Today I received a newsletter notifying the public of DeeAnn Blair’s passing.
Please read on about the wonderful Artisan Theater that her and husband Richard have poured themselves into and honor her legacy by attending a show!
HOW IT STARTED
By Richard Blair Co-Founder, Husband and new Executive Producer
HURST, TX ” I want to create a Community Theater here in Texas unlike any other. The Community Theater would be a place where grandparents could bring their grandchildren and not be embarrassed. There would be no foul language and never taking the Lord’s name in vain. We will be closed on Sundays.
We would costume the actors modestly and focus on doing the best performances possible. Do you think anyone would come to a theater like this?” This is the fall of 2002, and my wife, DeeAnn Blair, approaches me with this vision of live entertainment in the Dallas/Fort Worth community. I assure DeeAnn and her co-founder, Dorothy Sanders, that our community would embrace a venue dedicated to wholesome entertainment. The money is borrowed. The non-profit papers are filed with the Secretary of State.
The Artisan Center Theater is born!
FROM OPENING DAY to a PANDEMIC
On March 28, 2003, we opened Steel Magnolias in the now-gone North Hills Mall located in North Richland Hills, Texas. Early on, this radical concept of “family-friendly” theater was challenged. The fourth show of our inaugural season was slated to be Rumors by Neil Simon, one of the most successful, prolific and performed playwrights in theater history. After casting the show, Mr. Simon’s agency informed us we could not remove a single profane word from the script.
DeeAnn cancelled the show and replaced it with You Can’t Take It With You selling out nearly every show. Fort Worth Weekly gave Artisan Center Theater the “Turkey Award” for pulling the show. DeeAnn wore this as a badge of honor and her mission and vision were solidly on track.
Flash forward 19 years and Artisan Center Theater and DeeAnn’s vision grew until suddenly, the Theater was forced to close the doors due to the Pandemic of 2020 and 2021. No other industry was impacted like entertainment during the lockdowns. At least some restaurants could serve take-out food to diners, but Theater did not have a way to ship performances home in a take-home box. We simply had to wait-it-out and hope people would return to the Theater once it was opened again to the public.
Last fall after a brief, but debilitating Stomach illness, DeeAnn was diagnosed with a rare and terminal form of Ovarian Cancer. I cancelled all other business activities to care for her until her passing on April 12, 2022. We spent the final eight weeks living with one of our eight children, Orianna Nibarger, an ER/Trauma nurse who was able to care for her with love and grace in addition to the challenging tasks required as the illness progressed.
Our entire family gathered by her side as we shared memories and love. DeeAnn Blair passed through the veil surrounded by loved ones on each side. One of her heroes and a family friend, Glenn Beck, delivered her Eulogy and I have made it available again for those unable to attend or view the broadcast.
She not only had an eternal impact on her eight children, eighteen grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, DeeAnn was a positive role model to thousands of performers that crossed her stages during her 35-year career in Theater. Her ultimate goal in life, as well as Theater, was to bring hope, joy and optimism to her family at home and on stage. The purpose of life is to learn to live happily and to love completely. By the end of DeeAnn Blair’s mortal journey, she did both, leaving a wonderful legacy
It has taken me over six months to compose myself and collect my thoughts to send this message. I know all of us have experienced the loss of loved ones, but this one was tough. Artisan Center Theater was DeeAnn’s vision, and I have tried to support her for 20 years as a full-time husband and full-time co-founder.
When the baton was suddenly handed to me, I must admit to you here now that it was overwhelming. We received hundreds of letters from children as young as 4 years old all the way to Seniors in their second Century begging us to carry on DeeAnn’s mission.
Teachers from throughout the community, both active and retired, stepped in to help with directing and leading the youth. Our staff rallied around me to allow the grieving process to move painfully forward and tolerated the weepy husband and lonely co-founder wandering the halls, trying to find his way.
Family members gathered to help clean the home and gather the items I could not touch as we gently wiped away the pain and sorrow so that I could begin to savor the joy and memories of 44 years together.
MY PRAYER
DeeAnn Blair, founder, dream-builder, caretaker, visionary and stage-mom of a non-profit, community theater dedicated to uplifting our standards, our morals and our happiness brought her dream to over four million people in the past 20 years, dedicating countless hours and dollars to the betterment of our collective neighborhoods.
She and our entire family sacrificed more than anyone will know to make her vision come true. The rewards of this eternal investment are shown in the faces of performers throughout our Nation. She lived so that family entertainment would not die.
I pray our community and the marvelous families living here in Texas and arriving each day will embrace the vision of DeeAnn Blair so that her mission to bring hope, joy and optimism to the children, parents and grandparents will live on and flourish in her memory. We need this. More than ever in our Country, we all need this.
Artisan Center Theater is a division of Artisan Productions, a 501(C)3 non-profit charity.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
