Bigfork Community Players celebrate 30 years

One of the Flathead Valley’s original community theater groups is celebrating a milestone this year.

The Bigfork Community Players have been ensuring the valley has year-round theater options since 1984. At that time, Bigfork Summer Playhouse offered performances during the summer months, but there weren’t many local theater options the rest of the year, said Barbara Langlois, a longtime member of the group.

The players were formed when Bigfork resident Joan Bedford put out a casting call for a melodrama, Langlois recalled.

Langlois, who had moved to the valley from Bozeman, had always wanted to try her hand at acting but had been too busy raising her children to get involved with theater. When she heard about Bedford’s goal of putting on “Bad Day at Dry Creek,” she decided to try out — and ended up cast as a bar maid.

That began Langlois’ three decades of involvement with the players. During the group’s 25th anniversary celebration, when the players again performed “Bad Day at Dry Creek,” Langlois reprised her bar maid role.

She wasn’t the only bar maid in the original play. In its early years, all of Bigfork Community Players’ productions were double cast.

“It was a nightmare for the director, but it certainly did involve more people,” Langlois said.

And double casting came in handy for the amateur group. Nearly all the actors had day jobs, so there was always the chance someone might have to miss a show. Langlois could recall one instance when an actor called in sick with laryngitis. Another time, an actor had to miss a show after getting into a car accident.

Preparing for shows was much different in those early years than the tight schedule the players follow now. Karen Kolar, the players’ secretary, said her first play had a lengthy rehearsal schedule.

“We could be leisurely back then,” she explained. “There was nothing scheduled in the old theater over the winter. It was only used in summer plays.”

Kolar got involved with the players in 1986. She had never been on stage before but had experience helping put on junior high and elementary productions. When she was asked to try acting, she was willing to give it a shot.

After her first performance, “Downward Dick,” she never looked back.

While those mid-’80s performances helped establish the amateur theater group, they also had a more tangible purpose. A large portion of the players’ proceeds went toward building what is now the Bigfork Center for the Performing Arts.

“We really helped them out,” Kolar said.

When asked about the old theater, Kolar, Langlois and Mel Peterson, the players’ president, looked at each other and laughed. The old building wasn’t originally intended as a theater at all, Langlois said. It was a lodge for a fraternal organization.

It was small, with seating for about 100 people, Kolar added. There was no air conditioning, and Kolar said climbing into the booth to run lights and sound was like climbing into an attic. There were no dressing rooms; actors would change at a business across the street.

The theater that replaced it in 1988 is miles beyond the original, with seating for 427, professional-quality sound and lighting, air conditioning and a large stage. The Bigfork Summer Players make their home in the performing arts center all summer, but the community acting troupe and other groups have benefited from the space as well. The players’ shows are almost always at the theater, Langlois said, as are performances by groups such as the Bigfork Playhouse Children’s Theatre.

“We’re quite fortunate as a community theater to have this,” Peterson said.

Langlois agreed: “We almost always elicit some sort of surprise and delight from out-of-towners when they see the size of this facility. People are pretty impressed — and they should be.”

These days, the group’s fundraising efforts focus on keeping the nonprofit sustainable.

“We’re a little selfish: We’ve started supporting ourselves,” Langlois said.

The money helps keep the players independent, she added. In its early years, the group relied on sets and costumes from Bigfork Summer Playhouse. Now Bigfork Community Players has its own props, sets, costumes and everything else the group needs to put on three plays a year.

“We’re financially stable, and want to stay that way,” Peterson said.

Membership fees contribute a little, but not much, to helping the players remain independent. An annual fee of $10 buys membership for an entire family and entitles members to discounted ticket prices.

“Our membership is exceedingly reasonable,” Langlois said.

While community members don’t have to join the players to be part of their productions, the group strongly encourages membership. The players have about 40 members — but the group is always looking for more, Kolar said.

“It’s easy to join, and it’s a fun group to be with. We’re just a ball of fun,” he said.

For more information, email bigforkcommunity players@gmail.com or visit www.bigforkcommunity players.com.