Crossroads Carnegie Art Center in rural Eastern Oregon, is the oldest continuously operating art center east of the Cascades, founded in 1963. I started as Executive Director in 2008. As a theatre person, I knew of MCT’s reputation of excellence. We raised the funds and booked MCT in 2009. The first 4-5 years were not easy. We could not gain momentum with the families to enroll their students, and I made the decision we wouldn’t bring MCT back…but then we had all these kids arrive who weren’t pre-registered, and we had to turn some away in tears. We have never looked back. Since then we added two shows a summer, then three. We celebrated our 10th season and 20th show to a triumph in 2019. The beauty of MCT for our hard-working rural town is that it’s only a week’s commitment for busy families
One of our most memorable years was 2015—we hosted MCT’s Red Riding Hood, operating out of Baker High School. That summer the Cornet Windy Ridge Fire was burning, and Baker High School was the massive fire headquarters for these two converging fires that burnt over 104,000 acres. In the middle of it all was MCT. Our lunchroom was the meeting place for the fire managers and pickup/drop-offs moved to not impede the exhausted fire teams. The small gym next to the auditorium was a mass bunkhouse where exhausted firefighters could sleep…so the kids had to be quiet. The skies were dark, ash dropped from the sky, your throat burned from the smoke, and some of the kids in the play were evacuated from their homes–yet the show went on. The kids came to me and asked if the firefighters could come for free. They dedicated the two shows and made posters for the crews. I’ll always remember the fire crew members who came, and once in a dark auditorium out of the extreme heat and smoke, I watched so many of them fall asleep from exhaustion. Those kids gave them a moment of peace. An unforgettable show…
We were so excited about adding an Intergenerational MCT show in 2020 and prepared to bring Senior Citizens on stage with kids. Then Covid kicked us in the teeth. We closed the art center for 50 days until May 15th but knew Intergenerational MCT would not be possible. We worked for weeks beforehand, hoping we could be an early “beta test” site of how MCT might do a show in Covid. But alas…we had to cancel both 2020 shows. In 2021, we were unsure if we could pull off two shows, but we did. Yes, we had fewer participants than usual due to State Restrictions and audience was down significantly. Kids, directors and the audience had to wear masks and it was just fine. They got to perform! We are excited for The Jungle Book and The Little Mermaid in 2023, hopefully with full casts and larger audiences as we bring back the energy and sense of community MCT creates.
MCT has a remarkable impact. We’ve had 4 or 5 kids graduate from MCT and High School to study music or theatre in their collegiate career; many talk about wanting to be directors someday. We’ve had kids that, for them, MCT was a fun thing they did once or twice but gained confidence and learned teamwork. Others find “their thing.” It’s not surprising that our local theatre company has a vibrant youth theatre company. MCT inspires a love of theatre!