Victor landmark closes, leaving behind a wealth of beautiful memories
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VICTOR — A cultural icon in the Teton Valley has closed for good.
For decades, Pierre’s Playhouse served as a focal point for arts and culture in Victor and its surrounding communities. The Playhouse also gave the community a place to get together and bond, as well as someplace to go for a fun night out without having to travel to Idaho Falls or Rexburg.
The melodrama started in the early ’60s.
“The first play was in 1963,” manager Cari Golden told EastIdahoNews.com.
Golden’s parents, Tom and Margaret Egbert, bought the Playhouse along with the Victor Emporium drug store as a way to supplement the income the family made from farming.
“They bought the Emporium, which had a pharmacy and supplies and ice cream and had this theater attached to it,” Golden said. “The theater was closed down because TV came out in the late ’50s, and the theater didn’t do well, so my dad was storing his tools in the theater auditorium.”
The Egberts weren’t particularly active in the theatrical arts but decided to reopen the theater at the suggestion of a friend. With the help of several other families, the Egberts began preparations to stage plays at Pierre’s. They were even able to recruit a drama instructor from Ricks College to direct the first two years’ worth of plays.
Pierre’s Playhouse specialized in melodrama, a genre of drama that plays to the heightened emotions of the audience. The acting style is over-the-top and melodramas often employ audience participation as part of the fun.
“Melodrama is overacting, and Pierre’s had its own way of doing things,” Golden said. “It’s participating with the audience. Sometimes we pulled the audience up on stage. And at the end, we might have a sing-along, and everyone’s singing from the up to the stage. You’d just have to see it.”
As if singing, laughing and being entertained weren’t enough, Pierre’s Playhouse also treated guests to a hot meal.
“My parents, they didn’t have enough to do, I guess,” Golden said. “There’s a space between the theater and the next property over and they’d put gas grills and there and cook chicken in Dutch ovens with potatoes and scones and salad.”
Melodrama performances were staged at Pierre’s Playhouse for 44 years. In that time, the Playhouse entertained audiences from across Idaho and throughout the country. Though, at first, they had to do a little creative recruiting.
“The theater had about 200 seats in it,” said Golden. “At first, it wasn’t filling up. I think they even went to some of the campgrounds up here in the area and said, ‘Hey, come and see a free show at our theater.’ And it just kind of grew from there.”
Along with treating people from all over to a great evening out, Pierre’s also served as a gathering for the Teton Valley community.
“You’d walk into the auditorium and see a lot of people that lived here,” Golden said. “You could sit and visit with them until your movie or show started.”
Pierre’s Playhouse ceased staging melodramas in 2006, reopening several years later as a movie theater before closing earlier this year. The Playhouse is due to be sold this month. While the Playhouse may be gone, it’s leaving a legacy composed of many great memories behind.
“The people who came to the theater to act in it – those brave, willing participants – we just had a blast,” Golden recalled. “It was just like a bunch of neighborhood kids putting on a show. Being in productions like that is good for any person, to get that kind of confidence and build that kind of character.”
“We had people who were in (plays at Pierre’s) in their teens come back,” she added. “Those people would come back and tell stories and explain how it affected their lives. It’s just nice to hear that it was a bright spot in everybody’s life that was able to participate in it, I think.”