St Croix Festival Theatre

Just four months prior to Vaughn writing his article, a young trio of theatre professionals had just discovered that their plans to launch a summer playhouse in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin had fallen through. A casual newspaper clipping about an historic theatre space being spruced up in a river town just 50 miles from the Twin Cities seemed a suitable substitute, and soon Carrie Classon Smith as Artistic Director, Andrew Jensen as Business Manager, and Jason Smith as Technical Director arrived in St. Croix Falls to marshal support and enthusiasm for their dreams and successfully produced a rotating repertory that included The Show Off, Billy Bishop Goes to War, and School for Wives. The following year, 1990, St. Croix Festival Theatre was formally founded as a non-profit 501 ( c ) ( 3 ) corporation to provide St. Croix Valley residents and visitors to this scenic region with highest quality of live professional theatre. In the years since, Festival Theatre has produced more than 100 plays for more than 200, 000 St. Croix Valley residents and visitors. Were it not for Festival Theatre, many audience members would have an hour or more drive ( each way ) to the next nearest professional theatre.