STUDY BUTTE — On March 2, Last Minute Low Budget Productions — Terlingua’s community theater since 1989 — hosted an open house to celebrate the organization’s new board of directors. The theater has been largely dormant since 2017, but a dedicated group has been working hard to revitalize the space. Their early efforts have gotten a financial boost from an unlikely source — a mysterious donation of a large collection of NASA artifacts.
Last Minute Low Budget — also referred to by its acronym, LMLB — got its start in 1989 with a performance of The Ballad of the Sad Cafe in the then-roofless Starlight Theatre. Subsequent productions took place behind the Terlingua Store on a stage that had to be dismantled annually to accommodate the world-famous Chili Cookoff.
From there, LMLB only grew more dedicated and sophisticated, hosting productions of plays by the likes of Sam Shepard, Carson McCullers and David Mamet. The plays were performed in scrappy Terlingua style, with homespun sets and costumes assembled by a collection of river guides, waitresses, park employees and other hard-working locals who learned their lines between shifts.
In 2011, Terlingua Fire and EMS gifted the organization a building that became known as the Cinnabar Theatre, which hosted plays annually until 2016, and other programs like the Word-Off — a storytelling showcase — until the town shut down for COVID in 2020.
Since then, the Cinnabar has seen little action except for Terlingua Burlesque, a raunchy celebration of local talent and ingenuity. Locals cram the theater each performance — to the degree that it became clear the community was hungry for more creative outlets.
Burlesque icons and current board members Brittany Lowe, Binky Sartain and Bryan Devonshire put their heads together to try to spruce up the Cinnabar, in hopes of making the space more inviting to folks with bright ideas. “It’s always such a great space to hang out,” Devonshire said. “But you have to have excitement and energy to try to get people to do things.”
In October, the full burlesque crew met at the theater for their usual rehearsal, only to find the space packed with boxes. Unpacking them only yielded more questions: they had originally been donated to the school, and the school didn’t want them. Nobody recognized the name Ron Weber, who had been the boxes’ original owner.
As the team started digging, a theme emerged: all of their contents were papers, photographs and other artifacts connected to space exploration. The original plan was to host a yard sale of sorts — which raised enough money to purchase new speakers and lights.
There were still many, many materials to cull. Devonshire cracked open one unassuming box and found something surprising: hundreds of photos of Apollo missions 7 through 9. He had a hunch that the photos could be worth some serious cash.
One in particular stuck out: a photo taken from the moon with a swirled half-sphere of blue peeking out from the darkness. The photo was not the legendary “Earthrise” photo taken by Apollo 8 Lunar Module Pilot William Anders — which can net up to $12,000 at auction — but there were still hundreds of historic photographs from the same mission in mint condition. “Apollo 8 was very significant because it was the first time we as humans left orbit and looked back at our world,” he explained. “It was the first time we could see a complete Earth.”
After some perfunctory Googling, Devonshire was able to connect with a few collectors who specialized in outer space. His calls sparked a race — two collectors from opposite ends of the country booked flights to Midland and rented cars to try to get to Terlingua for first dibs.
About two weeks ago, Devonshire finally found the last piece of the puzzle: donor Ron Weber was a part of the Lunar and Planetary Institute and worked around three decades as an outreach coordinator, educating the public about science and exploration.
The collection has netted LMLB around $20,000 so far, which will all go to building out the stage and boosting programs like the Terlingua CSD Drama Club. The board is also mulling the idea of a monthly lecture series by locals on interesting topics. Recent presentations include Todd Bureau on historic plane crashes in the national park and Courtney Farmer on her participation in the world-famous Gaucho Derby.
The new board officers are President JP Wiggins, Vice President Jane Dicey, Secretary Alye Wright and Treasurer Brittany Lowe. Other key players include Hunter Lane, Steve Gambler and Binky Sartain. A new website is under construction, but in the meantime, those wishing to volunteer or pitch events can contact any member of the board or find the group on Instagram and Facebook.
Devonshire was excited about what the future held for the future of LMLB. “I feel like we can create happiness in this community and tell people to love themselves,” he said. “In this space, you can be yourself in a classic Terlingua way.”