Lyceum Theatre offering variety of plays

ARROW ROCK — Two long-time Broadway hits, a murder mystery and an adaptation of a classic novel will be a few of the plays The Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre has planned for the upcoming season starting June 6.

Managing director Steve Bertani said he and artistic director Quin Gresham decide on the shows the Lyceum puts on each season, “It was important to do a well-known season this year because we’re trying to rebuild our audience base,” he said. “We really consider this our ‘blockbuster’ season.”

This year’s season includes “Cats,” “West Side Story,” “Big the Musical,” “Proof,” “Arsenic and Old Lace,” “Little Women,” “On Golden Pond” and “The Mousetrap.”

Bertani said pre-production meetings take place year-round, and casting takes place from late February to March. He and Gresham have already started auditioning actors at the Midwest Theater Auditions in St. Louis. Over three days, several hundred college students auditioned for 50 theater companies.

“We saw three to four hundred people in two minute increments from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.,” Gresham said. “Then we choose anyone who might fit into the season and have them sing and dance for the different shows we’re having.”

The directors will next audition actors in Columbia, Arrow Rock, Kansas City and New York City.

Gresham said more than 2,000 people have made requests for roles for the upcoming season but out of those, only 200 will be auditioned for 115 roles.

“We have a very broad range of actors,” Gresham said. “Everyone from the total novice to actors with significant Broadway credits on their resumes.”

Each play will also have one “Talk Back Series” night, during which the audience is invited to stay after the performance and discuss the play with the cast and crew.

“This is the fourth season we’ve done a Talk Back,” Gresham said. “We ask the audience to stay a little longer and they can ask the cast or some of the creative team anything they want.”

“We compare the Lyceum productions to productions at the St. Louis Repertory Theatre or the Kansas City Rep,” Bertani said. “It’s just a jewel, a hidden treasure, in Arrow Rock.”

Season tickets are available. Premium season tickets, seats guaranteed in the first five rows, are $200 per person and regular season tickets are $184 per person.

Single tickets are $30 for adults, $28 for seniors and students and $15 for children. Show times are 2 p.m. or 8 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

For more information, call (660) 837-3311.