A common thought is that a career in the arts is not lucrative, but rural communities across the country are proving otherwise, as small towns are harnessing them to stimulate their economies and survive.

The town of Creede, a municipality of 350 people in the southwest mountains of Colorado, is a perfect example of just how life-saving the arts can be.

“That’s an amazing story; it really is,” said Scotty Lamb, a 6^th-generation Creede resident.

For nearly its entire existence, Creede was a mining town that could not have skewed further from the arts, but in the 1960s, the town’s three mines started to close, leaving Creede and its families in a crisis of both identity and survival.

Lamb was born in the town’s days of coal but raised in its days of new, when, in 1965, the town turned to its old, abandoned movie theater for hope.

“Bit by bit, excitement was kind of generated about the idea of becoming a destination, a tourist destination, and in the early days it centered around the theater,” said Lamb.

Residents decided to turn the abandoned building into a performing arts center known as the Creede Repertory Theater. In the early days, it was filled with used furniture from locals as a way to create set pieces as the theater put on a different show each night.

Over time, word of the theater spread, and today, it is the focal point of Creede, which draws 20,000 people to its theater’s shows every summer.

“Over the years, I think there are different moments of tension here and there for this reason or that, but for the most part I think we realize we need each other,” said John DiAntonio, the producing artistic director at the Creede Repertory Theater.

The Creede Repertory Theater has eight full-time employees that live in the town year-round, but every summer, it hires 100 people from around the country who range from actors to set designers to box office attendants. For a town of 350 people, it makes the theater Creede’s largest economic generator as well as its largest employer.

Other towns across the country at harnessing the economic power of the arts as well. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, they include Douglas, GA; Mount Morris, NY; Roanoke, VA; Paducah, KY; Emporia, KS; Dubuque, IA; and Bend, OR.

“It seems integral. Like, it seems to be the nexus of a lot that goes on here,” said Tony King, an actor who moved to Creede in May to take part in its show Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood this summer. “When you’re walking down the street people are coming up saying, ‘Oh that impacted me in this way,’ or ‘you were great in this show. My kids, it’s their first time seeing theater’ so on and so forth, and to see it all unfold for you in front of your face is truly remarkable.”

The beauty in Creede is innate as towering walls of rock and granite surround the town. It is an art as admirable as Creede’s ability to adapt and survive.

“I kind of hate to think about [what would have happened if the theater never existed],” added Lamb. “I’m sure we would have survived in some fashion, but we wouldn’t have thrived, we wouldn’t have flourished.”

Tony Awards 2023: How to watch Broadway’s big night

Updated: 9:41 AM EDT Jun 11, 2023

The 2023 Tony Awards, which honor theatrical productions and performances, will take place Sunday at the United Palace Theater in New York City.Video above: Tony Award nominees up for featured actresses discuss roles ahead of ceremonyHere’s what to know about Broadway’s biggest night.The hostTony-nominated actress and Oscar winner Ariana DeBose will return as host for a second year in a row. The event will be unscripted due to the ongoing writers’ strike, so any banter on stage will be impromptu. The Writers Guild of America has agreed not to picket the event since its members will not be working on the show.The nomineesThis year, 38 shows were vying for nominations. The musical “Some Like It Hot” leads among the nominees with 13 in all.A full list of nominees can be found here.The performancesIf you haven’t made it to New York for a Broadway show this year, Sunday is your chance for a free front-row seat from home. Casts from several nominated musicals and revivals, including “New York, New York,” “Camelot,” “Parade,” and “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” and others are among the scheduled performances.The casts of “A Beautiful Noise,” “The Neil Diamond Musical,” and “Funny Girl” will also take the stage.Where to watchTony Awards will air live on CBS and stream live and on-demand via Paramount+ at 8 p.m. EST/ 5 p.m. PST. A pre-show, hosted by Julianne Hough, will stream on Pluto TV at 6:30 p.m. EST/3:30 p.m. PST.

SEATTLE, Wash. — Watching Debra Ann Byrd take the stage is something unforgettable

"It is sometimes a difficult story. Sometimes it's a challenging story, but it is a story of hope," she said, referencing her autobiographical solo show Becoming Othello: A Black girl's journey, performed at Seattle Shakespeare Company.

While her work shows that she was clearly born to take the stage, her journey to it was anything but given to her.

"The every Black girl who had been disenchanted and disillusioned by being told, 'You can't perform the classics,' I wanted to be a voice for them. I wanted to be a voice for the people who feel like they had no hope," she said.

Show business is rarely easy, but the discrimination Debra Ann says she and many Black actors and playwrights face in their theatre careers has been a barrier difficult to overcome.

"I decided somebody has to fix this, and maybe that's somebody's me," she said.

According to the New York Times, the Broadway theater season right before the pandemic featured only two Black playwrights. The season after it and the nationwide racial reckoning, the number increased to 8. This represents some of the progress made in American theatre, especially when it comes to featuring work written by Black playwrights, as the theater is a powerful way to open minds.

"It was very important that people saw, physically saw, people of color on the stage performing the classics because some people don't believe it until they see," she said.

Debra Ann fell in love with Shakespeare in the 90s when she saw a Black troop performing his work. It inspired her to later start a theater company featuring actors of color and to found the Harlem Shakespeare Festival. She herself has played Othello three times. While she's a groundbreaker, she says she's only following history.

"Way back in 1821, before Black people were free from slavery, there were Black people doing Shakespeare in New York," she said. "I can't do it because what? Because you're lying."

Debra Ann believes misconceptions about certain industries or arts shouldn't hold people back, and on this Black History Month, she invites people outside of the Black community to seek out not only performances by people of color but the stories behind what it took to get them to the stage.

