Theaters showcase their summer works

Despite the imminent closing of the Murrells Inlet Community Theatre, playgoers still have their choice of drama, musical theater and comedy from Southport to Georgetown.

The all-volunteer theater that called the Murrells Inlet Community Center home since it debuted Neil Simon’s “Plaza Suite” in 1998, goes dark after the June world debut of Jim Rogers’ “Geriatric Monologues.”

Performances are this weekend – tonight through Sunday and June 24, 25, and 26, with the Friday and Saturday night shows at 7:30 p.m., and the Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 ($12 for groups of 15 or more) and seating is reserved. Call 843-651- 4152 for reservations.

While MICT is calling it quits, the Theatre of the Republic is going full tilt in Conway, adding five “book plays” to its usual offerings of musicals and Atlantic Stage has settled in for the long haul at Myrtle Beach Mall, and Swamp Fox Players in Georgetown has interspersed movies with its pe4ormances, Stage Left in The Market Common continues a strong run and Brunswick Little Theatre is growing up.

Among the offerings this year at TOR are : Ripcord: Friday, Sept. 9 - Sunday, Sept.18; “Twelve Angry Men,” Friday, Nov. 4 - Sunday, Nov. 13; “The Normal Heart” Friday, Janu. 6 - Sunday, Jan. 15; “The Underpants”: Friday, March 10 - Sunday, March 26 and “Clybourne Park” Friday, May 26 - Sunday, June 4.

A second change is that each of the stage plays will have its own director, a swap for McGhees, who has had his hand in the musicals that are so much a part of TOR.

His office, known as Stage Right, is full of notebooks, a horde acquired over the 16 years he’s been with the organization.

“I didn’t plan this,” he says as he lovingly looks around the office he’s inhabited for 16 years. He came to the Myrtle Beach area from Ohio, working in retail. But his real love has been theater, and when the executive director’s position opened up, he jumped at it.

“When you come into the building, you have to take something with you – something you’ve learned, something you’ve enjoyed, something that matters,” he said.

He’s done that all his life, he says, no matter what type of theater he’s been involved with.

In that way, he’s similar to Thom and Mindi Penn, the folks behind Atlantic Stage, the only professional theater in the area.

They shared space with Coastal Carolina University, but, Thom Penn said, they reached the point where he needed to strike out on his own, although he still teaches at the university’s theater department.

“I’m hopeful that our relationship will improve,” Penn said.

He said he’s hopeful that he will find a large stable of people to help expand their offering.

“There are plenty of people who are willing to work,” he said, citing Amber McCann, who with who was on the board of Atlantic Stage and with Garret McCann formed Stage Left.

Penn said one of the ways his organization differs from the other theater organizations is that they pay their actors and staff. “It’s not a living wage, but we do pay them,” he said.

He said that ultimately he is responsible for choosing the offerings for the year. “I look at the offerings and the people who work with us. It always helps when an actor or director is passionate about the offering,” he said.

For Garret McCann, the assistant artistic director and managing director at Stage Left, the work involves spending a lot of time reading plays while keeping the audience in mind.

“We look for things that have comic element, grounded in pieces that our audience will connect with a lot. A lot of tourists come see us, which appeals to a little bit of everyone, McCann said.

Penn said he would like to see some Shakespeare. “I think Shakespeare done well is wonderful. There’s a reason we’re still producing Shakespeare 400 years after he’s dead,” Penn said.

The northern end offers six plays a year, one of which is a children’s play, in Southport, just outside of Wilmington. Brunswick Little Theatre started with a group of women, sitting around and talking, explained Debbie Skillman, a board member.

Like many theater groups, the organization started with a musical, presenting “Brigadoon” as its inautrual production.

Skilloman said the organization tries to appeal to it senior citizen clientele, but also tries to be aware of what works.

“We need to be aware of our patrons, what works for them,” she said.

This story was originally published June 15, 2016 at 4:23 PM with the headline "Theaters showcase their summer works."