Business of the Week: Legacy Theatre Marks 20 Years of Professional Stagecraft in Tyrone

When people first hear “Legacy Theatre,” some still assume it’s a movie house. But step through the doors in Tyrone and it becomes clear quickly: this is a working, full-time professional theater — one that has been bringing actors, musicians, students, and audiences together for two decades.

Legacy Theatre, owned by Executive Producer Bethany Hayes Smith and her husband, Mark Smith, Artistic Director, opened in 2006. While the company has announced its 21st season, Bethany Hayes Smith said the official 20-year milestone arrives in November.

“It is a fun story, because the community has so embraced Legacy and what we do,” she said. “People are surprised… that it’s truly a professional theater.”

A professional theater — and a training ground

Today, Legacy serves roughly 380 students — “right around 383,” Hayes Smith said — through classes in dance, musical theater and voice, as well as youth productions that run alongside the professional season.

From the beginning, Hayes Smith said the theater’s mission was intentionally two-part: education and professional performance, side by side.

“The goal from the beginning was to inspire the next generation of theater artists, budding artists, and theater goers,” she said. “Because if we don’t inspire new kids to love theater, it won’t be there.”

In addition to year-round instruction, Legacy hosts a vibrant summer stock program for children, giving young performers the chance to rehearse and mount full productions in an intensive, collaborative environment. The experience, Hayes Smith said, builds not only stage skills but confidence and resilience.

“They can go to a college interview and speak for themselves,” she said. “They can do an interview off the cuff, because they’ve stood on stage with whatever was thrown at them that day.”

That investment is now showing up in the theater’s casting, too. Hayes Smith said some of the children who once took classes are now grown, returning as professionals — and in some cases, stepping into major roles.

“It’s fun now, because we have our kids — our first kids — are now grown up,” she said. “We’ve now seen the kids growing up, and now they’re coming back and doing professional work.”

Built without backers

Legacy’s story is also a business story — one built without a nonprofit board, major donors, or a deep-pocketed benefactor.

“There’s no rich father,” Hayes Smith said. “There was no money. There were no backers. It was just a lot of faith and just the knowing that we were supposed to do it.”

The Smiths intentionally stayed privately owned and for-profit — a decision she said gave them long-term control over quality and direction.

“We do everything ourselves,” she said. “There’s no tax write offs. There’s no tax breaks.”

That model has required consistency, year after year, in both ticket sales and programming. But it has also helped the theater establish an identity that’s rare for the region: a permanent, privately owned professional theater facility.

“We’re the only full time professional theater… and to have an actual facility… is pretty unique,” Hayes Smith said.

From skepticism to sell-outs

Hayes Smith remembers early skepticism — including people telling her audiences would not support professional ticket prices.

“I’m sitting there, and they’re telling me, you don’t ever have to pay actors. No one’s ever gonna pay $25 for a ticket,” she said. “This is going to fail.”

Twenty years later, she said the community leadership response has shifted — and so has audience demand. Legacy now regularly sells out performances, bringing in performers from across the country while also hiring local talent. The naysayers are gone.

Mark Smith recently returned from theater conferences where he auditioned hundreds of performers, Hayes Smith said.

“He’s auditioning… 900 to 1000 actors that are hoping to get to Legacy to do a show,” she said.

What’s next on the Legacy stage

Legacy’s next mainstage production is Ain’t Misbehavin’, set to open in April. Hayes Smith described it as a live-music production rooted in the “Golden Age of jazz” and said the theater is prioritizing authenticity in the creative team.

“It’s an all black cast,” she said. “We have a black director, choreographer, black costume designer.”

This summer, Legacy will stage Frozen as its big musical — a production that will feature professional leads while also giving local children the chance to audition and perform alongside them.

Auditions for youth roles are scheduled for March 7, according to Administrative Educational Director Hannah Hildebrand.

As Legacy steps into its next season, Hayes Smith said the theater’s focus remains the same: professional work on stage, education behind it, and a community experience that keeps bringing people back — sometimes now across generations.

Talking specifically about Hannah Hildebrand who came for class 20 years ago and somehow never left, “I taught her, and now I teach her daughter,” Hayes Smith said. “So now I am old enough to do that.”

Tickets still available for Margaritaville
For theatergoers who want to catch a show now, Legacy Theatre’s run of Escape to Margaritaville still has two weekends remaining, and tickets are still available. Patrons can find showtimes and purchase seats through Legacy Theatre’s box office and website.For more information about upcoming shows, classes, auditions, and tickets, visit: https://legacytheater.com/