Pewter Plough plans busy 2017 season

Rebecca Buckley threw a small cocktail party March 15 to reveal a new schedule of events and plays for The Pewter Plough Playhouse, but that vast and varied list won’t begin until Feb. 3, 2017.

Jim Buckley, who founded the “jewel box” theater in 1976, died Sept. 23 at the still feisty age of 102. In 2017, his widow will take the creative reins of the long-running Pewter Plough Players.

Rebecca Buckley has set a packed calendar for those first 12 months.

“The only dark weekends will be between plays,” she said. “It will be more of the same, but with improvements. We’ll add to a good thing and make it better.”

Not only does the 2017 list include eight plays, but Buckley wrote two of them.

Music (with musical director David Manion and others), play and poetry readings and special events are to fill the theater on many “off” nights.

With the help of Giovanni Grillenzoni, owner/operator of the Harmony Café at the Pewter Plough, Buckley also plans to host nighttime classic-movie/dinner and opera/dinner events, magic and comedy nights and evening poetry and play readings, along with afternoon cooking shows, morning children’s programming and student theater activities.

She also wants to host events for the Oscar and Tony award nights, complete with red carpet and costumed attendees. Plans also include a Christmas Eve matinee, Christmas Nativity with holiday music and St. Patrick’s Day weekend festival.

Buckley also plans renovations to a building in back of the property at 824 Main St., splitting the barn in half and filling one portion with a rehearsal hall the same size as the Plough stage. That way, she said, stage sets can be built earlier and left in place to make rehearsals more effective.

Schools

Grillenzoni said he’d met recently with Victoria Schumacher, superintendent of Coast Unified School District, and they talked about how to increase student interaction with the theater. Ideas discussed ranged from special events for students to having student interns and perhaps even showing movies as fundraisers.

“We want to connect the younger generation to the playhouse and the community,” he said.

2016 plays

The current stage calendar, under the direction of the Pewter Plough Players, includes:

▪  Through Sunday, April 3: Neil Simon’s “The Dinner Party,” which Buckley proclaimed to be “really, really good.”

▪  April 29-May 29: “Moon over Buffalo.”

▪  June 17-July 17: “Red, White and Tuna.”

▪  Aug 12- Sept. 11: “The Dixie Swim Club.”

▪  Oct. 7- Nov. 6: Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons”

▪  Nov. 25- Dec. 18: holiday musical.

2017 schedule

Buckley’s tentative 2017 stage calendar includes: “Nana’s Naughty Knickers,” an Irish music show, “Educating Rita,” “Shirley Valentine,” “I’m Getting My Act Together,” “Silent Night, Lonely Night,” “Mark Twain,” Buckley’s “Opposite Ends of the Rainbow,” William Luce’s “The Last Flapper,” the holiday musical, “It’s Yankee Doodle Time,” with book by Buckley, and a New Year’s celebration in the café.

Manion’s “An Evening with Dave & Friends” in 2017 will take the stage May 7, June 17, July 22, Aug. 19 and Oct. 7.

Sales and marketing

Barbara Roche will take over the Plough’s sales and marketing in 2017. She said such an ambitious schedule “doesn’t come free,” and community members can help support the expanded offerings in various ways, from buying season tickets to sponsoring actors or musicians from out of town.

“It’s important to support the current season, too,” she said.

For details or theater reservations, call 927-3877.

For café reservations, call 924-1219.

This story was originally published March 23, 2016 at 10:37 AM with the headline "Pewter Plough plans busy 2017 season."