Bluegrass Community Theatre celebrates 5 years

Jul. 26—In 2018, Owensboro native Grae Greer returned home for a short break from living and working in New York City.

"... I had a parent approach me at the RiverPark Center, I think during the fine arts festival, and they asked if I was going to be around for awhile because there were kids who weren't getting cast in shows and there needed to be more opportunities," Greer said. "So I said, 'Yeah, I'll stay a little bit longer.' "

Though her plan was to stay for three months before starting anew in Ohio, Greer decided not to return east after working on a touring show with Theatre Workshop of Owensboro, realizing "this is something our community needs."

Greer founded the touring company Bluegrass Community Theatre — initially called Bluegrass Children's Theatre before expanding its reach to people of all-ages shortly after — and put on productions of "Dracula," "Yellow Banks" and "Arabian Nights" during its first year.

Last week, Greer and the company celebrated its fifth birthday and announced its upcoming 2023-24 season.

"It's crazy. I did not expect it to even reach into year five, and we've gone through a lot of changes," Greer said. "... I realized we were spanning a bigger reach than just our youth in the community, so we pivoted (under the current name)."

Three shows are slated for the fifth-year anniversary: "Christmas Magic in Evergreen Village," "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" and "Senseless Senses."

Greer has been working on the script for "Christmas Magic in Evergreen Village" for about eight months.

She describes the show as a "Hallmark parody" that will include a variety of directors taking part.

"It's a vignette play, and so we're going to put out a call for directors so that we can have a different director for each scene," she said. "We have a lot of people in the community who want to try directing but are a little nervous to take on a full-length show or even a one-act; so this is a great way to get people kind of involved in the process and to learn and try their hand at it."

The production will be the only one of the three shows that will remain stationary. It will be staged in December in The Acorn Theatre inside the Humanities building at Owensboro Community & Technical College.

"The Tale of Peter Rabbit," based on Beatrix Potter's children's book of the same name, will be performed in April 2024.

"(It tells) the whole story of Peter Rabbit and how he goes into Mr. McGregor's garden," Greer said, "and it's all about listening to your grown-ups and how to stand up for yourself."

Greer said she worked on the show with TWO, which was the launching pad for deciding to do touring shows long-term.

"It (includes) all locally-written music, and we've taken the script and adjusted it to a shorter version," she said. "... It's made for younger audiences; but we have a 12-minute version for our babies and a 20-minute version for more of our older community members and older kids that we're gonna take out on the road with us."

For "Senseless Senses," which will be staged in June 2024, Greer said the five-person show was first put on by BCT in 2019 and was written by her brother, Tucker Greer.

"... It's about the five senses, and it's super high-energy, and it's really interactive," she said. "Each sense comes to life and talks to little ones about what they are and how to recognize them."

Greer said the show is made for young audience members "typically between the ages 3 to 6." The show drew a very positive response when it was performed at the Buena Vista Christian Learning Center.

"It's very cute, and it's very educational," she said.

While touring has been limited due to the coronavirus pandemic, Greer said things seem to be picking up as the company started traveling again with its "Meeting the Museum" production on Tuesday — the first time it traveled with a show since 2020.

And the company is continuing to put education and learning at the forefront.

"... (We're) putting a lot of our kids in leadership roles, (and) that's never going to go away," Greer said. "... Our whole base was (and is), 'Theatre by kids for kids' ...."

For more information, updates on auditions and show information, visit facebook.com/bluegrassctheatre.