Nat Gold Players
Educating, entertaining, and inspiring through performing arts
Neither fire, nor flood, nor pandemic has prevented Nat Gold Players (NGP) from serving the community of Las Vegas, New Mexico. For over 20 years, the company has used performing arts to entertain, inform, and inspire the people of its service area. When COVID shut down in person performances, NGP worked with a local literary group to video children’s stories, drawing on the company’s actors, to aid local children through a time of isolation. When the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire threatened the safety and well-being of the entire community, NGP again aided in performance of both live and video performances of poems and essays, written by local people to strengthen morale and address individual feelings of isolation (example: Memories Don't Burn (youtube.com).
The company has specialized in nurturing original works and customizing performances appealing and valuable for the minority-majority area. Not only did the two performance of Nunsense musicals provide quality entertainment, but also it acknowledged and celebrated the strong Catholic community. NGP regularly provides talent to support local organizations such as the pending “Vaudeville Returns” show scheduled for August 10th as part of the annual Heritage Week, and regular performances in living history events in Las Vegas and at Fort Union National Monument. Now that disasters no longer dominate daily life, NGP will revive the annual Box Seats (the only set includes two black boxes) which solicits original 10-minute and one-act plays and provides an opportunity for inexperienced actors and directors to “try their hand” at live theatre. When New Mexico Arts hosted a state-wide effort to serve veterans through performing arts, NGP created “New Mexico Heroes,” a collection of original works for, by, and about veterans.
NGP is proudly assisting in preservation of an important historic structure in Las Vegas, working in partnership with the Masonic Lodge, to build a performance center on the ground floor of the 1893 Chapman Lodge, home to the oldest active Masonic Lodge in New Mexico.
Support from Santa Fe Community and its donor advised funds has been critical to NGP’s successes. We are deeply grateful for that support and will continue to strive to be worthy of the faith implicit in that support.
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The Santa Fe Community Foundation invited local nonprofits to submit stories related to our July topic of Arts & Culture
MathAmigos
Since 2017, MathAmigos has helped students struggling with math with their love for education and a belief in the power of innovative teams. It was founded after a conference at the Santa Fe Community Foundation by a retired Cal Tech mathematician from the IBM Watson Research Center with a love for Cuisenaire rods, a math and computer science teacher retiring after 21 years at Santa Fe Prep, and a retired physician and medical educator experienced in curriculum.
Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project
Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project is a nonprofit organization focused on education and protection of the cultural landscape of the northern Rio Grande Valley. Working with youth is a core initiative of the project.
Teatro Paraguas
Since 2004, Teatro Paraguas has presented close to 100 contemporary Latinx plays and plays by New Mexico playwrights, as well as poetry readings, flamenco concerts, children's theatre, workshops and community events such as our annual El Día de los Muertos celebration.
