Program will expand style and variety of productions this year for students & audiences
BAYTOWN, TX — Lee College Theater will begin its 2017-18 performance season with a traditional melodrama that takes audiences on the maiden voyage of the Mighty Mississippi’ a riverboat bound for New Orleans with nefarious villains, wealthy passengers and a noble deckhand all aboard for a madcap adventure.
“Peril on the Mighty Mississippi, or a Disaster of Titanic Proportions” will debut at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 21 at the Performing Arts Center on campus. Additional performances are set for 7:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 22 and Saturday, Sept. 23, with a matinee at 2:30 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 24. Tickets are available online at www.lee.edu/pac or by contacting the Box Office at 281.425.6255.
Written by Donald Mellen, “Peril on the Mighty Mississippi” is the kind of frivolous and laugh-happy comedy that will bring more zaniness to the stage than many audiences are accustomed to seeing, according to technical theater instructor Kim Martin.
“It takes place on a paddle wheel riverboat and the hero, the heroine and various villains will encounter enough obstacles to foil most mortals — but in melodrama theater, the good guys always come out on top,” Martin said. “And the audience gets to help by throwing popcorn at all of them.”
Lee College Theater is expanding the style and variety of the shows they produce this season to challenge students and give them more opportunities to grow in their craft and pursue their dreams. Notable productions will include “A Year with Frog and Toad” in November, “Christmas Express” in December, “The Grapes of Wrath” in February, “Man of La Mancha” in late June and even some shows that will allow students to try out their directing skills in front of a live audience.
The level of quality and entertainment provided to the local community rivals that of college theater programs across the Houston area, Martin said.
“Our audiences, Lee College students and staff and community supporters as well, can witness a delightful variety of shows,” he said. “We have a pleasant and congenial comedy for Christmas, a musical to delight young and old this fall, and an epic dramatization of one of the greatest novels of American literature. Everyone should put these shows on their cultural calendar.”
For more information about Lee College Theater, including a full schedule of upcoming performances, visit www.lee.edu/pac/.