IU moves Brown Co. Playhouse program

A little more than a year after the Little Nashville Opry concert hall burnt to the ground, the town in southern Indiana is dealing with another disappointing loss.

Students enrolled in the IU Department of Theatre and Drama will also be affected by this change. IU has ceased production on the summer theater program in the Brown County Playhouse to move it to on-campus facilities in Bloomington.

“I looked forward to the Opry every year, but that burnt down, and I can’t believe this is closing too,” Muncie resident Myra Kolacki said. “I’m shocked. The choices are definitely dwindling.”

Since Kolacki’s children live in Bloomington, she and her husband, both retired, would plan summer vacations around the Opry, because she loved country music and the Playhouse, where she saw summer performances including “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”

Now she has neither.

“Whatever they do now, the quality won’t be as great,” she said. “It’s getting sad, and there’s not a lot left down there so I’ll just find other places in Indiana to go.”

John Kinzer, director of audience development in the Department of Theatre and Drama acknowledges that the ceasing of operations in Nashville, Ind. has greatly impacted the community.

“Where one door is closed, we need to look at the one opening,” Kinzer said. “This could be very good for both Nashville and the IU campus. We want to work with people in both to create a win-win situation.”

Nashville Candy Store owner Margaret Allender doesn’t look at this as a win-win situation.

“We had extended hours until the curtain went up on Friday and Saturday to accommodate the plays,” Allender said. “We’ll miss those sales. We didn’t notice the Opry house that much, but the Playhouse will have a greater effect.”

Allender, a Nashville native, who has lived in the town for all 74 years of her life, has owned Nashville Candy since 1993. She said she remembers attending shows at the Brown County Playhouse as a child.

“It’s sad to see them take it to Bloomington, because it was unique to Nashville,” she said. “Now it’s just another event at the University.”

The decision to move the program to campus was affected by economic costs to the program, said Jonathan Michaelsen, chairman and producer of the Department of Theatre and Drama.

“It was not an easy decision, but with the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the Provost and IU Foundation, it was a group effort, and we decided it was not sustainable in terms of funding,” Michaelsen said.

It was a tough decision Michaelson said, but as department chair, he said he is alwayslooking for what’s best for his students.

“It has been a tradition to people and they have strong feelings, but when they hear the realities of where we were financially, they understand that things have to change.”

The summer program, which in the past produced four plays a season, had majority of the casts coming from IU students but also included actors from Chicago and New York. Part of the training was the opportunity to work side by side with professionals.
 
Senior Russell Stout, who is in the core ensemble cast of the theater’s fall production of “Rent,” has acted at the Playhouse for the past two summers including in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”

As a supporter for the summer program moving to on-campus facilities, Stout said he is looking forward to more contemporary plays that can challenge liberal audiences opposed to the conservative community of Nashville.

“We could never do ‘Rent’ at the Brown County Playhouse because the subject matter is too controversial,” Stout said. “During ‘Spelling Bee’ several people walked out, so if that was an issue who knows what Rent would be.”

Stout said the Wells-Metz Theatre and the Ruth N. Halls Theatre, both located in the Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center will be better theatrical spaces for shows because they have more seating and the technology is far superior than the playhouse.

“It’s a great theater tourist town with a great vibe, but I don’t know if it’s the best location to bring in an audience,” Stout said. “A lot of people didn’t see the shows because they didn’t want to go out to Brown County.”

Casey Gray, a 2002 graduate, spent the summer stage-managing “The Good Doctor.” He said he wishes other people could experience what he did during that summer because he used it as a springboard into his career.

“If you’re doing it on campus, it gives you a feel of academia, but students enjoy getting a taste of professional theater that won’t be there on campus,” Gray said.

Stout said being on campus will not stop the University from bringing in New York actors or being professional.

“It’s the program in general, not the playhouse that creates the atmosphere,” Stout said.