Main Street LIVE debuts homegrown Star Trek spoof in Trinidad

Main Street LIVE gave Trinidad a show that could only have been made here: Star Tracks, a locally written Star Trek spoof built around local performers, handmade props and a downtown audience that recognizes its own talent onstage. The production turned the historic Main Street theater into a sci-fi playground, but the bigger story was civic: Trinidad’s arts scene was generating original work instead of relying on touring acts.

Written by Main Street LIVE Executive Director Eric Shephard and directed by Cora Warrick, Star Tracks opened June 12 at 131 W. Main St. and was scheduled to run through June 21. The comedy leaned hard into phasers, interplanetary travel and visual gags, with costumes, a 3D-printed set and 3D-printed phasers helping carry the joke. Audience members did not need to know the original franchise to follow it, but fans of the classic series were set up to catch the references and inside jokes.

That local flavor is part of what gives the production weight in Trinidad. Main Street LIVE is housed in “The Famous” department store building, a historic early-1900s downtown landmark that has become one of the city’s most visible cultural spaces. The theater was founded in 2002 by Harriet and Fred Vaugeois as Southern Colorado Repertory Theatre and grew over 17 years into a venue for professional summer repertory productions, year-round community theatre, youth productions and summer camps.

The organization’s role reaches beyond entertainment. The Trinidad & Las Animas County Chamber of Commerce says Main Street Live exists to promote the arts, launch young artists, work with educational institutions and strengthen downtown Trinidad’s economy and tourism base. City of Trinidad MainStreet also focuses on the business side of downtown life, including facade design, business expansion and promotional planning. A show like Star Tracks fits that ecosystem by drawing people into the center of town for a night out, then sending them to nearby restaurants and shops.

Shephard has been central to that creative direction. Main Street LIVE described him as bringing more than 20 years of experience in arts administration, programming, curation, development, marketing, fundraising, education and community enhancement. He has also already shown a taste for original stage work in Trinidad, including a homegrown version of Dracula, making Star Tracks part of a clear pattern rather than a one-off experiment.

Main Street LIVE’s latest spoof showed how a small-city theater can do more than fill a calendar. It can give Trinidad its own material, its own humor and its own reason to gather downtown.