When Hollywood’s legendary Theatre of Arts closed its campus during the initial Covid-19 outbreak, its executive director, Harrison Butler, wasn’t sure what to do next. With the conservatory’s ownership in flux and in-person performances and classes canceled (the campus finally reopened a year and a half later, but has announced its permanent closure next July after nearly a century of operation), he decided to spend some extended time with his sister, who lived in Hillsboro. 

After years in L.A.’s urban sprawl, where he also served as executive producer at Hollywood’s Arena Theatre, the Oregon city’s proximity to natural beauty brought back fond memories: His sister’s home is a short walk from the city’s pastoral Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve. “We grew up in Colorado, so we naturally gravitate toward mountainous and forest environments,” Butler says. “I spent three months at my sister’s place, and I fell in love with the area.”

Butler had taught, acted, and directed professionally across the country, and now, like other big-city theater artists and execs facing the same Covid conundrum, he decided it was time to light out for the territories. “I thought, ‘I’ve gotta get out of L.A.,” he recalls. He downsized his possessions, and in 2022, “I came up to Hillsboro to get my grounding again, and just see where things go.”

His timing was exquisite: Both of the city’s major theater companies, Hillsboro Artists Regional Theatre (HART) and Bag&Baggage Productions, were looking for new artistic leadership. He applied for both, and HART responded first, immediately offering him its artistic directorship. He took it. 

It’s a long way from Hollywood to Hillsboro. But since Butler’s arrival, HART’s fortunes have taken a sharp turn for the better. Income is up, shows are selling out — 24 full houses in a row as of this month — and a palpable energy and excitement radiate from the little downtown theater a block away from Main Street. 

And to celebrate its 30^th anniversary season, HART is doing something all too rare in community theater — commissioning a world premiere production of a brand new play, written by a local novelist. April Aasheim’s The Seance Sisters, which runs through this weekend (Sunday, Sept. 22), transmogrifies its author’s “paranormal witchy fiction” from page to stage, and signals a promising new era for HART, forging ever-deeper connections to its home.

From Pandemic Plight to Resurgence 

Butler arrived at a tough time in HART’s history. Begun in 1994 by Kim L. and John H. Sandstrom, the company focused on dinner theater and actor training, and quickly outgrew the founders’ ability to run it as a private family company. 

“It was really a ragtag group of artists that wanted to start a dinner theater on Main Street and bring something new to downtown,” Butler says. “Right off the bat, it had a different vibe than other things going on in Hillsboro.”

In 1997, the nonprofit Friends of HART formed to buy the company from the Sandstroms, relying, like most community theaters, primarily on volunteer contributions from supporters and artists. By 2007, the company’s growth again required a big change: Supporters mounted a successful $650,000 capital campaign to refurbish and expand into a larger space, a former pizza joint at 2^nd Ave. and S.E. Washington, steps away from its old Main Street home. 

“It had its ups and downs over the years, as any 30-year-old company would,” Butler says. But in 2020, HART — like every other theater in America — faced an existential crisis.:“We were close to collapse when the pandemic hit.”  

A brief venture into online productions fizzled, and even when the shutdown ended, patrons were reluctant to return: Theaters around the country closed. “We were about to close until a Hail Mary [the Biden administration’s American Rescue Plan] grant came in,” Butler says. “It kept us on life support for those few years where we couldn’t do much.”

That was the predicament that Butler walked into. But he was used to dramatic challenges. After all, he’d successfully produced live theater on Hollywood’s famed Sunset Strip — in the movie capital of the world. He was able to lure celebrities with programs like standup comedy nights, and then showed them how the space could be used for live theater. 

Welcoming Environment

On arriving at HART, Butler often heard that the theater needed a complete reboot. But he’d been in Hillsboro long enough to know that the theater already possessed substantial intangible assets — an inviting 97-seat performance space, a strong core group of volunteers, the long-building affection of its community. 

“We’ve got a great brand,” he told the board. “People know HART and love HART. All we need to do is breathe a little life into it, give it a little artistic passion, share our vision of creating art for the people.”

