Courtesy of Pickerington Community Theatre
The theater, which has been in operation since 2006, is all volunteer-run and strives to pique the curiosity of all central Ohio creatives. It holds four productions every year, one per season, each appealing to audiences in a different way.
For its 2022 season, the theater put on Arsenic and Old Lace in the spring and Guys and Dolls in the summer. To round out the season, the theater presents The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee Oct. 7-9 and Oct. 14-16, and Disney Frozen Jr. Dec. 2-11, both at the Wigwam Event Center.
In August, the theater announced its upcoming 2023 season. To drum up excitement for the big reveal, the theater encouraged guests to guess what productions the 2023 lineup would include, and offered free tickets to lucky winners who guessed correctly. For the announcement, the theater held a reveal at Sycamore Creek Park, which doubled as the Board of Director elections. The event was open for anyone to attend and livestreamed on the theater’s social media platforms. After the lineup was announced, guests were invited on stage to read segments of scripts for the upcoming season.
From March 17-26, the theater will present American playwright Larry Shue’s comedy The Foreigner. The full Broadway musical version of Beauty and the Beast follows July 14-23. Oct. 6-15, the theater will bring School of Rock to the stage. Finally, the season will conclude with a holiday performance of Every Christmas Story Ever Told Dec. 1-10.
Selecting productions for each season is no easy task. To ensure the season is entertaining to a wide range of ages and interests, Chris Gallaugher, president of the Pickerington Community Theatre, alongside colleagues there, narrow down a long list of submissions to four.
“We want to have something that’s for a more adult audience, we want to have a show that’s for all ages,” Gallaugher says. “We want to make sure that we’re doing something that touches all aspects of the theater community. We want a good solid mix for entertainment purposes and for involvement purposes.”
Gallaugher, who directed the 2022 spring production Guys and Dolls, will also direct the Beauty and the Beast performance in July 2023. Directing the Disney musical and watching all of the many moving parts come together to form a production is what he looks forward to most in the upcoming season.
“As a director, you tend to be a ringmaster,” he says. “Fortunately, I have a lot of help. … We’ve got people to work very hard on the costuming and choreography and the sets, which will be another challenge for the Beast. It’s just an extraordinary amount of people, extraordinary amount of work, to make it feel legitimate and to make it something that we can be proud of.”
With its diverse array of performances, Gallaugher says the audience can expect an enjoyable viewing experience, no matter which show they choose to attend in the 2023 season.
“You get a lot of different types of entertainment, so I think our slate for next year is going to be a little bit of something for everybody,” Gallaugher says. “It’s something that I think will appeal to a very wide range, even for people who aren’t theater people.”
Lauren Serge is an editorial assistant for CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
