By Randi Burdette
Community theatre is an art form that is an integral part of a community, helping with test scores, instilling pride, and boosting self-esteem, and Hamilton is lucky to have such a theatre. The Hamilton Players, a group that was founded in the late 1970’s, use to partner with different venues around Hamilton until they found their home at 100 Ricketts Road in 1995, where they renovated the building with a powerful community presence. In 1996, the Hamilton Playhouse premiered its first show without a “green room” or bathrooms. Since then this community theatre has come a long way and had an exciting and community-driven life. This year the Playhouse will celebrate its 20th anniversary. And with this year the Hamilton Players have an exciting lineup planned for 2016.
The Playhouse will be wrapping up its 2015 season with the second annual Christmas Carol readers’ theatre. The show is a staged reading of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”. Actors will have their scripts on the stage with them using them for reference while they perform the play. There will also be an extravagant bake sale and hot chocolate sale at the performance.
Kicking off the 2016 year the Hamilton Players will be throwing the fourth and final annual Hammy awards on January 2nd. Hosted this year by the hilarious duo of Mara Lynn Luther and Tamsen Mitchell, the Hammys are a black tie event complete with a red carpet. The event was created four years ago to celebrate the actors who participate in the shows. There are categories, including Best Actor and Actress, in both a musical and non-musical. Tickets will be on sale in December and the price will include a champagne voucher and snacks.
After the Hammys, the Players jump right into their 2016 show season with “Something’s Afoot.” Which also happens to be the first show that the Playhouse did 20 years ago. The show follows a group through the night as they are murdered one by one while breaking into song periodically. Auditions for the show will be held January 3rd and 4th at 7 p.m. at the Playhouse. But if the stage isn’t quite for you, then the show will be running from February 19th through March 6th. The show promises to be very exciting and a great way to kick off the new season.
The other shows next year will be “Into the Woods,” “Dearly Beloved,” and “Once Upon A Mattress.” Each show offers something for everyone. “Into the Woods” brings fairy tales to life with a reimagining of how the characters would have lived together and how their stories would have blended. The August show is “Dearly Beloved,” a laugh-out-loud southern Texas comedy revolving around a family wedding. The last show of the season will be “Once Upon a Mattress” and it’ll be a children’s show for children of all ages.
The Playhouse will also be doing a second children’s show in July. This year the young Players will be doing “The Little Mermaid Jr.” The show is cast and rehearsed in a week with two shows at the end of the week.
The main shows aren’t the only events happening for the Playhouse this upcoming year. The Players are planning a few big events, including theatre workshops for adults and students. The workshops will be focusing on different themes. The Executive Director, denise rose, and the Board members have been planning to engage the community with improvisation classes, directors workshops, and character development classes. These classes will be taught by a number of volunteers, including denise rose and Eric Monson, in the spring of 2016.
rose hopes to also have an original one act weekend in conjunction with the directors workshop in the spring. They hope to pull two directors from the workshop to direct the one acts. The event will be a way to create more community involvement as it opens up another facet of the playhouse and theatre. Other events for the Playhouse include a murder mystery at the Daly Mansion, and a costume ball at the Bedford Building.
They’ll also be doing at least two more reader’s theatres next year, one for International Women’s Day on March 8th and the third annual readers theatre of “A Christmas Carol.” However, denise rose hopes to partner with Sapphire Lutheran Homes to create a senior readers theatre for the seniors to perform for their fellow seniors and the community.
And of course, season tickets went on sale Friday, November 13. There are two types of ticket sets to choose from. The Family-Friendly Season Ticket includes three shows: “Something’s Afoot,” “Dearly Beloved” and “Once Upon A Mattress.” These tickets are $45. The second set of tickets is the Full Season Ticket. This ticket includes all three shows from the Family Season Ticket plus “Into the Woods.” The Full Season Ticket is $60 per ticket. All these can be purchased through the box office, located at 100 Ricketts Road, Hamilton.
denise rose is a huge supporter of the community theatre aspect. She hopes that the upcoming season is as highly anticipated in the community as it is within the theatre itself. “The long term benefits of the arts in terms of confidence, interpersonal skills, mentorship, and safety are huge within a community,” rose says. rose hopes that the community continues to support the Hamilton Playhouse and Players and hopes to see some new talent in the upcoming season. Mara Lynn Luther, one board member and director of this past season’s “Pride and Prejudice,” says she hopes that the theatre keeps attracting new people to the theatre so that the theatre can keep doing what it does for the community.