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Buck Creek Players, the all-volunteer community theater on Indianapolis' southeast side, is proud to announce their 38th season of quality theater, It Takes Two, in 2011-12. Three comedies and three upbeat musical comedies will take The Playhouse stage to expose audiences to the importance of relationships experienced on a daily basis...and how our lives are changed because of them.
Opening the season with a two-weekend run in Fall 2011, is William Inge's American classic, Bus Stop. Set in the 1950's, this warm, affectionate comedy brings together a variety of down-home characters passing one another in a street corner restaurant. Their lives intertwined, these seemingly ordinary people reveal extraordinary qualities. The poignant play serves up lots of laughs, a touch of romance, and maybe even a tear or two as the story unfolds over one hilariously turbulent night. Mr. Inge's Bus Stop shows that our lives weave together affecting each other in subtle yet profound ways each and every day. John Carver makes his directorial debut at The Playhouse with this production.
Ring in the holidays at The Playhouse in December 2011 with Irving Berlin's White Christmas. Based on the beloved, timeless film, this heartwarming musical adaptation features seventeen Irving Berlin songs and a book by David Ives and Paul Blake. Veterans Bob Wallace and Phil Davis have a successful song-and-dance act after World War II. With romance in mind, the two follow a duo of beautiful singing sisters en route to their Christmas show at a Vermont lodge, which just happens to be owned by Bob and Phil's former army commander. The dazzling score features well known standards including "Blue Skies," "I Love A Piano," "How Deep Is the Ocean," and the perennial favorite, "White Christmas." Matthew Konrad Tippel returns to direct this holiday classic which will have the entire family leaving the theater humming.
For more than half a century the name Florence Foster Jenkins has been guaranteed to produce explosions of derisive laughter. Not unreasonably so, as this wealthy society eccentric suffered under the delusion that she was a great coloratura soprano when she was in fact incapable of producing two consecutive notes in tune. Nevertheless, her annual recitals in the ballroom of the Ritz Carlton hotel, where she resided, brought her extraordinary fame. As news of her terrible singing spread, so did her celebrity. Her growing mob of fans packed her recitals, stuffing handkerchiefs in their mouths to stifle their laughter -- which Mrs. Jenkins blissfully mistook for cheers. The climax of her career was a single concert at Carnegie Hall in 1944. Famously, it sold out in two hours. Souvenir: A Fantasia on the Life of Florence Foster Jenkins by Stephen Temperley, tells her story through the eyes of her accompanist, Cosme McMoon. A talented musician, he regards her at first as little more than an easy way to pay the rent, but, as he gets to know her, his initial contempt gives way to reluctant admiration, then friendship and affection. Eyewitness accounts of their concerts vary so wildly it is almost impossible now to separate fact from gossip. Hence this fictional "biography," in which we follow the story of their partnership from its earliest days to their concert in Carnegie Hall and its aftermath. With each new imagined triumph Florence's confidence soars. Faced with her boundless certainty, Cosme comes to revise his attitude, not only towards her singing but to the very meaning of music itself. This musical odd couple for the ages will take the Buck Creek Players stage for six performances in Winter 2012, under the direction of D. Scott Robinson.
Harold is a depressed, death-obsessed nineteen-year-old proverbial "rich kid" who spends his free time attending funerals and pretending to commit suicide in front of his mother. At a funeral, Harold befriends Maude, a delightfully wacky octogenarian, who has a real zest for life. She and Harold spend much time together during which she exposes him to the wonders and possibilities of life. What she teaches saves him and will captivate audiences. Adapted from his 1971 cult film starring Bud Cort and Ruth Gordon, Colin Higgins' comedy, Harold and Maude, will command the stage for two weekends, Spring 2012, under the direction of Ed Mobley.If you've ever sat in a dark theatre and thought, "Dear Lord in Heaven, please let it be good," then this is the musical comedy for you! It all begins when a die-hard musical-theater fan plays his favorite cast album on his record player, and the musical literally bursts to life around him in his living room, telling the rambunctious and comedic tale of a brazen Broadway starlet trying to find, and keep, her true love. The Drowsy Chaperone, with music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison and book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar, pays tribute to the Jazz-age shows of the 1920's and the power those shows held to transport us into a dazzling fantasy...lifting our spirits in times of need. D. Scott Robinson will direct the this "musical within a comedy" for a three-weekend run Summer 2012.
Hold your breath because here comes thoroughly modern Millie in a magical mythical musical set in the roaring twenties when bobbing your hair and rolling your stockings was considered daring. Millie even colors her lips! Thoroughly Modern Millie Junior is a high-spirited musical romp that will have audiences dancing the Charleston. Taking place in New York City in 1922, this Playhouse Players Youth Production tells the story of young Millie Dillmount, who has just moved to the city in search of a new life for herself. It's a New York full of intrigue and jazz - a time when women were entering the workforce and the rules of love and social behavior were changing forever. Local talent ages eighteen and under will have your toes tappin' as this production hits our stage for two weekends Summer 2012, under the direction of Ruthie Weller-Passman.
Buck Creek Players (BCP) began in 1973 when the Franklin Township Civic League formed a committee to present performing arts under the name of "Four C's Theatre." On November 13, 1974, the name was changed to Buck Creek Players, Inc., and was formalized under the Indiana Not for Profit Corporation Act of 1971 (501(c)3).
Initially, Buck Creek Players performed in elementary and high schools, and in October of 1978, moved to its first home, a historic church located at 7820 Acton Road. The church was built in 1872 with an addition in 1952. The main space of the building was the sanctuary which was 31 feet wide by 48 feet deep, with the stage using one-half of the space and the seating using the other half. The space enabled BCP to offer performing arts in an intimate setting for a maximum of 90 people. In 2002, the church was sold to United Faith Baptist Church.
In 2001, Buck Creek Players moved into its current home, the Buck Creek Playhouse, at 11150 Southeastern Avenue. The current space was originally built as an indoor tennis facility that was later converted into a church. Much of the space was rebuilt to accommodate the productions it would now house. While increasing capacity, the space is still intimate, seating a maximum of 130 people.
