Just imagine if Birgitta De Pree had continued her medical studies and Jim Jackson had gone on to be a psychologist. Fortunately, they chose the stage instead, and the Pikes Peak Region’s theater scene is much more colorful, vibrant and diverse because of them.

Together, they’ve built a legacy called the Millibo Art Theatre.

Jackson, 70, grew up in Cañon City and aspired to be a “little cowboy western singer.” As a child, he’d seen a variety show featuring a guitarist/singer, and used his paper route earnings to get a guitar restrung. After four lessons, though, he concluded that music was not going to be his way to the entertainment world.

He went on to study psychology in St. Louis, with a few theater classes mixed in. Then international travel changed his life.

“I really had never thought about being a theatre major, performing or making money at that, until I went to Europe. I really got bitten by the clown circus bug. And then I thought, ‘Oh, this is an impossible way to live, so I’m going to do it.’”

Jackson was in Germany when he nabbed a flyer blowing by for a traveling circus. He went and returned every night, sweeping the floors so he could get in free.

Back in St. Louis for his senior year, a circus/street theatre show visited campus. Talking to the performers afterward sealed his fate.

“I think my family just thought it was a phase that I would outgrow,” Jackson said, adding that his parents were puzzled about his decision, but never discouraged him.

Jackson put these experiences into “Gods, Guns and Pancakes,” the one-man show featuring his alter ego, Mr. Art Guffaw, that he’s performed since 2011.

“How do you do a 90-degree turn from where you are on your life path?” he asked.

It helps to find someone else who shares your dreams.

De Pree’s father was a diplomat, and the family lived in Africa as she was growing up. 

“I remember many times we’d drive up into the country to see the villages, and [the people] were interested in art and story and dance,” she said.

The family returned to the U.S. occasionally, and De Pree, now 62, also spent time in Sweden, visiting her maternal grandmother and putting on plays with her cousins. 

“I went to college thinking I was going to be a doctor because I love biology and science,” she said. 

But something was tugging her to the performing arts.

After backpacking through Asia and a few years living in San Francisco, De Pree headed to Denver for graduate school at the National Theatre Conservatory.

She and her classmates worked all day six days a week, receiving classical training and performing.

With her Master of Fine Arts diploma in hand, De Pree considered her options.

“I didn’t want to go to New York. I felt something in me was not ready to do that. And so I stayed in Colorado, and this whole other life evolved,” she said.

TOGETHER THROUGH THEATER

De Pree and Jackson met at a conference in Philadelphia while speaking on a panel about tailoring theater for young audiences. 

“We just had such a nice connection,” De Pree said. 

When she came to Colorado Springs to perform, their friendship turned into love.

They married in 2001 and started dreaming of building a theater together. Later that year, Jackson had returned from performing at an East Coast theater that served milk and cookies afterward, and that sparked more conversation about the type of theater they wanted to present. 

The pair had breakfast with Deborah Thornton, now the executive director of the Imagination Celebration, and their ideas began to gel. Thornton was applying for a grant and added their request for funding. The Manitou Art Theatre was born.

“We dreamed this place up,” De Pree said. “It would not have been possible without the staff, the performers, the audience and the community.” 

She also dreamed up her hilarious character, Babette, a Bulgarian by way of Brazil whose mangling of English has audiences in stitches.

Jim Jackson and Birgitta De Pree don silly hats and rehearse for an upcoming children’s show.

The couple launched their first production in January 2002 at the Business of Art Center (now the Manitou Art Center).

But after several successful years, De Pree and Jackson grew weary of having to strike the sets and put the bleachers away after every performance. 

They began looking for a new home and found space on Pecan Street, southwest of South 21st Street and Cimarron Street/U.S. Highway 24. 

A different location necessitated a new name. They wanted to keep the MAT acronym, and “Mountain” and “Metro” Art Theatre were just too generic.

Around that time, dedicated theater supporters Millie Harrison and Bo Frese died, so the theater rebranded as “Millibo” in their honor. 

MOVING THE MILLIBO

In 2013, De Pree and Jackson moved the theater into their “forever home”—a former church at 1626 S. Tejon St. The theater seats 100, and MAT’s offerings include original productions, touring performers and children’s shows and day camps. 

Fun grandchild outings include summer staples like “The Big Bubble Circus” and “The Ringmaster’s Attic,” with magical trunks and sneaky cats—and ice cream afterward. 

Like many arts organizations, the theater faced challenges during the pandemic.

“We’re still rebuilding that connection we had before,” Jackson said. 

That’s what they strive for: connecting performers and audience, parents and children and audience members with each other, which inevitably lifts spirits.

“They leave happier. It’s like going from black and white to Technicolor,” De Pree said.

An assistant professor of theater at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, she’s teaching her students about theater’s importance to society. 

“It’s all about understanding someone else’s story and making room for a different opinion,” De Pree said.

“Our biggest goal is to foster a real culture of the lively arts, dance, theater, opera, music, anything that you have to go and be there in person,” Jackson said. 

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