Leavenworth Summer Theater founder John Wagner retires

As Leavenworth is enveloped in smoke these past couple weeks, it is almost fitting that John Wagner retires from Leavenworth Summer Theater at this time. You see, the smoke in the town was much the same in 1994 when LST debuted, during a summer of devastating fires in the Leavenworth area.

The smoke and fires and poor performing conditions at Icicle River Middle School nearly sunk the fledging outfit before it started. But Wagner and his financial backer Bill Weis decided to press on the next season. And the rest is history.

In past 25 years, Leavenworth Summer Theater has become an institution in Leavenworth, performing three shows every summer, and one Christmas show, drawing thousands of fans every season. But it was not always like that.

After graduating college at the University of Idaho, the music major Wagner took a friend's suggestion and auditioned for a summer show in Coeur d' Alene. Everything just clicked. Wagner had found his nitch. He also made a key contact, Weis, who later became a business professor at Seattle University.

After several years of plying his craft in Idaho, Montana and Colorado, he and wife Susan thought they should settle down, now with three young children. He contacted Weis about partnering on a summer theater project. They scouted sites in Idaho and in Chelan. He had never heard of Leavenworth, but it seemed like a good place.

"The thing about Chelan. Somebody had tried it before and they had trouble getting people to come off the lake at sunset. Obviously, that is not a factor here. You have the opposite factor," Wagner said. "You have this high ridge in the west, so the sun is going to set earlier. Hopefully, you get people thinking about what they are going to do for the night."

At that time, there was not much going on in the evenings in Leavenworth, quite different from today. Wagner thought they would fill in that gap, but it did not work out that way, at least at first.

The summer of 1993 he spent making contacts, meeting with Weis and deciding how to proceed. They decided on a show, "Hansel and Gretel," thinking the Bavarian epic would have people flocking to the theater. Because they had no money, Wagner did pretty much everything himself, even building the first set.

He chose Icicle River Middle School, not realizing the building had no air conditioning. Then, as the opened in 1994, the fires hit. It was almost a perfect storm.

"We get so much credit for having persevered through the fires, but we were losing $200 a night. So when we had to shut down for two week, it was that much less we were losing," he said.

And it was hot in IRMS. The locals knew this only too well. But the visitors were thinking LST was too cheap to turn on the air conditioning. Wagner said they were desperate to convince people they were not keeping the air conditioner off.

They actually had dry ice shipped in from Yakima every night, at $50 a pop. They would set fans down and blow cool air over the few people that we there. That year, Paul Williams, played the father in the show.

"The show was very difficult because we did not have the opportunity for people to attend. Leavenworth was so smoked over, the tourist trade was really down that year," Williams said. "John and his crew and Susan they persevered and the cast we did all our scheduled performances that year. Sometimes we performed and invited all the firefighters complimentary."

The show was pretty much a bust. They had lost $20,000. Wagner thought they were done. But Weis wanted to try it one more time. This put even more pressure on Wagner, wanting to do right for his friend and partner.

Going back to the middle school was not an option due the air conditioning situation. They had always planned on doing "The Sound of Music" the next season, because it also fits the Bavarian theme. At the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery, Wagner discovered a stage they could use. But he had never done outdoor theater.

"All my work had been indoors, but that was the option. There was not an air conditioned place we could do it. We said we would try it," he said. "You have to bring in the lights, all the electric for the lights. Bring in the toilets and chairs, tents for dressing rooms. That was a new workload experience."

Henry Hettick signed on to direct the show, and Wagner cast the charismatic Williams at the Captain. They had trouble finding someone to play Maria. Someone suggested they consider Amy Jones, who was in college at Boise. They went over to her house, listened to her, and cast her on the spot. There was never an audition.

Susan Gubsch was cast as Mother Abbess, a role she still holds today. Other than that, there was a fair amount of recruiting. But it all came together with good direction and a good cast. And people seemed to love the outdoor theater. Plus, they received good reviews in the Leavenworth Echo and the Wenatchee World newspapers.

"After that, it just exploded. We sold the same number of tickets the first weekend that we sold the previous summer. We sold 250 the first night and 350 the second night," he said. "It just kept getting bigger and bigger. We only did eight performances. By closing night, we had 825 people out there."

It was not gradual growth. LST went from $20,000 in the hole to success every weekend. It was obvious, he said. They knew they were going to be in the black by the end of the summer. And they knew they would do "The Sound of Music" again because there was an audience for it.

"We had gotten out of the hole from our first summer, but we weren't super financially successful. It is only four weekends in August," he said. "We thought we could get people back. The set was built. The costumes were made. We could do it again, and do another show additionally, which was 'King and I.'"

"The Sound of Music" was still just as popular. Wagner thought they would open with the few hundred seats, but it exceeded expectations again. The cast and directing was solid. Most of the people came back the second year.

(See part 2 next week)

Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.