About Us

Message From The President Of The Board

To the Patrons of S.T.A.G.E., INC.

Season 46 at S.T.A.G.E ended with a boom, or more like a Sh-boom. Season 47 is set to shine bright starting with Neil Simon’s classic comedy The Sunshine Boys directed by Robin Cunningham. The story centers around Al and Willie, better known as Lewis and Clark, a once top vaudeville act for decades. CBS wants them to do a skit for a “History of Comedy” special. The only problem is they haven’t spoken to each other for over twelve years. The road to re-unite them is filled with memories, miseries, and laughs. Next up will be our special Christmas production, Trials, Tribulations and Christmas Decorations, written by Mathew Carlin and directed by Lou Garza. It’s Christmas time, tis the season to be jolly. Not for John, a widower who is a Grinch. His daughter hatches a plan to change his holiday mood. First, she invites John’s first love who he hasn’t seen in over thirty years who brings along her elderly mother and her ten-year-old niece. Also present is John’s son-in-law, who he has never accepted. John’s daughter has also invited her two over-the-top Christmas fanatic friends to join the festivities. When they all get iced in together, seasonal madness ensures, and it’s a Christmas John will never forget. Our second regular season presentation opens in February with the production of Pat Cook’s If The Good Lord Is Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise which will be directed by Julia Cammack. This zany comedy centers on Doc, an eccentric retired judge who spends his days enjoying life and working on his books of nonsense. His daughter thinks he’s lost his marbles and plots to become his guardian and also to sell his house and property. When Doc shows up at his sanity hearing dressed as a magician, his daughter thinks her plan is all sewed up. What she doesn’t realize is that Doc has a few tricks up his sleeve. S.T.A.G.E.’s May show is Beets, a play set during World War II. Faced with an urgent need to produce food, yet faced with a critical shortage of labor, American farmers were compelled to accept help in their fields from POW’s. Isabelle Hunt knows her husband Fred needs help with their beet crop so Fred grudgingly allows German POW’s to work his fields. Fred is furious over the POW’s food privileges while his injured son is a POW overseas and could be starving. To make tensions worse the Hunt’s 17-year old daughter has a strong attraction to one of the German POW’s. This is the story of small town humanity and the simplicity of rural life. There is conflict for some, acceptance by others, and adjustments for all. Lou Garza will take the task of directing this emotionally charged drama………….Closing out season 47 at S.T.A.G.E. will be Rick Urbinati’s Murder On West Moon Street to be directed by Barry Goettl. This is the story of young Lord Arthur, recently engaged and fresh from Oxford. A visit to a palm reader results in a dark prediction that he will commit a murder. Arthur is determined to fulfill his fate before marriage and sets out to kill someone as a matter of honor. For better or worse his lack of experience leads to a chain of comedic misadventures in his quest to find a suitable victim. The 47^th season at S.T.A.G.E promises a slate of great entertainment. Make sure you don’t miss out. Get your tickets early by going to www.stagebulverde.org.tickets or call 830-438-2339. Thank you for your continued support.

Tom Balmos

President-S.T.A.G.E. Board of Directors

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The S.T.A.G.E., Inc. Board of Directors strives to meet the needs of the theatre, including staff, board members, artistic directors, actors and volunteers, as well as the community it serves.

Tom Balmos, President

Sharon Knibbe, Vice President

Laurie Sanders, Secretary

Sharron Petri, Treasurer

Lou Garza, Corporate Manager

Jeff Johnson, Technical Director

Al Poerner

Sharon Sieve

Jane Wood

Judge Larry Shallcross

Barbara Wehe

Mike Simpson

Sam Shelton

Stephanie Clark

Zada Jahnsen

Kimberly Gaines

HISTORY OF THE SPOTLIGHT THEATRE AND ARTS GROUP. ETC.

In 1978 the Community Education Department of the Comal Independent School District offered area residents the 1-THE CURIOUS SAVAGE Sharon Knibbe opportunity to participate in a play. A student at San Antonio College agreed to be the director and for a short time, ACT (Area Community Theatre) performed several plays in the Canyon Lake-Smithson Valley area but never achieved community support. In 1979, Sharon Knibbe and Betty Baker discussed the possibility of forming a community theatre in Bulverde. The first meeting was held in Betty Baker’s home and twenty-five enthusiastic people showed up. One day Sharon was standing in a checkout lane in San Antonio and mentioned to the lady beside her of the plans for starting a theatre in Bulverde. The lady was Glynn Turner who had been a high school drama teacher and was looking for another outlet for her theatrical expertise. Glynn Turner, Sharon Knibbe and Beth B. Sherfy were the incorporators of S.T.A.G.E. and the initial Board of Directors numbered eight. Sharon Knibbe was elected President; Glyn Turner – Managing Director; George MacConnell-Vice President; Carolyn George-Secretary and Bill Smith-Treasurer. Linda Haekstra, Mildred Watson and Wendy Watson were also elected to that first Board of Directors.

