Deep in the heart of Texas, two LDS families are bringing down the house at a new community theater with increasing regularity and a unique family-friendly appeal.
In Cleburne, a small suburb 30 miles south of Fort Worth, the Barrus and Siler clans combine their collective four adults and eight youths to operate every aspect of the Plaza Theatre Company.
"Overall, the folks have been very receptive," JaceSon Barrus said. "We'll hit 500 season tickets this year, and we've been open for only 21 months. In a town of 30,000 (people) that already had an existing theater, we feel very, very good about that."
Although the Plaza Theatre is first and foremost a business, its existence also dovetails nicely with missionary work because of the platform it gives the Barrus and Siler families to comfortably share their beliefs with people of different faiths.
"The number of times we've had spiritual and theological discussions with fellow cast members and supporters is innumerable," Brother Barrus said. "It's never been something where we were overly overt about it, because we're trying to run a business and we don't want to them to think when they come here we're going to be proselytizing for the entire time. But, by the same token, it allows us the chance to be an example of what we believe and, consequently, there are people who ask us questions and talk to us about different things they otherwise wouldn't have asked."
The Plaza Theatre's back-story actually dates back in time much further than when the theater opened its doors less than two years ago. In 1988, two freshmen named JaceSon Barrus and Aaron Siler met in the drama program at what was then Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho. They forged a friendship that would in time become the foundation for the formation of the Plaza Theatre Company.
(The Siler and Barrus families both belong to the Cleburne ward in the Weatherford Texas stake.)
After they each served a mission, Brother Siler went back to Ricks to continue his studies while Brother Barrus returned home to northern Utah and worked at the theater his family owned and operated. Separated by several hundred miles, the pair lost track of each other. But fate intervened, and in 2004 they ran into each other while both were living in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
"I worked at the Artisan Theater in Hurst, Texas," Brother Barrus said. "Of course, I had no idea Aaron lived out here. One day my boss at the theater said, 'Hey, there's a guy that might be able to help us with some of our sound issues. His name is Aaron Siler.' I said, 'Oh, I went to college with that guy.' So I called him up!"
In 2006, a representative from the Downtown Cleburne Association contacted Brother Barrus about starting a nonprofit community theater that would operate under the same model he was employing in Hurst and had originally learned while working at the Hale Centre Theatre in West Valley City, Utah — a model that revolved around constant performance every weekend of the year. By early 2007, the Plaza Theatre Company had been born and was open for business.
The Barrus and Siler families are both fully invested in the theater and its success. Brother Barrus is the artistic director and his wife, Kristina, works as the director of education; Brother Siler is director of operations while his wife, Milette, is the marketing and development director. The Barrus family counts five children ages 2 to 15; the Silers have three offspring ranging from 5 to 13 years old. All eight children find ways to pitch in, including 10-year-old Cameron Barrus and 9-year-old Ryan Siler who run the lights and sound board during the children's shows that take place on Monday evenings.
"Not only are our families in the different shows and performing, our kids also run the concession stands and they pop popcorn," Brother Siler said. "Our kids help us. They clean and vacuum and do everything here as a family. In every sense of the word, we really run this as a family theater."
