Lafayette opens performing arts center

LAFAYETTE – At 6 years old Jo Anne Lamun wanted to act, but she didn’t meet the age requirement.

She was undeterred.

“I lied about my age and got into the play,” Lamun said, performing as the “ugly, old stepmother” in Hansel and Gretel. Now, years later, she’s making dreams come true for today’s aspiring actors by opening a children’s theater in Lafayette.

Lamun, founder and director of the Peanut Butter Players children’s acting group, started the Boulder organization in 1991. She’s coached hundreds of children, some who later became professional, Tony-Award-nominated actors.

Several actors call the group their second family, but it had no permanent performance space until Lamun discovered a building at 990 S. Public Road in Lafayette.

The space was transformed into the Harlequin Center for Performing Arts on Dec. 12. The Peanut Butter Players’ first performance was Dec. 13.

“This building was uniquely suited for what we needed,” Lamun said. The elevated ceilings are able to accommodate stage lighting, and there is a 3,000-square-foot open area available for a stage and seating.

“And it had a nice lobby. It had a great location. It had electrical power out the wazoo because it had a huge computer company in here. You need a ton of electrical power in order to do all the stage lights,” Lamun said.

Morrell Printing Solutions, a family-owned business, purchased the property in September, and Lamun signed a lease on a portion of the building. She began the $50,000 to $75,000 in renovations needed to create the theater, including building a stage, removing unwanted cubicles, ordering and installing stage lights, painting, expanding the ladies rooms and installing safety equipment required by the fire marshal.

Originally Lamun planned to purchase the space rather than lease, using the sale of another property as a down payment. When that sale fell through the Morrell family stepped in to help.

They purchased the building and agreed to lease to the Peanut Butter Players. Morrell Printing Solutions plans to move into a different portion of the Lafayette building. The acting group has five years to buy its portion back.

While the Peanut Butter Players, a nonprofit, doesn’t expect to make money on the new space, it hopes to pay the bills though ticket sales and rentals.

Rental space for nonprofits is hard to come by, Lamun said, with performance space running at $6,000 a week for the stage at Boulder High School.

“The Avalon (Ballroom) is less. The Boulder Theater is about that. It’s just really, really hard for nonprofits to find adequate performance space. That’s why we want this space to be available,” Lamun said, and groups such as the Boulder Friends of Jazz and Boulder Concert Band have already shown some interest.

Lamun thinks the space will appeal to businesses as well.

“We’re hoping to rent it out to businesspeople. It would be a great place to hold a conference or a seminar. We have a catering kitchen so we can provide coffee and rolls and for a daylong session for someone it would be ideal,” Lamun said.

She plans to offer two rates, one for nonprofits and one for businesses. Discounts for multiple uses within a year can also be negotiated. Rentals will run from $400 to $600 for a four hour minimum rental, Lamun said.

The permanent performance space alleviates logistical challenges for the group, such as how to move sets from its practice area to its performance place. Previously the kids and their support crew designed sets to squeeze into a van then transported and reassembled the sets and supplies, including all the food for their luncheon theater, for each run of performances.

Practicing in one place and performing in another added to performance jitters, too, said Peanut Butter Player’s Lunch Bunch performer Ivan Armendariz.

“It saves us a lot of that nervousness thinking, ‘I don’t know, does the dance fit on this stage, or how do we project into the audience on this space’s shape?'” 13-year-old Armendariz said. He calls the group his “sport.”

The Lunch Bunch, a select group of 21 kids currently spanning ages 8 to 16, is Peanut Butter Player’s professional acting troupe.

“They are very experienced professional kids who get paid for what they do. They’re very talented, and they work very hard,” Lamun said. Hundreds of other children participate through after school and summer camp programs each year.

Hundreds of children find a home for their creativity and self-expression through the Peanut Butter Players.

“I guess it just lets me express what I’m feeling inside. Even though the characters may not be displaying or portraying exactly what I’m feeling, it’s a way for me to almost let whatever I have inside of me out. They taught me not to be afraid, I guess, on stage, and they’re kind of like family,” Armendariz said.

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