Drawing on his experience with Arena Theater and the Hollywood Fringe Festival, Butler activated his new venue with a variety of activities designed to bring new visitors into the building. He immediately involved HART with Main Street’s popular First Tuesday Art Walks, booking a band to attract some of the hundreds — and in the summer, thousands — of attendees. And he quickly extended the theater’s reach to other city-sponsored events, including various big holiday street parties, Pride and Independence Day celebrations, even hiring actors to play Santa Claus and using HART’s backstage as North Pole and thereby bringing kids and families into the theater. 

HART’s connection to downtown events and businesses intensified when Butler became co-director of Hillsboro Downtown Partnership (HDP), which partners with local merchants, the city, and other organizations to boost downtown Hillsboro. “In this type of theater, we get involved in the community,” he says. “We celebrate with events and civic engagement. We feel a responsibility to put ourselves out there, engage with the community, do outreach, encourage diversity, and do projects that reflect our growing and diverse community and help create a healthier and happier downtown.”

He also recruited new board members (the newest an energetic teenager to help connect with young audiences) to “put in place the leadership that’s going to do the work to keep it organized and funded, and allow the business to flourish,” he says. “We’ve seen a board turnover from some who wanted control over the artistic aspect to those who lead selflessly,” putting the organization’s best interests first. 

Butler is quick to note the essential contributions of HART board president and tech wizard William Crawford, who seems to be everywhere at every HART show. “The reason we have the high quality shows we do is because of him,” Butler says. “He’s equally responsible for our success. On the marketing side, April [Aasheim} has been a huge reason HART’s become so popular online. We’re up ridiculous percentages of engagement we didn’t have before. Our treasurer Marlys [Carter] keeps the books straight and our finances strong. It goes on and on.”

Watch him greeting visitors and interacting with audience members before and after shows, and it’s obvious Butler is a people person who just makes everyone feel welcome. “I find it really effective giving people ownership of the [theater] space,” he explains. “Telling them it’s your space, treat it like your home, take pride in how it looks. When we invite audience members to a show, we’re inviting them into our home.” 

In HART playbills and his curtain announcements, I’ve noticed increased shout-outs to specific staffers and volunteers for various contributions to productions. That’s intentional.

“People will move mountains if you treat them with respect and recognize the work they do,” Butler explains. “We’re getting people who want to support that vision, to be involved and be included. Theater doesn’t happen without many hands involved. We can’t do it in vacuum. I wouldn’t be nearly this successful if I didn’t have so many people supporting HART for so many years.”

Butler’s inviting approach also applies to other theater organizations, including Bag & Baggage, with which HART coordinates its production schedule, shares props, and more. An active member of Portland Area Theatre Alliance (PATA), HART also hosts productions by STAGES Performing Arts Academy and Light Opera of Portland.

“We have to open our doors and open our arms,” Butler says. “I think the accessibility of a community theater is so important. We want people to come in and feel they’re in a space that welcomes them. We want to make them feel comfortable and happy. We are a family. That’s why people come to the theater and love the theater.”

That welcoming attitude is one reason recent HART programs boast more than a few artists who note they’re returning to theater for the first time in years or even decades. 

“We invite new actors, young and elder actors all the way up to professional artists who mentor those younger actors,” he says. “Some have been away [from theater for] a long time and come back to it here, and it rekindles their love of the theater. Our lighting designer for this show emailed me out of nowhere, saying she hadn’t been involved in theater in years,” he says. “A day later, she was up in the grid, working the lights. That’s what’s so powerful about HART. That’s what keeps it going.”

Butler’s community-oriented attitude is reflected in HART’s programming. “We produce the plays people want to see and that speak to the wide variety of our diverse audience, from straight dramas to comedies, kid- and teen-oriented shows” and more, he says. “Community theater provides a place where people get to re-live old classics and introduce those classics to a new generation. Sometimes when you get into a professional theater environment, there’s a need to impress. What impresses people in community theater is passion and drive. Even if the show may not always be to professional standards, you can still enjoy it if you see the passion.” 