"If I can make it visible, if I can make people see it, see us, and not just people of color, mixed race cast, you'll see the stage won't explode. The show becomes alive. It has some salt and some pepper, some paprika, and a little bit of cayenne, and you will see a story that comes alive in a way that you may have not experienced," she said.

One night after official return, 'Aladdin' Broadway show cancels performance due to COVID-19

Updated: 12:41 PM EDT Sep 30, 2021

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I mean, there's probably so much that we learned, but I we will return with a new renewed sense of gratitude and purpose for the performers. That's certainly true. I mean, like you said, it's just it was it was unfathomable to be without this thing for as long as we've gone without it. So I think we're going to return with a new sense of gratitude just to have a live performance back. I started going to other shows a couple of weeks ago and it's just an amazing feeling. Yeah, it's just and you sense that what the audiences to the audiences are overjoyed, they're happy to see the shows, but they're happy to just see one another to be in the same room with other people. It's really exciting. It makes me want to write. Like honestly all it does is make me want to write because it was such a thrill to see Hamilton with that incredible audience last Tuesday night when we reopened and you know, Covid put all my movies into the same year and I was supposed to come out last year, was supposed to come out last year. They came out this year. I tick tick boom incanto. And then once I'm on the other side of that, I'm gonna go sit at home and like tuck my kids in and write the next show. It's nothing nothing in the world that is a substitute for live theater. You know, you can see it on, you know, any kind of screening, you can see it on, you know, screaming, you can see it on all of that. but it's not the same, it's never the same as being in the building and having that fantastic experience of being with an audience and loving a show. It's coming back and that's a great thing, you know, it really is, it's a great thing is coming back and I feel I feel grateful because I'm working on something and I want to see, you know, I like to do a table read again and and have a live band and everything that we always did, you know, instead of the zoom thing, which I hate. Um you know, I actually haven't stepped into a theater yet because I just got here yesterday and so I'm excited to take in theater myself, but you know, it I think it's it's gonna be a little different, but that's just by because you have to wear a mask to be vaccinated, all that stuff. But I think the energy that you get from being in a theater with an audience and having that live theatre experience, there's nothing like it. And I think it was my, my honor definitely to be here, but my duty to be here to kind of give recognition to this beautiful community that is back and thriving and uh you know, it's been a tough year for for our everyone. Yeah, so

One night after official return, 'Aladdin' Broadway show cancels performance due to COVID-19

Updated: 12:41 PM EDT Sep 30, 2021

Video above: Broadway stars share their excitement at the TonysA performance of Disney's "Aladdin" on Broadway was canceled Wednesday — one night after the show's return to the theater — because of COVID-19 cases detected in the theater company, show runners said.It is the first known show cancellation due to COVID-19 since Broadway began reopening earlier this month after shutting down in March 2020 due to the pandemic."Through our rigorous testing protocols, breakthrough COVID-19 cases have been detected within the company of Aladdin at The New Amsterdam Theatre," the show said Wednesday in a tweet. "We will continue to provide support to the affected Aladdin company members as they recover."Show runners didn't say how many COVID-19 cases were detected, noting they will provide more information Thursday regarding future performances.Broadway is big business for New York's economy — an estimated 97,000 people are employed by shows. And when COVID-19 first swept across the U.S., it made New York City one of the first virus hotspots, forcing theaters to shutter for about 18 months.This month, theaters began gradually reopening, raising their curtains with health measures in place to help protect against the spread of coronavirus.All of New York's 41 Broadway theaters require eligible audiences, crews, performers and other staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the Broadway League's policy. Children under 12 and those unvaccinated due to health conditions or religious reasons must provide a negative COVID-19 test to be granted entry. Audience members are also required to be masked inside theaters.Breakthrough cases occur when someone tests positive for COVID-19 at least 14 days after they have been fully vaccinated, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Such infections can cause disease with symptoms but some vaccinated people who become infected with COVID-19 show no symptoms at all. Research has shown that if people become infected after vaccination, typically they get a milder case.New York is one of the most vaccinated states in the nation, with more than 63% of its residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19, CDC data showed Wednesday.

Video above: Broadway stars share their excitement at the Tonys

A performance of Disney's "Aladdin" on Broadway was canceled Wednesday — one night after the show's return to the theater — because of COVID-19 cases detected in the theater company, show runners said.

It is the first known show cancellation due to COVID-19 since Broadway began reopening earlier this month after shutting down in March 2020 due to the pandemic.

"Through our rigorous testing protocols, breakthrough COVID-19 cases have been detected within the company of Aladdin at The New Amsterdam Theatre," the show said Wednesday in a tweet. "We will continue to provide support to the affected Aladdin company members as they recover."

Show runners didn't say how many COVID-19 cases were detected, noting they will provide more information Thursday regarding future performances.

Broadway is big business for New York's economy — an estimated 97,000 people are employed by shows. And when COVID-19 first swept across the U.S., it made New York City one of the first virus hotspots, forcing theaters to shutter for about 18 months.

This month, theaters began gradually reopening, raising their curtains with health measures in place to help protect against the spread of coronavirus.

All of New York's 41 Broadway theaters require eligible audiences, crews, performers and other staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the Broadway League's policy. Children under 12 and those unvaccinated due to health conditions or religious reasons must provide a negative COVID-19 test to be granted entry. Audience members are also required to be masked inside theaters.

Breakthrough cases occur when someone tests positive for COVID-19 at least 14 days after they have been fully vaccinated, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Such infections can cause disease with symptoms but some vaccinated people who become infected with COVID-19 show no symptoms at all. Research has shown that if people become infected after vaccination, typically they get a milder case.

New York is one of the most vaccinated states in the nation, with more than 63% of its residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19, CDC data showed Wednesday.