Kendra Verhage, left, and Jane Henry rehearse a scene from The

Doug Wasson remembers 1977.

About one year earlier, an effort to organize a community theater didn’t get off the ground. Then Mary Doveton called an organizational meeting.

“They key phrase in that meeting was Mary saying, ‘Oh I’ll put in a hundred bucks.’ That helps,” Wasson said. “I said, ‘Well, I’ll put in a hundred bucks.’ I think some other people put some money in, but that’s what got it going. (Doveton’s) $100 donation, that’s how we started this deal.”

The Lawrence Community Theatre, now 30 years old, was born, although Doveton insists it was a group effort.

“I think we decided if we could put together $500 and do the first show, then we’d see if we made enough money on the first show to do any more,” she said.

With that first show – “The Secret Affairs of Mildred Wild” – the Lawrence Community Theatre became a success. It’s now an artistic staple in Lawrence’s culture: Just less than 1,000 season-ticket holders, 184 productions, 49 musicals and only three shows have repeated – with “On Golden Pond” set to play again this spring.

It’s a creative outlet for families and anyone who wants to write, act, build a set or manage a show.

“I think that’s the key, that there are creative people in this community, lots of them, who don’t have some kind of outlet in their everyday lives,” said Ellie Patton, a former president of the board of directors.

“The programs here have grown so much, and we have so many more people involved both onstage and backstage,” Doveton said. “Space is absolutely a critical shortage. We have had to put tents out in the driveway to house actors because we had no room for them in the dressing rooms.”

The shows draw in people from the area, including Kansas City and Topeka. Theater leaders remember one show when the president of a Lawrence bank helped build a set with two men who listed their address as “under the bridge.”

“The way our society has gone, there aren’t a lot of places any more that bring people together from all different backgrounds and economic roots and ethnicities and education, and I think theater still has the ability to do that,” Doveton said.

The theater is known for its many volunteers and families who participate in shows, including former Kansas University law professor Charles Oldfather, who when he was alive acted alongside his daughter Melanie and his grandson.

“It’s always so sad when the show is over. You’ve got a family that’s lived together eight weeks, and all of a sudden after a Sunday matinee, everyone grabs a hammer or a power drill, and you’re gone,” Al Lata said.

But for others, a new show means a new beginning.

“It doesn’t bother me at all. You get to start over with something new, something different,” said Jack Riegle, the theater’s technical director.

Directors and volunteers have faced numerous challenges over the years, namely space, as they moved from presenting shows in the Carnegie Library building at Ninth and Vermont streets and bought the theater’s current home, 1501 N.H., in 1984.

Doveton said directors and theater leaders plan to make an announcement soon about a capital campaign.

For those who have helped build the theater through its first 30 years, they see it as a vital part of Lawrence.

“For business and industry, the things that they are looking for when they settle into an area is a vibrant arts community. So I think it’s so much of a positive for a community,” said Bobby Patton, a longtime KU theater and communications professor.