Take a Peek Behind the Curtain

    (originally published 12/30/21) Getting involved in your community theatre comes with the utter joy of meeting a whole bunch of like-minded people all with the same goal of putting on an excellent show. Individuals that start off as acquaintances (or sometimes competition) soon become endearing friends that you couldn’t live without. In so many ways it can become like a family. Many times here at HCT we even have actual families participating together. This story from Lauren is a perfect example. Lauren first joined us in 2009, working backstage on our production of Titanic the Musical. Since then she’s racked up an impressive list of credits, working on a half dozen or more shows every season. She’s even taken a couple of turns on stage, most recently in the ensemble of  Something Rotten . I asked her to share her experience and what HCT means to her. This is what she wrote. “Hickory Community Theatre has been a large part of my life for the past 12ish years. This place has become

   (originally published 12/25/21)   Here it is, the day we have been counting down to for the last month (or since before Halloween if you work in retail.) Here at the Hickory Community Theatre this has always been a special time. It’s when we pull out more than the usual number of stops to bring especially festive productions to the stage. One that I remember fondly is  White Christmas . It’s a holiday classic that was very popular with our audiences, and it was also the first time Dorothy Best, who had been a patron for several years, appeared on the HCT stage. I asked her to share her story with you and this is what she wrote. “I have been involved in the entertainment industry in one way or another for most of my life. My parents were in vaudeville before we started putting,on our own plays in rural Wisconsin. We moved to Los Angeles when I was seven and I continued to perform as a child actress in television shows, but mostly in theatre productions like  The Miracle Worker . Thea

   (originally published 12/21/21) I t’s officially the first day of winter, and Christmas is just around the corner. It’s a special time of year and traditionally one of the busiest for us at Hickory Community Theatre. One evening last week we had literally every space in the building full of activity. There was  Bugsy Malone  in the Jeffers Theatre and  The Color Purple  in the rehearsal hall.  Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells  was in the council chamber and the Holiday Cabaret was setting up in the Firemen’s Kitchen. It’s usually like that during the period from mid-November through Christmas and we love it! I say "usually like that" because, of course, last year was different. One difference was that we couldn't put on a Christmas show for school field trip groups. This year though, we got to bring back Junie B. Jones  and it was so delightful to see hundreds of first and second graders get their first taste of live theatre and to see the joy on their fac

  (originally published 12/14/21) “The theatre is the place people  come to see the truth about life   and the social situation” Stella Adler At the Hickory Community Theatre, we are blessed to enjoy a company of wonderful volunteers and supporters like you. Together, we work to create a very special place. A story we recently heard from Paul, one of our volunteer actors, is a testament to just how special HCT is, and what it can do.  When joined us as part of the ensemble in  Les Misérables , in 2014, Paul had never done theatre before. His involvement up to that point had been as a supportive husband to his wife, Emma Lee. She first joined us in 2010 as part of the cast of  She Loves Me. “My wife encouraged me right then to get involved, but life as a pastor and in the Air Force reserves kept me too busy. I remember telling her though that if HCT ever did Les Miz, then I’d be right there.” He was indeed, but after  Les Misérables  wrapped up it would be four years before he returned

(originally published 12/8/21) “Theater is an act of faith. Strangers gather in a dark room and together, we believe.” Harvey Fierstein The Hickory Community Theatre is now in its 73rd season, so you can just imagine how many people have been through here over that many years. Even the most conservative estimate puts the number at over 20,000 people - taking into account all of the patrons and volunteers who have come through our doors. Every single one of those people has their own story about what HCT means to them. The one I’d like to share with you today comes from Cody. He first came to us as a patron, then as an actor, making his HCT debut as Bilbo Baggins in  The Hobbit . Cody has since moved to Atlanta, but he carries with him many fond memories. This is what he asked me to share with you. "Hickory Community Theatre has had a profound and varied impact on my life. I first moved to Hickory when I was going to college for theatre, and at that point HCT was just a vision of w

(originally posted 11/24/21) "Theatre is the most immediate way in which one human  being can share with another the sense of what it is to be human."  Oscar Wilde At the Hickory Community Theatre (HCT) we are grateful for the wonderful people who bring the theatre to life. There are literally hundreds of volunteers, artists, designers, donors and patrons who make everything possible. One of them is Eric, whom I first met when we talked about bringing his Elvis tribute show to our stage. Circumstances and timing didn’t work out, but as it happened, he stepped onto the HCT stage for the first time in the Elvis-themed musical,  All Shook Up  in 2009. He has returned a few times since then and he shared with me this story about what HCT means to him. “HCT literally changed my life for the better. Doing  All Shook Up , my first show, was such a life altering experience that, after the show was done, leaving it brought me to tears. It was an experience I’ll never forget. It was a

After three years absent, Junie B. Jones, the hilariously troublesome first grader from Room One, returns to Hickory Community Theatre this weekend for a one-time performance of Junie B. in Jingle Bells Batman Smells.   The performance will be on Saturday, Dec 11, at 2:30pm.  CLICK HERE to get your tickets online or call 828-328-2283. All seats are just $10. Junie B. is super-excited about the upcoming Holiday Sing-Along and Secret Santa gift exchange at her school. Too bad tattletale May keeps ruining all of Junie B.'s fun. So when Junie B. draws May's name for Secret Santa, she comes up with the perfect plan to teach her nemesis a lesson! But will the Christmas spirit of peace and goodwill interfere before she can give you-know-who what she deserves? A hilarious and endearing tale based on the best-selling book series by Barbara Park. The cast features eight talented young actors: Stevie Roland as Junie B., Harley Buff as May, Aaliyah Cain as Lucille, Gretchen Bodeck as

The rescheduled opening night for BUGSY MALONE is this Friday, Dec 10, at 7:30pm. CLICK HERE to get tickets online or call 828-328-2283. Set in New York City, this musical comedy is a gangster movie spoof with an all youth cast. The film is based loosely on events in New York and Chicago during Prohibition era, specifically the exploits of real-life gangsters such as Al Capone and Bugs Moran. Unlike real life events, this gang war is fought with silly string and cream pies.   Performances of BUGSY MALONE will be held on Fridays and Saturdays, December 10-18 at 7:30 pm; Sunday, December 12 at 2:30 pm and Thursday, December 15 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $16 for adults and $10 for youth & students. Tickets are available online at hickorytheatre.org, or by phone at 828-328-2283. Weekday box office hours are 12-5, Wednesday through Friday or one half hour before any performance.   Due to the continued rate of Covid-19 cases in Catawba County, and in accordance with the latest guidance fro

Eric Seale, the Artistic Director of the Hickory Community Theatre, has gathered an experienced and talented creative team to stage the upcoming production of the powerful Broadway musical THE COLOR PURPLE. The team includes guest director Tiffany Christian, music director LaKeisha Ross-Johnson, choreographer Anyea Gibson, and stage manager Allison Finch. The show begins performances in the Jeffers Theatre on January 21. THE COLOR PURPLE is Christian’s fifth time in the director’s chair at HCT. Her previous credits directing credits include SKELETON CREW in 2021, A RAISIN IN THE SUN in 2020, I AND YOU in 2019, and DREAMGIRLS in 2018. Her other stage work includes roles in RAGTIME, NUNSENSE, THE REVOLUTIONISTS, and NOISES OFF. She loves HCT so much that she drives down from Boone. "There are opportunities for me here that I just don't find anywhere else," she said. Christian has graduate degrees in Education, Social Work and Theology.  This is Ross-Johnson’s second outing