The Ellen Theater is located in historic downtown Bozeman, Montana. The theater was designed by architect Fred Willson and opened in 1919. In January 1925, a Wurlitzer (opus #979) organ was shipped from the Wurlitzer factory and installed in the theater as a Style E X (two chambers). The organ is still playing at the theater.


ENTER THE ELLEN and it is as if you are stepping back in time. The elaborate crown moldings, gilded plaster carvings and ornate light fixtures are a reflection of a bygone era, when playhouses were palaces and people gathered to be mesmerized by the magic of live theatre. Designed by renowned architect Fred Willson, The Ellen was built by the sons of Nelson Story, a founding father of Bozeman, and named for the family matriarch. That's certainly quite a present for mom.

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OPENED IN 1919, when Bozeman boasted a population of nearly 6,000, The Ellen hosted variety shows, silent movies, school plays, town band performances and even an opera featuring a live elephant. Friday night with your favorite sweetheart, the Saturday wild west double feature and the Sunday family concert were staples of life at the historic downtown landmark.

OWNED BY THE RUSSELL FAMILY since the late 1920s, The Ellen became a favored stop on the vaudeville circuit and boasted a variety of stars including comics Gallagher and Shean (Al Shean was uncle to the Marx Brothers), Vivian Vance (Ethel from I Love Lucy), famous fan dancer Sally Rand and legendary ventriloquist Edgar Bergen along with his wise-cracking sidekick Charlie McCarthy.

Ellen Trent Story, for whom The Ellen Theatre is named, circa 1870.​

LIKE A TRAGIC MELODRAMA, however, there was a cruel twist in the plot and The Ellen, along with other similar theatres across the country, suffered decades of disrepair. The world of TV, DVD rentals and video downloads by-passed Bozeman's magnificent monument to a bygone era and, sadly, the spotlight slowly faded. Fortunately, that is not where the story ends. Montana TheatreWorks, a local non-profit theatre group, established the goal of saving The Ellen and purchased the building in 2005. But the MTW story starts ten years earlier.

MONTANA THEATREWORKS was founded in 1995 with the goal of presenting quality theatrical productions to the Gallatin Valley. When the curtain went up on the maiden production of Damn Yankees, over 3,000 people attended. The following years saw equally successful productions of The Sound of Music, Oklahoma!, Annie, You Can’t Take it With You, and Oliver!, among many others, but none of these performances were at The Ellen. Utilizing school auditoriums, a restaurant, a church and even an old gymnasium for its productions, MTW was a theatre company in search of a home.