What I’m about to tell you is very difficult, but it is done with great gratitude and optimism for the future:

It’s time to move on from our beloved strip mall.

This theater has been our home for 22 years. While no one person has been present for all of it, thousands of us have experienced moments of beauty, awe, wonder, hilarity and transformation in this space. It’s been the most hospitable of wombs to our company, raising kids class participants into Teen Theater stars and then into main stage directors. It’s sucked shy audience members into improv classes and then turned them into teachers of the art. If you were in our little black box, you were in for a treat: shock was assured, laughter was plentiful and regular humans created glorious art out of thin air.

But what made it special (its very intimacy, sitting shoulder to shoulder with a complete stranger in a tiny and not terribly well-ventilated space) is exactly what won’t work post-Covid. We can’t wait to host performances again once all of this is over. But it can’t be done safely in our existing space.

Does this mean Verge is finished?
OH HELL, NO.

To paraphrase Hamilton, we’re not standing still, we’re lying in wait.

We just completed virtual Teen Theater, Summer Edition, which we will continue this fall alongside Intro to Improv for adults and two adult acting classes. We continue our work with the Gallatin County Detention Center, Youth Dynamics Inc., Bozeman Field School and others — all virtually.

And we’re planning for Verge’s future. The board of directors will begin strategic planning next month to identify next steps. Verge has the advantage of 25 years of award-winning shows and life-changing classes at our backs heading into this change. We will meet again. In the meantime, don’t be surprised if you see some pop-up theater around town. We’re wily like that.

You’re welcome to email me and schedule a time to drop by to see the theater one last time if you would like. I know I needed it.
Onward, Verge Fam... ever onward...