The Colorado Theatre Guild has chosen Bill McHale to be the recipient of the years Life Time Achievement Award.

Bill McHale served as artistic director and executive producer at the Country Dinner Playhouse for 30 years, producing and directing about 185 shows before retiring in 2000.

He introduced the idea of the Barnstormers - the servers who performed for the audience before each main show.

Among the hundreds of actors McHale employed were notables Morgan Fairchild ("Falcon Crest"), Ted Shackelford ("Knots Landing") and Lee Horsley (TV's "Matt Houston"). Just as many of his rising core company members went on to perform in films and on Broadway, including, Amy Adams ("Junebug"), Rachel de Benedet ("The Addams Family"), George Lee Andrews ("The Phantom of the Opera"), Tamra Hayden ("Les Miserables") and Andy Kelso ("Mamma Mia").

A huge local contingent of actors and actresses and designers worked for McHale, among them Jan and Marcus Waterman, Paul and Penny Dwyer, Deborah Persoff, Michael Gold, Randy St. Pierre, Sue Leiser, Jeff Hovorka, Jan Giese, Rob Costigan, Brian Mallgrave, Markus Warren, Bob Hoppe, Erik Bryan, and his daughter, Maureen McHale.

McHale, 76, was born February 1, 1934, in Chicago. He and his wife of 56 years, Arlene, have five children and 12 grandchildren.