Michigan's Barn Theatre Forced to Cut Summer Productions

Michigan's long-running Barn Theatre has been forced to cancel the remaining productions in its 2009/2010 season due to budgetary constraints. The theatre, which has been a staple in Michigan, providing theatre for more than 60 years, has been home to some of Broadway's biggest names including Jonathan Larson, Marin Mazzie, and Tom Wopat.

The theatre is hoping donations may be able to pull the theatre out of its monetary slump and allow productions to resume as scheduled for the 2010/2011 season. The theatre has also planned a summer benefit in order to raise the necessary funds.

All donations should be made to the theatre's not-for-profit subsidiary, The Barn Theatre School. The school assists in paying the actors that perform in the Barn's season, as well as for the rehearsal space and some equipment necessary for productions.

The theatre also hopes to gain further support in order to help pay for the less prominent, but no less necessary costs of things like performance rights, staffing, etc.

The Barn Theatre is one of the nation's oldest Equity resident summer-stock theatres as well as a longtime Michigan entertainment destination. Sixty years and nearly 500 performances under the same management is a benchmark nearly unparalleled in the theatre industry, yet it's a benchmark Barn Theatre has achieved, thanks to founders Jack Ragotzy, an Obie award-winning director, and his wife Betty Ebert Ragotzy. With $875 in their pockets, the Ragotzys founded the Barn in 1946 as the Village Players in nearby Richland. Three years later the company moved into its current home, an abandoned dairy barn, and became the Barn Theatre of Augusta, Michigan. Jack and Betty nurtured the Barn through the years until it became the success western Michigan enjoys today.

The full list of Barn Theatre alumni include Robert Newman, Becky Ann Baker, Barbara Marineau, Dana Delany, Jennifer Garner, Jonathan Larson, Kirker Butler, Lance Barber, Lauren Graham, Marin Mazzie, Denis Jones, Patricia Wettig, James B. Sikking, Stephen Lynch, and Tom Wopat.

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