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Once Garrette Brown gets rolling, Corbin Theatre on Liberty Square will no longer be the best-kept secret in the Kansas City area.

“They have some phenomenal talent performing here,” Brown said. “I’m going to find new ways to expose the community to what I think is immense talent.”

The Corbin Theatre’s board of directors recently hired Brown as its first marketing manager. For now the position is part-time, but Brown said he hoped in time it could become full-time. Among Brown’s duties is to seek out grants that could help pay his salary and support the community theater. He also serves as the executive assistant to the board and will be publishing a newsletter.

The theater’s major fundraiser is an auction in February, and the theater kicks off its own four-event season in October with “Blythe Spirit” and ends in May with “Crowns.”

Juarenne Hester, president of the organization, said the group was delighted to have Brown on board.

“The theater had grown beyond our capacity as volunteers to handle,” Hester said. “As part of Garrette’s duties, marketing and promotion are biggies.”

The goal, Hester said, is to book more shows and attract larger audiences. She said right now different groups use the theater about three times a week.

“We want to fill the house every time,” Hester said.

Brown, a 1998 Liberty High school graduate, earned a bachelor’s degree in studio art with a multimedia emphasis from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He most recently worked for the Liberty school district as a substitute teacher but lost his job during budget cuts.

Brown continues his ties with the school district, though, currently working on the high school’s musical, “Lil’ Abner,” as a consultant and supervisor.

Brown has also been involved while in high school and college as an actor, behind the scenes as a set designer and has done some directing. He has also performed with a local comedy troupe and interned at UMKC’s television station.

Garrett said among his immediate plans was to make the theater more visible with lights around the windows and a marquee announcing the line up. He also wants to make some cosmetic improvements inside the theater.

“Basically, I want to make it look more like a theater,” he said, “and I want to make sure the word gets out that we’re here.”

He said the theater’s Web site needed to be kept current and he hoped to do a good job of getting information to the media about upcoming events.

Brown said he also hoped to get more people involved as volunteers, especially students.

“This is an opportunity for them to be as creative as they want to be,” Brown said. “I want to get more age groups involved.”

For more information about events scheduled at Corbin Theatre, visit www.corbintheatre.org.

Liberty Editor Angie Anaya Borgedalen can be reached at 781-4941 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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