when Northwestern University dedicated a theater on its campus to Krause, it noted: “Krause, a legendary theater and perfor- mance studies professor, helped create the acting curriculum at Northwestern, focusing on instruction in technique with deep engagement in a canon of dramat- ic literature. She taught at the University for 33 years, and her students included Charlton Heston, Patricia Neal and Garry Marshall.”
Project Discovery and BTE Theatre School programs. Theater in the Classroom brings to schools original works presented in an animated story-theatre style featur- ing imaginative props, costumes, music, and student participation followed by a lively post-performance discussion to area schools. Project Discovery gives high school students in the area the opportunity to attend a performance in the BTE theater for free. And the BTE Theatre School offers
Ensemble and connects it with the national theatrical community.
Now in its 44th season, BTE has come a long way from its free performance of “The Good Doctor” on the stage of then Bloomsburg State College’s Carver Hall in March 1978. The first performance of the perennial audience favorite, “A Christmas Carol” also was staged there in December 1979. The first few summer seasons of the fledgling theater company found a home at Central Columbia Middle School. Even the Town of Bloomsburg helped, providing rehearsal and office space on the Town Hall’s third floor for a few years. By 1980, BTE was ready for a home of its own, and, with a few gifts from several donors, the former Columbia Theater on Center Street in Bloomsburg was pur- chased. The first production in the space was “You Can’t Take It with You” by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart in June 1982. But the 1940s building needed a more comprehensive overhaul. With grant money and donations, a total renovation transformed the old building into the Alvina Krause Theater, completed in time for the opening of Noel Coward’s Hay Fever in October 1983. Further helping the new theater company was the donation of the Mitrani Building off Iron Street for BTE’s rehearsal space and scenery and costume shops. The commitment to place that Krause instilled in her students can still be seen in BTE’s creation of original plays from local stories, and its Theatre in the Classroom,
How fortunate we are that she and her students chose this place to call home and gave this area Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble! • To learn more about the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, or to purchase tickets to upcoming 2022 shows as part of their 44th season, please visit bte.org.
kids and adults an opportunity to learn theatre skills.
Although Alvina Krause died in 1981 at the age of 88, her legacy lives on in BTE. She inspired a theater that has become, in her
own words, “as important to its commu- nity as schools and churches.” In 2010
@RAVITEJA_RUDRARAJU
@KARUNA_SAH
28
Powered by FlippingBook