Boise Contemporary Theater facts for kids

The Boise Contemporary Theater (BCT) is a special theater group in Boise, Idaho. It's a professional company, which means the actors and staff are paid for their work. Since 1997, BCT has been the only professional theater in Boise that focuses on showing new and modern plays each season.

Discovering Boise Contemporary Theater

How BCT Started in Boise

The story of Boise Contemporary Theater began in 1996. A person named Matthew Cameron Clark, who loved theater, started putting on plays in Boise, Idaho. He worked with actors he had met at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival.

In November 1996, they put on their first play, Lone Star, in a basement. Matthew saw that people in Boise really wanted to see professional, modern plays. So, the Boise Contemporary Theater was created!

Early Plays and Growth

After that first play, BCT put on four more shows in different places. These included Danny and the Deep Blue Sea and All in the Timing. In 1999, BCT officially became a non-profit organization. This means it's a group that uses its money to support its mission, not to make a profit.

Finding a Permanent Home

In 1999, BCT started a big project to find a permanent home. They wanted to turn an old building into a theater. This building was once a seedhouse, built way back in 1935.

By October 2000, the building was ready! It had a main stage, classrooms, a rehearsal area, and offices. BCT raised $2.6 million to make this happen.

First Show in the New Theater

On October 12, 2000, BCT opened its new theater on Fulton Street. This street is in the middle of Boise's Cultural District. The first play they performed there was Steve Martin's Picasso At The Lapin Agile. Matthew Cameron Clark, the founder, directed this play.

Other famous plays like True West and The Cripple of Inishman were also part of that first season.

Special Directors and Awards

Famous filmmaker Michael Hoffman has directed two plays at BCT. These were The Cherry Orchard and Waiting for Godot.

In 2010, BCT received a special award called the National Theatre Company Grant from the American Theatre Wing. This award is a big honor for theater groups.

A Change in Leadership

In 2019, there was a change in leadership at BCT. Matthew Cameron Clark, who founded the theater, left his role as artistic director.

The Theater Building

Where BCT is Located

BCT is located right in the heart of Boise's Cultural District. You can find it at 854 Fulton Street.

Inside the Main Stage

The main stage at BCT is a special type of theater called a black box theater. This means it's a simple, flexible space, usually painted black, that can be set up in many different ways for plays.

The theater has 230 seats spread across nine rows. These seats were given to BCT by The Egyptian Theatre when that theater was updated.

Historical Chandeliers

When you walk into the main hall of the theater, you'll see beautiful chandeliers. These chandeliers are on loan from the Idaho State Historical Society. Long ago, at the start of the 1900s, they hung in the Pinney Theater, which used to be on Main Street.

How BCT is Organized

The Boise Contemporary Theater is run by a group called the Board of Trustees. There are twenty members on this board. The theater also has five full-time staff members who manage its daily operations.

Movie Events for Fundraising

Big Movie Screenings

BCT has also raised money by hosting special movie events. These are called "red carpet advance screenings." This means people get to see a new movie before it's released to the public, and it's a fancy event.

Movies like The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum had advance screenings in Boise. These events were held at The Egyptian Theatre and helped raise money for BCT.

Famous Guests

The producers of these movies, Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy, and actor Matt Damon attended these events. They helped raise thousands of dollars for the theater. In fact, in 2007, these events helped BCT have its first profitable season ever!

In 2008, Marshall and Kennedy came back to Boise. They presented an advance screening of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to help BCT even more.

Plays and Performances

Plays from 2009-2010

The 2009-2010 season at BCT included several interesting plays. Some of these were The Pavilion, Animals Out of Paper, Edward Albee's At Home At The Zoo, and Namaste Man.

First-Ever and Western U.S. Premieres

Boise Contemporary Theater has been important for showing new plays. They have hosted several "world premieres" and "western U.S. premieres."

• A world premiere means it's the very first time a play has ever been performed anywhere.
• A western U.S. premiere means it's the first time a play has been performed in the western part of the United States.

BCT has had world premieres of plays by Maria Dahvana Headley, including Drive Me (1998) and Bare (2001). They also had a special reading of her play Last of the Breed (2008).

BCT also hosted the world-premiere reading of Love Lies Bleeding by Don DeLillo. This play later had its Western U.S. Premiere at BCT in 2006.

In the 2008-2009 season, BCT showed the Western U.S. Premiere of God's Ear. In the same season, BCT asked former The Daily Show correspondent Lauren Weedman to create and perform her one-woman show called No…You Shutup.

The 5x5 Reading Series

Besides their main plays, Boise Contemporary Theater also has something called the 5x5 Reading Series. In this series, they host five play readings each season.

A play reading is when actors read a play out loud, often with minimal sets or costumes. It's a way to hear new plays or plays that are still being developed.

These readings often include brand new plays or award-winning modern plays. Some famous writers whose plays have been read include Maria Dahvana Headley, Don DeLillo, and Dano Madden.