It is hard to overplay the significance of Theatre Three’s anniversary. In an industry where staying open for five years can feel like a monumental success, the theater company founded by Jac Alder and his late wife Norma Young in 1961 celebrated its fiftieth anniversary today, launching the season that marks its half-century of existence with a luncheon in the Chase Building rotunda on Ross Ave.

Perhaps only restaurants and bars could claim a worse success rate than theaters. And even in that industry, what storied eatery lasts without shuffling chefs ever so often? At Theatre Three, the storied, legendary Jac Alder has been steered the ship since the company’s humble beginnings, launching in downtown’s Sheraton Hotel and cultivating a reputation as a theater troupe of 1960s beatniks who brought challenging theatrical work to Bible Belt Dallas, TX.

The rest, as the cliché goes, is history. Theatre Three bounced locations twice, from the hotel to an industrial garage on Main St., and finally to the theater’s current, long-time home in Uptown’s Quadrangle in 1969. The space in the new development was originally a community center, but the dynamic duo – Adler and Young – convinced the developers to let them turn it into a theater. That was accomplished by Adler, a trained architect, who redesigned the space, and with the help of his father, built it.

Through the years Theatre Three has boasted accomplishments that, listed at length, could force an anniversary celebration to drag on for hours. For one, they produce more than 320 productions a year, in two theater spaces, making them by far the busiest theater in town. In terms of the Dallas theater world, there is really one honor that stands out among the rest. That was provided today by Elizabeth Forsythe Hill, who summed up the impact Alder and Young have had on this city simply: “They are the true heirs to Margo Jones.”

It is hard to argue with that status. Margo Jones more or less invented the American regional theater movement in Dallas with the opening of her in-the-round Theatre ’47 in 1947. If Jones was the Dallas theater’s mother, then Adler and Young were its wet nurses, nurturing and giving life in their own theater in-the-round to what now amounts to generations of actors, musicians, playwrights, set designers, costumers, directors, etc.

“What Jac has accomplished is almost incomprehensible,” said actress and playwright Camilla Carr. “His contribution not only to Dallas but to the American theater is beyond price.”

What Alder and company have accomplished artistically through the years is certainly priceless, but what is almost more remarkable is that the theater has been able to remain economic viable for all that time. A few weeks ago during a conversation over lunch, Alder said Theatre Three is so soundly endowed (it even boasts the rare luxury of owning its own theater space) that it should have no trouble surviving financially for another fifty years.

But while money is important to keeping a theater operating, Alder said it isn’t really what makes a company last.

“Theaters don’t close from failure of finances, but rather from a failure of imagination,” he said.

And what has fueled Jac Alder’s imagination all these years is a belief not only in the power of theater, but in the possibility for human joy.

“I believe in human joy and I believe it comes from knowing what it is to be human,” Alder said. “The arts in all are our way to become civilized – and to know what life can add up to, even with all its setbacks.”

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In addition to honoring the man who has kept Theatre Three vibrant and vital for so many years, the company announced their 2011/2012 season. Here’s the lineup:

August 11 – September 10: Wild Oats: A “wild west” adaptation of John O’Keefe’s 18^th century master-piece

October 13 – November 12: A Catered Affair: A musical based on the film starring Bette Davis.

December 8 – January 14: La Bête: David Hirson’s comedy inspired by the plays and life of Moliere.

February 16 – March 17: The Farnsworth Invention: A “mile-a-minute” re-telling of the invention of television by Aaron Sorkin.

April 12 – May 12: TBA

June 7 – July 7: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson: Dallas premiere of Michael Friedman’s rock musical that took Broadway by storm when it opened last year.

Photo by Andy Hanson