The Augusta Mini Theatre quietly marked its 45th anniversary in 2020.
Because of COVID-19, the celebrations Tyrone Butler, its founder and director, had envisioned couldn’t happen, but the organization is still trying to provide some programs in a limited fashion.
“We just did our drama classes virtually with 35 to 40 students,” he said.
In most years, the mini theater offers classes in drama, African and modern dance, piano and visual arts. The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend typically showcases the drama students in one of his plays. Butler has written about two dozen works.
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Students who attend the mini theater for four or more consecutive years are eligible for the Mariah McKie Butler scholarship, named in memory of Tyrone Butler’s mother, who died in 2010. The scholarship provides money for up to $400 in books.
The main fundraiser for that scholarship is an annual roast which had to be cancelled in 2020 because of COVID-19.
Butler said there are 23 students currently enrolled in college who qualify for this program.
The mini theater started as a variety show at the Wallace Branch Library in 1975.
“I had already been volunteering there,” said Butler. “I went to the director and said, ‘Let’s do a show here, like the ‘Johnny Carson Show.’”
When he was queried further, he decided he’d have guests and entertainment, and he believed he could get it together with only two to three weeks of planning.
The director was skeptical, but he pulled if off. And the Augusta Mini Theatre was born on Oct. 8, 1975.
Over the years, Butler tried to teach as much of the arts as possible, but he soon learned he needed to hand over some classes to people with more experience than he had. He hired teachers for dance and other programs.
In 2008, a dream was fulfilled as the Mini Theatre’s 9,333 square-foot building was opened on 11 acres on Deans Bridge Road. It has a black box theater, dance studio, the James Brown Music Wing and a media center/homework lab. The next phase is a 250-seat theater. SPLOST money from a previous version of the tax is set aside for the construction of the facility. The Mini Theater still needs to raise additional funding.
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Butler received the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in 1984 and the Greater Augusta Arts Council’s Artist Award in 1993. But the awards aren’t the testament to the positive impact on people’s lives, according to Butler.
In its history, only one of its students has become pregnant while in high school and only one has gotten in trouble with the law.
And when the pandemic threatened funding, Mini Theatre alumni and parents of alumni stepped up to cover expenses, he said.
“Word got out that we were in trouble,” he said, “and donations started coming in.” Butler said he hopes the organization can celebrate its anniversary this fall.
For more information on Tyrone Butler also read Charmain Z. Brackett’s “At Work With: Tyrone Butler” here.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
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