Although 2020 may have been the year of cancellations for Greenwood Little Theatre productions due to the pandemic, 2021 has signified a path back to normalcy, as one member put it.
“Things are going well,” Will Perkins, a former board president, said of the group’s activities this year.
“A Million Dollar Evening,” featured music from the “Million Dollar Quartet.” Members of Greenwood Little Theatre held that in September at the Historic Elks Building in downtown Greenwood. The October production of “Crimes of the Heart” was the first live Little Theatre show since December 2019’s performance of “Annie.”
“The fundraiser, I believe, went very well,” Perkins said. “We obviously did not have the turnout that we hoped for as far as numbers, but everyone that was there had a wonderful time, and a majority of the comments was those same people saying they wish we could do it the next night.”
“It was amazing to see the community support still there after so long,” said Katie Acosta, who headed social media for Little Theatre and acted in “Crimes of the Heart.” “And I think that made all of us hopeful for our new journey as we try to get some semblance back to normal.”
The October play was the first GLT production at the Davis Elementary School auditorium. “We had a very great turnout — full of people who were very passionate about Greenwood Little Theatre and who were receptive to what we do,” Perkins said
Earlier this year, the Greenwood Leflore Consolidated School Board approved a partnership between the Little Theatre and the school district to allow the community theater to perform in the Davis school’s auditorium for four years.
“The new venue is full of so much possibility that we had never imagined we would have access to it in the past,” Perkins said.
Through its relationship with the school board and school officials, Little Theatre will work “to turn this historic property back to the grandeur it once had,” he said.
With 2021 coming to a close, the Little Theatre is looking forward to 2022.
From March 24-27, the Little Theatre will put on Neil Simon’s comedy “The Odd Couple.” Perkins will serve as the director, and Acosta will be the assistant director.
Auditions will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 6 and 7 at the Davis Auditorium.
The cast includes eight characters — two women and six men.
Set in New York City in the 1960s, the play follows the antics of mismatched friends Oscar Madison, a sportswriter, and Felix Unger, a hypochondriac newswriter whose failing marriage, causes him to move into Madison’s apartment.
Perkins said Simon was good at breaking down social classes and showing that “we’ve all got the same problems.”
Little Theatre will perform “Steel Magnolias” in the summer, though no dates have been set yet.
Perkins and other Little Theatre members are excited to get back into the spotlight.
“Generally, we are happy to be back to what we’ve been doing since 1956. Maybe it took a year and a half of a complete lockdown to realize how important this organization is to us,” Perkins said.
The Little Theatre makes the audience laugh, cry and think and allows the actors to be “someone else for a little while,” he said.
More information is available on Greenwood Little Theatre’s Facebook page and at greenwoodlittletheatre.com.
- Contact Gerard Edic at 662-581-7239 or gedic@gwcommonwealth.com.
