January 30 & 31 Workshop & February 1 Showcase at 7pm
Duration
Approx. 120 Minutes
Tickets
Free event
Learn the craft of writing for the stage and come see a showcase of local authors
Have you always wanted to write a stageplay, to have it performed in front of an audience? Well, for a group of aspiring writers they got there chance on January 30 – February 1. There were two days of workshops with published author Derek Olson, whose scripts have been performed in Belle Fourche, Lead and as far away as England. The workshops focused on storytelling for the stage, basic mechanics of stage plays, correct formatting, and more. Authors got specific critiques on their scripts.
On February 1 there was a public showcase of their scripts. BFACT actors read cuttings from each show to a public audience. This free event was a huge success and hopefully the start of many more workshops to come.
By Derek Olson Adapted from the William Castle film
Venue
BF Rec Center
Dates
October 20 & 21 at 7pm | October 22 at 3pm
Duration
Approx. 100 Minutes (Incl 15 min intermission)
A horror classic reimagined for the stage
The 2023 Season wrapped up with the b-movie horror classic adapted for the stage, House on Haunted Hill. The original movie by William Castle starring Vincent Price has spooked and delighted audiences since 1959. Even if you’ve seen the original, this adaption has some shocking twists of its own in keeping with the spirit of the original.
THERE WILL BE FOOD AND DRINK AND GHOSTS AND PERHAPS EVEN A FEW MURDERS. YOU’RE ALL INVITED. IF ANY OF YOU WILL SPEND THE NEXT TWELVE HOURS IN THIS HOUSE I WILL GIVE YOU EACH $10,000 DOLLARS.
Frederick Loren
If you can stay the whole night at the only truly haunted house in the world, millionaire Frederick Loren will give you $10,000. That’s what kicks off the story of House on Haunted Hill. There the guests will have to survive their host, each other and maybe even the ghosts who inhabit the house.
This cheesy, spooky stage play delighted audiences in October 2023.
Frederick Loren (Derek Olson) and Annabelle Loren (Heather Pittman) celebrate their party in their own way
Getting Our Acts Together: A Night of Northern Hills One-Acts
Venue
BF Rec Center Audiorium
Dates
August 26 at 7pm
Duration
Approx. 100 Minutes (Incl 2 10 min intermissions)
A NIGHT OF ONE-ACTS BY THREE LOCAL THEATERS
We had so much fun last year, we just had to do it again! Getting Our Acts Together consists of three one-acts: one by the Historic Homestake Opera House from Lead; one by the Matthews Opera House in Spearfish; one by Belle Fourche Area Community Theater. Each night will be held in a different location, so each theater group gets a chance to perform in a new space and give that community a chance to see a show by other local theater groups. This will be a one of a kind show so make sure to be there, you will have three opportunities in three different communities to catch it.
My sister moved out all of a sudden. And now here I am living with two strangers. At least you’ve got someone you know. I’m all by myself.
Eric
Belle Fourche Area Community Theater’s Show Couch Potato by Patrick Gabridge
Belle Fourche Area Community Theater’s contribution to the night of one-acts is Couch Potato by Patrick Gabridge. Couch Potato tells the story of Eric, the ultimate slacker, but his goal of remaining motionless in front of the TV is in serious jeopardy. His sister and fiancé move out and leave him behind in the apartment, and the two newlyweds moving in aren’t keen to share their space with a complete stranger. Can Eric use his wits to stay rooted, or is he about to be yanked from his chosen resting place? A fast-paced comedy of inertia.
The Matthews Opera House & Arts Center’s Show Talent Show Fail by Ian McWethy & Carrie McCrossen
The town of Holly Springs has terrible roads, and the citizens are counting on the money raised from this year’s talent show to fix them. Unfortunately, the one guy who has a talent wants to do taxes onstage this year. As the host, Tina is determined the show must go on, even as duets are being hastily converted to solos, angsty teens are reading upsetting poetry and everyone’s being hounded by a heckler. Will the town of Holly Springs get their act together or are they doomed to a future of potholes and unrehearsed roller-skating?
