There are dreams, and there is reality, and there is that place in between where dreams become reality.

Scott Parker and Kelly Anzalone have their feet firmly planted in that place.

For years, the two actors and jugglers had dreamed of owning their own performing arts venue. In October, when they signed a lease for the space that once housed Mountain Movie, that dream seemed right around the corner.

Instead, a mountain of paperwork, manual labor and bills waited for them.

They planned to open at the end of November but didn’t make the deadline. They canceled another scheduled opening mid-December and had to ask the Steamboat Players to move their Christmas production to another venue. They advertised an opening for the first week of January, but an incorrect handrail kept them from getting their Certificate of Approval from the Routt County Regional Building Department.

But all the waiting is over, and the Steamboat Springs Mountain Theater is open for business.

“It took a lot longer than we thought and cost a lot more,” Anzalone said. “But three months later, we we’re open.”

And the venue is already booked.

“I can’t believe how many people came out of the woodwork to use this space,” Parker said. “We pictured a venue for theater and film, but people have called about everything from wedding receptions to sports banquets. We might even have things like an Oscar party or a fashion show.”

Parker and Anzalone will break the champagne on their theater dream Jan. 27 with a grand opening party and a showcase of local talent.

Before that, however, the theater will be busy almost every night this week.

On Sunday, the theater will officially open for business as they invite Steamboat to watch the Broncos playoff game on a high-definition screen, big enough “to cause screen envy.”

The new theater is the kind of mid-size, 176-seat venue with great acoustics that is the favorite of many performers.

The venue will have regular programs on weekdays with special performances on weekends. Every Tuesday, Organstein, featuring Paul Potyen and Steve Boynton, will play. The Yampa Valley Boys will play every Wednesday, and, on Thursday nights, the theater is bringing back the lost Steamboat melodramas that were once a weekly tradition in the upstairs of the Ore House.

Jesse Burns will be bringing a Celtic band up for St. Patrick’s Day.

“Cabaret” and Ski Town Productions’ “Reality Town USA” already are booked for the spring.