The Dairy Center of the Arts is the place to go in Boulder when it comes to performance, particularly theater.

Only problem is, you're never sure what you'll find. It could be a self-indulgent student piece or an Off-Broadway-bound, one-man show.

The danger there, as many Denver theaters have learned, is that audiences will associate both good and bad work with the venue where they see them. It's one of the primary lessons the Dairy has learned in its 10-month-long strategic planning process.

So now the Dairy Center, says executive director Mollie Fager, wants to become more like Lincoln Center. Sound ridiculous? A 16-year-old organization modeling itself after the nation's best-known arts center?

Although New York's Lincoln Center is enormous, it plays a similar role: as a home to resident organizations and one that hosts outside groups such as the American Ballet Theatre. Unlike the Dairy thus far, Lincoln Center is very choosy about who performs within its walls.

Fager says that is about to change, in the wake of research by the Dairy board of directors.

"The quality and consistency of performances at the Dairy are going to be very important," Fager says. "The Lisa Bornstein Show or the Mollie Fager Tap Show may not have an opportunity to fill a prime Friday or Saturday evening anymore."

Part of that shift involves carefully selecting resident organizations. Theatre13, which recently lost its home at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, will be performing next year at the Dairy. But more than that, it is applying to be a resident organization.

The difference is big - as a resident organization, Theatre13 would be entitled to office space, advertising assistance and the Dairy's larger buying power. Dairy would also actively raise funds for its resident organizations.

Theatre13 lost its space at BMoCA when the organization decided to move back toward visual and performance art. The intimate theater space on the second floor with be radically reduced in upcoming renovations, says Judson Webb, who works for both BMoCA and Theatre13. The company's final show at BMoCA will be this fall.

"They're not doing away with the entire space, but they're doing away with it being a performance space that will have fixed seating where you would produce plays," Webb says.

Also applying for residency at the Dairy is the Boulder Fringe Festival, with wildly variant quality as part of its modus operandi. Whether or not it is a resident organization, the Fringe will remain anchored at the Dairy, Fager says.

The shift at the Dairy is an important one for both it and Boulder theater. In a city where theater has been transient and small-scale, a stable environment has the ability to provide for more longevity and professionalism. In the next two years, the Dairy plans to begin a capital campaign to expand its 40,000-square-foot space.

But don't look for the shift to produce more mainstream work. It's still Boulder.

Home at the Dairy

As the Dairy Center for the Arts moves toward a more curatorial stance from rentals, it already has a number of residential organizations. Here's who calls the Dairy home now:

• Boulder Arts Academy

• Boulder Ballet

• Frequent Flyers Productions

• Institute for African American Leadership

• Third Law Dance/Theater

• Boulder County Arts Alliance

• Helander Dance Theater

• International Tap Association

• Travis LaBerge Music

• Upstart Crow Theatre Company

• Center Stage Theatre Company

• Imagination Makers Theatre Company

• Lemon Sponge Cake Contemporary Ballet

Lisa Bornstein is the theater critic. bornsteinl@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5101

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