Few experiences cultivate a sense of belonging and togetherness like the shared experience of live theater. Even fewer ignite emotions like those tapped in a more intimate setting like the smaller live theaters found in the Lansing community. To explore the impact of live theater let’s take an inside look at three very different live theater venues in the Lansing region.

Speaking with Kristine Thatcher, artistic director at the BoarsHead Theater in Downtown Lansing, one gets the feeling her passion resonates throughout the walls of the theater, its staff, each production and the patrons who support them. Working alongside John Dale Smith, BoarsHead’s executive director, this solid team brings professional theatre to life through its multitude of educational and outreach programs.

“Jackson National Life Insurance and Meijer are major contributors,” says Smith. “Our downtown presence is a key factor in garnering their support.” Smith, who like Thatcher joined BoarsHead three years ago, says, “We just purchased our building and we are committed to staying downtown.”

BoarsHead first opened its Grand Ledge doors in 1966 and then relocated to its Downtown Lansing home in 1975, making it the oldest professional theater in mid-Michigan.

This month, BoarsHead presents Driving Miss Daisy, which Thatcher believes can serve as a conduit to bring our community together. “Our theater is a place to come and escape. Like church, people attend to examine a story, an idea, or a theme. It’s a place to go and examine our lives and how we can make them better and more soulful,” says Thatcher, adding, “We hope the BoarsHead offers our patrons a sense of community, togetherness and instills hope for a better tomorrow.”

Riverwalk Theatre

Speaking of a better tomorrow, the Riverwalk Theatre, located in downtown’s Lansing Center, has just unveiled its new face after an exhaustive two-year, $350 thousand dollar fundraising and transformation effort. Through dust, muss, chaos and dress-clad patrons using outside port-a-potties during inclement weather, this theater’s patrons proved their unwavering loyalty.

So, what makes this nonequity (rather sweat equity) theater so special to its steadfast supporters? After talking with its deeply humbled, 14-year veteran manager Mike Siracuse, Riverwalk’s only full-time employee, one could easily surmise Riverwalk Theater is rich in character, spirit, charm and togetherness, offering a repertoire of performances.

Riverwalk is equally supported by a board of 21 very involved members and one part-time employee. Always debt free, Riverwalk Theatre is celebrating its 20-year anniversary by delivering an ensemble season to its African-American supporters. This month they are raising the curtain for a repeat of a wildly successful performance from two years prior, A Special Tribute to Black Theatre Part II, a montage of African-American productions from Broadway snippets.

Riverwalk is home to Community Circle Players, a 50-year-old theater group that Siracuse says “mix it up a lot.” He adds, “We put on well-known shows, ubiquitous shows and others that are unknown but so worthy, like James Joyces’ The Dead.”

The theater hosts special performances from Singers on the Grand, an annual two-day concert in April. The ’50s and ‘60s musical group Do-Waps entertain Riverwalk’s patrons each year. And three times a year, the troupe performs at Old Town’s Creole Gallery.

Riverwalk Theatre draws on input from their patrons, and year after year continues to give them what they want. According to Siracuse, they are the only community theater group in the Lansing area that owns their own space. Sixty percent of their operational capital comes from donations, and “if not for the generosity of those people who support the Riverwalk Theatre, we would not be here,” says Siracuse.

Williamston Theatre

Continuing the search for another intimate live theatre, the journey leads to the Williamston Theatre. Located in a storefront on Main Street of all places, this 80-seat theatre is making a large impact on local businesses, and according to its managing director Chris Purchis, “keeping our local artists employed.”

With a Mexican restaurant nearby, a coffee shop, a glass blower across the street, antique shops, an art gallery and six ribbon cutting ceremonies last November, “There is a tremendous amount of potential for growth in this area and we hope to help promote and be a part of it,” Purchis says.

According to the theater’s development director Emily Sutton-Smith, national studies estimate that patrons who attend cultural events spend an average of $34 per person at neighboring businesses. Last season alone Williamston Theatre attracted 6,000 patrons, which to this small town means an estimated $200,000 spent in nearby businesses.

Their staff comprised mostly of Purple Rose Theatre Company alumni, Purchis emphasizes they are their own entity and they have a fierce commitment to hiring Michigan’s artists. “All of our actors are from Michigan—or at least have a tie to Michigan. We have the talent right here in our town, and we want to help them stay here—not just actors, but also designers and administrators,” she says. According to Puchis, they hire set, lighting and costume designers for wage. Some of their paid talent comes from Michigan State University and she admits some of it is volunteer work.

As Mid-Michigan’s newest professional theatre, Williamston Theatre has produced mostly comedies. Only in their third season, she says they’re still “feeling out the audience,” and explains their aim is to “challenge the audience with stories that will make them imagine, laugh and explore.”

Echoing her point is Sutton-Smith. “Live theater is one of those experiences that people carry with them for their whole lives. It touches them in ways that television and movies can't.” This belief is the catalyst for the theater, which offers a number of discount programs for students and seniors. They are also launching a school day matinee program for the February production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds.

This play is an American classic. “It is often taught at the high school level. But reading a play is vastly different from watching it, from experiencing the emotion and personal connections happening on stage,” says Sutton-Smith. They are giving schools the opportunity to bring their students to the Williamston Theatre during the school day to see a performance. Classroom workshops will also be conducted by the director and actors in this production for further educational opportunities. Underscoring her point, Sutton-Smith states, “Studies show that exposure to arts increases literacy scores in schoolchildren.”

Sutton-Smith says, “In the rush of 21st century life, we have forgotten how to take the time to gather around the campfire and tell good stories, which is essentially what live theater is in our society.”

Be it community theater or professional theater, equity actors or sweat-equity actors, there is a common thread that ties all three theaters together, and that is the sense of community. Each in its own way challenges us to view a story, ourselves and our lives from a different perspective, all in the surroundings of a special yet collective energy found in few places other than the intimate, up-close setting of live theater.