About Barn Lot Theater
Barn Lot Theater is a non-profit, community based, volunteer supported performing arts theater located in Edmonton, Kentucky, which is the seat of Metcalfe County. Edmonton is a small town with a total population of 1,585 and county population of 10,071. Barn Lot Theater has been described as “a gem tucked away in small town Kentucky.” It has been in operation since 1980.
Barn Lot Theater’s background story is as grass roots as they come. In 1980, Edmonton residents shared a vision to bring the arts to rural Metcalfe County. With no money, no place to perform, no actors, and no costumes or props, they had to get creative, so they recruited friends and family to help. Within a few weeks, they had transformed a barn and feedlot at the local community park into an outdoor theater. When they held their first production, Barefoot in the Park, in this small outdoor summer theater, Edmonton’s first community theater was born, thus inspiring the name Barn Lot Theater. The hard work and dedication of our initial founders and volunteers including Father George Bowling, Doris Rush, Dora Rowe, the Richard and Jeanette Duncan family, Tim and Carolyn Best and the Harold and Susan Chambers family cemented Barn Lot Theater as Edmonton’s Community Theater.
The original Barn Lot Theater stage, 1980
Three plays were performed in that first year, and each subsequent year additional plays were produced. In 1986 Barn Lot Theater was given permission to use the new gym built at Bowling Park. With an indoor venue, Barn Lot was able to extend their plans for the 1987 season.
In 1991, with the help of a grant from the Kentucky Bicentennial Commission, Barn Lot Theater hit a milestone by purchasing the old Ford garage in Edmonton. Renovations were funded through donations from the local community during a pledge drive. After two years of renovations, they performed their first play, Good Morning, Miss Dove, at Barn Lot Theater's new facility. With each new season more successful than the last, the Barn Lot Theater Board of Directors decided to hire a staff in 1999. With a staff in place, the 2000 season was the first pre-scheduled, year-round schedule of plays and concerts.
The former Ford Garage, Barn Lot Theater’s current home, was acquired in 1991.
Besides Barn Lot’s theatrical performances, their other source of income is from fundraising, mainly bingo. Barn Lot Bingo is held every Thursday and Friday at the Bowling Park Bingo Hall, which provides the funds to pay our employees.
Between the theater and bingo, Barn Lot Theater is the main entertainment provider in the small town of Edmonton in Metcalfe County, Kentucky. For the 2019 season, the theater’s performances were attended by 5,346 patrons, of which 45% were in county and 55% out of county. Out-of-county patrons came from 18 surrounding Kentucky counties, as well as from the neighboring states of Tennessee and Ohio.
Barn Lot Theater, present day
Barn Lot is a community theater, and by “community,” they include friends and patrons from throughout the region, as many of them drive from counties away to enjoy their shows. They are just as much a part of Barn Lot’s community as Metcalfe County residents. Barn Lot’s volunteers also come from all over the region to assist with performances and fundraising activities. Their hope is to eventually create a Community Arts Center for the region of South Central Kentucky in the heart of the beautiful small town of Edmonton.
Barn Lot Theater is a vital contributor in the community and brings additional revenue to the local economy during performances. They support the Metcalfe County School system with their 21st Century Program by providing props and costumes for their performances. Barn Lot also contributes to many school groups and other local non-profit organizations when they assist during bingo fundraising sessions each week. Barn Lot Theater already has requests from local organizations to cover bingo sessions into 2023. Bowling Park (which provides commodities and a homeless shelter to the community) is also a benefactor of Barn Lot Theater’s support with the rent from use of the bingo hall.
In February of 2021, Barn Lot purchased the former TOPPS Manufacturing building that has over an acre of space next door to the theater’s current location. Once they receive their occupation permit from the state, the plan is to renovate the building into a Community Arts Center. The current theater location will live on as a smaller venue, and they plan to keep performances going in both locations.
The former TOPPS sewing factory, future home of Barn Lot Theater
Their hope for the future Community Arts Center is not only to bring people in South Central Kentucky together to promote arts advancement of all kinds, but also to further stimulate the local economy in Metcalfe County with the capacity to host touring bands, musicians, comedians, and more.
Barn Lot Theater has big dreams and goals for its entire “community” of South Central Kentucky and is already a beacon of light in the heart of the small Kentucky town of Edmonton. They plan to continue shining even brighter into the future.