In the beginning…
It was the fall of 1970 and Jim (Jim Caron) and I were going over the post-production receipts from our first attempt at putting together a children’s theater program in Missoula. As we wrote a check to Samuel French Inc. to pay for our royalties we realized we only had enough money left to pay our salaries for one more month. We couldn’t afford to pay royalties.
“How do you feel about writing our own stuff?” Jim quipped.
When I looked puzzled, he continued: “I’ve got a degree in theater and you’re the music major. I could write the scripts and you could write the music. What do you say?”
So off we went. We’d announced that we’d be doing 3 shows a year when we formed the company called Missoula Children’s Theater. By the end of the 3rd year we’d produced 9 shows and had 6 original versions of familiar children’s stories in our library. That formula remains the same today as MCT’s creative teams produce new works annually to add to the now significant list of tour shows.
We were performing our shows at an old movie theater called the “Golden Horn.” The owner charged us next to nothing to use the space as-long-as we had it clean and ready to show a movie by 6PM. So, we built a thrust-style stage with storage underneath and our sets and costumes fit nicely into the 3-foot-wide opening under the stage. They also fit nicely into the back of a pick-up truck, and we were quickly booking one-day run-out tours to nearby communities. You see where this is going?
Now, some 56 years hence, I fondly look back at those memories of difficult times realizing that they were some of the most creative moments of my life. And, more importantly, the Missoula Children’s Theatre lives on. Over the years, many adaptions and adjustments would take place, but The Red Truck Tour, as we know it, grew out of necessity, and now has matured into an internationally recognized theater company.
Who knew?
Don Collins – Co-founder MCT
