Warren Hammack was a Hollywood actor when he was first approached about running a theater in Horse Cave in the mid-1970s. (Photo by Jason Riley)

HORSE CAVE When Warren Hammack was first approached about running a theater in Horse Cave in the mid-1970s, the then Los Angeles-based actor thought people concocting this idea must be crazy. I didnt see a real burning need to do theater in Horse Cave, Hammack said with a smile. After all, Hammack was making it as an actor in the City of Angels. He had just finished doing Hamlet with Jon Voight; he was appearing in periodic episodes of Wild Wild West and Gunsmoke to name a few. Horse Cave, Kentucky?It was a pretty town, he thought, but not exactly a cultural mecca. Then again, it wouldnt hurt to take a look, and he had been wanting to get back to just doing theater. Everybody thought I was crazy for flying to Horse Cave at the expense of Bill and Judy Austin, who owned the building at the time and were proposing the theater. I thought I was crazy, but I also thought it was just possible enough to be worth trying. So after seeing the building at 107 E. Main St. and realizing the Austins were serious, Hammack moved back to Kentucky he was born in Sturgis temporarily to see if this small building nestled in tiny Horse Cave could indeed become a top-notch theater. He would only rent a home, stay just five or six months at a time and then head back to his real life in L.A., he thought. After that first year, however, Hammack knew he must put everything he had into running the theater or not bother trying. That first season was tough. Residents didnt know what to make of Hammack and the group of hippy actors that had invaded their quiet town. About 8,500 people came to see the three plays put on that first season many for the same inquisitive reason people stop at car wrecks. It was tough, as you might imagine, he said. We always made our payroll, but sometimes I would have to hold my own check for a few days. It was a week to week business during Hammacks first 10 years, but the theater slowly grew. There were several times when I thought, Well this is it, lets make plans to go elsewhere, he said, talking either to himself or wife Pamela White, an actress at the theater. We just rented a house for our first 17 years because we never knew when it would end. But we always hung in long enough to raise money and make it go for another year. Making it go often meant slashing budgets, rehearsing less and doing without. Susan Dyche, who became office manager at Horse Cave Theatre in the 1980s, remembers those times. Our paychecks were good every week, but sometimes we wondered if they were coming the next week, she said. We had some tight squeezes. I dont know how Warren kept his sanity sometimes. We certainly wouldnt be here if it wasnt for his perseverance; he was amazing. While money was tight, the work was always first rate and people in town and in the theater community began to take notice. In its 10th year, Horse Cave Theatre received a $1 million anonymous donation. More donations followed, including $100,000 from the Bingham family in Louisville. Horse Cave Theatre expanded. A budget that had been $185,000 a year grew to $630,000. Attendance skyrocketed as word spread and has now topped 25,000 a year, drawing people from across the state and beyond. Then there are the thousands of children reached through Hammacks education programs, which he started upon arriving in Horse Cave. He formed the Student Theatre Workshop where kids ages 8 to 18 put on their own plays; he started an outreach program where more than 5,000 school kids each year are bussed in to see plays; he hired a full-time education staff member to hold workshops in schools and is in the process of hiring another. The arts in general and theater in part have been so important to me in my life, he said. It was like someone turned on a brilliant light with me when I found theater. I want to see other young people have that opportunity. For me, its payback.