Opened in 1906 the Matthews Opera House was the setting for stage productions and traveling shows through the 1930’s. Built by a local Wyoming rancher, Thomas Matthews, at the cost of $50,000, the Opera House opened on December 3, 1906 with a political farce-comedy called “The Lion and the Mouse”. Throughout the next 10 years the popularity of the Opera House remained unquestioned. Many traveling repertory companies paid repeated visits to the Matthews during that time. However, as the decade drew to a close in 1919, competition from “moving pictures” developed in Spearfish and fewer live performances were scheduled.
Renamed “The Princess Theater” in 1920, the Matthews was run primarily as a movie house over the next 10 years with occasional live shows still playing on the stage. The “golden age” at the Opera House came to a halt in 1930 when the owner of the Princess Theater moved out and opened a new building down the street. Over the next 25 years the Opera House was used for varied events from a practice basketball court, to a shooting gallery and occasional dance hall. But the elegance of the interior faded as the building fell into general disuse by the mid 1950’s. Broken windows provided easy access to pigeons that roosted among the stage hangings. An effort by local college students in 1956 and ‘57 was attempted to revive the Opera House. The students brought a series of melodramas to the stage during the two summers, but while community support was high, graduation of cast members and financial concerns brought a quick end to the venture. Once more the Opera House went dark and continued to deteriorate.
By 1966, the Opera House had been little used for nearly a decade, when another band of intrepid students from Black Hills State College formed a theater company for the summer months and began a small scale renovation of the interior. Known as “Stagecoach Theater”, the student’s efforts were longer lasting than 10 years earlier. What soon became a summer favorite, “The Phantom of the Matthews Opera House”, written by Paul Higbee, opened in 1976. Summer audiences continued to grow through the 80’s, but the conditions of the Opera House were anything but comfortable. The building wasn’t air-conditioned and there was only one single public toilet. By the mid 1980’s it was determined that serious restoration work would be needed to preserve and protect the Opera House if it were to reach its centennial year.
The Spearfish Downtown Association took the first step and formed the non-profit Matthews Opera House Society. The building was leased from current owner Mike Kelly with a 95 year, rent free agreement that the restoration would proceed on a timely basis. The first restoration phase was completed by 1989. Work continued into the 90’s and was completed by the end of 2006, the official centennial date of the opening of the Matthews Opera House. Today, the Matthews Opera House is the centerpiece of the Spearfish Arts Center and the home to an active community theater. It is once more an ongoing scene of live theater, concerts and art events throughout the year.
Tony DeBlois (September 23rd) is proving disabilities don’t have to limit anyone. DeBlois was blind at birth, weighing less than 2 pounds. He was diagnosed with autism when he was 5. But his mother, Janice DeBlois, witnessed a miracle when she bought an organ at a yard sale and her son played “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” at the age of 2. Today, DeBlois, 36, plays 22 instruments, and has been performing professionally since he was 9. He is the subject of a CBS movie of the week, “Journey to the Heart.” He performs nationally as well as internationally, and has entertained at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. He won a scholarship to the Berklee School of Music, where he graduated summa cum laude in 1996. He has received a Certificate of Achievement for his work from the school. DeBlois has a rare phenomena, musical savant syndrome, which was diagnosed when he was 15 years old. Savants are people who, despite serious mental or physical disabilities, have remarkable and sometimes spectacular talents.
Craicmore (October 7th)- Nancy Johnston (vocals, bodhran, hard shoe), John MacAdams (vocals, guitar, percussion, didj ), Sean FayeCullen (vocals, bass) and Dave Champagne (Irish flute, orchestral flute, whistles and pipes) originally came together through a series of chance meetings at Los Angeles' Celtic Arts Center's legendary Monday night seisiún. As their musical interests and commitment deepened, Craicmore moved from performing at small local street fairs, museums and libraries in the mid '90s to main stage performances at prestigious Folk Festivals, Scottish and Irish cultural events and concert halls throughout the United States.. We're a contemporary traditional Celtic band," the group agrees. Formed in 1992, they draw their words and music from the traditional music of Ireland and Scotland and claim influences as diverse as the Afro Celts, Chieftains and Pogues; rock, and Australian indigenous music.
The Black Hills Symphony Chamber’s (January 21st) Mission of the Black Hills Symphony Chamber Orchestra’s shall be: To provide the finest in orchestral performance and symphonic music education for the people of the Black Hills region. In Spearfish several of the Chamber Orchestra’s will perform an evening of classical and pop music.
Unsinkable Women (March 31st) Based on actual diaries, letters and interviews, Unsinkable Women brings to life eight famous figures including Madeline Astor, the beautiful teenage bride of John Jacob Astor, one of the wealthiest men in America. And, of course, there's Margaret Tobin Brown - the "Unsinkable Molly" herself - whose account of the ship's final moments brings the evening to its dramatic climax. Lesser-known characters, like stewardess Violet Jessop (who tells of the friendships and loves of the below-decks serving crew), and Nora, an English music hall performer on her way to New York to appear in American vaudeville, share their stories of tragedy and triumph.
Created and performed by New York actress Deborah Jean Templin, Unsinkable Women offers vivid portrayals, punctuated with period songs from vaudeville numbers to Victor Herbert’s “Toyland.” Accurate Edwardian-era costumes are housed onstage in an old-fashioned wardrobe trunk. During the show, Ms. Templin changes into them and shifts from character to character in full view of the audience.
Pavlo (April 24th) To define a musical genre is not easy; to create a classical guitar sound so unique that none can claim it, that is Pavlo’s special contribution, a “Mediterranean” sound. A distinct blending of Latin, Flamenco, Salsa, and Bouzouki, Pavlo delivers a sound that wraps the listener with the warmth of romance handed down through the ages. Writing since the age of 13, Pavlo has been working his craft since striking the first note on his Stratocaster. A Greek-Canadian from Toronto, whose roots stem from the fur capital of Greece, Kastoria, shares that his Pontian father’s love of music, has inspired him to pursue his musical dreams. strumental sound, played by a solid group of musicians, so in accord with one another, that they practice as they write. “We live and are the music, we practice as we perform, we perform when we practice, there is a certain synergy between us, so strong that the sound just takes Influenced by such artists as Jose Feliciano to Liona Boyd, his music fills its own distinctive niche. He describes it as “Organic,” a sound filled with live instrumental sound, no digital fills, just pure “organic” inon a personality of its own, and we, the performers, merely gift it to the audience.”
Matthews Opera House
History
