Category: News

In the week before she spoke to Lawrence Central Rotary on April 29, Theatre Lawrence executive director Mary Doveton supervised the return of a water buffalo head to the Museum of Natural History and took part in a contest to pick the best bloody Mary recipe for the theatre bar to feature at the upcoming performances of South Pacific.

The water buffalo head was a prop for the recently completed  production of  The Explorers’ Club .  Other parts of the scenery included a life sized stuffed brown bear, also from the museum, pretend poisonous snakes and  a full sized giraffe skin rug created by a theatre volunteer.

At their new Theatre Lawrence facility on Lawrence’s westside, Doveton oversees 835 volunteers.  “It’s been a quantum leap from the smaller, old facility we were in for years to the new 35,000 square foot facility,” she said “and has required more staff and volunteers. Although,” she added “not all of them have to create a giraffe skin rug.”

Theatre Lawrence began in the ‘70s as a community theater, building sets, rehearsing and giving shows in whatever spaces they could find. In 1984 they moved to a remodeled former church, which was damaged by a fire in 2003.

In 2012, after a capital campaign, which is still going on, construction began on the new theater ,that opened in 2013 with a performance of Ragtime on the new mainstage.

Theatre Lawrence also sponsors a concert series, and programs for children and seniors.

The 2015-2016 season will feature six full scale productions, community activities, children’s shows, and activities and opportunities for seniors.

A self-described serial entrepreneur, Central Rotarian Kris Adair and her husband recently opened the Lawrence Center for Entrepreneurship.  The business grew out of the fledgling Lawrence Free-Net which is now where the local gigabit internet provider Wicked Broadband and their data center is now housed.   The Center, she said, is for anyone who wants to make something, start something or create something.

The Center, at 925 Iowa, has three main components: A co-working space, a maker studio and an on-site data center.  The co-working space is a membership or occasional walk-in space for single entrepreneurs, start ups, and, often,  people who don’t have an office. There is 24-hour access with high speed internet, a mail center and a conference room.

The maker studio is an on-site fabrication area which is a premium work area for members. All of the needed tools are available including CNC milling, 3D printing equipment and power tools.  The center is offering beginner classes on 3-D printing and other topics in the evenings.  Their on-site data center has Gigabit fiber and is peered directly to Wicked Broadband’s fiber backbone. There is carrier class internet and rack space options available to members.

The goal for Adair is to provide a collaborative environment where people can work together to help grow businesses, teach management skills, and show how to fast track key components to get ideas to market quickly. Membership rates vary but include monthly memberships, day passes and extras such as a reserved desk, various sizes of storage and a private office.

“We give tours of the Center during open house Fridays, between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.,” Adair said, and Working Wednesdays from 6 to 9 p.m. each week. She said she could be contacted at kris.adair@larryville.com or 785-840-7989.