Theater depends on the people
By Michael Johnson, Editor
If Underwood is going to have a theater in town, it’s going to take some people devoted to the idea and willing to become part of an arts council. That’s what a group of community members reasoned Thursday night after a community meeting about bringing back the Rose Theater. Community developer Becky Bowen described the building as a national treasure. It’s the only Quonset theater remaining in North Dakota and only 90 were once in operation in the country. It’s size would give the community the option to use it for a community center during the week, a theater three days a week and a host of other activities if a group wants to pursue its renewal. Bowen and other members thought the first step had to be forming an arts council that would form the plan for the building. They would decide the direction this project would take, if restoring the building was feasible or if the community would come out to support the activities. Eleven members of the community attended the meeting and while none were opposed to having a theater in town, none stepped up to be on the arts council. Many were already involved on other boards and in other projects. It was clear that if this was going to happen it would take someone that really cared specifically about this project.
