Rachel Sheely had an article in the Palladium-Item about the Richmond Civic Theater’s centennial.
Richmond Civic Theatre celebrates the 100th anniversary of its home this weekend with the Murray Theatre Centennial Celebration Show.
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The production highlights the building’s history as a home to vaudeville, movies and Richmond Civic Theatre. It is a multimedia show, making use of actors, narrators, song, dance, video and photographs, Cobine said.
Occasionally I get to wondering about how our entertainment culture has changed over the years. I hear stories about the days when big musical names traveling to small venues in mid-sized towns around the state. You occasionally see defunct opera houses in the oddest places. And, going way back, great classical plays were produced in Athens with a population of about 100,000 — less than the population of Tippecanoe County.
I suppose the abundance and ease of movies, television, and recorded music has made us less likely to produce our own entertainment locally and less likely to go to a live venue to see this stuff. I confess that I don’t take advantage of even the opportunities that are still available to me. So, I don’t have room to complain. But, it seems like we’ve probably lost something valuable by not having local, live entertainment being as vital a part of the community. Certainly, it’s a mistake to think you need to have a city of millions to produce quality entertainment. Anyway, glad Richmond Civic Theater is still hanging on.
I was in a couple of the youth theatre productions and many Whitewater Opera Company productions in that building. It just reeks history! I loved all the nooks and crannies in it. The Murray is where I gained my appreciation for the arts. Went back for a production of Richmond Civic Theatre a few years back-still awesome! Richmond has a real gem there!