(Seguin) – What’s a theater without a star? The Stephen & Mary Birch Texas Theatre recently announced the latest star over at the historic downtown building. His name, Steve the Squirrel.
Recently welcoming the city’s latest squirrel project to the historic downtown theatre were members of the Seguin Conservation Society.
Conservation Society Member Marty Keil, says this particular squirrel is very special in that it was created in memory of Steve Tschoepe. Tschoepe unexpectedly died in February. She says Tschoepe was a widely known community volunteer who was synonymous with the local theater and its preservation efforts. She says up to his death, he was also an active member of the Seguin Commission on the Arts – the same group responsible for initiating the community wide Squirrel Trail Program.
“He was on that arts commission when they decided and voted on doing squirrels and then he rotated off of the board and had me take his place, so we were always having these conversations about how is it going? Are they getting any commitments? Are there any sponsorships?” said Keil.
Keil says up until Tschoepe’s death, the theatre had always been hopeful to one day have a squirrel. However, after learning about a conversation he had had with their accountant, Keil says the group immediately realized what it needed to do.
“She told me after Steve passed away – you know, he met with me and said he wanted to see one at the Texas and he would like to see it painted as the Phantom of the Opera. We were so glad that he had that conversation with Jennifer because we would never have known how to paint it or what to make it look like. But when Steve passed away, we all knew that we needed to make this happen,” said Keil.
Keil says the unveiling of the squirrel was everything they imagined. She says not only does the community get to enjoy this community project, but theatre members also get to hold onto memories of their friend.
“It was everything we dreamed it would be, and we put a little bit of an extra something on the squirrel. We added a little bit of Steve’s mustache and that made it Steve. We kind of call the squirrel Steve now,” laughs Keil. “It’s not really noticeable at first. You have to kind of look for it because the Phantom’s mask is on one side of the face, but you see half of a mustache on the other side. One of the highlights too is the tail because it actually has some of the scoring from the music, theme, from the Phantom of the Opera going down the tail,” said Keil.
This marks the 18th squirrel for the city-wide trail which promotes art in public spaces. The squirrels are sponsored by community members and organizations who then commission a local artist to paint them. The cost to sponsor a squirrel is $2,500. Those interested in the program are asked to contact the Seguin Main Street Program at 830-401-2448.