“Beauty and the Beast” Comes to Greenwood Community Theatre

“Beauty and the Beast” Comes to Greenwood Community Theatre

By: Joey Plyler

The Disney musical “Beauty and the Beast” will be performed in Greenwood during the city’s Festival of Flowers on June 15-25. Auditions for the production were held on March 19 and 21, resulting in the role of Belle going to Greenwood native Bethany Mlinar. Chaz Giles, a senior Mass Communications major at Lander University, will be playing the role of the Beast, and Ryan Hewitt, Admissions Counselor at Lander, will be portraying the play’s villain, Gaston.

Tracie Lucquire, who directed GCT’s recent success, “Sister Act”, will be returning to direct the production. Lucquire commented on her return for the show, saying, “I adore anything Disney and this is a favorite of mine. I’m thrilled for this to be my first Festival of Flowers show!”

Lucquire went on to comment on her role as a director. “People already have so many predetermined factors they expect to see. You have to walk a fine line in delivering what is expected, but still making it a beautiful version of your vision.” Despite this, Lucquire remained excited for the upcoming production, hinting at what viewers might expect to see during the performance. She said, “We are thinking out of the box with on this one, with dancing wolves and a living rose for starters!”

Laura Riddle, Fine Arts Administrative Specialist at Lander University, is one of the many people in the Greenwood community who auditioned. She said, “I am really looking forward to working with Tracie and Amy. They will be a great team.” Riddle went on to comment about the production and her involvement with GCT. “This show is going to be a blast! GCT has really become a second family since I moved back home to Greenwood, and I couldn’t imagine spending my summer any other way than doing a show there.”