Venue View: The Premiere Playhouse

By Oliver Mayes

Managing Artistic Director

The Premiere Playhouse

The Premiere Playhouse (TPP) strives to create exceptional theatre through education, empathy, accessibility, inclusivity and collaboration to enrich our community. That is our mission, so our actions are motivated by these overarching concepts. We are a professionally staffed and volunteer-driven non-profit, community-based theatre and education organization whose vision is to help our community thrive by nurturing the artist in anyone and inspiring the arts in everyone, both on and off stage.

Oliver Mayes

With more than 20 years of history as an organization (we are formerly known as Sioux Empire Community Theatre), our ultimate objective is to provide an inclusive and accessible theatre experience to all members of our diverse and talented community.

In 2024, TPP finds its success through an active, working board full of leaders in their respective fields, an inspired staff made up of accomplished professionals with various backgrounds, dozens of contracted specialists who bring their unique perspectives and skills to our productions, hundreds of dedicated volunteers and donors who truly bring the magic to the stage and thousands more in patrons who are the reason we do it all.

Throughout the year we produce a four-production mainstage season full of commercial titles and an annual tradition, as well as four education-based productions for a wide range of ages/abilities and one experimental production that feeds our community’s artistic appetite. 

Within our season, we debut new plays by local playwrights, host community-based events, provide free and low-cost theatre classes to the public, collaborate with local artists of various disciplines, mentor aspiring theatre artists and managers and conduct significant community outreach. Long story short – if you’re looking to enjoy a performance, be creative or learn a new artistic skill, we probably have something for you!

Here is a look at what we have coming up at TPP.

Closing out our 21st season are two musical theatre landmarks: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, which runs April 11-21, and the groundbreaking rock musical Hair, running June 13-23 – both performing at the historic Orpheum Theater. Our intergenerational cast, crew and live band for Oklahoma!, under the direction of University of South Dakota’s Matthew Nesmith, are sure to touch your heart with TPP’s fresh take of this classic story.

Our talented and diverse cast, crew and live band for Hair, under the direction of yours truly, will rock your world when they sing – and play – with undeniable passion: “let the sun shine in.” Make it a family night out with Oklahoma! or sneak in an adult night out for Hair at the Orpheum. I vote for both! Our final workshop of the 21st season is “Playing with Playwriting,” a beginner-friendly playwriting session on June 1, from 1-4 p.m., taught by Cincinnati-based Dr. Joe Stollenwerk, an award-winning and esteemed playwright-theatre artist who also happens to be one of my mentors. Folks exploring creative writing will want to take Joe’s class, an incomparable creative experience that will leave you inspired to tell your story!

This summer, we have three youth performance opportunities at the Orpheum through TPP Education. The first of which is our ~six-to-10-year-old camp, A Year With Frog & Toad KIDS, running July 26-27. Secondly, we are doing James and the Giant Peach JR. for our ~11-to-14-year-old camp, with performances from Aug. 2-3.

We close out our summer season with our third annual Penguin Project production of The Wizard of Oz: Youth Edition, for artists of ALL abilities, ages ~10-25, running Aug. 15-18. All of these camps and performances take place at the Orpheum Theater Center.

Each of the camps are two-week day camps that result in an astonishing performance product. Our students work very hard, and they definitely do not disappoint! The Penguin Project is a four-month program with an evening rehearsal schedule that gradually increases as we approach performances. We are in the third year of bringing our penguins to the stage, and they impress me more and more each year that we continue this important program.

We recently announced our 22nd mainstage season, which includes Disney’s Freaky Friday (Sept. 26-Oct. 6, 2024), Crispin Whittell’s A Christmas Carol (Dec. 13-21, 2024), William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (March 20-30, 2025) and Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5 (June 12-22, 2025). We will continue our annual production of The Premiere Premieres (Feb. 13-16, 2025), the culmination of our new-play development program, now completely housed in our education department, as we continue to expand this program’s educational components and overall community impact. Submissions for this program are open through July 1.

We will also continue with our newest endeavor, “The Passion Projects,” a micro-budget experimental theatre performance. Submissions for this program are currently being reviewed and will be announced before our current season closes. Our full education and outreach lineup for the new season – which consists of free or low-cost classes and community events – will be announced at the same time, so be on the lookout!

In celebration and anticipation of the artistic excellence within our TPP community, we are presenting our Seasons 21 + 22 Celebration Concert at ICON Event Hall on May 11, at 8 p.m., which includes reprise performances and previews from TPP’s 21st and 22 seasons. Join us for this exciting fundraiser as we salute our 21st season and look forward to our 22nd season of providing quality local theatre to the Sioux Empire.

Can’t make it? Consider subscribing to our season and/or making a donation (perhaps to our student scholarship fund?) to keep community theatre alive in Sioux Falls. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, we rely on contributions from our community to live out our mission and are grateful for your support – in whatever capacity you can provide it.

Perhaps you are someone who is looking for a creative outlet, educational opportunity or artistic home. If this sounds like you, I encourage you to check out our program offerings and see if something sparks your interest – then reach out to us to get involved. We want your unique perspective to be a part of our community – your community. We are the Premiere Playhouse. Come see what the buzz is about!

Explore the Premiere Playhouse’s performances and volunteer, education or sponsorship opportunities at www.thepremiereplayhouse.com.