"Just because something ends doesn't mean it wasn't successful." This quote from Philip Dawkins' play
Failure: A Love Story perfectly encapsulates my feelings about the announcement a few months ago that
DalekoArts would be closing their doors for good after the production of their spring musical
Bright Star. For 11 seasons they were successful. Not necessarily in a financial sense (I can't speak to that), but artistically, and in creating a community of theater-makers and theater-lovers in the far-flung town of New Prague. Daleko is a Czech word meaning "far away," but when you're at Daleko, you don't feel far away from anything, you feel connected - to the artists, to your fellow audience members, and most of all to the story playing out just a few feet in front of you. To list my favorite memories at Daleko would take too long, but I've loved everything I've seen there, from
silly original comedies to
scary thrillers to
rarely done musicals to
that time I followed a couple of crazy artists around historic downtown New Prague. I'm happy for co-founders Ben Thietje and Amanda White that they're going out on their own terms, and moving on to new adventures, and I'm grateful for every silly, profound, beautiful show I saw at the Prague Theater
over the last seven years. The bluegrass musical
Bright Star (in only the second professional theater production in #TCTheater) is a perfect choice for the last show, and represents the heart, humor, inventiveness, thoughtfulness, and joy that's been present for 11 seasons. I'd tell you to go see it, but the entire run has been sold out for weeks. But if you've been to DalekoArts, you know how special it was.