Butler’s inclusive vision seems to be paying off. HART’s annual report shows a near doubling of season attendance and an astonishing 2,500 percent increase in net income over the year Butler arrived. Butler reports more actors auditioning for roles, more volunteers, healthier finances and expanded revenue streams) Increased and diversified income streams in turn allowed physical and technical upgrades — including new computers, security equipment, a bar, light board and more.

“HART’s ecosystem is progressively getting healthier,” Butler says, “and we are steadily climbing toward sustainability. We’ve sold out the last 23 shows in a row. Granted, we’re a small house, but I don’t know any other theater that can claim that. It’s just insane, and a testament to our growing community.”

Looking Forward

Community theaters’ typically traditional programming sometimes leads to accusations of stodginess. But many of HART’s recent shows, though hardly avant-garde, have been recently written, if balanced by popular standards by Neil Simon et al. And Butler intends to push farther. Next year, HART will stage shows in greater Portland’s Fertile Ground Festival of New Works, and he’s planning some new play readings. 

The biggest leap, though, is the play HART commissioned to celebrate its 30^th anniversary. Aasheim’s Seance Sisters is HART’s first world premiere in years — and by a local writer, no less. Set in 1862 and based on historical events, the play’s plot revolves around the titular debt-ridden sisters’ attempt to save their small-town home by starting a business that offers sham seances, part of a spiritualist movement then igniting in war-torn America.

It also touches on then-contemporary issues such as the nascent suffragist movement, before taking a startling, searing turn (being vague here to avoid spoilers) into darker, more gothic and even supernatural areas, though more in a Twilight Zone manner than romantic fantasy. Aasheim’s books have a devoted following, and the opening night crowd definitely brought a refreshing new audience to the 30-year-old theater.

“From project conception to opening our 30th anniversary season, it was just crazy enough to try,” says Butler, who also directed the show, “and it’s these types of projects that bring people to the theater. There have been more people involved in the production of this show than any other since I have been here.”

Naturally, Butler the showman staged a Hollywood-style opening night party, with costumed cast members and supporters walking a red carpet and munching catered treats in front of the theater, attracting passersby and turning the premiere into a real event, signaling a fresh, confident step into HART’s next phase.

HART’s future-facing orientation inspired the mentorship program the new team instituted, with Crawford mentoring young designers, Butler young directors, etc. “The way you sustain a theater is to make sure younger generations come in and learn the method,” Butler says. 

That in turn presages Butler’s next big move: offering classes, as he did in his Hollywood days. “We’re heading toward this model of education that starts with mentorships, and eventually classes and other programs,” he explains. 

He’s already planning auditioning workshops for this season. But offering a fuller slate of acting and other theater arts classes will require more space than the current building — whose seating capacity no longer seems adequate to meet demand, and which requires donated outside rehearsal spaces — allows. 

Accordingly, Butler has his eye on a nearby publicly owned property that would include “a facility that has a theater, rehearsal space and classroom space,” he says. “That’s where you can get it going.” 

Butler points to the example of Tigard’s Broadway Rose, which with its city’s support transformed “this old school cafeteria building into a beautiful theater, with a huge costume shop and classroom space,” Butler says. “That helped them become who they are. That’s what I see as the future for HART: with city help, find a new building, offer classes. That feeds the community and helps to create a sustainable financial model that will support the theater.”

And support, in this new era in which theater companies are trying to at least ameliorate the profession’s stressful, often penurious working conditions, means paying HART’s actors and other artists, all of whom are volunteers, as is typical in community theater. “For us to grow, people need to get paid,” he insists. “I’m concentrating on supporting artists. It’s a steep mountain, but the support is here in the community. I believe we can do it.”

At a moment when gloom pervades the American theater world, Butler’s optimism and expansive vision shine. In a little over two years, he’s gone from a theater in decline in LA to a company on the rise in Hillsboro, and sees a bright future ahead.  “I’m so grateful,” he says. “I know a lot of theaters are struggling and closing. I feel so lucky to be in this position — to be leading the way forward.”

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Hillsboro Artists’ Regional Theatre’s world premiere production of April Aasheim’s The “Amazing” Séance Sisters runs through September 22 at HART. Tickets here.

Read more stories about Hillsboro arts.