In the early ’80s, Oscar-winning actress Patricia Neal (Hud) found refuge in Mother Dolores’ abbey during a particularly difficult part of her life. In appreciation, Neal performed a recital of poems on a hillside at the abbey’s grounds.

“But then it started to pour, and we all made a dash for the little chapel, and we finished the recital there. Afterward she said, ‘Mother Dolores, we can’t do that again. We’re going to have to build you a theater.’ ”

In 1986, The Gary-The Olivia Performing Arts Center opened. It’s a 200-seat, bare-bones wooden theater named after Neal’s daughter, who had died, and the late Hollywood legend Gary Cooper, the father of Mother Dolores’ best friend, Maria Cooper.