Members of the Black Hills State Players are finding out that summer theater means giving up a big chunk of their time off, but they wouldn't have it any other way.
"The students do everything," said Bert Juhrend, director of theater at Black Hills State University. "They build the sets, sew the costumes, act in the performances, run the performances and, because we're such a small company, they have to usher, run concessions and run the box office. They are pretty immersed in theater for an eight-week period of time. It's a great program for them."
He said as a semi-professional theater production, the students are paid. The Black Hills State Players include freshmen as well as recent graduates.
"I have one student who did graduate last year who is back. He's working on his MFA (master's in fine arts), and I have a couple other students who have graduated, so it's a pretty wide range," he said.
Juhrend has to keep his students on track to fulfill an ambitious itinerary for the school's summer theater. By the end of the summer, 15 theater students will have presented "Oklahoma!," "Deadwood Dick" and "Hello, Dolly!"
"We rehearse the first show for two weeks, and when that show opens, we rehearse the second show and perform the first show." He said the overlap is usually typical in a summer stock situation.
He said members of the theater troupe are responsible for building three different sets and creating three different sets of costumes. He said summer stock is not the same as regional or professional theater.
"But this is kind of the training ground that all actors and technicians go through. It's kind of their proving ground. If they can make it through summer stock, they can make it through anything."
He said the day begins at 9 a.m., and when they are performing, they work until 10:30 p.m.
"We take an hour off for lunch and a couple hours off for dinner. They are here seven days a week doing this. They are here all the time," he said.
Last year was the first summer theater for the school. The Black Hills State Players performed "Godspell" in Lead. This year's performances are being held on campus in Woodburn Theatre.
Mary McGillivray of Sheridan, Wyo., who will begin her senior year in the fall, has been involved with both sessions. She said working in summer theater is a lot of work at times, but she is doing exactly what she loves to do.
"When you're rehearsing and performing, you are doing multiple shows at one time," she said. "You are either rehearsing or performing, so it is a lot of work, but it's very rewarding work. It's all centered around what I love to do so it doesn't seem like work all the time."
McGillivray is a music performance major and a theater minor. She is cast as Aunt Eller in "Oklahoma!," Teetotal Tessie in "Deadwood Dick" and plays the lead - Dolly Levi - in "Hello, Dolly!"
"I've always wanted to play that role. It's a very fun role, but I am enjoying every part that I am in. There are so many fun things about each role that I have," she said.
She said the theater program at BHSU has not let her down.
"It's amazing. It's filled with so many talented people. Bert Juhrend is an amazing director. He cares about his students and cares about the people who work for him. He's a brilliant director. The concepts he comes up with and his designing for the sets are just amazing," she said.
Juhrend said BHSU has had a theater department for 34 years, and the school is trying to expand the whole program as much as possible.
"We are venturing out into some different areas, and the summer theater is one of those areas. We're also participating in what's called the American College Theater Festival, which is a nationwide festival," he said.
While "Oklahoma!" and "Hello, Dolly!" are big-production musicals, it is probably the middle performance, "Deadwood Dick," that is the most challenging from an acting perspective, he said.
"It's a wild farcical 1890s melodrama. Out of the three plays, it's probably one of the harder ones for the actors because it's three acts of nothing but dialogue," he said.
Because "Hello, Dolly!" is such a big build, having two out of the three shows basically westerns made costuming a little bit easier on the cast, Juhrend said.
Debra Iverson of Bowman, N.D., is the costume designer for "Hello, Dolly!" and the costume shop manager for "Oklahoma!" and "Deadwood Dick." She said that most people do not know how much work goes into costuming.
"So when people realize the costumes are all made, seeing their reaction is a good feeling," she said. "We make the majority of the women's costumes, and we pull or buy most of the men's, making a few pieces here and there. It's very rewarding to be able to see something in your head and then make the finished product." She said six women from the cast work in the costume shop full time this summer.
Iverson is also a chorus member for "Oklahoma!" and "Hello, Dolly!" As a sometime actor, she said creating costumes is more rewarding for her than being on stage. She is double majoring in theater for costume design and art with a minor in photography.
Jared Mcdaris said tickets are still available for the remainder of the season. "We take reservations, but the seating is general - first come, first served. It is a relatively small theater, compared to venues outside of the state for example, so you'd be hard pressed to find a bad seat per se."
Mcdaris plays Ali Hakim in "Oklahoma!," Judge Nix in "Deadwood Dick" and Horace in "Hello, Dolly!" As a recent graduate and current graduate student at Western Illinois University, he came back to help start the program. He said he is happy with the choice of plays.
"They have a lot of overriding themes. All have a light treatment of justice of the people," he said. "All are popular, fast shows, and all support ensembles, although they do have varying size parts. They give all the actors a lot of opportunity to perform. They are all crowd pleasers, with nothing heavy or philosophical about them, which is normal for summer theater."
If you go
What: Black Hills State Players summer theater
When: "Deadwood Dick" now through Aug. 3 and "Hello, Dolly!" Aug. 6-17. Performance times are at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
Where: Woodburn Theatre at BHSU in Spearfish
Tickets: $17 general admission, $14 BHSU students, faculty and staff; season tickets $42 general, $40 for BHSU students, faculty and staff; group rates $13 for 10 or more. Call the box office at 642-6171 or e-mail blackhillsstateplayers@
