Raton's theater scene is, well, booming

New Mexico Business Journal, Sept, 1996 by Andrew Hay

It was 1966 when Fegan, a student at the University of Alabama, played the Shuler with a touring theater company. David Cargo, who was New Mexico's governor at the time, came across the part-time troupe and asked what it would take for them to stay in the Land of Enchantment.

The impecunious bunch said, "money." Fegan's group, the Kaleidoscope Players, became the State Theater of New Mexico and Fegan went on to manage the Shuler and operate Bill Fegan Attractions, the booking arm of Artist's International Management, Inc.

Today, the Shuler puts on 60 shows a year, from Chinese acrobats to Welsh choirs. Fegan, who handed his business over to a new manager last year, says theater is in Raton's blood. The thousands of Italian, Romanian and other Eastern European and Southern European miners who flocked to Raton early this century brought with them a passion for theater and opera. At one time, five opera houses competed with one another on Raton's Main Street. Look through phone book, says Fegan, and you'll see those miners' ancestors are still in town. Enjoying live theater in a most unlikely place.