The Hart Theatre Organization has sprung to life this Holiday Season
Written by Estella “Star” Guerra, special to the Hillsboro Herald
It has been quite a busy and exciting time the past few weeks at Hillsboro Artist’s Regional Theatre! HART, as the organization is more commonly known, and its staff and volunteers recently participated for the first time in the Hillsboro Holly Days celebration. It was a great success with Santa (@SantaCleClause) welcoming people to the theatre at the corner of 2nd and Washington, where a great photo holiday backdrop was set up. Santa had his dog “Magic: AKA Walter, with him, who is a beautiful retriever. Members of HART dressed up as elves and helpers and made the scene magical. Also, Gil of ParkerPup was at the event, entertaining folks who were waiting to get a photo with Santa. HART was also a toy drop-off site for the KGW Toy Drive.
A look at Santa, HART Elf squad, and Magic the Dog, AKA Walter
Next Up For Hart-
HART will participate in Hillsboro’s downtown Artwalk on December 6th with a free concert from 5-8p inside the Theatre. The schedule:
5pm – Zach Marshall (solo guitar),
6pm – Joe and the Wheel Monkeys (bluegrass), and
7pm – CBD (rock)
The rest of our regular season of plays will be 20th Century Blues (Feb. 10-Feb. 26th), Waiting for Gadot (3/17 a 4/2), and Footlight Frenzy (5/12-5/28).
Tickets will go on sale about a month before each show, and you can buy them through
our ticketing platform is linked on our website www.hart-theatre.org.
Friends of HART, Inc. is a non-profit community organization formed in 1997. Friends of HART is dedicated to enriching the greater Hillsboro community by providing quality live-performing theatre arts. Our show directors and office staff are paid a small stipend, but other participants (board members, actors, customers, stagehands, box office attendants, etc.) are unpaid volunteers. In addition to a regular season of creative, clever, and entertaining plays and theatre classes, HART offers:
Participation in local events: First Tuesday Art Walk, Farmers Market, St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Fourth of July Parade, etc.
Children’s theatre birthday parties.
Participation in joint functions with area service clubs. Some use the theater for fundraising purposes.
An up-to-date online presence with a website, Facebook, and Twitter.
Support of students who can work with, and learn about HART, to earn Community Service credit.
College intern programs.
A venue for Hispanic and hearing-impaired performances.
HART Theatre is always looking for volunteers! Please reach out to the theater or the Volunteer Coordinator at
volunteerforhart@hart-theatre.com if you are interested in volunteering. Thanks to all the volunteers and community support for Hillsboro Holly Days, it was a huge success.
Welcome our New Artistic Director, Harrison Butler.
The HART community and the City are excited to see Harrison bring his energy and talents here. The Herald will have a more in-depth interview with Harrison and what he hopes to accomplish in the coming months and years ahead!
Here is a post from the HART Facebook Page-
We are so excited to announce our new Artistic Director! Welcome to the HART Family, Harrison!!
Harrison Gordon Butler IV is honored to serve as the new Artistic Director of HART. Most recently he was the Executive Director of Theatre of Arts, the oldest acting conservatory in Hollywood. While there, he was the Executive Producer of the Arena Theatre in Hollywood, where he produced many plays, a monthly stand up comedy showcase featuring students performing with headliner celebrities and directed The Laramie Project. He has a MFA in Theatre with an emphasis in Voice Studies from the University of Texas (UT), and a BA in Theatre from the University of Northern Colorado (UNCO). While serving as adjunct professor at UNCO, he received a Director’s Meritorious Award for his direction of Rice’s The Adding Machine. Television acting credits include feature roles in Go On and Arrested Development. Favorite stage roles at UT include Constantin in Big Love, Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Ganya in the premier adaptation of The Idiot by Dostoyevski. Favorite roles at UNCO include Mitch in Tuesdays with Morrie, Jeremiah in God’s Man in Texas, and Jonathan Harker in the premier of Dracula, the Case of the Silver Scream.
Harrison Butler speaks with Estella “Star” Guerra about HART and what is coming up! We wish to thank Estella for taking her time and energy to support so many people in Hillsboro and for volunteering with HART. Look for her to continue to contribute to the Herald on our Community and what she is seeing from her unique view!
HART is very lucky to have Harrison as the new artistic director. He certainly does bring a new energy and excitement.