If there's one thing most entertainers have mastered, it's how to juggle gigs. In New York City, you might have a side job in real estate or hospitality. In Las Vegas, their main business is also entertainment.
“That's the great thing about Las Vegas: You can find someone to do anything for you,” said Katie Marie Jones, a busy local actress. She also works as a magician's assistant on the Las Vegas Strip and as an on-ice emcee for home games. Belongs to the hockey team “Golden Knights”. “If you have multiple aspirations and talents, or are open to learning new things, it's easy to build a career here because there's so much to offer.”
The city has been world-renowned as an entertainment destination for decades and continues to evolve. These days, the Strip hosts Cirque du Soleil shows and comedians, razzmatazz magicians, and pop residencies. Visitors can also take part in Spiegelworld's immersive “disco show” and interactive installations by Meow Wolf, Area 15's arttainment group specializing in immersive projects. Major touring musicals have performed at the Smith Center, which has recently housed three major league professional sports teams.
Much more difficult to find are the smaller theaters, a collection of medium-sized theaters comparable to Off-Broadway.
There's actually a local pro scene in Las Vegas, except tourists tend not to notice it because the Strip sucks up all the attention. It has a rock'n'roll energy and is certainly gritty, but the theater makers here are especially resourceful and outside the box. During a long weekend in late fall last year, a few things became clear. There is a clear desire to make theater despite the disadvantages, there is a local population ready and able to keep theater alive, and there are artists who are willing to explore the aesthetic and artistic worlds. It's about enjoying the freedom of straddling.
To find those shows, for example, I went to an office/rehearsal space about a mile west of Las Vegas Boulevard in the heart of the Strip, where I saw a performance of Public Fit's great piece “The Minutes.” . ” Tracy Letts' pitch-black comedy. Alternatively, you can head to the Majestic Repertory Theater, about a mile north of the Strip. So Jones is currently playing the cunning hustler Sally Bowles in “Cabaret.” “She would kill people in Las Vegas,” Jones said appreciatively.
That's two-thirds of the scene. Another organization, Vegas Theater Company, is located in the Las Vegas Arts District at 18b (so called because it was originally 18 blocks), a seven-minute walk from the Majestic, and is located in Austin, Texas, before the technology boom. It has the feel of a compact version.
No matter how you look at it, the three companies aren't that big of a deal for a metropolitan area with a population of about 3 million people.
“Growing up here and watching the city grow and evolve, I somehow thought the culture would evolve like other big cities I knew: Los Angeles, Chicago, New York,” Joseph said. said D. Kukan, 59. , producer director of A Public Fit. “And that didn't happen.”
“I had no idea there was a local theater until I became a part of the Ballet,” Maggie Plaster, director of Nevada Ballet Theater and director of parks, recreation and culture for the city of Las Vegas, said in a phone interview. There wasn't,” he said. This is the administrative team from 3 years ago. (The Arts District is under the city's jurisdiction. The Strip is in the unincorporated portion of Clark County and is under its jurisdiction.)
When asked why local theaters have been slow to get off the ground, Plaster cited soaring rents, the marketing “noise” of major shows overshadowing the efforts of small businesses, and a lack of deep-pocketed funders. I mentioned it.
“We've been doing this for 12 years, and it's been incredibly difficult,” said Anne Marie Perez, 54, Artistic Director of Public Fit. “Philanthropy in this city is not the same as in other cities.”
She and Kukan have collaborated with other companies (including a production of Brian Friel's Dancing at Lughnasa at the Las Vegas Theater Company last year) and local governments (including a semi-staged reading at the Clark County Library). I have become an expert at building partnerships.
Another missing element is an institution that can act as a magnet. The city has no local members of the national Resident Theater League, which includes nonprofits such as the Actors Theater in Louisville, the Alley Theater in Houston, the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles and the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago. Las Vegas institutions that join that network can forge closer relationships with their peers, create bonds for potential commissions and co-productions, and generally have more opportunities for national visibility. be.
But two ambitious projects could shake things up in the near future. Daz Weller, 46, executive artistic director of Vegas Theater Company, is working to build a new performing arts complex in the Arts District that will house his company, Vegas City Opera. And probably other groups as well. Then there's the Huntridge Theatre. This impressive building began as a movie theater in 1944 and closed in 2004, but is scheduled to reopen in the second quarter of 2026 after extensive renovations. It could potentially fill the middle ground between the Smith Center and the Smith Center. On the one hand it's stripping and on the other hand it's off-off stripping companies.
The project is being developed by J. Dapper of Nevada developer Dapper Companies, which purchased Huntridge in 2021, and producing and artistic director Darren Dapper, who operates multiple stages at New York City's Soho Playhouse. It is led by Lee Cole. The idea, Mr. Cole explained in a phone interview, is that the complex would serve a role similar to New York's Off-Broadway, hosting both imported and Las Vegas productions, major playwrights and newcomers, as well as pop and rock concerts. It will be held. .