Historic Homestake Opera House’s Show Superhero Sanitarium by Scott Haan
Lois Lancaster is a big-city journalist writing about the current state of mental health facilities. Her research takes her to a hospital populated with a unique group of quirky inmates who imagine they are crime-fighting superheroes. Speed Freak thinks he can run at incredible speeds, while enthusiastic Dim Bulb thinks he has the ability to turn off lights with his brain. Mental thinks she can read minds, despite being prone to sudden outbursts of bizarre non-sequiturs. Kevin, much less quirky and flamboyant than the other inmates, doesn’t embarrass himself with a ridiculous code name or costume…at least, not initially. Dr. Gail Eisner appears to be a kindly hospital administrator, a steady influence needed to effectively run a madhouse like this one. At first Lois finds their elaborate superhero fantasies to be an entertaining diversion, the wild delusions of unstable minds, until something unusual happens that makes her wonder.
Getting Our Acts Together: A Night of Northern Hills One-Acts Cast
Lucy
Rachel Munce
Eric
Stephanie Bussiere
Tom
Gideon Gilger
Nancy
Isabella Dietrich
Dan
Tyler Schone
Getting Our Acts Together: A Night of Northern Hills One-Acts Creative
Director
Allie Juso Verry
Assistant Director
Tyler Schone
Stage Manager
Tace Hartman
Producer
Derek Olson
Lights
Zachary Gerbracht
Getting Our Acts Together: A Night of Northern Hills One-Acts Credits
Produced by special arrangement with Playscripts, Inc. (www.playscripts.com)
Book by Chris D’Arienzo Arrangements & Orchestrations by Ethan Popp
Venue
BF Rec Center Auditorium
Dates
July 27 – 29 at 7pm | July 30 at 3pm
Duration
Approx. 145 Minutes (incl 15 min intermission)
Content Warning
Adult language and some sexual situations
BIG HAIR AND BIGGER MUSIC
Rock of Ages by Chris D’Arienzo takes you back to the time of big bands with big egos playing big guitar solos and sporting even bigger hair! This Tony Award-nominated Broadway musical features the hits of bands including Night Ranger, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister and more.
It’s the tail end of the big, bad 1980s in Hollywood, and the party has been raging hard. Aqua Net, Lycra, lace, and liquor flow freely at one of the Sunset Strips last legendary venues, a place where sex machine Stacee Jaxx takes the stage and scantily clad groupies line up to turn their fantasies into reality. Amidst the madness, aspiring rock star (and resident toilet cleaner) Drew longs to take the stage as the next big thing (and longs for small-town girl Sherri, fresh off the bus from Kansas with stars in her eyes). But the rock ‘n’ roll fairy tale is about to end when German developers sweep into town with plans to turn the fabled Strip into just another capitalist strip mall. Can Drew, Sherri and the gang save the strip – and themselves – before it’s too late? This Tony Award-nominated Broadway musical features the hits of bands including Night Ranger, REO Speedwagon, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister and more.
YEAH! ! WHAT’S GOING DOWN, Belle Fourche, Nunchucks. Go ahead, say hello to the person next to you! NO! Not the person you came with, the other person next to you! The one you don’t know yet…the one you’re going to be making out with by the end of the show!!
