Fairfax Community Foundation Working To Restore Tallchief Theater

People in Fairfax are working to renovate the historic Tallchief Theater. The project has been in the works for several years by the Fairfax Community Foundation. Since the book, The Killers of the Flower Moon came out, more people are visiting Fairfax and showing interest in the theater.

Alex Tallchief opened the theater in 1928, a year before his daughter Maria was born. Maria Tallchief went on to become America's first prima ballerina.

"She came back and came back to her father's theater and did performances and talks here and even did ballet demonstrations on stage in the theater," said Joe Conner with the Fairfax Community Foundation.

Joe Conner with the foundation said they are working on getting funding to completely restore the space. He said they already have people interested in performing on stage when it's ready.

"Turn the theater into a place where people can come and celebrate and hopefully turn it into a venue for the entire community, in Fairfax and the entire area," he said. 

A small part of the space is used as a way to remember the victims of the Osage murders, but Conner said they hope to create a greater space for more families to tell their stories. "Building on our history, some on the tragic history that is illustrated here and in the books, but also the triumphant history of the Tallchief's and what the Osage Nation has done since then," he said.

He said it's a story of both tragedy and triumph, and he hopes that will show when the project is complete. "The grim stories, the positive stories, but also get people to think about, my goodness, we can all do better than this," he said.