Savannah River Productions, Inc. is a regional theatre troupe that performs in Hartwell, GA and Commerce, GA. Savannah River Productions strives to offer high-quality theatre productions to the Northeast Georgia region.
The 2011 Season at the Hartwell Lonnie Burns Fine Arts Center is as follows:
June 4 @ 7:30pm, June 5 @ 3:00pm - Always…Patsy Cline” is more than a tribute to the legendary country singer who died tragically at age 30 in a plane crash in 1963. The show is based on a true story about Cline’s friendship with a fan from Houston named Louise Seger, who befriended the star in a Texas honky-tonk in l961, and continued a correspondence with Cline until her death.
August 20 @ 7:30, August 21 @ 3:00 - Lend Ma A Tenor - This night in September of 1934 is the biggest in the history of the Cleveland Grand Opera Company world famous tenor Tito Morelli is to perform Otello , his greatest role, at the gala season opener. Saunders, the harried General Manager, hopes this will put Cleveland on the cultural map. Morelli is nowhere to be found; when he finally arrives drunk, it is too late for any rehearsal. Through a hilarious series of mishaps, 'Il Stupendo' is given a double dose of tranquilizers which mix with the booze he has consumed and he passes out. His pulse is so low that Saunders and his assistant Max believe he is dead. What to do? Saunders coaxes Max into Morelli's costume, intending to fool the audience with this fake 'Il Stupendo', blackface and all. Nervous amateur Max succeeds admirably, but Morelli revives and dresses for his second act. With two Otellos now in costume and two women en dishabille, each thinking she is with 'Il Stupendo', the farce spins out of control onstage and off.
November 12 @ 7:3pm and 13 @ 3:00pm - Smoke on the Mountain - It's October, 1945, and the gospel-singing Sanders Family is back together again. The war is over and America's years of prosperity are just beginning. But there's another kind of rite of passage at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, where Reverent Mervin Oglethorpe is giving his last service. He's been called to preach in Texas, and he's already bought a ten-gallon hat and is preparing to ride into the sunset with his wife June, who is eight months pregnant. Tomorrow morning, young Dennis Sanders takes over as Mount Pleasant's pastor. Join the Sanders Family as they send Mervin and June off in style, with hilarious and touching stories and twenty-five toe-tapping Bluegrass Gospel favorites.