By Wally Kennedy
Globe Staff Writer
JOPLIN, Mo. —
Unlike Pro Musica and the Spiva Center for the Arts, Joplin Little Theatre has not played an active role in the early promotion of an arts and entertainment center for Joplin.
There’s a reason for that, and it is not because Joplin Little Theatre opposes the project.
“This will be a wonderful thing for Joplin,” said Greg Green, president of the theater group. “I personally hope it happens. But Monday night was the first time we had an opportunity to talk with the consultants about what is planned.
“Their outline is wonderful. They wanted to know how we would use it if the center is built. We wanted to know: How do you sustain it? There are things they cannot tell us yet because they don’t know.”
Green and Mary Greenwood, a member of the board of directors of Joplin Little Theatre, met Monday night with the consultants, Halsey and Alice North, with The North Group, and members of the Arts and Entertainment Center Initiative for Joplin. The local group is composed primarily of business and arts people who have raised private money to hire the consultants.
Green said representatives of Joplin Little Theatre were unable to meet with the Norths when they first visited Joplin in July to talk with local theater and arts groups about the possibility of creating what is being called a cultural village near the Union Depot.
JLT’s first meeting with the Norths took place Monday night, a day before a public meeting was held in the Community Room at Southwest Missouri Bank, 801 S. Duquesne Road, to gather comments from the community on what is needed.
Said Green: “We are very interested in it, but we own a building. We have our own space, but you never want to rule out anything.”
Green said he could not speak for JLT’s board because it has not yet had a chance to talk about potential connections to the proposed arts and entertainment center.
He said it would be a mistake for someone to think that JLT is not supportive of the project, “but we, like everyone else, need to know more about it.”
Green said JLT’s use of an arts and entertainment center could involve a summer production there.
“We’re just talking ideas now,” he said, “but we have a summer workshop for kids. We have about 200 kids come through here every year. It’s a big success for us, but that eliminates our ability to do a summer show. We could do our summer workshop, five or six shows a year, and a summer production at the new arts and entertainment center. But, we’re just talking ideas.”
Box office
Green said he believes JLT would fully support a concept that would create a centralized box office for all arts and entertainment events in Joplin.
JLT has operated its theater on the west side of Joplin for 70 years or so. The organization characterizes itself as the longest-running community theater west of the Mississippi River.
Sharon Beshore, a member of the Arts and Entertainment Center Initiative for Joplin, said JLT has a long and colorful history that has enriched the community.
“This is a developing thing,” she said. “We are just trying to see how much involvement they (JLT) want to have. The idea is on the table, and I feel like they will talk to us more in the future.”
When the Norths were in town earlier this summer, they toured the Joplin Little Theatre building and watched a children’s production that was being staged, Beshore said. The Norths also talked with staff members.
If The North Group concludes that an arts and entertainment center is viable in Joplin, the next phase would involve hiring an architect to come up with a conceptual design and test the waters in terms of how much money might be raised for the center, which would be privately financed.
The North Group’s feasibility study also will propose an estimated cost, but no figures are being discussed yet. The study could recommend an approach that involves completion in stages. The study also would project an annual operating budget and management plan for the center.
Timetable
The Norths are interviewing 300 people about whether an arts and entertainment center is wanted in Joplin and, if so, what they would like to see and do at the center if one is built. The schedule calls for the Norths to finish their feasibility study in early October.
