More than four years after an early morning fire destroyed the Triumvirate Theatre in Nikiski, and nearly two years after a groundbreaking for its new home, on Saturday the company welcomed the public to their Kenai theater.
Down Daubenspeck Road, next to the Kenai Bark Park, the new theater welcomes guests with a display of stained-glass art recovered and restored from the Nikiski location. Its lobby has a large couch, multiple seats and a piano in front of a ticket booth and concessions area. Throughout the building, photos, artwork and posters from the Triumvirate’s decades-long history fill the walls.
Inside the new auditorium, a stage awaits performers in front of rows of newly installed seats, on the ground floor and in a balcony above. During a Saturday open house, visitors explored the new building and sat for their first taste of Triumvirate performance in the company’s new home base. A brief program of solo performances and an appearance by the America’s First Corps Band Brass Quintet brightened the stage before dozens of actors performed “Puttin’ on the Ritz” as a finale.
Saturday, Triumvirate President Joe Rizzo said, was the reward at “the end of a very, very long journey.”
“It’s great to see the kids up onstage performing in this space that we’ve only been dreaming about for the last four years,” he said.
While bringing people into the theater for the first time this weekend was a milestone, Rizzo said, it was actually around a month ago, when his actors first took the new stage for a rehearsal, that he was struck by the magnitude of the new space.
“The first time we got in here, the kids were so ecstatic to come in and see this place, and it was in pieces,” he said. But it was then, when his actors rehearsed on the Triumvirate’s stage for the first time — after weeks of practice at a nearby elementary school — that the new theater came to life.
From the groundbreaking of the new theater in August 2023 to this week, Rizzo said, the work has been accelerating. A team of people were spending their nights installing seats in the theater only a few days before it opened.
It’s a testament to the legacy of the Triumvirate Theatre, Rizzo said, that it was able to be rebuilt. It’s because of people who had had kids in Triumvirate productions — or were kids in Triumvirate productions — that they survived the fire. And, it’s because of the fire that the Triumvirate was made to outgrow its converted mechanic shop in Nikiski and realize its new multimillion-dollar facility.
The legacy of the Triumvirate is apparent throughout the new building, Rizzo and his actors said. A piece of wood from the Nikiski stage is prominently installed at the center of the new stage. The new building includes fixtures of art and iconic artifacts like an infamous white couch.
The theater is also notable for what it newly offers the Triumvirate performers, like dedicated backstage bathrooms and dressing rooms — which Rizzo and some of the actors described as a major upgrade.
Oshie Broussard and Jackson Hooper, Triumvirate actors, said they’d very quickly brought the “magical” feeling from the old theater to the new one.
“As soon as you step into this building, it feels like you’re home,” Broussard said. “It’s got a warmth.”
Similarly, Hooper said, the theater is an open space, eager and ready for guests to fill the seats and see the next performance by the Triumvirate.
Actor Kincaid Jenness said he was eager to get to work in the new theater. He said he’d spent all his life involved with the company, since making his first performance at only 6 months old. He’d spent a lot of time at the old theater and now has a new home base.
The new space will give young Triumvirate actors an opportunity to build a stronger connection to the troupe, Rizzo said.
“Kids will get attached to this building,” he said. “They will leave their mark on this.”
There are no shows currently scheduled for the new Triumvirate Theatre, though the company will host its annual summer drama camps at the building this year, running June 1-20 and June 30-July 18.
For more information, find “Triumvirate Theatre” on Facebook or visit triumviratetheatre.org.
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.
A stained glass chandelier and an infamous white couch brighten the lobby of the new Triumvirate Theatre in Kenai, Alaska, on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Triumvirate Theatre President Joe Rizzo plays piano during the opening of the new Triumvirate Theatre in Kenai, Alaska, on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
The America’s First Corps Band Brass Quintet perform during the opening of the new Triumvirate Theatre in Kenai, Alaska, on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Triumvirate actors applaud during the opening of the new Triumvirate Theatre in Kenai, Alaska, on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
The Triumvirate Theatre stands in Kenai, Alaska, on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
A young girl plays the lobby piano during the opening of the new Triumvirate Theatre in Kenai, Alaska, on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Jackson Hooper performs during the opening of the new Triumvirate Theatre in Kenai, Alaska, on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Ella Mallard performs during the opening of the new Triumvirate Theatre in Kenai, Alaska, on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Sariah Henderson performs during the opening of the new Triumvirate Theatre in Kenai, Alaska, on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Lucy Micciche performs during the opening of the new Triumvirate Theatre in Kenai, Alaska, on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Actors perform during the opening of the new Triumvirate Theatre in Kenai, Alaska, on Saturday, April 19, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
