The Petal Arts Council is set to welcome the Legacy Actors Theatre Experience, a readers’ community theater group for people over the age of 60, to its annual meeting at 6 p.m. Sept. 14 at Petal United Methodist Church, 418 South Main Street in Petal.
The Legacy Actors Theatre Experience - better known as L.A.T.E. - is a production of Broom Closet Studios, which was founded by Petal resident Sherri Marengo as an outlet for creative audio and podcast production, theatrical instruction, direction and other production. During the meeting, which is free and open to the public, L.A.T.E. will perform skits before offering an opportunity for audience participation.
“(L.A.T.E.) is the only readers’ theatre for senior actors in the state of Mississippi, and this is the core group that started readers’ theater,” said Marengo, who also is a board member of the Hattiesburg Arts Council. “When you get over a certain age, you just run out of room to be memorizing a lot of stuff.
“So this way, they just get to sit in a chair, dress up, have a script in front of them. They can still act, still be on stage, but not have to worry about memorizing a bunch of dialogue or where they’re supposed to stand when they say it.”
The group’s original skits will consist of one-act plays, for which the performers - who are in full costume and do their own sound effects - are provided with scripts. The show also will feature a narrator who will provide verbal direction for the show members.
“They know their parts; they’re just acting them out with the security of having the scripts right there,” Marengo said.
The skits will be followed with a bit of a surprise during the audience participation portion of the show.
“Our goal is to entertain and make people laugh, and then to challenge other people to do what we do,” Marengo said. “So there’s going to be a little twist after we do our little show.
“But I think the whole point of bringing us to the meeting is to encourage other people in the Petal community that have an interest in the arts to come and be a part of the Petal Arts Council.”
Bethany Sharp, who handles communication and publicity for the Petal Arts Council, said the organization is excited to welcome L.A.T.E. to its annual meeting.
“We’re glad to have Sherri Marengo and her group as our entertainment,” she said. “If you’ve never seen a special theater like this, come and see it. We’re pleased to present their presentation, and we invite everybody to come and join the experience."
More information on Broom Closet Studios can be found by visiting www.broomclosetstudios.net or by emailing info@broomclosetstudios.net.
