Gaslight theater oro valley4/16/2023 ![]() Terry says that the print shop idea came to him after he realized he could save on costs by purchasing his own printer. The same goes for the print shop, which produces most of the promotional materials for the theater when not serving the community. Little Anthony’s was soon followed by the opening of a costume shop, also located on the premises of the Gaslight, where all of the costumes used in the Gaslight’s productions are made in-house, rather than contracted out through another company. It began over 20 years ago with the opening of Little Anthony’s Diner, an adjoining restaurant that features a throwback ’50s theme that fits the nostalgia-laden interior of the theater. In time, he acquired enough assets to form a lean, vertically-integrated operation that would make the Rockefeller family jealous. It’s safe.” Building Up the HouseĮventually, Terry was able to purchase the land on Broadway Blvd., where the theater currently stands, after experiencing years of overwhelming demand and becoming a Tucson staple. “When you come here, you have nothing to worry about. “We’ve built our business being family oriented,” he says. Terry moved the Gaslight to a location at Sabino Canyon and Tanque Verde for the next ten years, where the theater experienced even more success. Within two years, he needed a larger venue to accommodate Tucson’s swelling demand for the Gaslight’s family-friendly style of entertainment. And, to his surprise and delight, the theater proved to be an instant success. Terry used the $10,000 to fund the first iteration of the Gaslight Theatre, a 100-seat venue at Pinnacle Peak. “He told me that he didn’t believe in my business,” Terry says, “but that he believed in me.” Potts, sealing the deal with nothing more than a handshake. He was able to secure a $10,000 loan from his grandmother, who used her credit to guarantee the loan. ![]() While most people spend their post-college years handing out resumes and chasing a paycheck, Terry typically went in another direction. This led to Terry’s dream of starting his own theater company in Tucson. First, he completed his bachelor’s degree at the University of Arizona, originally entering as a pre-med student, but later becoming more interested in his minor in technical theater. “I knew that to be successful, I just needed to get better every day.”Īfter the Mighty Mouse Theatre’s one and only show, Terry returned to Tucson to live by his maxim of working harder than anyone else. “I’ve always known that the one thing I’ve got going for me is that I’ll work harder than anyone else,” Tony says of his success. It was a risky move, but Terry kept faith in himself that he could pull it off. Through the group, Terry wanted to produce the types of melodramas he enjoyed as a child. He created it in Skagway, Alaska, a tiny town still boasting a population of less than 1,000, where he had taken a gap year to be a tour bus driver. Instead, he switched gears, starting his own theater troupe-the Mighty Mouse Melodrama Theatre. Terry didn’t let these early words of discouragement get him down. ![]() Ironically, Terry’s success behind the stage as a theater producer began with failing onstage: He says that he made the decision to become a producer after he was told he had no talent as an actor. In effect, Terry has created his own empire of food and entertainment. Two years ago, Terry opened a Gaslight spinoff, the Gaslight Music Hall, in Oro Valley. The Gaslight now stands as one of Arizona’s longest-running live theater venues and occupies a sprawling collection of buildings off Broadway and Kolb, including a throwback diner, a pizza place, a costume studio, and a print shop. As his more than four decades of running the Gaslight Theatre will attest, it’s worked quite well for him. isn’t like most people.įor his more than 60 years on this planet, Terry has rarely taken the easy route. Most people wouldn’t move to a remote Alaskan town to establish a live theater company. ![]() Here’s how he grew his business and why he still loves every second of it. Vantage West Member Tony Terry Jr.-founder of the Gaslight Theatre and its family of sister companies-built an efficient operation designed for family fun. ![]()
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