BoarsHead Theater was founded as a summer stock company in 1966 by John Peakes and Richard Thomsen. At the time, it was located in large barn in Fitzgerald Park in Grand Ledge.

The name BoarsHead was adopted because it was the original intention to present at least one Shakespearean production each season — a goal the theater found to be too ambitious because of the number of high-caliber actors and costumes needed for Shakespearean productions. After a while, the theater began putting on Shakespearean productions every few years.

In 1970, BoarsHead became a year-round theater company and held winter productions in a converted church in Grand Ledge. The theater found its current home in 1975 in Lansing’s Center for the Arts in downtown Lansing.

Smith said the building the theater now calls home was once a car dealership.

“It was never built to be a theater … so where the shop is, where we build our sets, was where there were three bays for car repair,” he said. “Where the theater is, of course they ended up having to build that up for seating, because it wasn’t like that when it was a real car dealership.”

The theater has seating for 250 people.

BoarsHead also is Mid-Michigan’s oldest professional theater, which means the actors, directors and designers are paid, Smith said. This differs from community theaters, which are low budget and everyone does it for the sake of doing community theater. While these theaters are a valuable part of the community, Smith said having professionals has guaranteed that the quality of the shows has remained consistent over the years. Many of the actors in the productions are members of the Actors’ Equity Association, a labor union representing American actors and stage managers, although local actors get cast in shows as well.

A sense of community

Prior to when Smith came on board as director of development in fall 2007, he had attended a few productions at BoarsHead. He also had interacted with many of the people associated with the theater when he was in charge of the performing arts department at Lansing Community College.

“Lansing’s kind of a small world when it comes to theater, and everyone tries to help everyone out if they need help,” he said.

Smith, who has been executive director since August, said many of the directors, actors and crew members from the area theater scene move around to the different local theaters, including Williamston Theatre and Peppermint Creek Theatre Company.

“I did some shows in Meadow Brook Theatre (in Rochester, Mich.) … and I didn’t enjoy it as much because most likely I didn’t know anybody in the audience. It was a whole audience from around the Detroit area and on occasion someone would show up that I might know, but not very often and I didn’t feel as engaged with the audience,” Smith said. “Here, not only can I see them if I’m playing (the piano), I’ll see them before the show or at intermission, and I always enjoy watching their reactions to the show, and I certainly love to be able to play for people, so it’s a lot more fun.”

Although there tends to be so much overlapping of directors and actors between the local venues, Smith said BoarsHead still maintains an identity that makes it unique.

“Somebody asked me the other day, ‘Do you ever feel competitive about the other theaters?’ To some degree you do, but you also want everyone to succeed. Obviously the more opportunities that people have to go to live theater, it helps all of us because what happens is they come here to a show at BoarsHead and at intermission they started talking about the other things going on, ‘Well, let’s go to Williamston next week and see that show,’ and likewise, they go to Williamston and talk about BoarsHead,” he said.

“It helps everyone, word-of-mouth. If it’s a good show, we all want to know about it and we all think it’s great that other theaters can have great shows.”

Performing arts

Kristine Thatcher, artistic director of BoarsHead, was born and raised in Lansing. After living in New York and Chicago for many years, she decided to return to her hometown about four years ago after one of the founders left the theater.

Now, Thatcher is responsible for researching which plays BoarsHead will put on and for casting the shows.

“I just read through the ones playwrights send us and look for things online that might work, and pick the ones I have an affinity for,” she said. “Some will work and some won’t — that’s part of the fun.”

The musical “Forbidden Broadway” opens tonight at BoarsHead and will run until April 5.

The play is a behind-the-scenes parody of some of Broadway’s biggest hits, including “Rent,” “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” “Into the Woods” and “Annie.”

The cast consists of local actors Ellen Campbell, Emily Sutton-Smith and Janine Novenske Smith, Smith’s wife. Marc Moritz and Paul Riopelle round out the cast. Chad Badgero directs the play, and Smith is musical director.

Moritz, a Cleveland-based actor, said the dynamic this small cast has worked out well.

“Rehearsals are often really silly, which is a good thing because if we didn’t trust each other
we wouldn’t be comfortable performing together,” he said. “It’s made the process more comfortable.”

Some of Smith’s favorite parts of the play include scenes with Liza Minnelli and Carol Channing impressions.

BoarsHead also put on the shows “Driving Miss Daisy,” “Hymn & Carol,” “All Childish Things” and “Permanent Collection” in the 2008-09 season.

The legacy

Smith said being a part of a Lansing fixture like BoarsHead has made his time there even more meaningful.

“To know that this theater has survived all these years and there’ve been times certainly when finances have been tight. Finances are tight now, but yet there’s always a need for live theater,” Smith said. “People still want to come and be entertained. They still want to do something like this — it affects the quality of life.

“It affects their mental well-being and so they come to see a show here, or they go over to Riverwalk Theatre or go to Williamston, but they have an opportunity to go places and see live theater without having to go to Chicago, without having to go to Detroit. It’s right here in Lansing and it’s not as expensive and it’s good.”