It was the summer of 2019. Gus Sanchez had just graduated from high school and he and some of his close friends had an idea. “We had talked and joked about doing a production of a show called ‘The Last Five Years,’” Sanchez said. “Then it became a serious thing and no longer a joke.”
Years later, Sanchez had another discussion with those same friends. “I distinctly remember calling my friends Diego and Frankie Gomez one night and just said, ‘So, that idea we had a few years ago, what if we did it?’ And now we are here!”
The group’s idea grew into Blank Conversations Theatre Co., a thriving company with 20-year-old NMSU theatre student Gus Sanchez acting as the company’s president. Of course, starting a theater company comes with many challenges. “Like any business that is on a constant growth, there are so many things you don’t think about, and you don’t really expect. No class, no textbook, no one can really prepare you for this,” Sanchez said.
Blank Conversations will be premiering its production of the classic movie musical “Singin’ In The Rain” this evening at the Rio Grande Theatre in downtown Las Cruces. Doors open at a 6 p.m., and the show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are available online at www.riograndetheatre.org for $20, or students may get them at the door for $10.
The production will be on for multiple nights with shows happening on Jan. 21, 22, 28 and 29 at 7 p.m. and on Jan. 23 and Jan. 30.
