treasurer
Debi Hassler
Secretary
Board Members
Alison Moore
Gretchen Ross
Sue Schriber
Allyson Shelby
Steve Small
Kirsten Wagmeister
Elliot Wasserman
Brenda Williams-Seiler
Civic Theatre Staff
Christopher P. Tyner
Managing Artistic Director
Natalie Wade
Box Office and
Business Development Manager
Charles Julius
Technical Director |
GOOD NEWS!! The exits off the Lloyd
Expressway are open at Fulton Avenue, from both directions!
Coming from the west, exit at Fulton,
stay in the left lane of the exit ramp, turn left onto Fulton and
proceed to the theatre at Fulton and Columbia.
From the east, exit at Fulton
Avenue exit, turn right onto Fulton and proceed to the theatre.
Take a right onto Columbia and a right into the parking lot just past
the theatre.
CLICK HERE
FOR A MAP TO THE THEATRE |
