The Starkville Community Theatre announced the lineup Monday for its 2022-23 season.
This season will be SCT’s 45th, and it will also be the organization’s first full schedule since 2018-19.
“We are excited about the new year,” said Brian Hawkins, publicity co-chair for SCT. “This will be the first complete season we have been able to have since pre-pandemic. During the (first) pandemic year (2020), we did offer some alternative programing via Zoom and some online content, and we did some stage readings of those plays in an outdoor setting. Even last season when we came back, we actually had to adjust the season because of the Delta variant, which delayed the start of the season.”
There will be four shows this year along with a “season extra” production, starting with the musical “Into the Woods” in mid-October. Exact dates have not been announced.
“Sanders Family Christmas” will run Dec. 1-10, “Terms of Endearment Feb. 16-25, 2023, “Suite Surrender” April 13-22 and the season extra “Greater Tuna” May 9-13.
Season tickets go on sale Monday at $60 per person, and that covers the four main shows. The planned “season extra” show will cost $15 per person. There is currently no cap on the number of season tickets available, and each performance can seat 91 audience members.
Admission is $15 for plays and $25 for musicals for those without season tickets.
“Purchasing a season ticket has two major benefits for theater-goers,” said SCT President Walter Diehl. “In addition to the benefit of saving a little bit off admission costs, season tickets allow audiences early booking for reservations, which comes in handy when a popular show sells out quickly.”
The goal is to offer a little bit of something for everybody to enjoy, SCT executive director Gabe Smith said.
“We’re excited to be fully back in the swing at SCT, with year-round programming scheduled and a little something for everyone in our lineup of productions,” he said. “The way to see it all is with a season ticket.”
About the shows
“Into the Woods” features music by Stephen Sondheim and is inspired by a book by James Lapine. It intertwines the plots of several of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, exploring the characters’ wishes and the consequences of their actions. The show will be directed by Gabe Smith, with musical direction by Jordan Durham and choreography by Jonette Wilburn.
“Sanders Family Christmas,” Connie Ray’s Christmas-themed sequel to “Smoke on the Mountain” (produced by SCT in the 2021-22 season) finds the Sanders Family Singers returning to the church Mt. Pleasant, N.C., in December 1941 for a final performance before one of the family members — son, Dennis — leaves for military service in World War II. The production is being directed by Pattye Archer, who helmed “Smoke on the Mountain” in the previous season.
“Terms of Endearment” is adapted by Dan Gordon from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Larry McMurtry and the Academy Award-winning 1983 film script by James Brooks. The play follows the relationship between Aurora Greenway and her daughter, Emma, over 30 years. Christopher Walrath will direct this production.
Set in 1942, Michael McKeever’s farce “Suite Surrender” finds two feuding Hollywood divas booked into the same luxury suite at a Palm Beach hotel where both are to appear at a wartime benefit. Hilarity ensues as their assistants and the hotel staff try to keep the two actresses from seeing one another. Jo Durst will direct this production.
“Greater Tuna,” a comedy by Jason Williams, Ed Howard and Joe Sears, is about the wacky inhabitants (men, women, children and animals) of Tuna, Texas — Texas’ third smallest town — all played by two actors who change parts at breakneck speed. Thomas La Foe will direct this production.
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