KELLAMS: Let's go the other way on Ozarks at Large. I'm Kyle Kellams. On the phone with me from Bella Vista is Becca Martin Brown. Becca, welcome back.
BROWN: Thank you. This really is another way because I should have been going this way a long time and didn't. Joplin Little Theater. It may sound like a drive, unless you live on the far north end of Benton County.
KELLAMS: Exactly. It's not that far.
BROWN: Joplin just around the corner. And they have a theater company that's been in business for 85 years. So we're going to talk today to Marilyn Bouldin, who is directing the season opener for their fall season, Grease.
KELLAMS: Okay, well, let's give Marilyn a call. And I have dialed correctly. We've reached Marilyn with Joplin Little Theater. Marilyn, how are you doing?
BOULDIN: Doing great, thanks. How are you?
KELLAMS: Very good.
BROWN: First, I want to ask you, Marilyn, I feel like Joplin Little Theater is this best-kept secret to Northwest Arkansans. How long has Joplin Little Theater existed?
BOULDIN: Oh my goodness. I believe it was 1939 when it first started becoming what it is today in Joplin. The Park Playhouse is what it was originally. So quite some time ago.
BROWN: And you've got a huge troupe of folks. You do how many shows a year?
BOULDIN: We do five shows per season. And then we have a summer workshop where the kids do a show for each week of that workshop.
KELLAMS: And the season is going to open soon with Grease, correct?
BOULDIN: Yes. Grease opens on the 24th.
KELLAMS: So that's a musical, which I think always ups the difficulty level for any theater group. How's it going with getting ready for Grease?
BOULDIN: It's going quite well, thanks for asking. The cast has been coming along extremely well. They're excited. They have a lot of energy. They've even been bonding with each other and going out and doing karaoke. So rehearsals are really fun, especially since they like to work on their music and their lines outside of rehearsals, which is always a huge plus for the production. But yeah, everybody's doing really well. They've got their choreography, they've got their lines, they're sharpening it up now.
BROWN:: But there's going to be something really different about this production.Bad news and good news. You're going to be at MSU’s Taylor Auditorium.
BOULDIN: Correct. I believe it was in the spring, late spring after our last production of last season. We noticed that there was a crack in a beam in the ceiling inside the house of Joplin Little Theater. And upon further inspection, we realized that it was a little more involved than what we originally thought. By the time we found that out, we had already had Grease auditions. So we thought that everything would be able to be repaired in a timely fashion so that we could go ahead and have the production there at JLT.
We were just a couple of weeks into rehearsals when we realized after a couple of contractors took a look at it, that it's going to be a lot more involved and there's a lot more to be done than what we originally thought, unfortunately. So we talked with MSU, and they were kind enough to let us use Taylor Auditorium.
KELLAMS: Show must go on.
BOULDIN: That is the tagline for this production: “Show must go on.” And this cast has been incredible about making the switch from originally having auditions at the Cornell Complex through Connect2Culture. They made that happen for us. They let us use their space for auditions. So, we had auditions there, then we had our first two weeks of rehearsal back at JLT on stage. And then we had to move to a rehearsal space up above Taylor Auditorium for the majority of rehearsals. And then about a week ago, we finally got to move into Taylor Auditorium.
So this cast has rehearsed in three different spaces. And they have come along with that and worked with that and been able to sort of gel with all the different spaces and the different lighting and everything being different. They have come together and really worked hard to acclimate into each space.
BROWN: And I hate that you had to move because your home theater is the coziest, friendliest, most welcoming little facility. But you're going from 240 seats to how many?
BOULDIN: Well, we specifically are keeping the seating at 300 for each production. For licensing reasons, we have to give a specific amount of seats for each show for each production that we do of Grease. So even though Taylor Auditorium seats a lot of people, there will be a curtain kind of halfway up into Taylor Auditorium, and that will be closed. So, we will be using the bottom section of Taylor Auditorium, which seats a lot of people, but we are limited to 300 seats per performance.
BROWN: But you still can sell 60 more seats.
BOULDIN: Oh, yeah. And we're gonna.
KELLAMS: Where can people find out more or get tickets?
BOULDIN: Tickets are available either by calling our box office from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday, or by going to https://joplinlittletheatre.org/, or by going to our Facebook page. There's a link there for ShowClix.
KELLAMS: You mentioned that Joplin Little Theater began and has been doing productions since 1939. Is it true that Joplin Little Theater is the oldest community theater in operation west of the Mississippi? Is that true?
BOULDIN: Yes.
KELLAMS: That's quite impressive.
BOULDIN: Yeah, it's great. I mean, the productions that have been done here have been consistent with quality and have also spanned through regardless of what was happening in the area or in the country. Joplin Little Theater has consistently stayed open and kept running. We haven't had times where we've just completely shut down.
KELLAMS: I can't wait to see how this 86th season goes. Marilyn Bouldin, thank you so much for your time.
BOULDIN: Oh absolutely. My pleasure,
KELLAMS: Becca. Always great to be with you.
BROWN: Thank you, Kyle.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
