A hint of autumn is already in the air and one thing among many that needs to be done before winter comes roaring in is to get your season tickets to the Stevensville Playhouse. Susan McCauley, president of board of the non-profit theater, said that buying a season ticket is a very special way of supporting all the work done by volunteers including stage hands, actors, directors.
“It’s always reassuring to know that some of your seats are already sold in advance,” said McCauley. She said it takes a little pressure off and shows that the community has some faith and confidence in its theater.
“That’s the thing about this Playhouse,” she said, “it’s owned by the community.”
McCauley said the first show of the season – “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” – opens October 12th. McCauley said the show, about the adventurous tour of Willy Wonka’s world-famous chocolate factory, is skewed toward the younger audience, but later shows are a bit more adult in topic.
“The Foreigner” by Larry Shue, for instance, which opens on December 7, is about a “dull and doleful man, Charlie Baker, trying to forget his marital problems by taking a fishing-lodge holiday in the Deep South of America, and to avoid being pestered by the locals, he pretends that he is a foreigner who speaks no English. This leads him to becoming involved, at first unwillingly, in bizarre goings-on featuring a corrupt preacher, his pregnant girlfriend, her none-too-bright kid brother and the local branch of the Ku Klux Klan!”
Then in January, the Valley Bitterroot Dance Academy and “The Timber Rattlers” take the stage. Academy dancers will share both classical and contemporary ballet pieces, featuring all handmade costumes. The Timber Rattlers are a guitar and fiddle duo from the Bitterroot Valley. Their music ranges from old-time bluegrass to new time blues. They have performed all over the United States and Europe with “The Lil’ Smokies” and guitar player Jamie Drysdale has performed with “The Random Canyon Growlers” out of Jackson, Wyoming.
“Gypsy” by Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim, and Aurther Laurents, opens in March. As vaudeville is nearing its end, Mama Rose is determined that her younger daughter, June, will have a successful career, but after June elopes, Mama turns all her attention on her older, less talented daughter, Louise, who eventually becomes a burlesque stripper named Gypsy Rose Lee.
The last show of the season, “The Tin Woman” by Sean Grennan, about a woman named Joy who, instead of relishing life after her heart transplant, enters a downward spiral, unsure whether she truly deserves a second chance. Meanwhile, Alice and Hank mourn the loss of their son, Jack, whose heart was used to save Joy. At a friend’s urging, Joy tracks down Jack’s family to find closure. But are Alice, Hank, and their daughter Sammy ready to accept Jack’s death? Based on a true story, “The Tin Woman” uses humor and pathos to explore loss, family, and what it means to be given new life.
Play tickets cost $12 for adults and $10 for seniors 63 and older and children under 12; for musicals it’s $15 and $12 respectively. Season tickets are available. To purchase tickets call the Stevensville Playhouse at 777-2722 or go online to www.stevensvilleplayhouse.org.