Orphan Girl Theatre
Butte Center for the Performing Arts

Villians Landon Hansen and Mac Taylor scheme in Romance in Venus Alley.

Photo: Derek Pruitt

The Butte Center for the Performing Arts is dedicated to the engagement and education of persons of all ages through the medium of live theater. Its two theaters—the Mother Lode, a 1,200-seat facility, and the Orphan Girl, a 106-seat renovated facility—not only serve the Butte community, but outlying areas as well. The Orphan Girl Theatre operates after-school programs year-round, including during the summer, that offer youth the opportunity to develop their knowledge and appreciation of local history, as well as their skills as writers and performers.

Uncovering nuggets of history in the Butte Archives, local libraries, the Mining Museum, and the former School of Mines, students work with historians and dramatists to create and perform a series of 30-minute melodramas. The genre suits the town's boom-and-bust history.

Iconic characters of the American West—scoundrels, damsels, heroes, agitators, organizers, immigrants, bartenders, and piano players—inhabit the plots of comedies and tragedies. The young actors title their melodramas with such names as A Miner Difference of Opinion, Romance in Venus Alley, and Shades of Gold and Silver. Through this exploration of their town, students develop a better understanding of history, enhance their ability to conduct historical research, and increase their appreciation of popular literature from the past.

Children also serve as the theater's directors, producers, stage managers, lighting and sound technicians, costume designers, and concessionaires for each performance. Working after school, on weekends, and during the summer months, they learn that even creative occupations involve discipline; teamwork; and, sometimes, repetitive tasks. They also experience the connection between the arts and community-building. By creating theater relevant to the lives of Butte's citizens, they are helping to revitalize the spirit of this town, devastated economically by the closing of the world's largest open-pit copper mining operation.