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. Picketwire Players were founded in 1968, became a Colorado non-profit corporation in 1974, and achieved tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status in 1975.
. Picketwire Players can celebrate 45th "birthday" (adoption of by-laws and first election of officers) on April 16, 2013
. Anniversary of first-ever performance is June 27. Three night production was melodrama "Laura of the Shadows" on La Junta High School stage in June 1968. Next eleven productions (1968-1976) were summer-only, utilizing high school and junior college facilities.
. Abandoned former junior high auditorium was acquired from the La Junta school district in 1976 and refurbished as an official Centennial-Bicentennial Year project.
. First Picketwire Players production in newly christened "Picketwire Center for Performing and Visual Arts" was "Amahl and the Night Visitors" in December 1976.
. Now well into Picketwire Players' 45th year, "Escanaba in da Moonlight" will be the community theater's 128th full-scale production - 116th in Picketwire Center.
. Over the past 45 years (through September 2012), Picketwire Players have recorded 1,760 participants (on stage or backstage) in a total of 493 paid performances. All participants have been volunteers, including the 37 different directors, all cast members and indispensable backstage helpers. No participant has ever been paid.
. Picketwire Players receive no government subsidy. Financial support (ticket sales and Patron donations) comes from the La Junta and Arkansas Valley community.
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