Good theater can be worth going the distance to see.
It is why people will buy plane tickets to New York to see Broadway productions, or hop a train to Chicago to catch the newest show.
But, fortunately for Michiana residents, good theater is only a short car ride and an inexpensive ticket away.
For six years, Niles resident Martha Branson-Banks has worked for the Buchanan Tin Shop, taking on the roles of director, actor and trouble shooter and helping to create theater productions that are as worth seeing as a Broadway number, Banks said.
“There is wonderful theater right here,” Banks said, during an interview Saturday afternoon.
Much like Buchanan, the theater has a storied history.
Prior to becoming a theater, the building at 121 S. Oak St. was first used as a furniture factory around 1855. Since then, it has held a number of operations, including a hospital during the 1918 flu epidemic and a manufacturing location for Clark Equipment Company to produce and sell air-conditioned beds and later drill products. In 1982, the Fine Arts Council, which continues to oversee the theater operations today, took over. The first production came out in 1984.
In those 33 years of operation, the theater has produced more than 80 shows, according to their website. This year, the community theater has produced comedies like the most recent “Kitchen Witches,” which opened March 10. The show finished on Sunday, drawing hundreds to watch the tale of two rival cable-access cooking show hostesses, who stew up drama with their spats.
The shows are known to draw people from across Michigan and Indiana, who travel to Buchanan to see the newest production, Banks said.
Those who doubt it is worth the short trip need only to look at the rapid increase of audience numbers, which Banks said has doubled since the theater first began producing shows in 1984.
Perhaps what truly makes the small theater shows worth seeing is the local community members — who by day are teachers, farmers or factory workers and by stage call are ready to showcase their talent, brazenly taking on the spot light to dazzle audience members.
The actors and volunteers are not paid for their services. Directors receive a small directors fee to help pay for an assistant director, Banks said.
At least 10 volunteers are needed total on and off stage to help a production come together, Banks said.
What makes many of the volunteers at the community special is their ability to take on multiple roles. Banks saw this first hand on opening night of the “Kitchen Witches.”
Hours before the show, one of the lead actors playing the witch Isobel Lomax, became ill and was unable to perform. That is when Trevor Hough stepped in — into drag that is. Hough performed the role despite the short notice and call to perform a woman’s lead.
“It is just a hoot,” Banks said.
Hough played the role so seamlessly that Banks said no one even noticed the swap or the fact that he had to use a script on stage.
Others like Craig Summerix, of Buchanan, who is an adjunct professor for Lake Michigan College, shows up early on brutally cold winter days to shovel snow from the sidewalks, all before he puts on his costume and hits the stage.
Banks is also heart warmed by other community theaters who step up to help one another. On multiple occasion, Banks said the Dowagiac Beckwith Theater has loaned the Tin Shop set pieces, chairs and sometimes even actors.
Whether sitting in the audience or performing on stage or behind the scenes, Banks said the most rewarding aspect of the theater is the fun times it cultivates.
“It is often an experience you have never had before,” Banks said. “You meet incredible people. You really do. The actors are marvelous. The directors are marvelous.”
At 6 p.m. Monday, the theater will audition for “Top Girls,” also a comedy which was written by Caryl Churchill. The production features influential and legendary female figures who all happen to meet during a luncheon to provide some insight to the lead role “Marlene,” who, after a promotion , has become somewhat of an oppressor.
“Come and try see how it goes,” Banks said.