“When the Theatre Came to Town”

By Jude Mead

“There is no business like show business,” according to Rosemary Gill, whose debut performance of “When the Theatre Came to Town” takes place on Sunday, May 29 in the Great Hall of the Norfolk Library with two showings, one at 6 p.m. and another at 8 p.m.

This one-person, original play focuses on the summer of 1999 when Greenwoods Theatre moved into town and Norfolk became a mecca for young actors, including its own aspiring actress, Rosemary Gill. The play is based on Gill’s personal experience auditioning and performing in the summer stock theatre.

The play begins when Gill hears news that the theatre is searching for local talent to act in the summer’s slate of productions. She is so thrilled to have theatre back in town again that she wants to support it in any way she can. With a background in acting, Gill immediately auditions and gets a part in one of the shows. “Perhaps,” she says, “it may have been because I was the only one auditioning.”

Though Gill had in fact been the first, and only, local actor to knock on the door for a part, she was not the only one on stage that summer. The playwrights and producers (Richard Smithies and Maura Cavanagh, who purchased the building in 1998), had already hired a troupe of hopeful Broadway-to-be actors. Gill started the season with a bit part and ended the season starring as “Big Mama” in Tennessee Williams’s “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” with rave reviews.

In her account of that summer, the names and incidents are not changed to protect anyone as Gill writes with humor of tempers, tantrums, triumphs and tribulations that actually occurred during that season. She keeps alive the spirit of the summer stock actor’s dream of being on Broadway and tells the truth about the trials to reach that dream.

In her one-woman show, Gill switches characters with the ease and grace of a professional as she follows the dramatic escapades of Smithies, Cavanagh and the actors from the first rehearsal to the final production that summer of 1999.

Seating for the two showings is limited and sure to fill up quickly. Call or email the library for reservations.