Renovating the Historic Haid Theater
Belmont Abbey’s Performing Arts Department not only offers students a place to learn, to grow, and to develop their God-given talents, but it also extends the blessings of this thriving program to the wider Abbey community and the local community at large. As a longstanding hub of exuberant creativity, the Haid Theater continues to embrace and enrich all those who participate in or attend any one of its exceptional performances. Audiences leave these shows with the heartening consciousness that they’ve received a real gift, having watched skilled performers give of themselves with such sheer, wholehearted joy.
In fact, anyone who’s ever experienced an Abbey Players or Abbey Dance production knows just how much heart and energy course across the stage of the Haid Theater with each rehearsal, each play, and each showcase. The Abbey Players typically offer six shows every year, not counting special events, meaning that in the 140 years since their founding, they have produced many hundreds of shows and entertained and enriched thousands of people. And while every year renews the contagious joy that performers embrace and share with this wider community in an impressive repertoire of drama, comedy, and musicals, it also increases the wear and tear on a nearly century-old structure.
While the Abbey Players were founded in 1883, the Haid Theater itself has been a faithful participant in Abbey Performing Arts since the 1980s, when the already historic building was converted from a gym to a ballroom and theater. Over the intervening decades, the theater has served as a cultural center and a touchstone of arts and community here at Belmont Abbey.
Today, the Performing Arts Department needs your support to raise funds to renovate the Haid Theater. In particular, your generosity can refurbish the stage itself and replace the main curtain, lights, and carpet – all of which are much needed investments in the next 140 years of creative collaboration and steadfast community in the arts. Ultimately, your gift to restore the Haid Theater embraces a tradition that takes Benedictine hospitality seriously – and with the utmost playfulness.
You can restore the Haid and enable the Abbey Players and Abbey Performing Arts to continue to thrive in their work of community enrichment and inspiration.