The Brooke Hills Playhouse has postponed the opening of its 48th summer season until the weekend of June 14-16, while the pre-Civil War apple barn undergoes repairs from damage caused by a recent windstorm.
According to Julia Barnhart of Wellsburg, president of the Brooke County Arts Council, the Playhouse’s parent organization, the decision to change the schedule was made after an inspection of the facility revealed the extent of damage to the structure.
Barnhart also noted that the comedy originally scheduled to open the season will now be the summer’s grand finale. “Rather than re-arrange the whole schedule, we will open our season with Flip Kobler and Cindy Marcus’ comedy, ‘Ghost of a Chance,’ originally scheduled to start that weekend,” she explained.
“Then we’ll extend the season through the weekends of Sept. 20-22 and 27-29,” Barnhart added. The original season opener, Ken Ludwig’s comedy, “Lend Me a Tenor,” will run those weekends. The rest of the season will run as scheduled originally.”
Those productions and dates are: “Mama Mia,” featuring the music of ABBA, with a book by Catherine Johnson and music and lyrics by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, running the weekends of July 5-7 and 12-14; “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” adapted by Michele L. Vacca from the beloved Grimm Brothers fairytale, to be staged July 26-28, and Aug. 2-4; and John Patrick’s comedy, “A Bad Year for Tomatoes” to be presented Aug. 16-18 and 23-25.
Performances will be at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday evenings with 2 p.m. Sunday matinees.
Meanwhile, S and J Contracting of Wheeling will make the repairs to the barn while the Playhouse raises funds to pay for the work. “Save the Barn” is the theme for the campaign, according to Arts Council treasurer Diana Mendel of Wellsburg.
Barnhart said that “all monies raised in the ‘Save the Barn’ campaign will go to repairing and updating the barn. Even if we receive enough money to cover the repairs, we will be continuing to do many different updates needed at the building.”
Checks or money orders for either the Save the Barn fund or season passes should be made payable to the Brooke County Arts Council, along with a stamped, self-addressed envelope, to P. O. Box 186, Wellsburg, WV 26070. Donations to the Save the Barn campaign should be noted on the memo line.
Season passes will be available until Friday, June 14, at $50 for adults, $42 for senior citizens and students, and $34 for children under 12, which translates into all five main stage productions for the price of four.
For season passes, patrons should to specify how many passes they are ordering for adults, senior citizens and students, and children under 12.
After the Playhouse’s 48th summer season begins on June 14, ticket prices for individual shows at the box office will be $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and students and $8 for children for non-musicals, and $14 for adults, $12 for students and seniors and $10 for children for musicals.