Wichita Repertory Theatre excited for regional premiere

Since it’s only been produced by about half a dozen theaters in the country, you probably haven’t heard of Wichita Repertory Theatre’s newest production, “A Jukebox for the Algonquin.”

And that’s just the way artistic director Julie Longhofer likes it.

“The current state of theater is what I call, ‘Can you fit into the costume?’ Can fit into the costume and play Gaston or play Ariel or Elsa? Longhofer said, rattling off characters from Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” “Little Mermaid” and “Frozen.”

“Then you’re, in some ways, expected to play the character in this way that’s already been outlined for you in a very specific way and that doesn’t give you very much creativity. So, this is very different,” she added, “because not that many people have done this play yet.”

“Jukebox for the Algonquin,” which runs for the next two weekends at the Welsbacher Theatre on the Wichita State Metroplex, takes place in a senior living community where one resident is determined to get a jukebox for the commons area, and the fundraising even includes a brief stint selling drugs.

It’s been produced by regional theaters including Miners Alley Playhouse in Golden, Colo., and the Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea, Mich., the latter of which is operated by actor Jeff Daniels.

“He doesn’t put on stuff that requires a large theater, or you have to be a New Yorker to understand what’s going on there, and that’s kind of what attracted me to this,” Longhofer said. “It’s this regional ethos of a small community getting together and really getting to just be completely joyful over a new play.”

“Jukebox,” she said, balanced out the rest of the season, had the right size cast and was in a contemporary setting.

“It has a gorgeous balance of accessible comedy about human kinds of situations, and then it has serious themes as well,” Longhofer said. “It’s very much ensemble-driven, so it’s not one person’s story, it’s more of a group of people’s story, and that’s what I liked.”

Among the cast is Betsy Dutton, who plays a woman in her late 60s with vision problems.

“This is a well-written play, but I would say that this character has given a lot of the comedy, which is something in my wheelhouse, and I enjoy, but there’s some poignancy there, too,” said Dutton, retired after 40-plus years as drama teacher at Sterling High School and co-founder, with her husband Dennis, of the Sterling Community Theatre Troupe.

“It’s terribly exciting” to have a regional premiere, Dutton said, “because that’s how a lot of theater in the United States works these days, that things are discovered at the regional level. It’s an exciting thing to get to create a character. There’s not a lot out there that you can model your character after, so you have to return to the script.”

Maya Arana, who plays the manager of the retirement community, said she’s excited about performing a relatively new work.

“It is really fun to be able to create the character on your own, because a lot of the times, I feel like with bigger shows, bigger plays, and bigger musicals, people come in and they expect you to play it as the character they’ve seen on professional productions or a regional production that they’ve seen. So, being able to really create our own characters has been a lot, a lot of fun.”

‘JUKEBOX FOR THE ALGONQUIN’ BY WICHITA REPERTORY THEATRE

When: Aug. 15-24; 7:30 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays

Where: Welsbacher Theatre, WSU Metroplex, 5015 E. 29th St.

Tickets: $35 adults, with discounts for seniors, veterans and students, from ictrep.org or 316-612-2543