When does the Calvada Theater open for performances?

Once upon a time in a valley bar, two men with a common love of acting sat wondering — why is there no formal stage for those who long to take to the spotlight and perform for enthusiastic crowds in Pahrump? Well, it didn’t take long for that question to lead the two into embarking on a new adventure.

“Pahrump Theatre Company was dreamed up over a couple of beers at the Bearded Lady in December 2022,” co-founder Oliver Jones detailed for the Pahrump Valley Times. “Actor Heath Robertson and I were lamenting that Pahrump lacked a permanent stage and by ‘last call’ we’d christened Pahrump Theatre Company and vowed to make it real. I’d just run a youth summer camp and was directing “The Tempest” at the middle school, so momentum was on our side.”

Two and a half years after that fateful night, Pahrump Theatre Company now has a home to call its own, the Calvada Theater, and Jones is eager to welcome audiences to the first performance at the new venue, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

But it hasn’t been a straightforward journey to get where they are today. Jones said it’s taken plenty of effort but it’s all been worthwhile, with the Calvada Theater no longer relegated to the land of dreams.

“We began under the Pahrump Arts Council for nonprofit cover but a leadership shake-up froze us out and dissolved the theater committee,” he explained. “Forced to fly solo, we doubled down: we teamed up with local theater veteran Bill Newyear for two sold-out murder mysteries at 5280 Mexican Grub, premiered my Valentine’s show, “What Is Love?”, pivoted from a heat-ruined Shakespeare in the Park to Dreams & Nightmares at Black Cow Coffee House, and filed our own 501(c)3 papers on Friday the 13th. A haunted house in Petrack Park and Christmas in Pahrump kept the coffers alive. Now, with walls finally going up around us, we’re ready to show Pahrump what a homegrown theater can do.”

Before the curtains are raised for opening night, though, there are a few more items that need to be arranged and the community could play its own part by helping out.

“We’re hunting for 4x4 lumber, 30 comfy audience chairs, a full sound system with powered speakers and a mixer, a volunteer technical director, old-west cap guns and props, straight-up donations and, most of all, the community filling seats on show nights,” Jones remarked. “Every seat filled fuels the next production.”

The Pahrump Theatre Company’s rendition of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” will have a unique spin, with a “cowboys and Indians” theme, romance and western-style stage combat. Opening night is slated for Saturday, May 31 at 7 p.m. and the show will run nightly through June 4.

Tickets are $20 per person, $15 per senior and $10 per child. “Sales and sponsorship links will drop soon,” Jones noted. “Follow @PahrumpTheatreCompany or visit pahrumptheatre.org.”

The Calvada Theater is located at 1266 E. Calvada Blvd., Suite 1, between Shenanigans Pub and the Black Cow Coffee House.

For more information contact Jones at Oliver@PahrumpTheatre.org or call/text 775-469-2072.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com