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After six long years, the Marshalltown Community Theater (MCT) will return to the Martha-Ellen Tye Playhouse.
On Oct. 30, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Martha-Ellen Tye Foundation, MCT cast and crew will put on a two-part production of the four-part "You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water is Running," the first play ever performed in the playhouse.
The 2026-27 season was revealed Thursday night in the lobby of the playhouse. MCT Board Member Pete Grady said the foundation wants to have a special celebration in honor of the reopening of the playhouse, a space he has not seen since the facility sustained significant damage from the 2020 derecho.
"The doors to the playhouse were closed and will remain so until the grand opening," he said. "We had the reveal in the lobby and it is in really nice shape. The entrance has been repaired and an elevator put in, which was needed. Actually going into the playhouse and seeing the stage, that is down the road as part of the grand opening."
Grady said the timing of the grand opening production is not the norm, but it helped determine the rest of the season.
In addition to the one-night October production, Grady said there will be a production of three winning plays of the annual MCT Playwriting Competition at the Orpheum. The plays include "Impromptu," "Belady's' Anomaly" and "Two Old Farts."
Going into the spring portion, he said MCT will have two productions which will also be shown in the Orpheum. The first is February's "Ripcord" and the last is April's "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee."
With the playhouse rendered unusable during the last few years, MCT has put on many productions in the auditorium of Miller Middle School. However, with the ongoing construction, that venue is not able to be used, either. Grady added the MCT members are very excited about the complete remodeling of the Miller auditorium.
"When that reopens, it will be just as exciting for us as coming back to the playhouse," he said.
Being without a set venue has caused members to get creative as to where productions could be performed for the Marshalltown public. There have also been plays on the Iowa Veterans Home campus and at Grimes Farm.
"We have grown up quite a bit," he said. "There was a hard series of lessons, and the playhouse is more nimble as a result of the derecho. We were captive to them and they were captive to us. There was a time when our plays were not perfect for Martha Ellen Tye, and the playhouse was not perfect for us, but we still put on a show. Now we can both start new lives. We are looking at an exciting future."
Grady added that there will also be a reading of "110 Stories" on Sept. 11 and Sept. 12 in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 tragedy at the World Trade Center in New York City. The readings will be held in the Black Box Theater at the Orpheum.
Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.