Playhouse takes its show on the road

Banished from Custer State Park for a growing list of reasons, the Black Hills Playhouse show will go on this summer, and it will do so in a mobile form.

On Tuesday, Feb. 2, the Playhouse board voted to scale back this season’s schedule to three shows, one each to be performed in three separate locations. The three locations the shows will be performed are the Custer High School theatre, the Hill City High School theatre and the Lead Opera House. Which shows will be performed at which venue, and when during the summer the shows will happen are still issues yet to be resolved.

“We’re excited about the possibilities and the way this summer is going to go,”?Playhouse executive director Michael Burgraff said. “We’re not going to go dark.”

In essence, all three communities hosting the Playhouse this summer will be doing an audition themselves. Should the Playhouse not be able to return to its original site in Custer State Park in the near future, it will almost certainly relocate in one of these three communities.

“With us not being in the park, these have been the three primary communities that have said they are very interested in having us a permanent part of the community,”?Burgraff said.?“These communities will put their best foot forward this summer, and if for some reason we find ourselves not able to be in the park for 2001, we may need to pick a single community.”

Having the performances in a single community this summer was also discussed at the Feb. 2 conference call, but the majority of the board voted to do the traveling show, despite it being the most expensive type of theatre there is. 

Burgraff said he believes the Playhouse can do the summer of traveling without putting too much of a financial burden on already strained Playhouse coffers.

“All three communities put forth very good proposals,”?he said. “It’s exciting to have that much support.”

­Doing the traveling theatre will bring the Playhouse back to its roots, Burgraff said. When Doc Lee, a former professor at the University of South Dakota, first brought students out to the Playhouse, they spent the first few seasons touring through the Black Hills. Lee later determined it would be more cost effective to settle into one location, which led to the current Black Hills Playhouse site.

Because the Playhouse productions will take place in different venues, there are logistics to be worked out. Each community will have to find accommodations for the actors and crews working on the play. Burgraff said each community is working on its own plan for housing, which will include hotels, RVs, host families and possibly even hostel-like situations.

Perhaps the most important thing Burgraff is tasked with is making sure the quality of the shows is not affected. The venues they will be performing in won’t have the same lighting capabilities of the Playhouse, and crews won’t get to spend two weeks working on scenery for each production. All of the stuff will have to fit in a 24-foot truck, and all scenery pieces will have to fit through double doors at the venues.

“We need to keep production values high. That’s my job,”?Burgraff said.?“There are things that will look different, but it is our intention to make it look as good or better with our professional production values.”

The Playhouse site will  remain dormant for the most part this summer. Playhouse staff will need to access the facility for props, costumes, etc., but Burgraff said until the Playhouse board’s lawsuit against the state to determine whether or not it has a valid lease with the state is settled, there are no plans to fix any of the problems outlined with the buildings in the state’s recent report about the Playhouse site.

The three shows planned this summer are “Leading Lady,” a comedy; “Return to Forbidden Planet:?Shakespeare’s Lost Rock and Roll Musical,” and “Little Shop of Horrors.” Burgraff said the Playhouse will still sell season passes, and still has the same box office phone number, 255-4141. Tickets will also be able to be purchased the night of the show.

“We believe we will see patron numbers go up,”?Burgraff said.?“It will be a chance for people to see us in a different light, and we will pick up new folks who haven’t driven to the park. It’s going to be a logistical nightmare, but we believe we are up to the challenge.”

The traveling show could also benefit the actors and staff who work for the Playhouse this summer, allowing them to see more of the Hills as they move from one show to the next.

Burgraff knows there will be bumps in the road, but ­­is optimistic the Playhouse will meet the challenges head on and put forward a professional product.

“I’m excited about the possibilities. This will be a fantastic summer; it will just be different,” he said.