Mark your calendars! Live theater, gallery shows back in Beaufort County
Here’s an invitation to rediscover the joy of theater!
Finally there is renewed hope at the return to a familiar way in which we enjoy, absorb, delight, savor and revel in all of the cultural arts.
We remember the manner in which we anticipated them before this traumatic pandemic.
But now, some 16 months later, we in the Lowcountry find that we are actually being offered the opportunity to experience a production live, tour a gallery or attend a lecture in person!
I’m happy to offer a list of several cultural opportunities in the performing and visual arts.
“Mamma Mia”
This is that magical musical we’ve loved since we first saw British writer Catherine Johnson’s amazing tale unfold. It was 2000 when I saw “Mamma Mia” on Broadway. Honestly, I enjoy every performance. It simply wears well!
Our Arts Center production has a phenomenal cast and is directed by the charismatic Casey Colgan. What a perfect new beginning for our Arts Center theater season! You remember the storyline: Just before her wedding day, a daughter, determined to discover her father’s identity, invites three men from her mother’s past to her wedding. Of course, the amazing ABBA songs we love energize this incredible evening.
Arts Center of Coastal Carolina, 14 Shelter Cove Lane, Hilton Head; June 23 through Aug. 22; tickets $46-$56 adults and $33-$43 children; artshhi.com or 843-842-2278
“Hello Dolly!”
The Southeastern Summer Theatre Institute returns to Hilton Head with the classic musical “Hello Dolly!” This high-energy Broadway hit is chock full of humor, romance and favorite songs. “The special moment will not be lost on anyone when the chorus sings: ‘It’s so nice to have you back where you belong!’” said SSTI founder and producer Benjamin Wolfe.
Southeastern Summer Theatre Institute, Seahawk Cultural Center at Hilton Head Island High, 26 School Road, Hilton Head; 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 1 p.m. Sundays June 25 through July 4; tickets sold in pairs for $60-70; HHISummerMusicals.com or 866-749-2228
Lean Ensemble season
Lean Ensemble announced its 2021-22 season:
Oct. 21-31: “The Thanksgiving Play
Good intentions collide with absurd assumptions in Larissa Fasthorse’s wickedly funny satire, as a troupe of terminally “woke” teaching artists scrambles to create a pageant that manages to celebrate both Turkey Day and Native American Heritage Month.
Dec. 9-19: “Art”
One of Marc’s best friends has just bought a very expensive painting. To Marc, the painting is a joke, but Serge insists Marc doesn’t have the proper standard to judge the work. Another friend, Ivan, allows himself to be pulled into this disagreement. Lines are drawn and these old friends square off over the canvas.
Jan. 20-30: “Other Desert Cities”
Brooke Wyeth returns home to Palm Springs after a six-year absence to celebrate Christmas. Then she announces that she is about to publish a memoir dredging up a pivotal and tragic event in her family’s history.
March 17-27: “Mitchelville”
When a young man tries to save his Gullah family home, he dives into his family history, the Civil War and the first town of Black freedmen in America. “Mitchelville” is a story about learning from the past, saving for the future and keeping a tradition going.
April 21-May 1: ‘’Death of a Streetcar Named Virginia Woolf: A Parody”
This hilarious result of collaboration between Writers Theatre and Chicago’s world-renowned The Second City asks the intriguing question: What happens when recognizable characters from great American plays suddenly find themselves sharing the same stage?
Lean Ensemble, 3000 Main St., Hilton Head; leanensemble.org or 843-715-6676
Coastal Stage Productions farewell
Luke Cleveland and Rodney Vaughn of Coastal Stage Productions issued a beautiful thank you letter to those who supported their six seasons in Port Royal: “We have been blessed with a new opportunity to relocate near family and become part of a vibrant arts community in N.C. Although our hearts are heavy with the prospect of finishing something that has been such a wonderful fixture in our lives and in the community, we hope to be able to make an equally meaningful impact on the local community where we are moving. From the bottom of our hearts, we would like to thank each and everyone of you for all of the love, sweat and tears you gave to CSP.”
“Seussical”
This musical comedy is based on the many children’s stories of Dr. Seuss, with most of the plot based on “Horton Hears a Who!” and “Horton Hatches the Egg.” The Main Stage Community Theatre production is directed by Joshua Wall, with musical direction by Melinda B. Bray and choreographed by Dawn Rosa Miller.
Hilton Head Preparatory School Main Street Theatre, 3000 Main St., Hilton Head; 7 p.m. June 24, 25, 26 and July 1, 2 plus 2 p.m. June 27 and July 3; tickets $25 adults, $15 students and $5 children under 8; mainstagecommunitytheatre.org or 843-689-6246
Art League Gallery
John Gregor’s collection of paintings is featured along with the works of member artists, and they fill to the brim the gallery of the Art League of Hilton Head through June 26.
The exhibit explodes and bursts with saturated color. That said, you must also look forward to his softer, even diffused works in landscape, waterscape, still life and animals. Gregor’s collection, “Out of My Head,” relates to his particular goals of highlighting beauty and provoking thought.
An engineer who called the Northwest his home for more than 15 years, he began to think about capturing the precision of a screwdriver collection or the creative energy which comes through his surroundings, by way of a visit to Pike Place Market. He’s now a full-time resident of Beaufort.
A “Meet the Artist” gathering is 1 p.m. June 22. It’s free and open to the public, but RSVP is necessary for all events at gallery@artleaguehhi.org.
Arts Center of Coastal Carolina, 14 Shelter Cove Lane, Hilton Head; gallery hours 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. Sunday and 90 minutes before every Arts Center performance; artleaguehhi.org or 843-681-5060
La Petite Gallerie
On a surprisingly steamy Sunday, I ventured in to view the work of Rose Cofield and other gallery artists who exhibit at La Petite Gallerie. Their impressive work is carefully in place inside the smallish Old Town Bluffton gallery.
I had particularly determined to see the recent two-dimensional paintings of Cofield, whose sculptural, three-dimensional work I have admired over the years. But be prepared when I tell you that she is fully and newly directed to two-dimensional mixed media.
“I enjoy the immediacy of the two-dimensional work compared to sculpture … which requires extensive planning,” she said. “I find working in collage with paints, canvas and found materials to be quite liberating.”
Cofield was born in Brooklyn, New York, and credits her architectural images to that urban environment. She studied sculpture at New York University and apprenticed at the Johnson Atelier Technical Institute of Sculpture. She also studied stone carving in Carrara, Italy.
La Petite Gallerie, 56 Calhoun St., Bluffton; 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday or noon to 5 p.m. Sunday and Monday; lapetitegallerie.com
Art League Academy
This summer, the Art League Academy will showcase the bold contemporary works of local artists Amiri Farris and Abraham Brown.
Farris’ series “Popqop” is influenced by pop art. The work is a collection of vivid, graphic compositions in both paint and non-traditional medium, harkening to his background in illustration and graphic design. Farris’ work is in private collections around the world. He has taught at Georgia Southern and Savannah State and is currently a professor at SCAD.
Abraham Brown’s series “Exploration” features highly detailed mixed-media work that is often spiritually expressive and always imaginative. Brown, a retired Marine with an arts degree from SCAD, references his memories in the creation of narrative art.
“I start with an idea, and as that idea begins to play out on the canvas, each piece becomes a story,” he said.
Art League Academy, 106 Cordillo Parkway, Hilton Head; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays through July 30; artleaguehhi.org/academy or 843-842-5738
This story was originally published June 17, 2021 at 10:50 AM.