The Augusta Mini Theatre has been producing, educating and hosting performances for close to 50 years. For 20, it has been on a quest toward expansion, and the longstanding drama school is currently pushing to meet its aims by the end of the month.
“Most of our plays are social issue-oriented,” said Artistic Director Tyrone Butler, who founded the Mini Theatre with his wife, instructor Judith Simon-Butler, and executive assistant Earnestine Robinson in 1975. “They’re about the dangers of drugs, the importance of education, the consequences of teen pregnancy.”
This focus on morals societal concerns is in keeping with the theatre’s overall mission. The full name of the institution is Augusta Mini Theatre Community Arts and Life Skills School. Its programs offer students classes in drama, visual arts, dance, piano and violin. Each year, its theatrical season includes special performances for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
This year’s MLK Day feature was “The Man, the Message, the Music,” a musical about the life of James Brown written by Butler.
In fact, Butler is the playwright behind most of the Mini Theatre’s productions, having written some 20 plays over the years.
Now, the school is looking to finish a fundraiser it began in the early 2000s, when it was still on Eighth Street in downtown. By 2008 it had raised more than $2 million to build the facility at its current location on Deans Bridge Road, the first phase in a plan that included 250-seat theatre space.
The price for the theatre doubled, however, and the school has opted for a $2.5 million 150-seater, instead. The arts school has been raising money towards that project since, even aided by over a million dollars in SPLOST funds.
The city gave Augusta Mini Theatre 365 days to match the amount, of which it has raised some $400,000. That was this time last year, and so the Mini Theatre has until the end of Augusta to raise $800,000.
“So, what happens if we don’t get that other half? Of course, the city could decide that they can take it back. They can take it off the table,” said Butler.
He also notes that the city could decide to extend the deadline — “Give it [another] six months for example,” he said — the price to construct the expansion could rise to $3 million.
The Mini Theatre has been receiving contributions from local churches via the efforts of its church committee, securing some $50,000 of a $200,000 goal, as well as from family and other community partners, but is urging the community to support the campaign.
Butler estimates that, should the school meet its goal, construction would take about 18 months, hopefully in time for the 50th anniversary.
In the meantime, the Mini Theatre is still gearing up for fall classes, which start the first week in October, as well as planning its performance season.
For May of next year, which usually includes the final stage production of the season, Butler said a kind of arts festival is in the works.
“You would come here and you’d be entertained by the dance students, by the drama students, the visual arts students, the piano students,” he said.
The fundraising and the creative curriculum are due to of “a lot of planning, a lot of scheduling, a lot of meetings,” according to Butler. But he says he and his cohorts have not found the several decades operating the school a sacrifice.
“We love them. I know I do,” said Butler about why he and the faculty have persisted, and why he started it at all. “I love coming here.”
The Augusta Mini Theatre is located at 2548 Deans Bridge Road. For more information, visit https://augustaminitheatre.org.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
