When her father dies mid-rehearsal, a cynical New York director returns home to rescue his community theatre production of Our Town, only to find that the maddening, loyal theatre family she spent years trying to outgrow is exactly what she needs.

SYNOPSIS:

Community Theatre follows Reina Thompson, an ambitious theatre director whose Broadway debut should be the greatest night of her life. But just as her show opens in New York, Reina learns that her father, Ron, has died suddenly while rehearsing Our Town at the community theatre he helped build in her Tennessee hometown.

Reina returns home for the funeral expecting to handle a few practical details and get back to the career she has worked so hard to build. Instead, she is drawn back into the world she left behind: a somewhat chaotic but deeply loyal community theatre family filled with old friends who loved Ron almost as fiercely as she did.

When it becomes clear that Ron’s unfinished production of Our Town may not survive without him, Reina reluctantly agrees to take over as director. Used to professional standards and Broadway pressure, she struggles with the messy reality of volunteer theatre. Her attempts to impose order create friction with Allie, her childhood friend and the show’s stage manager, as well as with the cast members.

As opening night approaches, Reina is forced to confront her fear that the vulnerability she demands from actors is something she has spent years avoiding in herself.

COMMUNITY THEATRE