Lonny Barnett
The cast and crew of “Rock of Ages”
Rock of Ages Cast
Lonny
Nathan Schreier
Dennis Dupress
Paul Wishard
Drew
Derek Flick
Sherrie
Maegan Detlefts
Father
Jonathan Tinsley
Mother
Becky Tinsley
Regina
Kaitlynn Thompson
Justice
Anna Robinson
Mayor
Clark Ott
Hertz Klinemann
Nathan Thompson
Franz Klinemann
Stephanie Bussiere
Stacee Jaxx
Jerry Kennedy
Ja’Keith
Chyann Cody
Joey Primo
Whitney Bridgers
Venus DJ/Rocker
Michael Meemken
Producer
Joel Edgar
Mugger/Riot Cop
Carston Sechser
Waitress #1
Hilary White
Constance
Heather Pittman
Protestor #1
Timothy Thompson
Protestor #2
Nyomi Woltkamp
Protestor #3
Brodie McNeese
Woman
Pasiensia Lockman
Bartender
Becca Lee
Guitarist
Cheyenne Pitt
Lead Guitarist
Taffy Anderson
Chorus
Stacy Collins
Rock of Ages Creative
Director/Sound
Derek Olson
Assistant Director
Toi Lyn Flick
Musical Director
Sharon Thompson
Lights
Arianna Richter & Maddie Baldwin
Producer
Derek Olson
Costume Work
Thebea Thomas
Set Building & Scene Painting
Shawn Collins & Chris White
Choreography
Sharon Thompson, Kaitlynn Thompson, Toi Lyn Flick & Taffy Anderson
By Kate Hamill Adapted from the novel by Jane Austen
Venue
BF Rec Center Auditorium
Dates
May 12 & 13 at 7pm | May 14 at 3pm
Duration
Approx. 2 Hours (Incl 15 min Intermission)
This isn’t your Grandmother’s Austen!
Bold, surprising, boisterous, and timely, this P&P for a new era explores the absurdities and thrills of finding your perfect (or imperfect) match in life. The outspoken Lizzy Bennet is determined to never marry, despite mounting pressure from society. But can she resist love, especially when that vaguely handsome, mildly amusing, and impossibly aggravating Mr. Darcy keeps popping up at every turn?! Literature’s greatest tale of latent love has never felt so theatrical, or so full of life than it does in this effervescent adaptation. Because what turns us into greater fools…than the high-stakes game of love?
Hamill…has a gift for condensing three-volume novels into galloping two-act plays. Her screwball PRIDE AND PREJUDICE…is as frolicsome as her earlier efforts. It hasn’t met a rib it can’t tickle.
NY Times
Mr. Bennett (Blaine Anderson) and Mrs. Bennett (Sharon Thompson) don’t know what to do with their girls.
World premiere production co-produced by Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival and Primary Stages; June 24, 2017, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival (Davis McCallum, Artistic Director; Kate Liberman, Managing Director) November 19, 2017, Primary Stages (Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director; Shane D. Hudson, Executive Director) PRIDE AND PREJUDICE received a presentation as part of The Other Season at Seattle Repertory Theatre 2016-2017.
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE is presented by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing, LLC, servicing the Dramatists Play Service collection. (www.dramatists.com)
A Christmas Carol, is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. A Christmas Carol recounts the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. After their visits, Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man.
This show was a part of a large town-wide Christmas season, A Dickens of a Christmas. Belle Fourchians enjoyed the holiday season hometown style. Our historic downtown brought the spirit of the season straight from a storybook. Our town was full of holiday activities and twinkle!
Spies, murder, love, and other trademarks of Alfred Hitchcock come to life in the style of a 1940s radio broadcast of the master of suspense’s earlier films. With The Lodger, Sabotage and The 39 Steps, Vintage Hitchcock: A Live Radio Play is a triple feature, complete with vintage commercials, that recreates a daring train chase, a serial killer’s ominous presence, and a devastating explosion through the magic of live sound effects. This was the first time Belle Fourche Area Community Theater put on a live radio play and it was at the perfect place, Venue 519 in Belle Fourche.
ROBERT, HOW ABOUT THIS AVENGER PERSON. YOU KNOW, HE COULDBE THE PERSON STANDING NEXT TO YOU OR MAYBE THE MAN YOU BUMPINTO. IT’S A TERRIBLE THOUGHT.