The first years were hard. Use of the Bulverde Community Center meant sets could be erected just before the performance and dismantled immediately afterwards with storage of flats and equipment scattered around at different members’ homes. The Board remained devoted and determined to work toward the goals of the organization as stated in the By-laws:

To provide a forum wherein artists and educators can instruct students in the development of their own artistic skills;
To make art education and instruction available to persons of all ages in all religious, ethnic, social, and economic groups.
To present educational programs utilizing the arts for the instruction of the public on subjects useful to individuals and beneficial to the community and
To develop the interest and participation of the public in the dramatic arts.

1-Child_workshop_1 001_499x511 A children’s workshop was held that first summer with 22 children attending and continued for several years with the combined support of S.T.A.G.E. and the Comal Independent School District’s Community Education program.

The need for a permanent home was obvious and in 1985, the doors to Krause House Theatre, built by Earl and Zada Jahnsen, opened for S.T.A.G.E. participation. The Krause House Theatre in Bulverde is named after pioneer George Werner Krause who first settled on this site in the 1800’s. The Board of Directors leased the building from the Jahnsens for a nominal fee and in exchange agreed to complete the remainder of the building. Improvements have been made since due to the generosity of benefactors. The Green Room was added after years of “make do,” the Office, Boardroom and Ely Lilly Foundation Classroom many years after that.

Current activities include producing four plays a year for a run of eleven productions; bringing outside entertainment into the theatre when the theatre calendar permits; participation in Texas Non-Profit Theatres (TNT) and American Association of Community Theatres (AACT) activities; membership in the Greater New Braunfels and Bulverde-Spring Branch Chambers of Commerce, the Greater New Braunfels Arts Council, Hill Country Council for the Arts, and San Antonio Theatre Coalition (SATCO). S.T.A.G.E. provides instructors for the Eli Lilly Foundation classes (ELFS) for adults and children and ENCORE PLAYERS, an outreach program to the Bulverde Senior Citizen’s Center for Reader’s Theatre. In addition a number of our Board Members and actors serve as judges for the annual Comal County Middle School UIL speaking competition.

On opening night of each season slate production, S.T.A.G.E. sponsors a benefit performance to a 501(c)3 organization that has requested a benefit and complies by selling a block of tickets.

S.T.A.G.E. has endured sad times through the years with the loss of benefactors, patrons and actors. The Memorial Wall honors those who have touched our lives.

S.T.A.G.E. sponsored Chad Speer to the International Festival in Monaco in 1996. Chad was one of fifteen students in the WORLD invited to participate in the festival and upon arrival was chosen to write the history of the Grimaldi Family for presentation. His work was praised by the Grimaldi Family. S.T.A.G.E. was quite proud of our founder, Sharon Knibbe and her daughter Shannon when they were crowned winners in the fourth annual Texas Mother/Daughter Pageant in 1990. Another S.T.A.G.E. student, Steffanie Zerbal (now married) is an actress at Universal Studios in Florida. She is one of ten actresses picked by Lucille Ball’s family to portray Lucy.

Proud? Yes, we strive to improve our facility, our productions. S.T.A.G.E. has earned a reputation for producing new plays, and plays written by local playwrights. As a result, we have had a number of “Texas Premiers.” We thank you, our membership, for your continued support.

History is on-going – this just hits a few highlights – we are confident there will be more to come.

Village of Bulverde
Cragg’s Do It Best Lumber & Home Center, Inc.
Bulverde Baptist Church
Kathleen Banse State Farm Insurance
Greater New Braunfels Arts Council
Home Instead
CBS Aqua Systems
St Paul Lutheran Church

BENEFACTORS

S.T.A.G.E., Inc. 2023-2024 PATRON MEMBERSHIPS

Thank you for your support!!

BENEFACTORS

Ron & Mona Klein, Bulverde
Jahnsen Family Foundation, Bulverde
Jesse Juhl, San Antonio
Caron West, San Antonio

ARCH ANGELS

Chuck & Sharon Knibbe, Spring Branch
Lisa Garza, San Antonio
Jane Wood, Bulverde
Thomas Hotaling, Bulverde

GUARDIAN ANGELS

Bill & Stephanie Clark, Bulverde
Gerald Burgess, San Antonio
Patrick & Mary Watson, San Antonio
Al & Diana Poerner, San Antonio
Victor & Peggy Furches, San Antonio
Robert Backlund, San Antonio
Larry Shallcross, Bulverde
Al & Diana Poerner, San Antonio
Joe De Mott, San Antonio

ANGELS

David Crouch, San Antonio
Scott Davis, Marion
Charles & Margaret Goodhue, San Antonio
Lan Eng, San Antonio
Jerry & Tammy Ritter, Bulverde

PATRONS