Act one

Act one
new community theater in the planning stages
by Anne O’Connor

When Jane Kouba dreams, she dreams big. And then she gets moving.

After years of plotting and a solid year of planning, Kouba recently announced the formation of the official beginnings of the Viroqua Community Theatre. The rural Soldiers Grove woman has been leading the way, pulling in help in reaching her ultimate goal of a performing arts center in Viroqua that will serve a wide array of performers from across the region. She sees a space where the community can gather to perform shows, to rehearse, to have classes, to have school plays or community dances.

She has what she considers the perfect place picked out: Warehouse No. 1, the new name for the classic old tobacco warehouse on the corner of Decker Street and East. Avenue. With its high ceilings, its central location, it’s wide open spaces, Kouba finds it the ideal venue for a performing arts space. There’s other important reasons for wanting to be in that building.

“It’s got the history of Viroqua in it,” she says. “We want the community in this new/old space.”

It’s a tall order and Kouba, along with her newly appointed board of directors, have been coming up with a mission statement, bylaws and plans to raise the money needed for such a venture. The biggest plan in action is the company’s first performance.

The Viroqua Community Theatre will be putting on a four-run show of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific at the Historic Temple Theatre this fall September 25 through the 28. Kouba will be directing the play. Right now, the first order of business is raising enough money by July first to buy the rights to the show. The group is offering memberships in the theatre at different levels of support.

Kouba has a lifetime of experience in theater work. She’s taught drama in several capacities and is locally best known for her directorship of the Ebenezer and Cinderella productions at the Temple. The thrill of seeing your friends up on stage and the thrill of doing it yourself is part of the magic of community theater, she says.

Kouba is quick to point out that the region is already rich in performance spaces: she really appreciates the ornate Temple and the smaller Greenman Music Hall. But the theater that her group is working toward will be a black box theater with more flexibility and greater ability to host a variety of uses.

Now, she just needs a donor to help the group get a lease on the big, open room on the second floor of the warehouse. “When you create the space, you create the ability for something to happen,” Kouba says. “This can be something that will build a stronger community for all of us.” Kouba says her board reflects the theater’s desire to be a part of the whole community.

Barb Ames and Tammy Mastin and Alice Olson, who worked with Kouba in her previous Temple shows, are all on the board. Trina Erickson, who is resigning her position at WVRQ and taking over as director at McIntosh Memorial Library, is on the board. Pam Kalinosky, who is new to the area and interested in theater work, is on the board, as is Jan Rasikas, the general manager of the Viroqua Food Coop.

Kouba says that with a team like this, moving ahead is sure to be successful. “It’s going to be a lot of fun,” she says, her arms sweeping around the open warehouse space. “I know it will work. I just know it will.”

Director Jane Kouba is holding auditions for the Viroqua Community Theatre’s premier production, South Pacific, on July 15 and 16 from 5–9 p.m. at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Viroqua.

For more information about auditions or about contributing to the theatre, call Pam Kalinosky at 608-637-2717