By Selena Price | Special to the Advertiser

Chilton County theatergoers are in for a treat next weekend as Jefferson State Community College puts on its production of Neil Simon’s “Plaza Suite.”

This will be the first theatrical production from Jeff State in 25 years and will be done as a joint venture between the Clanton and Shelby campuses.

Ashley Kitchens, Jeff State Clanton campus associate dean and English professor, serves as Clanton’s director alongside Kevin Townes from Shelby’s campus.

Kitchens has been at Jeff State for 13 years, 4 1/2 of them at the Clanton campus.

“I live up in Hoover, but I wouldn’t work at any other campus. I love this place,” said Kitchens, who is also an actress in community theatre in Birmingham.

Jeff State’s current production, “Plaza Suite,” is unique in that rather than following one set of characters through the entire play, it instead follows the story of a hotel suite and the changing sets of hotel patrons within it.

Kitchens said the show’s unique storytelling technique was the deciding factor in its selection.

“To bring the theatre program back, we didn’t want to try a huge production on our own without gauging interest first,” she said. “This play has a completely different set of characters and situation in Act 2 than it does in Act 1, so working across campuses was much easier.”

Kitchens will direct Clanton’s actors in Act 1 while Townes will direct Shelby’s actors in Act 2.

Though plays have not been common in the past several years, students of Jeff State have still had the option to take a theatre appreciation class and learn the background and basics of all things theatre-related alongside their other coursework.

Kitchens and Townes are excited to give students the opportunity to participate in theatre as well.

“Jeff State once had a huge theatre department from what I’ve been told, with productions every year,” said Kitchens, who added that she and Townes wanted to do their part to try and bring it back. “Townes and I got to talking and decided to explore and see what would come out of it.”

Reviving a theatre program has not been without its challenges.

Tryouts were open to everyone, but because there was not as large a response as they had hoped—no gentlemen tried out this year at the Shelby campus—Kitchens said that she and Townes had to adjust the characters a bit and pull in some community actors.

“I directed ‘James and the Giant Peach’ a couple of years ago, so I pulled in some of the actors from that production,” Kitchens said. “Jimmie Hardee will play Sam Nash, and Mary Schiermann, a Jeff State alumna, will play Karen Nash. Both worked with me on JATGP.”

Other Clanton actors include Jeff State students Josh Burns and Sammantha Williams and recent Jeff State alum Courtney Duren.

Burns said preparing for the play has been a great experience for him.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” he said. “It’s a small cast, but I’ve really gotten to know them and grow close to them.”

Burns acted in “Much Ado About Nothing,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Peter Pan” while a student at Chilton Christian Academy but said this has been a different experience.

“A lot of the plays at CCA were Shakespeare,” he said. “This play is more modern, so it has been a lot more fun. It has also made it easier to memorize the lines and have fun with the part.”

Burns said he thinks it is a play that the community will also enjoy.

“I think it is a very fun play,” he said. “It is very easy to catch on to. It’s very lighthearted, so it would be very fun for people to come out and enjoy.”

A performance at the Shelby campus will take place at 7 p.m. April 21.

Chilton County theatergoers will get their chance to see “Plaza Suite” at 7 p.m. on April 23 at the Clanton Conference and Performing Arts Center, located at 1850 Lay Dam Road in Clanton.

Tickets will be on sale at the door: $5 for general admission and $3 for students.

House doors will open at 6:15 p.m.