A New Kind of Theatre Experience

All these things - dire or exhilarating, certainly "dramatic" - have made us pause. LFTC is at a crossroads, looking back at where we've been, looking forward to decide the direction in which we want to go and which road will take us there.

In fourteen years, we've created and presented a wide variety of plays - over fifty productions from original scripts, ensemble work, history and legend, and adaptations of literary classics and contemporary writings, incorporating our local/New Mexico's vivid multi-culture. We've purchased our grand old WPA venue; been blessed with loyal - and increasingly statewide - audiences; and developed an ensemble company, game and talented enough to tackle 'most anything. We're proud, happy - and exhausted, both financially and energy-wise.

We're challenged with a balancing act between imagination and reality (creativity and dire finances). We owe it to you, our audiences, to give you a fine evening's entertainment, but it's difficult to do when we're wondering if the electricity will be turned off or heating fuel run out, as it did during one February performance - brrr!  It's rough times for all; our "advantage" is that it's familiar, as LFTC is 'way too "non-profit."  As everyone's saying - "Things gotta change."

LFTC will, in the 2010 season, do fewer plays but longer "runs", giving casts and crews more rehearsal time to reach higher artistic standards, and giving audiences not only finer productions but more performance dates on which to see them.

This season, we'll be returning to Lost Wife Creek for at least two shows; we - and our audiences - have missed the Aragones and the Trotters, who came to life (2001) in THE LUCK OF LOST WIFE CREEK. The "Lost Wife Creek" series (each episode a complete play) is set in Depression-era, 1930's rural New Mexico. Roosevelt's New Deal has begun; dreams of lost gold, stardom in "talkies", and a Spanish land grant vie with reality of drought, a ne'er-do-well son, and a decrepit old flivver, the misadventures rollicking along to bluegrass banjo. "Hilarious, nostalgic, historic, thoroughly enjoyable," raved a review, "with sure and true ensemble acting."

We'll be promoting "Lost Wife Creek" for public television.  We believe it can, and will, find its place as a television series, and find - as it has in our theatre over the years - a large, devoted audience.  It's not today's typical TV fare, harking back to early live-television days (" Honeymooners", etc.) - but we believe that the humor, wry social comment, character development, history, and immediacy of presentation will create a following in much the way "Lake Woebegon" has on radio: viewer identification, and nostalgia for a lifestyle that, while difficult, is remembered as solid and enduring.  And it's extremely relevant to today's hard  times.

LFTC is committed to going forward but in a more sustainable, less desperate mode, to create and present more, and ever-better, exciting, entertaining theatre.  We'll soon have 2010's schedule posted.  We appreciate your interest and your support; that's what encourages us and makes it possible for us to - as the Brits say- "carry on."  Meanwhile, have a lovely Holiday Season!

NEW! LFTC in motion: The London Frontier Theatre Story is a lively video of scenes from LFTC shows, an overview of the working theatre, and a scenic tour of the area. Other videos include segments from the popular Lost Wife Creek series. Trailer from the Ballad of Babe & Beau

London Frontier Theatre Company:

For 14 seasons, London Frontier has presented a wide variety of plays, including the popular "Lost Wife Creek' series, incorporating our vivid local multi-culture and history in exciting, entertaining theatre, and we feel both delighted and obligated to continue. We've had amazing support from audiences and "Friends of the Theatre", locally and from far corners of New Mexico and beyond. We're humbled by the response, faith, and help we're received; it's kept us going through good times - when we've felt we've given you fine entertainment - and through the work, struggle and dire moments when we doubted our abilities and our survival as a theatre.

Our latest show was THE BALLAD OF BABE & BEAU, reviewed as, "a splendid multimedia production in which film, sound and acting all meld together to further the poignant story." Two aging outlaws return to the roaring cow town they remember, to find it a dusty remnant of its rowdy past. But Babe & Beau have 20 years of living to make up, & they're not about to be "tamed & tidied." A rollicking, poignant portrait of the Old West, with video & live music.

Become a Member of Friends of the Theatre
Become a Member of Friends of the Theatre with a one-time donation of $100 or more.

“Care and feeding” of our venue - loan repayment, heat, lighting, insurance - is vital; your contributions help insure its maintenance and improvement. We'll gradually renovate, with care for historical features, audience comfort, and better presentational qualities: improved heating/cooling, acoustics and sight-lines, installation of our 1920's/30's theatre seats, and a lobby displaying works of local artists. We'll make the space available to other organizations for performances, art shows, music, videos/films, story-telling, and meetings, creating a performance-and-arts center for the area.

What does it mean, to be a FRIEND of the THEATRE? (Besides our eternal gratitude, and a tax deduction?)  Each FRIEND will have their name/business name on a plaque in the theatre, and we proudly list you in our programs and on our Website – view a list of our FRIENDS.

Any FRIEND who buys two adult tickets for a performance will be given a third ticket free. We hope to have our yearly Gala for FRIENDS (May, 2007, was the first: an “It’s Ours!/Cinco de Mayo celebration): food and entertainment, a chance to tell us what you’ve liked/disliked (get fed for being a critic!) and to make suggestions for future plays. Celebrate with us; it’s your theatre, too!

Donna Todd, Director, LFTC
Become a FRIEND of the THEATRE with a donation of $100 or more.
Any support will be gratefully received:

London Frontier Theatre
575-854-2519
PO Box 1126, Magdalena, NM 87825
Where is Magdalena?

A SPECIAL THANKS to our FRIENDS

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or email us at LondonFrontier@gilanet.com
or mail to the address above.

Click Here for Further Performance Information/Reservations

For information about the Magdalena area, click here.

Major funding for this project by the McCune Charitable Foundation of Santa Fe. Additional funding by New Mexico Department of Tourism.   Steppin’ Out New Mexico Review: The Long Ride of Old St. Nick Stock Photo Gallery Video       London Frontier Theatre Company Group Photo Courtesy of Copyright© Kelly D. Gatlin/ La Luz Photography   London Frontier Theatre Company a Non-Profit Arts Corporation. All donations are tax-deductible.