by Kelly Rogge
Kansas City Kansas Community College Theatre Department students Kenan Meadows and Christopher Miller will be spending their summer working as members of the Black Hills Playhouse, a professional summer theatre company.
The Playhouse, located inside of Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota, was started in 1946 and is affiliated with the University of South Dakota. The mission of the BHP is to “enhance and inspire lives through professional theatre and learning experiences based in the Black Hills.”
Meadows and Miller will be employed as both actors and technicians for the entire Playhouse season from late May to late August. The Playhouse season includes “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “She Loves Me,” “Shrek: the Musical” and “Moonlight and Magnolias.”
“This is a wonderful opportunity for Kenan and Chris,” said KCKCC Theatre Department coordinator Charles Leader. “The Playhouse auditions people all over the United States, but they only pick 20 to use in their season. It is also a nice credit to the training they receive here at the college. Jason Reuter, the technical director and Dan Workman, the artistic director, were both impressed with the caliber of our students.”
The summer begins for both Meadows and Miller at the end of the spring 2015 semester as they will begin working on the first show upon their arrival in South Dakota. When they are not on stage rehearsing, they will be in the scene shop helping build the set. After the first show opens, work begins on the second. When the first play closes, the second one opens and so on until the final show opens in mid-August.
Leader will join Meadows and Miller in July when he begins rehearsals as the director for “Moonlight and Magnolias.”
“It will be fun to be working with them in such a wonderful environment,” he said. “I think they are going to really enjoy themselves. They will be working with theatre professionals and students from around the country.”
Kelly Rogge is the public information supervisor at Kansas City Kansas Community College.