VIRGINIA CITY — Members of the Virginia City Players are hard at work preparing for their 74th season at the Virginia City Opera House.
"It’s exciting, I can’t believe it’s been around—it's the oldest, continuously running summer-stock theatre company this side of the Mississippi. So 74 seasons this summer, 2022, so it’s going to be amazing," said Bill Koch, owner and director of the Virginia City Players.
The opera house opens its doors June 24 with two shows performed by the players.
"We’re going to be doing an adaptation of the Canterville Ghost which my son Erolle Koch wrote. It’s a very funny comedy." said Koch.
The second show, The Curse of Alder Gulch, is an original play premiering at the opera house written by Scott Seiffert. The play is about a young woman returning to Alder Gulch to find her mother and grandmother died under mysterious circumstances.
"It’s a very big suspense drama. Scott works for Dreamworks films down in Burbank and he wrote just for me last fall so I’m so excited for him to see his show come to life," said Koch.
There is a long history of live theatre in Virginia City. The first theater company in Montana was formed in Virginia City in the 1800s.
The company was known as the Amateur Dramatic Association. They performed comedies as well as dramatic works.
Bill Koch hopes to fill the seats of the Opera house so people from all over can enjoy the plays the actors are working hard on.
"So I look forward to seeing our regular people that come every summer and hopefully they’ll bring new people and we’ll have lots of fun all the way around," said Koch.
Also returning is the Christmas in July Vaudeville show on July 18. The Canterville Ghost will run from June 24 to July 31. The Curse of Alder Gulch will run from August 2 to September 24.
Ticket information: https://www.virginiacityplayers.com/shows
