We began this past week with a very quiet celebration of Theatre IV Day.  What?  You forgot that last Sunday was Theatre IV Day?!  Never fear, so did we ... at least until our trusty former Accounting Manager Lucas Hall sent us a heartwarming Happy Theatre IV Day email with this heirloom PDF attached.  Then the memories came flooding back, at least to the two Bruces (Miller and Rennie), Phil, Ford, Gordon, Terrie, and those other assorted theatre artists and Board types who are "experienced" enough to have been around way back when in 1986.  That was the year that we purchased the historic Empire Theatre (now November Theatre).  Our nonprofit company was known then as Theatre IV, and it was only 11 years old (we were still 26 years shy of the merger with Barksdale and the formation of Virginia Rep).  For a young organization still thoroughly wet behind the ears to be purchasing the oldest major theatre in the Commonwealth, an iconic albeit rapidly aging downtown landmark, turned out to be a pretty big deal.  

How big was it?  

So big that then Mayor Roy A. West decided to show his appreciation by proclaiming August 19 to be Theatre IV Day, then and forever!  In his Proclamation, after five Whereas's, he called upon "all citizens to acknowledge the contributions made by theatrical arts to the growth and development of this community."  Wow.  What's good to remember is that back in 1986, there were no art galleries in our neighborhood, and no Arts District.  There was no First Fridays Arts Walk, no restaurants, no apartments over the storefronts, ... heck, with only a few exceptions (Gersons Furniture, Popkins Furniture, Nick's Deli, and Millie Jones' Festival Flags), there were no storefronts.  What there was was an all but abandoned neighborhood of decaying buildings waiting patiently for someone to re-discover their magic and their worth.  And that's what we did, back in 1986.  We bet everything we had and a whole lot more on a downtrodden theatre and a youthful dream.  And look where it got us!  So how did we celebrate last Sunday?  Bruce and Phil went to their respective churches and said a heartfelt prayer of thanks to God and to YOU, and the thousands like you who believed in the dream and helped, person by person, bit by bit, show by show, to make it come true.  Happy Theatre IV Day!  Long may she thrive.