Copious Notes

Holly Henson backstage at the Pioneer Playhouse in 2008. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

Danville’s Pioneer Playhouse has announced its 60th season, highlighted by a return — of sorts — of a Playhouse original and a few special events.

This is not only the 60th season of Pioneer Playhouse. It is also the 200th anniversary of Ephraim McDowell’s historic operation in which he removed a 22.5 pound ovarian tumor from Green County resident Jane Todd Crawford, thereby pioneering abdominal surgery. Playhouse founder Eben Henson wrote a play about McDowell and premiered it at the Playhouse decades ago. This summer, his daughter Holly is revisiting the topic. Holly Henson, the Playhouse’s artistic director, is updating the story in The Infamous Ephraim, June 23-July 4.

The season will open in a cinematic vein with Holly’s brother, film director Robby Henson, directing screen star Kim Darby in Jack Sharkey’s M is for the Million, June 5-20. Darby and Henson last collaborated in 2007 on Catherine Bush’s A Jarful of Fireflies, which commemorated the 50th anniversary of the filming of Raintree County in Danville.

Rounding out the season will be:

• Lend Me a Tenor by Ken Ludwig — A comedy about an opera star replaced by a nobody after the star overdoses on tranquilizers, July 7-18.
• Girl Crazy by Guy Bolton & John McGowan — A stage adaptation of the 1943 Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland about a city slicker who falls in love with a cowgirl. July 21 - Aug. 1.
• Be My Baby by Ken Ludwig — An elderly couple loses their loathing for one another as they care for a newborn. Aug. 4-15.

The season caps off with two special productions:

Scott Hansen, five-time Minnesota comic of the year, will appear Aug. 20-22.

The Kentuckians Chorus barbershop group will perform a season-closing concert Aug. 29.

Centre College’s 2009 commencement ceremonies will have a little Hollywood glitter with the address being delivered by highly successful film director Jerry Bruckheimer and his wife, Linda Bruckheimer.

Jerry and Linda Bruckheimer at Keeneland Race Track in 2004. Herald-Leader photo by Janet Worne.

Jerry Bruckheimer’s producing successes have included blockbuster epics such as the Pirates of the Caribbean series and modest stories such as Glory Road. He has also produced TV ratings juggernauts such as CSI and The Amazing Race. Linda Bruckheimer was the original west coast editor of Mirabella magazine and is the author of two best-selling novels, Dreaming Southern and the Southern Belles of Honeysuckle Way. An active preservationist, her efforts have included several buildings in Bloomfield, Ky. The Bruckheimers have a farm near Bloomfield.

Centre’s commencement will take play May 24 in Danville.