Kentucky Repertory Theatre (formerly known as Horse Cave Theatre) is a theater company located in Horse Cave, Kentucky, United States. The company is located in two former commercial buildings in the city's downtown area.
KRT was formed as Horse Cave Theatre in 1976, and was a novelty for its time: a professional theater company located in a small rural town, producing a series of plays in a repertory cycle. The theater's proximity to the Mammoth Cave National Park tourist area was hoped to help attract theatergoers, and that has been proven to be the case over the years, though the theater enjoys substantial support from the town's residents as well, as well as those in neighboring Cave City, Glasgow, Munfordville and other surrounding cities.
The primary season for KRT was originally in the summer, when tourism business in the area is at its peak. In recent times, the company has shifted its season to a period between autumn and Christmas, while continuing to present a single production in the summer to attract tourists. During the rest of the year, KRT puts on educational productions for area students. Over the years, KRT productions have run the gamut of theater, from George Bernard Shaw to Neil Simon, with one play by William Shakespeare being featured nearly every season. The company has also encouraged works by Kentucky playwrights, including at least one such work in its repertory nearly every season. Sallie Bingham, a descendant of the Bingham family of Louisville (former owners of The Courier-Journal and numerous other media properties), has had three of her plays produced by KRT.
The theater is housed in two renovated buildings, and seats 346 people. An entrance building, built to resemble a tobacco barn typically found in southern Kentucky, was added at the opening. In 1998, the company purchased a residential building for office space, and a nearby warehouse for scenery and prop construction. The main theater buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Warren Hammack was KRT's first artistic director, serving the company for 25 years until his retirement.
He was succeeded by director, Robert Brock. Brock recently began a teaching position at Lindsey Wilson College, and was succeeded by Christopher Carter Sanderson for one season.
Currently, RepALLIANCE under the direction of Ken Hailey has taken over the producing duties. RepALLIANCE is a company dedicated to development and creation of work for regional repertory theatre for underserved communities. Kentucky Rep at Horse Cave is the first developmental project for the company. In the spring of 2012, RepALLIANCE opened production at KRT with the development of 3 "mini-seasons" which allows redevelopment of the production goals of the theatre as a whole, as well as to offer season subscriptions at different points in the year which will allow growth in the subscriber base.
The current (2012) "Reboot Season" opened in February of 2012 and runs through December with plans to reinstate the company's format of rotating repertory productions.
Famous quotes containing the words kentucky, repertory and/or theatre:
“The pure products of America go crazy—mountain folk from Kentucky or the ribbed north end of Jersey with its isolate lakes and valleys, its deaf-mutes, thieves.”
—William Carlos Williams (1883–1963)
“Each writer is born with a repertory company in his head. Shakespeare has perhaps 20 players, and Tennessee Williams has about 5, and Samuel Beckett one—and maybe a clone of that one. I have 10 or so, and that’s a lot. As you get older, you become more skillful at casting them.”
—Gore Vidal (b. 1925)
“For the theatre one needs long arms; it is better to have them too long than too short. An artiste with short arms can never, never make a fine gesture.”
—Sarah Bernhardt (1844–1923)