Is He Dead?

A New Comedy by Mark Twain as adapted by David Ives

Venue

BF Rec Center Auditorium
Dates

August 6 & 7 at 7pm, August 8 at 2:30pm
Duration

Approx. 120 Minutes (Incl 15 Min Intermission)

About the Show

Jean-Francois Millet, a young painter of genius, is in love with Marie Leroux but in debt to a villainous picture-dealer, Bastien Andre. Andre forecloses on Millet, threatening debtor’s prison unless Marie marries him. Millet realizes that the only way he can pay his debts and keep Marie from marrying Andre is to die, as it is only dead painters who achieve fame and fortune. Millet fakes his death and prospers, all while passing himself off as his own sister, the Widow Tillou. Now a rich “widow,” he must find a way to get out of a dress, return to life, and marry Marie.

Shriekingly funny — I don’t know when I’ve heard a New York audience laugh louder or longer.

Terry Teachout, The Wall Street Journal

BFACT’s first production!

This is where it all started! In 2009 a group of dedicated people came together because there was a need for community theater in Belle Fourche. They approached the Belle Fourche Arts Council and a partnership was formed and Belle Fourche Community Theater was formed, it was named this until we became a non-profit in 2019 and became Belle Fourche Area Community Theater. It took some time to get everything in place for our first show and in 2010 Is He Dead? was performed on the Belle Fourche Rec Center stage, the first community theater production in at least 60 years.

With a lot of hope and dedication, the show made it across the finish line and when opening night came all the cast and crew could do was hold their breath, hoping people cared and would come. Come they did, the show was a huge hit and people kept asking, when was the next show going to be! Is He Dead? laid the foundation for everything that came after it, its success is what allowed community theater to continue and to grow and become what it is today.