Ellen, The Lodger
The cast of “Vintage Hitchcock: A Live Radio Play” practices before the big night
Vintage Hitchcock: A Live Radio Play Cast
Announcer
Heather Pittman
The Lodger
Ellen
Sharon Thompson
Robert
Blaine Anderson
Sleuth
Nathan Thompson
Daisey
Kelsey Gronlund
Newsboy
Katie Anderson
Coroner
Sheila West
Mr. Cannot
Roger O’Dea
Ticket Seller
Colleen Anderson
Woman
Katie Anderson
Sabotage
Power Plant Phone #1
Sheila West
Power Plant Phone #2
Colleen Anderson
Power Plant Man #1
Blaine Anderson
Power Plant Man #2
Nathan Thompson
Winnie
Sharon Thompson
Patron #1
Nathan Thompson
Patron #2
Sheila West
Patron #3
Blaine Anderson
Ted
Colleen Anderson
Renee
Kelsey Gronlund
Verloc
Roger O’Dea
Mrs. Jones
Sheila West
Stevie
Katie Anderson
Ted’s Boss
Nathan Thompson
Talbot
Sheila West
Vladmir
Blaine Anderson
Waiter
Sheila West
The Professor
Nathan Thompson
Unsatisfied Customer
Kelsey Gronlund
Man in Crowd
Blaine Anderson
Officer
Sheila West
Bus Driver
Kelsey Gronlund
Woman on Bus
Sheila West
Man on Bus
Nathan Thompson
Newsboy
Katie Anderson
Hoolingshead
Blaine Anderson
The 39 Steps
Manager
Blaine Anderson
Mr. Memory
Roger O’Dea
Woman
Sheila West
Man #1
Katie Anderson
Hannay
Nathan Thompson
Man #2
Colleen Anderson
Annabella
Sharon Thompson
Conductor
Blaine Anderson
Ticketer
Colleen Anderson
Man #1
Roger O’Dea
Girl
Katie Anderson
Man #2
Blaine Anderson
Pamela
Kelsey Gronlund
Police #1
Katie Anderson
Police #2
Colleen Anderson
Newsboy
Katie Anderson
Driver
Colleen Anderson
George
Blaine Anderson
Professor
Sheila West
Joe
Roger O’Dea
Alfred
Blaine Anderson
Innkeeper
Colleen Anderson
Waitress
Colleen Anderson
Usherette
Sheila West
Detective
Katie Anderson
Doctor
Sharon Thompson
Vintage Hitchcock: A Live Radio Play Creative
Director
Heather Pittman
Assistant Director
Derek Olson
Producer
Derek Olson
Sound
Jessie Johnson
Vintage Hitchcock: A Live Radio Play Credits
Produced by special arrangement with Playscripts, Inc. (www.playscripts.com)
Getting Our Acts Together: A Night of Northern Hills One-Acts
Venue
BF Rec Center Auditorium
Dates
October 15 at 7pm
Duration
Approx. 2 Hours (Incl 2 10 min intermissions)
FOR THE FIRST TIME A NIGHT OF ONE-ACTS BY LOCAL THEATERS
Getting Our Acts Together was something brand-new for Belle Fourche Area Community Theater and the Northern Hills theater community. This show consisted of three one-acts: one by the Historic Homestake Opera House from Lead; one by the Matthews Opera House in Spearfish; one by Belle Fourche Area Community Theater. Each night was held in a different location, so each theater group could get a chance to perform in a new space and give that community a chance to see a show by other local theater groups. This was a one of a kind show so everyone who made it had a great time!
I don’t have any reason to lie, so yeah. She’s is a cop on the edge trying to take down a corrupt businessman with ties to the city. I mean Hillary Swank would have killed this role like 15 years ago.
Vendor, “Endings are Hard”
Belle Fourche Area Community Theater’s Show Endings Are Hard by Derek Olson
Creating the perfect ending to a script is easier said than done, just ask the characters of a hard-boiled detective drama who have to keep reliving the same ending over and over until it is perfect, no matter how many twists and turns that might take. The characters themselves even have some pitches on how to make it the best ending it can be, much to the chagrin of the writer.
