It is so good to be back on the main stage at HLT after four years in Germany. I am especially happy to bring Dirty Rotten Scoundrels to HLT. This is a show I fell in love with over a decade ago, but after the economic recession of 2008, we didn’t think this show could be done well without spending a fortune on the set and costumes. After all, this show is set on the French Riviera, and that’s about as glitzy as it gets. So, I resigned myself to having to wait to do this show.
I only had to wait until we moved to Germany in 2014 and Pete began running a performing arts theatre on an Army base in Bavaria. Scoundrels was the second show I directed there, on a stage only a little over half the size of HLT’s and with absolutely no wing space. Pete and I figured out all kinds of ways to make things work within our boundaries and under pretty tight financial constraints. And it was a really great show, winning multiple TOPPER awards in the military’s Europe wide theatrical competition. I learned a lot doing that show, and when we came back to HLT, I was ready to bring what I’d learned with me.
One of the main lessons I (re)learned is that, in community theater, what is most important is that everyone has fun, both on stage and in the audience. As a cast and crew, we have worked hard on DRS, but we have had a lot of fun, and I hope you will too, watching this show that is at times elegant, at times silly, but always fun!
I must give thanks to a wonderful cast, many of whom have never been on stage at HLT before. They have worked hard learning lines, music and choreography, and I am proud of every one of them. My leads are especially amazing; Marcus, Tony, Pete, Laurie, Candice, and Cassady, you all have beautifully embodied your characters. I can’t thank Mac Byron and Stan Epling enough for being my guys on lights and sound respectively. Thank you, Margaret, for agreeing to take on the job of stage managing, and Joe Lacottie and Bob and Brenda Hippchen, for building beautiful set pieces for the show. Kristen Diefenthaler, once again you have proven yourself to be the queen seamstress. Mostly though, I want to thank my husband Pete for taking on a large portion of turning his 9 to 5 set into my DRS set. Candice Anders is like the Energizer Bunny; this woman has so much energy and talent, and I will be forever grateful to her for being my music director (and the show’s tech guru!). Cassady Hitt deserves to be nominated for sainthood for not only taking on the female lead of Christine, but also being my choreographer. Cass, I am so in awe of you and your talent and patience. Thank you for being such a huge part of this show. I would adopt you if Jayma would let me (but I know she won’t and I don’t blame her)! I also want to thank the Best. Assistant. Director. Ever. Tom Staik, you have been a huge part of the direction, set, costumes, props, and tone of this show. You, my friend, are going to be an ah-mazzzzing director!
Enjoy our production of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels!
Tammie Pollard
