05/16/2026
After the completion and release of Postcards from Home, Hiawatha Community Theatre will conclude operations and officially disband.
When Hiawatha Community Theatre was formally organized in October 2025, the vision was to create meaningful opportunities for theatre, storytelling, community arts, and local talent in Hiawatha and Brown County. In our short time together, we proudly produced the dinner theatre production Death and Deceit on the Nile and began production on our final original audio drama, Postcards from Home.
However, it has become clear that Hiawatha Community Theatre cannot continue due to the ongoing lack of coordination, communication, cooperation, and long-term organizational support from both the Brown County Historical Society and the Brown County Commissioners regarding the future use, support, and development of community arts efforts connected to the Municipal Auditorium.
Over the past several months, we've made every reasonable effort to establish communication and collaboration. Meetings were held with representatives of the Brown County Historical Society, and formal written requests were sent to arrange discussions and long-term planning with both organizations. Unfortunately, those requests and attempts at communication ultimately went unanswered, leaving no clear path forward for the organization.
Community theatre cannot survive on passion alone. It requires active partnership, shared commitment, stability, dependable support systems, and investment in the talents that exist within a community. Unfortunately, those elements were not consistently present, making it impossible to continue moving the organization forward in a healthy and sustainable way.
We didn't make this decision lightly, and it's disappointing given the talent, dedication, creativity, and potential that exist not only within HCT but throughout the entire community.
To every actor, volunteer, supporter, sponsor, audience member, and board member who believed in this vision — thank you. Your work and encouragement helped create something meaningful, even if for only a brief season.
Postcards from Home will serve as the organization’s final production and lasting creative contribution. After release, we'll distribute the production on Facebook, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts, and submit it to NPR stations nationwide to reach audiences far beyond Brown County.
Despite the circumstances of this closure, we're proud of what we accomplished and grateful to those who supported our mission to bring local storytelling, creative arts opportunities, and recognition to the talented individuals in this community.