Historic Homestake Opera House’s Show Any Body for Tea? by C.B. Gilfrod
Detective Dennis O’Finn, investigating the death of an elderly lady, discovers that he, himself, is the motive for murder. Six sweet but slightly balmy ladies are all in love with their bachelor neighbor, the handsome, forty-ish, O’Finn. To lure him to visit, they stage a homicide.
The Matthews Opera House & Arts Center’s Show Laundry & Bourbon by Jame McLure
The setting is the front porch of Roy and Elizabeth’s home in Maynard, Texas, on a hot summer afternoon. Elizabeth and her friend Hattie and Amy Lee are whiling away the time folding laundry, watching TV, sipping bourbon and Coke, and gossiping about the many open secrets which are so much a part of small-town life.
Charlene (Heather Pittman) and her companions Teddy (Derek Olson) and Nathan (Nathan Schreier) confront the evil Vivienne (Alaethia Thompson) and her henchman Andi (Ranchel Munce) in Endings Are Hard
An all-time theater classic came to the Belle Fourche Stage
You Can’t Take It With You opened in New York in December of 1936 to instant critical and popular acclaim. This depiction of a delightfully eccentric family, the third collaboration by playwrights George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, proved to be their most successful and and longest-running work. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1936, the comedy went on to run 837 performances on Broadway and the 1938 film won an Academy Award for best picture. Perenially appealing to audiences, You Can’t Take It With You has become an American classic, regularly produced by high schools, colleges, and community theaters around the country.
You Can’t Take It With You relates the humorous encounter between a conservative family and the crazy household of Grandpa Martin Vanderhof. Grandpa’s family of idiosyncratic individualists amuse with their energetic physical antics and inspire with their wholehearted pursuit of happiness. Kaufman and Hart fill the stage with chaotic activity from beginning to end. Critics have admired the witty one-liners, the visual theatricalism, and the balanced construction of the play’s three acts.
A MAN CAN’T GIVE UP HIS BUSINESS.
WHY NOT? YOU’VE GOT ALL THE MONEY YOU NEED. YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU.
MR. KIRBY SPEAKING TO GRANDPA
The Sycamore and Kirby Family plus all the other crazy characters from You Can’t Take It With You
You Can’t Take It With You Cast
Penelope Sycamore
Sharon Thompson
Essie
Lucy Cole
Rheba
Kelsey Gronlund
Paul Sycamore
Heather Pittman
Mr. De Pinna
Debbie Minter
Ed
Carston Sechser
Donald
Jonathan Tinsley
M. Vanderhoff
Toi Lyn Flick
Alice
Emma Tinsley
Henderson/Man #1
Nathan Schreier
Tony Kirby
Derek Flick
Boris Kolenkhov
Sentel Schreier
Gay Wellington
Angela Hastings
Mr. Kirby
Derek Olson
Mrs. Kirby
Allie Juso Verry
Man #2
Matt Pittman
The Grand Duchess Olga/Man #3
Chyann Cody
You Can’t Take It With You Creative
Director
Nathan Schreier
Assistant Director
Allie Juso Verry
Lights & Sound
Aria Olson
Producer
Derek Olson
Props Master
Becky Tinsley
Assistant Props Master
Angela Hastings
Costumer
Reva Potter
You Can’t Take It With You Credits
You Can’t Take It With You is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals. www.concordtheatricals.com
BFACT’s children’s show of 2022 Don Q and His Squire Sancho by Dick Caram is a retelling of the classic tale of Don Quixote. Miguel de Cervantes’s famed tale of the eccentric knight and his inept but trusting squire. Alonso Quixano is obsessed with tales of chivalry. So much so that he believes himself to be a knight – Don Quixote – and he sets out to seek adventure, with a peasant farmer, Sancho Panza, as his squire.
Even with a huge storm, the excitement of the cast couldn’t be dampened and they put on a heck of a performance, much to the delight of the enthusiastic crowd.
Only heaven knows how much harm my craziness has caused. But Sancho was my greatest fear. He believed as much as I did – and Sancho is not crazy.
South Dakota Arts Council support is provided with funds from the State of South Dakota, through the Department of Tourism, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
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