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BROWN COUNTY PLAYHOUSE TO CELEBRATE ITS 50TH SEASON
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana's longest-running professional summer theater, the Brown County Playhouse, will celebrate its 50th season this summer with productions of The Fantasticks, Bus Stop, Deathtrap and Barefoot in the Park. Each show represents the best of the past 50 years at the Playhouse, which is operated in conjunction with the Indiana University Department of Theater and Drama.
Tickets for the anniversary season are now available by mail and in person at the IU Theater box office, located at the northeast corner of the IU Auditorium building on the Bloomington campus. Tickets are also available from all TicketMaster locations.
The Brown County Playhouse box office in Nashville will open June 1. Discounted coupon books will be offered through July 19. For more ticket information, call 812-855-1103.
Located in the center of Nashville, the Playhouse has featured such future stars as Oscar and Tony award-winner Kevin Kline, Oscar-winning lyricist Howard Ashman, and Patricia Kalember of thirtysomething and Sisters, along with many other successful actors, designers and theater technicians -- all of whom worked on or in Playhouse productions when they were students at IU.
The Playhouse will host several special events to mark the anniversary, including a retrospective exhibit of set and costume designs and photographs, a Brown County Playhouse alumni reunion June 26-28, and a birthday celebration on the opening night of each production. A commemorative program will be available at the theater throughout the season.
The Brown County Playhouse entertained its first audience on July 15, 1949, with a production of The Old Soak by Don Marquis. It was the first summer stock theater to open in Indiana after World War II.
Professor Lee Norvell, then director of the IU Theater, and A. Jack Rogers, a Nashville businessman, combined to establish the Playhouse. The company was composed of students, and productions were prepared and scenery constructed at the IU Department of Theater and Drama. Rogers supplied the land in Nashville and financed the initial cost of construction.
Erecting the first Playhouse building resembled a barn raising, with Purdue University specifications used to build a barn that had a proscenium opening in one wall and dressing rooms in the basement. A tent was placed in front of the barn to shelter wooden seats for about 300 audience members. Eventually the seats were replaced by canvas lawn chairs, and a tin roof replaced the tent. Rain sometimes made a tremendous noise on the tin roof, particularly during one memorable performance of The Rainmaker.
In 1965, restrooms were added and a traditional program note was deleted: "Restrooms across the street in the Nashville House." The program did not mention that the Nashville House closed long before the play ended.
In 1972, IU Professor R. Keith Michael became the producer of the Brown County Playhouse and retained that position until 1997. He was also chair of the IU Theater Department. The current "indoor" Playhouse building was completed in 1977, with wood from the original barn structure used for exterior and interior paneling.
Actors typically rehearse one production in Bloomington in the afternoon and then perform another at night in Nashville. The company commutes between Bloomington and Nashville in vans, but for many years everyone climbed into the back of a pick-up truck for the 20-mile journey on Ind. 46.
Leon Brauner, current chair of the IU Department of Theater and Drama, is now the Playhouse producer, and Andy Rogers, Jack's son, owns the land. The Playhouse holds open auditions and presents four shows every year between June and October, all featuring both student and professional actors, directors and designers. The shows attract almost 30,000 patrons each year.
(Hal Kibbey, 812-855-0074 or 812-855-3911, hkibbey@indiana.edu)