The Lyric Repertory Company theater in downtown Logan was recognized as a historic building in 1971. The building was originally built in 1913 by the Thatcher family after their previous opera house caught fire.
Vosco Call, the founder of the company, says by obtaining historic recognition they establish a place in the community.
“There were a lot of naysayers in those days, between the city and academia," Call said. "The idea that the university having a downtown property, they said, 'Why, they shouldn’t be doing that. A semi-professional company was always in the plan, [but] Logan was too small' - Well, we’ve been running 50 years nonstop.”
Call started the company in 1967 after working with the Thatcher sisters and Utah State University. He says the goal of the company is to bridge the gap between college and professional acting.
“We operate the Lyric as a semi-professional company," he said. "We’re dealing with unions. We are obeying union ruling and that kind of a thing. We don’t call them into rehearsal before 10 in the morning. That’s the way it was in New York when I was back there and that’s the way it is here."
Call directed multiple shows during his career. This year, Call is performing in Big River under the direction of his grandson Richie Call. He says that he is happy to see the company reach the 50-year milestone.
“See 50 years, that’s a few over 200 productions," Call said. "Now, how many performances is that? That’s a little over 2,000 performances. That’s a lot of performances. And how many patrons does that represent that have come in to see the show? Over a half a million. So that’s by any mark a success and I don’t see any reason in the world why it shouldn’t have another 50 years.”
Along with Big River the company will be performing The Complete Work of Shakespeare Abridged, Wait Until Dark and The Foreigner.
