Sierra Classic Theatre
Five Years, Eight Productions, 11 Stages

In February 2000, curtains rose again on community theater in Mammoth Lakes when Sierra Classic Theatre's first show opened on a snowy night. The fledgling performance group had been working toward that production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night for nearly a year. SCT's co-founders and "muses" Lesley Bruns, Kristin Power Reese and Kim Stoiber first got together in 1999 with the notion of forming a theater company dedicated to performing timeless classics of the stage, both comedy and drama. Naturally, they started with Shakespeare. Inaugural director Lesley Bruns gave the bard's charming and rambunctious shipwreck story a playful Hawaiian theme, and audiences were delighted with the results. After Twelfth Night , SCT took Moliere's Tartuffe to 1980s bible-belt Louisiana and never looked back. In addition to twice yearly full-scale productions, SCT puts on a cult-favorite theatrical event: the murder mystery dinner at Tamarack Lodge and Resort, a sell-out every autumn. SCT performers have been a welcome addition to the summer festivities at the Mono County Art Council's annual Art A La Carte.

Each production brings its own joys and many challenges that cast and crew face head-on. For A Streetcar Named Desire, Director B. Kenji Kawaguchi supplied the cast with baby oil to help create the atmosphere of a sweltering New Orleans summer in a chilly restaurant-turned-performance space . When an actress was too ill to go onstage one night, director Jeff Chamberlin did some hilarious gender bending to take on the role of Rudy (better known as Truvy) in the all-female Steel Magnolias. And even a gusty wind storm couldn't stop the enthusiastic cast and audience in an outdoor performance of Much Ado about Nothing at Mill Creek Station.

Along with creative development, SCT's founders laid solid groundwork for the theater company business. SCT is a non-profit organization, governed by an elected board that includes a queen and a jester. All funds raised through ticket sales and donations go right back into the coffers for all aspects of production, from costumes and sets to programs and advertising.

SCT co-founder Lesley Bruns couldn't be prouder. "We've come a long way in five years. Huge and heartfelt thank-yous go out to everyone that has been a part of SCT, onstage, behind the scenes and in the audience."

Sierra Classic Theatre's Productions:

2000
Twelfth Night
Tartuffe

2001
A Streetcar Named Desire
A Midsummer Night's Dream

2002
Hay Fever
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged

2003
Steel Magnolias
Much Ado About Nothing

2004
Arms and the Man

2005
The Mousetrap
Lysistrata

2006
All My Sons
Beyond Therapy

2007
Dancing at Lughnasa
As You Like It

2008
Bus Stop

Murder Mystery Fundraisers
Every November at Tamarack Lodge and Resort-a fun and festive event for audiences and cast members alike!

2000- Who Killed the Director?
2001- Reunited and It Feels So Dead
2002- Or Not To Be
2003- Bordello of the Damned
2004 - Dead Man Rockin'
2005 - Murder at the Hauntington Inn
2006 - I Do, I Die
2007 -Dance of Death