MARGIE BELROSE

1996

Arts

Margie Belrose is founder and director of The Belrose School and Theatre in San Rafael. At The Belrose, Margie Belrose teaches, performs and directs. Theater colleagues proclaim that Margie exemplifies the stage motto, “The show must go on.” Through hard work and steadfast devotion to her dream, she has earned the respect of associates and audiences. In 1954 she and her late husband, David, founded a school for performing arts in Marin. The Belrose School and Theatre today offer Marinites affordable theater, and opportunities to act, write, produce and direct. Belrose has taught dance, music, acting and singing to generations of local families. Her tenacity and perseverance have served her through the years when she has been called upon to surmount overwhelming odds.

Abandoned as a child, she lived in an orphanage except for short periods with her aunt and father. After graduating from high school she moved to San Francisco where she met and married one of her dance teachers. The sudden death of her husband in 1971 left her alone to raise her two children while operating The Belrose School and Theatre. Today, with her son, she operates a large non-profit costume shop that benefits the Belrose Performing Arts Center scholarship program. One of her programs is the Belrose Jr. Players for children eight to fifteen years of age. She provides scholarships for children to enable them to participate in Junior Players and the Belrose Musical Summer Camp program that has been in operation since 1978.