Regional Theater of the Week: South Bend Civic Theatre in South Bend, IN

BroadwayWorld.com, the largest theatre site on the Internet, is excited to announce a new feature to its comprehensive regional coverage - the Featured Regional Theater of the Week! Each week, BWW will introduce its readers to a regional theater located in one of our (over 130!) coverage cities. By exploring these different venues, their history and showcasing the production seasons, BWW continues its commitment to expand our presence in communities and cities across the United States.

This Week's Featured Regional Theater: South Bend Civic Theatre in South Bend, IN

South Bend Civic Theatre is the oldest continuously-operating community theatre company in the South Bend/Mishawaka area.

Founded in 1957, it staged most of its productions after 1968 at The Firehouse, a local historic landmark located at 701 Portage Ave., in the city's historic Park Avenue neighborhood. Beginning in the year 2000, SBCT began staging selected productions each year at Century Center's Bendix Theatre, at the Morris Performing Arts Center, and for the first time in 2005, at the DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of Notre Dame.

Under the leadership of an incredible Board of Directors and then-Executive Director Jim Coppens, SBCT began exploring solutions for the need for more space. In January 2007, the beginning of SBCT's 50th Anniversary year, Civic celebrated the opening of its new theatre home at 403 N. Main St. in downtown South Bend, in what was formerly the Scottish Rite Building. Through generous individual support as well as community and corporate underwriting, SBCT was able to complete construction on a new 3,500 square foot scene shop, renovation of a 209 seat Mainstage Auditorium and a 70 seat versatile "black-box" Studio Theatre in a span of time of little more than a year. In November of 2009, a special gift to SBCT eliminated the mortgage on the facility, the final chapter on the capital campaign that has allowed the organization to experience exponential growth in impact and production values.

South Bend Civic Theatre's mission is:

To enrich the quality of life of the South Bend regional community through the dramatic arts.

Their Vision is as follows:

To be a model community theatre, period;
To serve and represent all segments of the South Bend regional population;
To create a theatre program for young audiences that gives children of all ethnic and economic backgrounds the opportunity to experience the transformative power of theatre; and finally,
To implement and enhance, in everything we do, our core values of QUALITY, DIVERSITY, INCLUSIVITY, EDUCATION and COMMUNITY.

Next up on the mainstage is THE COLOR PURPLE, running September 6-15, 2013.

Book by Marsha Norman, Music and Lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, Stephen Bray

Directed by Joshua Napierkowski and Quinton McMutuary

A vibrant saga of one woman's triumph over adversity to discovery and love is the heart of this powerful musical based on the celebrated novel and beloved film. Infusing gospel, jazz, African and blues styles, this musical will touch your heart as you follow Celie on her journey of personal awakening over a lifetime of struggle.

To view the rest of the season, or for more information on the South Bend Civic Theatre, visit: http://www.sbct.org/

Know of a theater we should feature? Contact christina@broadwayworld.com

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