The inaugural production in the new Batesville Community Theater (BCT) Performing Arts Center (pictured above) is coming next weekend.
The BCT production of “The Star Spangled Girl” by Neil Simon will premiere in the new Performing Arts Center on Friday and Saturday, July 8 and 9, at 7 p.m. There will also be a matinee performance on Sunday, July 10, at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $20 at the door and will include light snacks and beverages.
The Neil Simon play, which opened on Broadway in 1966, is described in a release from BCT as “…a light-hearted comedy about radicals Andy Hobart and Norman Cornell, two earnest young men using their San Francisco apartment as a publishing office for their magazine. They are barely making a living working on the magazine when former Olympic swimmer Sophie Rauschmeyer, a wholesome, all-American girl, moves into the apartment next door. “
“Norman becomes the epitome of a love sick puppy to the extreme,” says Brandt McDonald, actor and BCT board member, “sniffing and everything.”
Whitney Coleman Massey is directing the show, with herself as Sophie, Colyn Bowman as Andy Hobart, and Brandt McDonald as Norman Cornell.
Massey said “when one of the three characters is not on stage, he or she is directing.”
Both McDonald and Bowman have directed several shows, and all three have played major roles in many BCT and other local productions.
“With these three, just let them go, and watch the fun that ensues,” said longtime BCT Vice-President Tommie McDonald. “This will be a fantastic opening to our new space.”
The BCT Performing Arts Center, located in the Town Plaza Shopping Center in the old Van Atkins department store space, was made possible through the generosity of the building owners and “many, many generous donors” from the BCT community, the group said.
“The new space is the first permanent home for performances for BCT in 51 years, and we are very proud and excited to be here,” said Bowman who is also the BCT board president.
Whitney Coleman Massey (left), Brandt McDonald (center), and Colyn Bowman (right) rehearse a scene from the upcoming BCT production of “The Star Spangled Girl.”
Rehearsal image provided by Batesville Community Theatre
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