Regarding the need for such a place, he said: “People are coming from New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Los Angeles, and especially San Francisco, and all of these new residents have a better cultural base. It's more comprehensive than going to see a movie.”
Cole is in talks with a number of potential partners, including three major Las Vegas professional firms. Majestic artistic director Troy Heard is especially optimistic. “Not only is it of historical significance to our city, but it is also a new anchor facility for the regeneration of our area.”
Until the decks are somehow reshuffled, hardy locals will continue to make theater with whatever ingenuity and resourcefulness they can. “There are no cultural vultures who ignore everything you do,” Hurd, 49, said approvingly. “There's a sense of the Wild West here, a sense of experimentation.”
He is behind his own success story, Scream'd: An Unauthorized Musical Parody.
When the post-pandemic downturn hit Majestic, Hurd threw what he called a Hail Mary pass to save the company he founded in 2016. He wrote a parody of the 1996 horror-comedy film Scream that filled the jukebox. Hits from the 1990s were performed in a cabaret setting with a naughty and goofy vibe. (The versatile Jones took on roles for Drew Barrymore and Rose McGowan.)
When it opened in September 2023 and a clip of it went viral on TikTok, the house was filled with locals and traveling fans. The night I heard “Screamed,” I met a couple of sisters in their 20s who had just driven eight cars. A few hours from Monterey, California. “The Majestic” is scheduled to perform a show in residency this year, with a performance at the Whitley in Los Angeles scheduled for May.
A successful gamble sounds like a happy ending in Las Vegas, a metaphor Mr. Heard would probably be fine with. This Georgia expat admires the city of Las Vegas and its unique culture. “The Strip is a cruise ship in the middle of the desert, and it has an interesting community of creatives, artists, and visionaries who come to work on the Strip, but then live off the Strip. I am sending it,” he said. Of course, Hurd also takes on freelance work. He's piloting Area 15's upcoming “John Wick Experience.”
Weller is similarly ecumenical. It is inevitable, but it is also felt by trends.
After working as an actor in her native Australia, Weller moved to Las Vegas in 2010 to reunite with her boyfriend (now husband) Toby Allen, whose vocal group Human Nature performed on the Strip. I was doing it. After arriving in the city, Weller continued acting while also building a career as a director, serving as associate director on Spiegelworld's “Vegas Nocturne'' in 2013.
Since 2018, Weller has served as artistic director of Vegas Theater Company (formerly known as Cockroach Theater). Last year's productions included a revival of Susan-Lori Parks' Topdog/Underdog, as well as the cheeky CLUElesque (now ClueX) and the premiere of the youth musical The House on Watch Hill. It was. We will be back again this year.
The production is the brainchild of Richard Oberacker and Robert Taylor (whose “Bandstand” opened on Broadway in 2017), who are also usually busy stripping. Oberacker has been the conductor of Cirque du Soleil's flagship show “Car” for many years. ” During her stay, Taylor played violin in Adele's band. They both enjoy moving between large and small works.
Versatility is key
Oberacker pointed out that creative opportunities are also enhanced by a great calendar of trade shows, product launches, corporate events, and more. “If you're an improv artist or a clown, you can find ways to get work through some really cool and weird avenues because of the nature of the events industry here,” he said. After the Screamed performance I attended, Anisa, the live band's monochrome drummer, told me that she could make 10 times more money in a night by playing at corporate gigs and exhibitions.
Adaptability also extends to the way the theater company is organized. After losing its large downtown space, Public Fit, which focuses primarily on contemporary theater (this spring it will perform Sam Shepard's “True West”), has gone semi-permanent. At Vegas Theater Company, Weller, who is paid on a project basis, is particularly adept at juggling new and old material, rental and self-produced projects, regular performances and weekly events.
Among the latter is “Marquis de Sade Presents: Abandon,” a silent afterhours show with Robert Bullwinkel, Abel Horwitz and Jana Wimmer, proudly flying the grown-up flag that is part of the sulphurous Vegas tradition. I am. This seminal work features agile performers with credits with Blue Man Group and Cirque du Soleil, as well as Joseph Bishara, composer of The Conjuring and Insidious, and Emmy winner of The Stranger. It benefits from stunning sound work by award-winning sound designer Katie Halliday. thing. “
As Perez said, it's hard to constantly scavenge supplies, but the Las Vegas theater scene has access to a wealth of talent, and traditional productions like Public Fit's “The Minutes,” which she directed with Kukan, Even his works display an undeniable DIY energy. .
Returning to “Screamed” at the Majestic, my attention shifted toward the young audience members dressed in steampunk goth-style costumes who seemed to be intensely living every moment of the show. It was a return visit for Julia Oshie, 17, from Las Vegan, who wants to study lighting design and was coming with a close friend who was also interested in pursuing stage management. “We go everywhere, but we tend to like storytelling theater. Anything from this theater to Shakespeare,” Oshie said. “Let's take a look at everything.”
Ideally, the Las Vegas theater scene could give them not only the opportunity to see something, but also the opportunity to create something.
