THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 2, 1996 TAG: 9603020277
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY JOHN HARPER, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: KILL DEVIL HILLS LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
Many people come to the Outer Banks to get away from it all.
Betty Ann Campbell came to the Outer Banks to get into it all.
``I have a lot of energy,'' says Campbell, 73, who arrived from Norfolk in 1989. ``I figured I'd find something.''
What Campbell found was the brand-new Thomas A. Baum Senior Center in Kill Devil Hills and a bunch of seniors also looking for something to do.
Campbell, a longtime music teacher and actress in community theater, decided what the still-active seniors could do was act, sing, direct, build sets and design costumes - in other words, form a senior theater group within the Baum Center community.
``There had been a loosely organized group for a couple of years,'' she says. ``But that was mostly skits; I really wanted to do professional plays.''
She soon had some help with the new project. Campbell's sister, Rose Dugger, landed here in 1990. Dugger, like her sister, had acted in community theater. The sisters began offering classes in body language, stage movement, speech and drama. In mid-1990, the students felt ready for the challenge of live theater.
The off-off-off Broadway theater group was christened ``Center Front.'' It became, and still is, the only senior theater group in the state.
``We really had some eager people,'' says Dugger, 69, who directs the group's productions.
``But we also have some problems with this age group. It takes more of a commitment than most can give.''
Center Front offers several productions during the year, including one major production presented in February as dinner theater. And although the group holds auditions for each production, no one is turned down. About 35 people participate in each show.
``We purposely pick plays that have a large cast,'' says Campbell, the group's producer. ``We want to have a spot for everyone.''
The group uses the Baum Center's multi purpose room for its theater.
``It's not really the ideal theater,'' Campbell says. ``But we improvise to make it work.''
For the most recent production, ``Love Rides the Rails or Will the Mail Train Run Tonight?,'' a retired engineer gave the company its first stage curtain. Campbell provides the music, working as a one-person orchestra.
She plays twin pianos, one of which was donated. The other belongs to her.
Finding the right material for the senior theater group hasn't been difficult. Center Front has produced seven plays by a trio of playwrights: John Kirkpatrick, Peg Lynch and Albert Brown, who write almost exclusively for older adults.
Author Tim Kelly's ``The Omelet Murder Mystery'' (a spoof of Shakespeare's Hamlet) was one of the company's biggest hits.
``People in their 80s just love our shows,'' says Campbell. ``We have a built-in audience.''
And how long will the show go on for the senior sisters?
``We're not holding a dynasty,'' Dugger says. ``New people are encouraged to participate.''
``The group is important,'' Campbell says. ``It entertains, educates and enlightens.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by DREW WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot
``We purposely pick plays that have a large cast,'' says Betty Ann
Campbell, who produces plays put on by senior citizens in Kill Devil
Hills. ``We want to have a spot for everyone.''
Graphic
Contact
For more information on Center Front, call Betty Ann Campbell at
441-2397 or Lois Twyne at the Baum Center at 441-1811.
by CNB