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Interlakes Community Theatre will begin its 17th summer season with productions of “Newsies” on July 3 - 4, “Chicago” on July 17 - 28, and “Legally Blonde” on July 31 - Aug. 11, building on its reputation for bringing professional actors to the Inter-Lakes High School auditorium in Meredith.
Founder Nancy Barry says, “Our greatest pride is in the fact that, over the last 16 years, 83 of our alum have gone on to sign Broadway contracts. I can go to Broadway and walk into any lobby and see our Alums’ names on the marquis.”
Two of those alumni are appearing in the “Neil Diamond Show” with another three in “Back to the Future”. Nancy says there is a whole group of LRST alumni in “Book of Mormon”, while two recently appeared in “Shucked” and one young actor appeared as Sarah Paulson’s son in “Appropriate” which has eight Tony Award nominations — proving that the talent on stage in Meredith is among the best in the country.
The Interlakes Community Theatre hires more than 50 actors and 27 staff members from New York City, Boston, and other places around the country, Nancy says, including from the top professional theater-training programs in the United States.
“There is a core company that will mostly all stay for the first three shows,” Nancy said, while the leads usually change from show to show, coming in only for that one show.
The final show on Interlakes’ summer schedule is “Million Dollar Quartet” on Aug. 14 - 18, and Nancy said it “has very specific requirements and the whole company on that show will be in just for that show.”
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