Little Mountain Community Theatre’s annual fundraiser may have a different name but the event remains designed to help educate, entertain and enrich.
“Break a Leg … A Night of Broadway!” on March 11 at Lemont Township Community Center features entertainment by Little Mountain Community Theatre alumni including Aurora, Hinsdale, Lemont, Naperville and West Chicago residents.
“We will have 18 performers that have been in our shows. They range in age from young high school students to people in their 50s and 60s, men and women, all different levels of experience and expertise,” said Sandy Doebert, president and co-founder of Little Mountain Community Theatre.
“Our whole mission is about providing opportunities for people of all different ability levels so that carries through in all of our productions and carries through in this fundraiser as well.”
Originally called Broadway Bound, the fundraiser launched in 2019 at Gelsosomo’s Pizzeria and Pub in Lemont and took place in 2020 at Quarry Pub & Grill in Lemont.
“Last year we did it as FunRaiser. It was the middle of COVID. People sent in videos. We didn’t ask for money. It was just an opportunity to perform and give people a chance to watch performances,” said Doebert of Lemont.
Little Mountain Community Theatre artistic director and co-founder Heather Hutchison of Aurora and board member Jeremie Bacon of Lemont hosted FunRaiser in 2021.
With Little Mountain Community Theatre presenting its annual fundraiser in person this year, a costume competition was added.
“We thought it would be a fun, audience involvement piece. There’s a meal being served. Most of our performers will be out in the audience eating and hanging out with their friends. Then they’ll step away for a song onstage,” Doebert said.
“Some of the audience members will be other people who have been in our shows there to support Little Mountain and their friends. Some of the audience will be people in Lemont who read about it. Some will be family of the performers.
“It’s just a way to involve all of them in the whole program as well.”
Doebert said the plan is to give the “dress-to-impress” costume contest winner a certificate to attend Little Mountain Community Theatre’s main stage musical, Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man,” which features quite a connection to Lemont High School where the show will be staged from July 22-24.
“Matt Doherty was a Lemont High School student 20 years ago. He was in the band and he played Harold Hill in Lemont High School’s musical that spring of 2002,” she said.
“He went to college, became a music teacher at Lemont High School, proposed to his wife onstage at Lemont High School and is assistant activities director at Lemont High School. He’s the guy everybody still loves at the high school and in the community.”
Doebert noted that it was Dave Nommensen, fine arts chair at Lemont High School, who suggested that his fellow band leader Doherty play Harold Hill once again.
“It’s also essentially the 10th anniversary of Little Mountain because it was in 2012 that Heather and I had first sat down and discussed starting a community theater,” she said.
“We always look for positive messages. Harold Hill begins the show as a flimflam man and by the end of the show is essentially a teacher who has inspired an entire town.”
A “Break a Leg … A Night of Broadway!” ticket includes a buffet meal of pizza and salad with a choice of soda, beer or wine. Additional beverages will be available for a suggested donation of $3. Cash payment is requested.
Funds raised support Little Mountain Community Theatre programs, which include an annual acting workshop for children. Registration is being accepted for children entering grades two to eight for the June 27-July 8 session, which includes a performance of the junior version of “The Music Man Kids.”
“Theater is very expensive. We’re fortunate we have donors. Then we have this fundraiser and, of course, we make a small profit from our shows,” Doebert said.
“All of that goes toward the opportunity to provide live theater and live theater events in the Lemont area.”
Little Mountain Community Theatre’s board also includes secretary Clare Korte of Lemont, Deb Arenberg of Lemont, Kate Loeffler of Crest Hill, Kimberly Cromer of Aurora, Mary Beth Pingatore of Westchester, and Mary Tally, formerly of Lemont and now of North Carolina.
‘Break a Leg … A Night of Broadway!’
When: 7:45 p.m. March 11
Where: Lemont Township Community Center, 16300 Alba St., Lemont
Tickets: $25
Information: info@littlemountaintheatre.org; facebook.com/littlemountaintheatre
Jessi Virtusio is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
