My brother-in-law Shane once told me that in a world of over 7 billion people, you can expect a one in a million event to be quite common. Take my job for instance. I’m Todd Jared, and I’m the Technical Director for your Lobero Theatre. In my job I never expected that I could fix an $80,000 Steinway Concert Grand Piano with $10 worth of gaff tape during a black-tie piano recital, but I did. I never expected that I would cover the entire stage with bubble wrap so that a certain Russian dancer could perform his latest choreography, but I did that too.

If you stay at something long enough, you begin to expect the unexpected.

But after nearly 3,000 Lobero shows I never expected to see an empty theatre. No piano recitals, no dance performances, not even a Warren Miller ski film. For the first time since 1924, the Lobero has now gone almost 30 weeks without opening its doors to an audience. Because while some businesses can safely do their best work without drawing a crowd, we cannot. Our very job is to draw a crowd and our success is often measured by the size of that crowd.

The Lobero now sits empty with no idea when she’ll again be able to do what she does best: welcome you, her community, into her world. While she sits empty, many of her artistic associates–from pianists to projectionists, from bartenders to ballerinas–remain idle. And because the Lobero is home to our community’s performing artists, many of these people are your friends and neighbors, who count on her ability to draw a crowd.

Nevertheless she persists. In the last couple of months the Lobero has been the online hostess to our “Live from the Lobero” streaming concert series, with performances by music legend Kenny Loggins, the fiery KT Tunstall and the Charles Lloyd Ocean Trio. Next up is Steppenwolf’s John Kay and a special re-release of Kenny Loggins concert for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The Lobero hasn’t given up on you. Please don’t give up on her.

Your support at this critical time allows us to keep the Lobero alive and well. It allows us to keep striving to find ways to bring the unexpected to you.

Sincerely,

Todd Jared,
Technical Director