EmilyAnn celebrates 20 years

The story of Emily-Ann Theatre and Gardens could have been right out of Shakespeare’s tragedies. It was the winter of 1996, December 21 to be exact. It was the time of year when everyone is excited and rushing around for the holidays, in anticipation of Christmas in just a few days.

EmilyAnn Rolling was a high school junior, a pretty good equestrian with a dream of making the U.S. Olympic team. She also liked the theatre and acting, and with the high school’s noted theatre program, run by J. Gary and Lydia Miller-Wyatt, it was fun to be onstage. She also loved making costumes.

Where now sits the Wimberley Glass Works, Emily was traveling on Ranch Road 12, when a terrible auto accident took her life. That phone call that parents dread to receive came and relayed the heartbreaking news.

Parents Ann and Norm Rolling were devastated; their baby girl was gone. Grief can destroy lives, a fact recorded by the Bard and countless others since time began. Losing a child and grieving is expected and can remain a tragedy.

But the Rollings turned tragedy into what the ancient Greeks called agape, or love for everyone. In this case, it was a love for the Wimberley community. They wanted to honor their daughter, but how? Their daughter’s love of horses was something that the Rollings were not interested in. So her other love, the theatre it was.

They founded the EmilyAnn Theatre, dedicated to having a venue for Wimberley High School’s Shakespeare Under the Stars program. The Summer Shakespeare was originally founded by the Wyatts in 1990. A non-profit organization was formed for the building and maintenance of a permanent structure. Little did the Rollings realize what exactly the Emily-Ann Theatre would become.

“What a wonderful gift to the community and a great tribute. It was named by her classmates. I liked the name Star Theatre, but her classmates said absolutely not. It is the EmilyAnn Theatre,” Ann Rolling, EmilyAnn’s Executive Director said.

Shakespeare Under the Stars needed a new home and it received one twenty years ago. Opening Day 1998, there was only one permanent building. “It was a hot, 104 degree day on August 1.”

Summer Shakespeare now draws its cast from all over. This year’s play is “Romeo and Juliet,” the same play as the first one at EmilyAnn. “Comedies to tragedies to histories, we usually alternate. The students usually vote on which play to perform,” she said. It is still Shakespeare Under the Stars. There are the same quality students who select the props, the sets and buildings.”

“A lot of college grads come back and help out and are hired as faculty members. The tradition continues that way,’ she said.

For the twentieth anniversary, the WHS Class of 1998 donated a bench in honor of EmilyAnn, made of felled cypress trees to the theater and gardens, a touching reminder of a life taken so young. The twentieth anniversary cast of Romeo and Juliet helped with the anniversary cake at this year’s EmilyAnn opening, just a little before the opening curtain.

EmilyAnn has grown into a community jewel, where visitors and locals alike celebrate with the live theatre all year log, both indoors and outdoors, Veterans Memorial on top of the hill, the Trail of Lights at Christmas, Butterfly Day in the spring, and the beautiful gardens, where you’ll find Norm Rolling on his hands and knees daily maintaining beds.

“I am so proud the local community has continued to tell our story. But the best thing is to come and experience us,” Ann said.