Reno Little Theater

From Bravo,= 1985

A FEW YEARS AGO, as he was browsing through the historical records of the Reno Little Theater (RLT), D= avid Hettich, at the time supervising director of RLT , was surprised to discover that, legally, RLT wou= ld soon have to disband and close its doors.

Hettich's unhappy discovery that the articles of incorporation were only for a 5O-year period meant that the then forthcoming golden anniversary celebration would instead have to be a sort of. 'last hurrah.' , Luckily f= or RL T , however, Hettich had discovered the problem= in time to do something about it, and in 1980 RL T was properly re-incorporate= d in perpetuity.

At the time that Edwin S. Semenza and a dozen other students and graduates of t= he University of Nevada, Reno, decided to establish a theatre in Reno in 1935, they could not legally organize in perpetuity. But this did not worry them,= nor did the Depression then raging around them.

With special permission from t= he university's president, RLT opened its first production, Three-Cornered Moo= n, by Gertrude Tonkonogy, on October 15, 1935.

Semenza was the na= tural leader for the group and became the first supervising director, a position = he held for more than 30 years. It was Semenza who received special permission from Claire Boothe = Luce to present The Women at RLT in 1939. The play about New York socialites who come to Reno for a quick divorce – had been written by Mrs. Luce while she herself had been in Reno getting a divorce. Recognizing "the tremendous publicity value of doing the play," Se= menza secured permission from Mrs. Luce for the first non-professional production= in the West.

The luck of RLT got even better when Helene Reynolds tried out. Married to the Reynolds of aluminum fame, M= rs. Reynolds was also in Reno to obtain a divorce. After winning the lead, photographs of Mrs. Reynolds in the part “hit the wire service and we= nt all over the country.”

RLT also made theatre history = in May 1954 when it presented the premiere of The Track of the Cat, an adaptat= ion of the novel by Walter Van Tilburg Clark and the only stage version Clark e= ver authorized. The six performances were directed by one of Clark's high school classmates: Ed Semenza.

A SPACE OF = THEIR OWN

Although the founders had a dr= eam, and were willing to work for it, they soon needed their own performing spac= e, which they found in 1941 by purchasing Dania Hall. RLT had “found a home,” at the corner of Seventh and North Sierra streets, where it has been located ever since. In addition to the main stage, RLT today also has a downstairs area, the Semenza Circlet, where pla= ys of an experimental nature or those requiring a more intimate audience situation are performed.

Barefoot in the Park, RLT' s opening play of the 1984-85 season, marked the group's 319th production. The one-act play competitions were another highli= ght of the current year. In March RLT held an in-house contest to select the representative production for the state finals for FACT '85. And at the end= of April, RLT played host to the regional FACT festival.

No history of RLT would be complete without mentioning Blythe Bulmer. One of RLT's original founders, Blythe remains active in the group to this day. “I think part of RLT's appeal,” says Blythe, “is that we've= kept it a part of the community. Your next door neighbor could well be playing t= he main role.”

Attesting to this open-door po= licy is the fact that last season 182 people tried out for 91 available parts. Of the 91 selected, 50 were making their debuts at RLT “a new face” figure of about 55 percent.

By Will Hogan