Peach State Summer Theatre Announces Live-Streaming Single Show Season

VALDOSTA — Peach State Summer Theatre will present a 10-performance live-streaming run of “The Marvelous Wonderettes: Dream On” June 16-26.

“The Marvelous Wonderettes: Dream On” is the fourth show in the Wonderettes Series. PSST! performed the first show in the series, “The Marvelous Wonderettes,” in 2013, and it was a huge hit with audiences of all ages.

When deciding how to proceed with Peach State Summer Theatre’s 2021 season, H. Duke Guthrie, managing director, realized he had two obstacles to overcome — the ongoing global health crisis and the recent retirement of Jacque Wheeler, longtime artistic director.

PSST!’s 2021 season has been described as sort of a placeholder between a summer of no performances inside Valdosta State University’s Sawyer Theatre and what will hopefully be a future summer filled with the nonstop entertainment fans have come to love and look forward to over the past three-plus decades.

Guthrie remains hopeful that the 2022 season will once again welcome dozens of singers, dancers, technicians, managers, and creators from across the country to the VSU campus for nearly three months of rehearsing, building, and presenting three musicals in rotating repertory. A new artistic director should be in place by then, and health officials remain optimistic that mass vaccination protocols will curb the virus’s spread and allow for everyday life to resume a more normal routine.

“I think everyone has their fingers crossed that the pandemic is under control by the time we start planning for PSST!’s 2022 season,” he added.

“The Marvelous Wonderettes: Dream On” was originally scheduled to be performed during PSST!’s 2020 season, which was cancelled due to the spread of COVID-19 and resulting pandemic.

Guthrie noted that the show is “largely designed.” It features four females, and casting for those roles is ongoing.

“We have our casting notice on a national platform, and we have submissions from across the country,” he said, hinting that there will also be a few surprises. “We will have a full contingent of designers. Support staff in the shops will be only slightly reduced. We are adding a director of photography and a four-person camera crew.”

“The Marvelous Wonderettes: Dream On” will be performed without an in-person audience.

“We felt it was best for the safety of our cast and crew and audiences that we perform virtually this summer,” shared A. Blake Pearce, dean of VSU’s College of the Arts. “The cancellation of theatrical performances last year was difficult for the entire industry. We were determined to try to share live theatre with our audiences this summer out of respect for the many people who make these productions come to life, our patrons, and the art form.”

Fans who have questions about the upcoming season should call the VSU Theatre and Dance / PSST! office at 229-253-2914 between the hours of 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Performance times and online box office details will be announced soon. Individual streaming access for a single device will be $35; household access will be $60.

Peach State Summer Theatre, or PSST!, is Valdosta’s premiere professional summer stock theatre. It started in 1990 as the Jekyll Island Music Festival; it was relocated to VSU and renamed PSST! in 2005.

The Georgia Legislature designated VSU’s summer stock theatre program the Official Musical Theatre of the State of Georgia.

About “The Marvelous Wonderettes: Dream On,” according to a synopsis provided by Stage Rights: “It’s 1969, and The Marvelous Wonderettes are back at Springfield High — Go, Chipmunks! — to throw a retirement party for their favorite homeroom teacher. As the girls sing their way through the greatest girl-group hits of the ’60s and bid Ms. McPherson a fond farewell, one of the Wonderettes reveals she’ll also be saying goodbye to search for success and happiness on her own.

“Act II finds the girls back together as the class of 1958 celebrates their 20-year reunion. The classic pop and rock hits of the ’70s provide the perfect soundtrack for these old friends to catch up on the places life has led them, all performed with their own marvelous spin.”

Finding the Bright Side: “The Marvelous Wonderettes: Dream On” features such hits as “It’s Your Thing,” “Build Me Up Buttercup,” “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” “I Will Survive,” and “The Hustle.” Those audience members who are moved to dance will have plenty of room to do so from the comfort of their own home.