HALE CENTER FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS AND EDUCATION

About the Hale Center Foundation for the Arts & Education

Hale Center Foundation for the Arts & Education (HCFAE) is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit performing arts organization headquartered in Orem, Utah with locations at 225 West 400 North (Hale Center Theater Orem) and 537 North 1200 West (Hale Studios). Founded in 1990, the Foundation is led by Executive Director, Cody L. Swenson and his executive team with oversight from a volunteer board chaired by Dr. Carl Hernandez.

The Foundation oversees the Hale Center Theater Orem (HCTO) that provides a full-season of main-stage productions (seven shows) and a youth season (five shows) and the Hale Academy for the Performing Arts (HAPA) that provides instruction in arts education (acting, dance, and voice).

More than 90% of the Theater’s 150,000 patrons are residents of Utah County (population 600,000) and the surrounding region while the remaining 10% are out-of-state travelers. Operating under an annual budget of $3,500,000, the Foundation provides entertainment and arts education related services to participants of all ages. The annual estimated economic impact of the Hale Center Foundation for the Arts & Education is $15,000,000.

HCTO offers a unique, intimate, family-friendly theatrical experience allowing audiences to be drawn into a performance in ways that most traditional theaters cannot provide. Patrons can see, hear, and sense the emotion of each actor in the close proximity. The Hale brand of theater provides an exciting and entertaining environment for all to enjoy. Importantly, Hale theater patrons can feel confident the entire family will be entertained in a non-offensive way.

Actors performing in the productions are cast locally and are paid a small stipend for each performance in which they act. HCTO also hires up to two Equity Guest Artists for many of its productions. In keeping with the vision of the theater to produce the highest quality theater, future budgets reflect that payment to actors must increase in order to secure and retain the best talent available in the area.

Other factors contributing to the success of HCTO are the commitment to contribute in a positive way to the community as well as being dedicated to the success of those who act and work at the theater. The organization subscribes to the theory/concept that patrons are more satisfied and entertained when they are intimately involved in the performance. Not everyone can act or be a character in a show, but having your feet on the stage provides an experience beyond imagination. Being close to the action develops a sense of participation and causes the patron to get lost in their thoughts and feel a part of the story.

Main Stage performances take place in the 2,500 sq ft theater-in-the-round that seats 303 patrons and adapts to a proscenium thrust for many productions. The theater venue, administrative offices, production space (costumes), and box office are housed within an 11,000 sq ft facility situated on a 2.5-acre corner lot with parking for more than 160 vehicles. Arts education classrooms, production space for scenic and property design, voice studios, storage, and rehearsal space are located in Hale Studios (10,000 sq. ft.) rented by the Foundation.

Each year the Hale Academy for the Performing Arts (HAPA) prepares more than 1,800 students to be young artists by providing instruction in arts education including acting classes, voice lessons, dance instruction, and youth productions. These students develop a variety of skills through the performing arts. There are many benefits to arts education as students gain confidence in their own abilities and become more focused on growing responsibilities at school, home, and in the community. Research indicates that young artists memorize historical and mathematical facts with greater ease and relationships with family and friends are strengthened as a result of being part of a working cast of players. Students see from the first day that they are part of a cohort that will assist and support them in the development of their skills. They find friends who share their same interests and the process of performing on stage together builds a greater sense of unity and self-worth. Performing in front of others requires them to walk and talk with a stronger understanding of themselves.

The Foundation is currently involved in efforts to move the Theater and Arts Education programs to a new 64,000 sq ft facility to be constructed at University Place (575 E University Parkway, Orem, Utah 84097). A capital campaign is currently underway to fund this $30,000,000 relocation project.

History

For more than 70 years, Nathan & Ruth Hale and their talented and artistic posterity have been entertaining and educating families throughout the intermountain west (California, Utah, and Arizona). The Hales are proud to have founded the first single-purpose indoor performing arts theater in the City of Orem that has become the fifth largest performing arts theater in Utah.

Nathan & Ruth were involved in the performing arts at a young age. However, their theatrical legacy started in 1933 when this talented couple married in Salt Lake City. They began writing, directing, producing, and acting and were rising stars on the community theater scene in northern Utah. In 1945, they decided to try their hand in Hollywood on the silver screen and moved to southern California. Nathan & Ruth learned many valuable lessons during their career in the film industry and it was during this time of their lives – the idea to open a Hale Theater was born.

In 1947, Nathan & Ruth opened their first theater in Los Angeles County, California – the Glendale Centre Theatre – a place where the Hales could play any role they desired and chart their course in what would become an epic journey in the world of the performing arts. After nearly 40 years in southern California, Nathan & Ruth decided it was time to retire and sold the Glendale theater to their daughter and her husband and headed back to Utah. The popular Glendale Centre Theatre remains one of the longest continuously running center stage theaters in America.

In retirement, Nathan & Ruth would regularly hear from patrons who loved the Hale’s theater and reminisced about their family’s priceless memories attending their shows. It wasn’t long before Nathan & Ruth decided it was time to come out of retirement and build two more theaters in their home State of Utah - bringing the same joy that so many experienced at the Hale’s theater in southern California. Nathan & Ruth enlisted the help of their children and grandchildren and built a theater in Salt Lake County (1985) and another in Utah County (1990).

Nathan & Ruth, their son Cody Hale and his wife Linda, and their grandson Cody Swenson and his wife Anne became formal business partners in 1990 founding the Hale’s Utah County theater in Orem. They converted an old veteran’s hall into a theater that would become known as – Hale Center Theater Orem. The Hale’s later established the Hale Center Foundation for the Arts & Education adding arts education courses as well as a production rental department that lends costumes, scenery, and props to theaters in the region.

The Hale’s two Utah theaters continue to entertain and educate their respective communities successfully - but operate as two separate non-profit organizations reporting to their own Board of Directors with no formal business relationship outside of their shared ancestry – Nathan & Ruth Hale. The Hale Legacy has expanded to include Tony Award-winning professional actors, musicians that were featured on MTV and in Broadway musicals, renowned filmmakers, and a variety of other talented children and grandchildren.

For more information about the Hale Center Foundation for the Arts & Education, visit http://www.haletheater.org