Friends and associates of the late Dennis Bigelow will convene Monday night at 6 p.m. in the lobby of the Sacramento Theater Company for a memorial reception and party.

Bigelow, who transformed the Eleanor McClatchy Performing Arts Center into the Sacramento Theater Company, passed away in 2005 at the age of 52 in Portland, Ore.

He came to Sacramento in 1983 from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where he was a stage manager and director. He was named producing director of STC in 1986 and worked there until 1988, directing 29 productions and creating a semiprofessional company that became fully professional under successor Mark Cuddy.

Bigelow commissioned the adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" by Richard Hellesen and David DeBerry, which became the company's signature production.

In an obituary that I wrote about Bigelow, I quoted former Bee theater critic Peter Haugen as saying, "Dennis played an important and underappreciated role in the evolution of the performing arts in Sacramento. He challenged audiences who were used to tame community theater fare with productions the likes of which had not been seen in Sacramento before."

STC is at 1419 H St.; after the reception there, dinner will follow at the Esquire Grill. For more information, e-mail kdmorison@sbcglobal.net.