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» The Playhouse
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» A New Nomad For A New Era
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Welcome to the Nomad Theatre, Boulder's only professional resident theatre. Our carefully planned seasons offer thing for everyone, from comedy to musical theatre -- classic dramas to family theatre, you'll find it all here at the Nomad, one of Colorado's oldest and finest theatres.

A LITTLE HISTORY

In May 1951 a group of local thespians, calling themselves The Nomad Players, came together with plans to form a troupe that would use a portable stage to perform throughout Boulder County. In practice, the roaming was not needed. The troupe's first summer of five plays, performed in a rented tent pitched on a field behind a liquor store, was so successful that there was no need to travel elsewhere. Admission was seventy-five cents that first year, and each performance was a sell-out. Profits totaled $256.00 by the end of the summer. Howe's Mortuary lent the troupe one-hundred folding chairs for each performance, but audiences often far exceeded that number, and regular attendees got used to bringing their own lawn chairs. The technical aspects of the productions were primitive, to say the least. The lighting systems consisted only of footlights made from coffee cans. The scrap metal roof covering the stage taught the actors the true meaning of the term "vocal projection" every time it rained.

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THE PLAYHOUSE

After the troupe's first season, the group began to look for a secure, weatherproof building in which to make its home, and expand its season beyond the summer months. William Hutson, the owner of the Boulderado Hotel offered to lease the group a Quonset hut-styled building he had in his possession, and Bauldie Moschetti, owner of North Boulder Liquors, offered use of the field behind his store for as long as the group wished, free of charge. The group broke ground on the current site on August 7, 1952, erected the building, and set its footlights in place. When Mr. Hutson saw that the only lighting equipment owned by the company consisted of coffee-cans, he loaned the group $3,500 to purchase "real" theatrical equipment. Eleven years later, in 1964, Mr. Hutson's widow Winnie donated the playhouse to the troupe, and waived the final loan payments, so that the theater would stand as a monument to her late husband. At the same time, Mr. Moschetti deeded over the plot of land where the theater stood to the group as a gift. While Mr. Moschetti's had no interest in appearing on stage, he is reported to have said that community theater "was a good idea" in response to the question of why he did it.
One more angel graced the playhouse in its first quater-century - Mr. Ralph Peters donated $1500 for a new lighting control system, and then gave an additional $2000 and extended a loan to the company to purchase the land east of the theater to be used as a parking lot.

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THE RECENT PAST

In the last decade, the building's slow, but continuous deterioration prompted the organization to take steps to stop the decay, and to upgrade the building sufficiently to surpass municipal building codes. The property east of the building was sold to a developer to build the Nomad Co-Housing Community, and the proceeds were used to completely renovate the building. The theater went dark in May 1995, and remained in that state for three and a half years. In a style reminiscent of its name, the group continued to mount productions in other spaces.

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A NEW NOMAD FOR A NEW ERA

The theatre reopened in November 1998 with a production of "Lend Me A Tenor". Audiences were amazed by the renovations - a remodeled lobby and restrooms, a brand new community room, and improvements to the theater itself - refurbished seating, a new heating and air conditioning system, a new lighting grid, a new state-of-the art digital dimming system, substantial improvements to the theater's sound system, etc. A new era at Nomad had begun. The theatre officially changed its name to The Nomad Theatre, and re-opened as a professional theatre venue. Working with a mix of equity and non-equity actors and receiving national acclaim, the Nomad began boldly moving forward to another 50 years of offering the best theatre in Colorado.

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TODAY

In the spring of 2006, John Kelly and Dick Blumenhein, the partners behind Boulder Valley Real Estate, purchased the Nomad Theatre to ensure it remained a local arts venue. Over the coming years, John plans on expanding both the capabilities of the theatre to host a variety of events, as well as reaching out to a broader arts audience.

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